Fourth of July: U.S. Government History

From The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History

From The Great American History Fact-Finder

From The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History

From The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History

From Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law

from Constitutional Amendments

From Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World
An Ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio, July 13, 1787.

Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the said territory, for the purposes of temporary government, be one district, subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient..

From The Environmental Debate: A Documentary History

Be it enacted …, That any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of unappropriated public land, upon which said person may have filed a preemption claim, or which may, at the time the application is made, be subject to preemption at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less, per acre

From Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present
An Act to provide for the establishment of Federal reserve banks, to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper, to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes.

From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
A collapse in global credit markets in September 2008 turned a recession that had beset the U.S. since late 2007 into the worst economic downturn the country faced since the Great Depression. In response, President-Elect Barack Obama proposed a massive stimulus plan combining tax cuts with federal spending on infrastructure and grants to states.

From Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
The cession of Louisiana and the Floridas by Spain to France works most sorely on the U.S. On this subject the Secretary of State has written to you fully. Yet I cannot forbear recurring to it personally, so deep is the impression it makes in my mind. It compleatly reverses all the political relations of the U.S. and will form a new epoch in our political course.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, is an independent agency of the U.S. government established in 1915 and charged with keeping American business competition free and fair. The FTC has no jurisdiction over banks and common carriers, which are under the supervision of other governmental agencies. It has five members, not more than three of whom may be members of the same political party, appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate, for seven-year terms.