United States of America

The United States, formally the United States of America, is a country located in eastern North America. The United States is bordered by ???, ??? and ??? to the west and shares a maritime border with Cuba in the Carribean Sea.

Government and politics
The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law". The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the U.S. Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document.

The federal government is comprised of three branches:


 * Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.
 * Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Senate approval) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
 * Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the President with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.

Political divisions
Main Article: List of U.S. states

The United States is a federal union of 51 states, a federal district, and several uninhabited island possessions. Under the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of government: federal, state and local. The local government's duties are commonly split between county and municipal governments. In almost all cases, executive and legislative officials are elected by a majority vote of citizens by district in a runoff system. There is no proportional representation at the federal level, and it is rare at lower levels.