Explanation: The United States has 10 national holidays, or days when all people who work for the national government and most other people do not have to go to work. These holidays are usually on a Monday or Friday so that people can enjoy a three-d...
Explanation: Every year on July 4, millions of Americans commemorate (or remember and honor) the day when the United States adopted (or approved) the Declaration of Independence and created a new country that was independent and no longer part of Gre...
Explanation: At the beginning of almost any football, basketball, or baseball game in the United States, people sing the countrys national anthem, or the song that officially represents the United States. This song is called The Star-Spangled Banner....
Explanation: The design (or plan) for the flag of the United States has changed 26 times in the countrys short history. When the Declaration of Independence was written, the United States didnt have a flag. The first flag was adopted (or chosen to b...
Explanation: The U.S. flag is often called the Stars and Stripes, because those words describe what the flag looks like. The flag has 13 stripes, which are horizontal lines (or lines that run from left to right). The stripes alternate between red and...
Explanation: Since 1886, the Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of freedom to people all over the world, meaning that when they look at a picture or photograph of the statue of liberty, they think about freedom in the United States. The Statue of Li...
Explanation: The government of the United States is a representative democracy, which means that citizens vote for people who then represent them in the government, making laws and decisions that reflect (or are the same as) what the citizens want. C...
Explanation: The border between the United States and Mexico is the international border that is crossed more often than any other international border in the world. It stretches (or reaches) 1,969 miles (or 3,169 kilometers) and touches four U.S. st...
Explanation: Canada, which is just to the north of the United States, or immediately north of the United States, shares a border (or separating line) with 13 U.S. states. The border is 5,522 miles (or 8,891 kilometers) long, which makes it the longes...
Explanation: When most people think of the United States, they think about the 50 states, but they often forget that other parts of the world are part of the United States, too. A U.S. territory is an area of land that belongs to the U.S. government...
Explanation: The east coast of the United States, or the part of the United States that touches the Atlantic Ocean, is also called the Eastern Seaboard or the Atlantic Seaboard. The Eastern Seaboard is the place where the United States began. When Eu...
Explanation: In the 1800s, most Americans believed in Manifest Destiny, or the idea that the United States was supposed to expand (or grow) across North America to reach from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. This was a...
Explanation: Before there were cars or very good railroads, which are special roads for trains, most transportation in the United States relied on (or used) rivers. Using boats on rivers was the fastest way to move people and goods (or products, like...
Explanation: The American Indians, also known as Native Americans, were the first people living in North America when the Europeans began to settle (or begin to live there). Although many people think about the American Indians as a homogenous group,...
Explanation: Terrorism (or violence that is used against people to try to scare them) used to be something that Americans only read about in the newspaper. They knew that terrorists were dangerous (or could hurt them), but it didnt really happen in t...
