14 The structure of the Congress.

The constitution of the US grants all the legislative powers of the federal government to the Congress, which consists of two houses: the Senate and The House of Representatives.

1. The Senate is composed of two members from each state, as provided by the constitution. The 17^th amendment provided for the direct (by people) election of the senate. To be elected to the senate a person must be at least 30 years of age, a citizen of the US for at least nine years, and a resident of the state from which he is elected. There are 100 senators from 50 states, each senator represents his home state Senators are elected for a term of 6 years, but one third of the senate is elected every 2 years {2/3 are always experienced senators). Presiding officer - Vise President (when he is absent senate chases a President pro tempore)

2. Membership in the House of Representatives based on a number of population, its size is- not mentioned in the constitution. To become a member of the House of Representatives a person must be at least-25, a citizen for 7 years, and a resident of the state which he represents. 435 members (the number determined by Congress in 1913), each represents a district in his home state. The size of a district today is 530000 persons. Every state is constitutionally guaranteed at least one member of the House of Representative. Representatives are elected for 2 years, in practice most members are reelected several times. Presiding officer - Speaker (2nd to the Vise president in the line of presidential succession).

Big Four – majority party leaders (Democratic and Republican) + the Speaker of the House of Representatives + the Vice-President. They maintain close contacts with the President, exercise strong influence over the making of laws and have a direct hand in the consideration of current home and foreign policy.

4.The first Europeans to arrive in North America were Vikings traveling west from Greenland. In 1001 Leif Ericson established a Norse settlement at L'Anse-aux-Meadows in northern Newfoundland in present day Canada. However, they failed to make it a permanent set­tlement and soon it was lost and forgotten.

Christopher Columbus hoped to reach Asia sailing west in 1492. Instead he landed on one of the Bahama Islands in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus never stepped on the mainland United States, but his explorations aroused tremendous interest among the Europeans. The American continent was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a noble man from Florence who helped to organize Columbus's second voyage in 1493. After Columbus, there were many expeditions organized by the Spanish, the English, the French and the Dutch.

In 1497 a navigator named John Cabot arrived in Newfoundland on a mission for the English king which later gave Britain claims to North America. In 1534 the Frenchman Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River and claimed the surrounding territory for France.

The first permanent white settlement in North America was founded at St. Augustine in Florida by the Spaniards in 1565. In 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh established the first British colony on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina, but it didn't survive. In 1607 the English would try again, and this time the colony succeeded at Jamestown in Virginia, named after the English king James I. Thus a new era was opened in the colonization of North America.

By 1619 Virginia had no more than two thousand people. That year was notable for three events. One was the arrival of a ship from England with 90 "young maidens" who were to be given as wives to those settlers who would pay 120 pounds of tobacco for their transportation. Equally important was the initiation of a rep­resentative government in America. On July 30, 1619, in the Jamestown church met the first legislative assembly on the continent: a governor, six councilors, and two representatives each from ten plantations.

The third significant event of the year was the arrival in August of a Dutch ship with Negro slaves, of whom it sold twenty to the settlers. This marked the beginning of the slave trade. An important event in the colonization of North America took place in 1620 when a group of colonists known as the Pilgrim Fathers came to North America on the famous ship the Mayflower and settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts. They were separatists in England, or members of the Puritan movement wishing to purify the Church of England by making religious services simpler and discipline stricter. The Pilgrim leaders knew that in order to organ­ize their lives in the new land they had to establish rules of behavior. So 41 men aboard the Mayflower signed a special document known as the Mayflower Compact to abide by "just and equal laws" drafted by leaders of their own choosing, which was the first agreement for self-government in America. They also chose their first governor. The Puritans hoped to build an ideal society and were very in­tolerant to those who disagreed. One Puritan who disagreed was Roger Williams. Forced to leave Massachusetts Bay in 1635 he set up the neighboring Rhode Island colony where complete separation of church and state as well as freedom of religion was prac­ticed. In 1634 Maryland was settled as a refuge for Catholics and in 1681 William Penn, a wealthy Quaker received a large tract of land which became known as Pennsylvania. Here religious tolerance was practiced attracting German, Swedish and Dutch settlers. It was here he founded Philadelphia the "City of Brotherly Love". In 1626 Dutch settlers bought Manhattan Island from local Indian chiefs and built the town of New Amsterdam which in 1664 was seized by the English and renamed New York after the brother of the English king — the Duke of York. Georgia was settled in 1732, the last of the 13 colonies to be established along the Atlantic shore. The French controlled Canada and Louisiana, which included the entire Mississippi basin. The Spaniards controlled Florida.

2. The physical geography of the United States is as varied as that of any other coun­try in the world

The Coastal Plains

A lowland area sweeps from Massachusetts to Texas along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. This coastal plain, which extends for more than3,219 kilometers is divided into two parts — the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the Gulf Coastal Plain. The Atlantic Plain follows the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean south from Cape Cod in Massachusetts to the Florida Peninsula. The coastline is irregular. Many natural harbours have been created. Some of the more important ones are Massachusetts Bay, New York Bay, Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay, and Long Island Sound.

The Gulf Plain is a much wider band of flat land and gently rolling hills. It varies in width from 241 kilometers to about 966 kilometers. At one point, the plain extends far inland to where the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi River. The Mississippi, the longest river in North America, empties into the Gulf of Mexico in Southern Louisiana. There it has made a huge delta. This part of the Gulf Coastal Plain is made up of marsh­es and bayous — a word used to describe the many small, marshy creeks and rivers that flow through the delta area.

The Appalachian Highlands

Just west of the Atlantic Coastal Plain is the Appalachian Highlands. This region takes its name from the Appalachian Mountains. The highlands stretch about 1,931 kilo­meters in the United States from northern Maine to central Alabama. They lie in a north­east to southwest direction. In the highlands is the highest peak in the eastern United States — Mount Mitchell in western North Carolina. It rises 2,037 meters above sea level.

The eastern edge of the highlands is known as the Piedmont. This low plateau varies in altitude from 152 to 305 meters above sea level. West of the Piedmont are the Appalachian Mountains. They are nearly parallel with the Atlantic coast­line.

The Interior Plains

A huge "plain region" covers the middle of the United States between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rockies. The region is divided into Central Plains the Great Plains. The Central Plains include lowland parts of central and western Kentucky and Tennessee, the Great Lakes area, and the upper Mississippi and lower Ohio and Missouri river basins. West of the river basins is the area of the Great Plains. Many long rivers flow eastward from the Great Plains, emptying into the Mississippi.

The Interior Highlands

Two separate highlands regions rise above the plains in the central United States. These are the Superior Highlands and the Ozark Plateau.

Located around Lake Superior, in the northern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, the Superior Highlands are actually a part of the Canadian Shield. Coniferous forests cover rocky plateaus. There are many lakes among the hills. The Ozark Plateau is located between the Missouri and Arkansas rivers west of the Mississippi River. The land is gently rolling in places with some rugged mountains in other places.

The Rocky Mountains

West of the Great Plains is the Rocky Mountain region. The Rocky Mountains extend from Canada south to New Mexico and Western Texas. The region occupies an area over 1,600 kilometers long, it varies in width between 200 to 600 kilometers.

The Rockies stretch from north to south. The Rocky Mountains are much more rugged and much higher than the Appalachians. Many peaks are over 3,658 meters high. Plants are greatly affected by altitude. Mountain tops not covered by snow are capped by tundra grasses and mosses.