23.The usa as a multiethnic society.

In the 2000 census, the country had 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, with numerous others represented in smaller amounts. By the federal government's categorization of race, most Americans (80.4% in 2004) are white. These white Americans are mostly European Americans—the descendants of European immigrants to the United States—along with some non-Europeans counted as white (those with origins in the original peoples of the Middle East and North Africa). To the exclusion of Hispanic-origin European Am-s, non-Hispanic whites constituted 67.4% of the population. The non-Hispanic white population is proportionally declining, because of both immigration by, and a higher birth rate among, ethnic and racial minorities. The largest ethnic group of European ancestry is German at 15.2%, followed by Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from French Canada, as well as from such Slavic countries as Poland and Russia. African Americans, or Blacks, largely descend from Africans who arrived as slaves during the 17th through 19th centuries, and number about 35 million or 12.9% of the population. At about 1.5% of the total population, Native Americans and Alaska Natives number about 4.4 million, approximately 35% of whom were living on reservations in 2005.

The US government keeps no official register of Americans' religious status. about 52% of adults described themselves as Protestant, 24.5% Roman Catholics. The most popular other faiths include Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Unitarian Universalism. Religion has traditionally played a large role in American society; many of the original European colonists came to America for religious reasons. Religion still has a major influence on American politics and culture, arguably more so than in other industrialized nations.

24. Speak on one of the American Presidents.

George Washington (Feb 22, 1732 – Dec 14, 1799) led America's Continental Army to victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and was later elected the first President of the United States. He served two four-year terms from 1789 to 1797, having been reelected in 1792. He was one of ten children in an aristocratic Virginian family, bent almost exclusively on growing tobacco and preparing timber. Washington received his primary education at a nearby churchyard school and then was sent to a boarding school. He enjoyed learning about the practical world (how to count one's goods and be a good gentleman farmer), but was not versed in the literary classics of the day, nor did he excel in reading or languages. In Washington's early teens his formal education came to an end. When he was 16, he met Lord Thomas Fairfax, an Englishman who owned an enormous tract of land. Fairfax gave Washington his first job, surveying the lands of the Shenandoah Valley. Through his surveying work, Washington was able to earn enough money to begin buying plots of land. By the age of 21 he owned more than 1500 acres. In 1754 he served as a colonel in the French and Indian War. By the late 1700s, the public knew well of Washington's military skill. In 1775, Washington was appointed military advisor for New York, defending it from British attack. Weeks later, the Second Continental Congress appointed him Commander-in-Chief of the entire military. In the beginning, Washington's military maneuvers consisted mainly of sharp correspondence with the British. He lost his first battle, but was successful in New Jersey. By 1781 W forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. The war was won. Washington's success brought him the duty of presiding over the Constitutional Convention in 1789. By the time the Constitution was enacted, Washington was elected president, a position he took with reluctance. He served two terms. He was a firm, dignified but unaggressive chief executive, advocating Am’s neutrality as its predominant foreign policy. In 1797 he retired, leaving the country far more pop than when he had first taken office. He died in 1799 in his Mount Vernon home (on the Potomac, near WashDC). In his honor the first permanent capital of the US, founded in 1791, is named Washington.