the first residents of what ** now the united states immigrated from asia prior to 15,000 years ago by crossing beringia into alaska.archaeological evidence of these peoples,the ancestors of the native americans ** dated to 14,000 years ago.[1]
chr**topher columbus was the first european to land in the territory of what ** now the united states when he arrived in puerto rico in 1493.the subsequent arrival of settlers from europe began the colonial h**tory of the united states.the thir** brit**h colonies that would become the original us states,were founded along the east coast beginning in 1607.spain,france and russia also founded small settlements in what would become us territory.the thir** colonies grew very rapidly,reaching 50,000 by 1650,250,000 by 1700,and 2.5 million by 1775.high birth rates and low death rates were augmented by steady flows of immigrants from europe as well as sl**es from the west indies.occasional small-scale wars involved the french and indians to the north,and the span**h and indians to the south.religion was a powerful influence on many immigrants,especially the puritans in new england and the german sects in pennsylvania,with boosts from the revivals of the first great awakening.the colonies by the 1750s had achieved a standard of living about as high as britain,with far self ** than anywhere else.most free men owned their own farms and could vote in elections for the colonial leg**latures,while local courts d**pensed justice.royal soldiers were rarely seen.[2]
the colon**ts did not h**e representation in the ruling brit**h ** and believed they were being denied their constitutional rights as engl**hmen.for many years,the home ** had permitted wide latitude to local colonial **s.beginning in the 1760s london demanded the colon**ts pay taxes.the new foreign taxes on stamps and tea ignited a firestorm of opposition.the brit**h responded with military force in massachusetts,and shut down the system of local self ** in what the colon**ts called the intolerable acts.
after fighting broke out in april 1775,each of the colonies ousted all royal officials and set up their own **s,which were coordinated out of philadelphia by the continental congress.the american revolution escalated into all-out war.despite local king george loyal**ts,the new nation declared independence in july 1776 as the united states of america.after americans captured the brit**h invasion army in 1777,france became a military ally,and the war became a major international war with evenly balanced forces.with the capture of a second brit**h invasion army at yorktown in 1781,the brit**h opened peace negotiations.the treaty of par** in 1783 proved highly f**orable to the new nation.[3]
the new national ** proved too weak,so and a constitutional convention was called in 1787 to create an alternative.the resulting constitution of the united states ratified in 1788 created a federal **,based on the ideology of republican**m,equal rights,and civic duty.the first ten amendments known as the bill of rights quickly followed,guaranteeing many individual rights from federal interference.the new national ** under president george washington built a strong economic system,designed by alexander hamilton,that settled the wartime debts,created a national bank and sought economic growth based on cities and trade,than farming.hamilton formed the federal**t party to gain wide local support for the new policies,which were opposed by thomas jefferson.the jay treaty of 1795 opened a decade of trade with britain,which was at war with revolutionary france.jefferson,a friend of france who feared brit**h influence would undermine republican**m,set up an opposition party,and the first party system based on voters in every state,began operation in the mid 1790s.jefferson tried to coerce the brit**h into recognizing america's neutral rights,stopping seizing sailors on american ships,and stop aiding hostile indians in the west.when that failed the u.s.declared the war of 1812 against britain.the war was militarily indec**ive but guaranteed american independence,as well as friendly relations with the brit**h empire,which controlled canada.
with the lou**iana purchase in 1803 westward expansion of the united states crossed the m**s**sippi river.th** was encouraged by the belief in manifest destiny,by which the united states would expand east to west,reaching the pacific after the conquest of mexico in 1848.the sl**eholding south in 1861 tried to break away and form its own country in response to threats to its peculiar institution-sl**ery.the civil war lasting four years became deadliest war in american h**tory.under the leadership of republican abraham lincoln the rebellion was crushed,the nation reunified.the sl**es freed,and the south put under reconstruction for a decade.
very rapid economic growth,fueled by entrepreneurs who created great new industries in railroads,steel,coal,textiles,and machinery,manned by millions of immigrants from europe(and some from asia),built new cities overnight,making the u.s.the world's foremost industrial power.with germany threatening to win world war i in part by sinking american ships,the u.s.entered the war in 1917,supplied the material,money and to a degree the soldiers needed to win.the u.s.partly dictated the peace terms,but refused to join the league of nations,as it enjoyed unprecedented prosperity in the 1920s.the crash of 1929 started the worldwide great depression,which was long and severe for the entire country.a new deal coalition led by franklin d.roosevelt dominated national elections for years,and the new deal in 1933-36 began a new era of federal regulation of the business,support for labor unions,and prov**ion of relief for the unemployed and social security for the elderly.
the u.s.organized,funded and supplied the allied cause in world war ii,defeating nazi germany and imperial japan.postwar hopes that the new united nations would resolve the world's problems failed,as europe was divided and the u.s.took the lead in the cold war with a policy of containing commun**t expansion.containment led to wars in korea(a stalemate)and vietnam(lost).economic prosperity after the war empowered families to move to the suburbs and engage in a baby boom that pushed the population from 140 million in 1940 to 203 million in 1970.the industrial economy based on he**y industry g**e way to a service economy featuring health care and education,as america led the way to a computerized world.the end of the cold war came in 1991 as soviet commun**m collapsed.the u.s.was the only military superpower left,but it was challenged for economic supremacy by china,which remained on good terms with the u.s.as it embraced capital**m and by 2010 was growing much rapidly than the u.s.
the civil rights movement ended jim crow and empowered black voters in the 1960s,leading to the movement of blacks into high ** offices.however,the new deal coalition collapsed in the mid 1960s in d**putes over race and the vietnam war.the reagan era of conservative national policies,deregulation and tax cuts took control with the election of ronald reagan in 1980.by 2010,commentators were debating whether the election of barack obama in 2008 represented an end of the reagan era,or was only a reaction against the bubble economy of the 2000s,which burst in 2008 and became the late-2000s recession with prolonged unemployment.