The USA

The USA is a federal union of 50 states. The basic law is the constitution, adopted in 1787,
which prescribes the structure of national government and lists its rights and fields of authority.
Each state has its government and all of them have the dual character of both Federal and State
government.
The flag. It is called the stars and the stripes and old glory. It was adopted in 1777. The red
stripes proclaim courage, the white - liberty, and the field of blue stands for loyalty.
The coat of arms. The coat of arms of the US represents an eagle with wings outspread,
holding a bangle of rods (the symbol of administer) in the left claw and olive twig (the emblem of
love) in the right claw. The motto of the coat of arms is 'one out of many" (aplinibus nun).
The nick name. It was in 1812 when the nickname of the US government "Uncle Sam"
appeared. 'Uncle' Samuel Wilson supplied beef to the American army, during the war of 1812,
standing his barrels with the letters 'U. S. The army as Uncle Sams knew this beef, and later on
this familiar name became associated with the US government.
The Political System of the USA
The American political system is generally described as a constitutional democracy.
Under the Constitution, the federal government is divided into three branches.
The legislative power is vested in the Congress and made up of two houses: the Senate and
the House of Representatives. There are 435 members in the House of Representatives and 100
senators in the Senate. Each state elects two members every two years for a six-yearterm to the 100member Senate. A senator must be 30 years old, 9 years a citizen and aninhabitant of the state,
which elects him. A representative must be 25, a US citizen and live inthe state from which he is
elected. The Congress makes laws, controls finances (foreign and domestic spending).
The executive branch is headed by the President, who proposes bills to the Congress,
enforces federal laws, controls foreign policy, serves as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
and with the approval of the Senate, makes treaties and appoints secretaries (ministers). President
can veto a bill unless Congress by a two-thirds vote shall overrule it. The President is chosen in
nation-wide elections every 4 years together with the Vice-President. A US president must be 35 or
older, a US citizen born in the USA and have lived in the USA at least 14 years. He can only serve
two terms. Before 1951 the law was different, thats why Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected 4
times.
The Vice-President, elected from the same political party as the President, acts as Chairman
of the Senate, and takes Presidents office if President is unable to finish his term.
The judicial branch is made up of Federal District Courts, 11 Federal Courts and the
Supreme Court. Nine Federal judges are appointed by the President for life. Federal courts decide
cases involving federal law, and conflicts between citizens of different states. The Supreme Court
interprets constitution, tests laws and may rule the law to be unconstitutional. No veto is possible.
In principle, these branches are independent and maintain a balance of power. In practice, they
sometimes come into conflict and can exercise more or less power than originally intended.
The work of the national or federal government is also distributed among various
departments, such as the Department of State, Defense, Labour, Interior, or Education.
There are two main political parties in the US, the Republican Party (the Elephant) and the
Democratic Party (the Donkey). The Republicans tend to be more conservative and have more
support among the upper classes. The Democrats tend to be more liberal and to have more support
among the working classes.
The President of the USA
Do you want to be president of the USA? Maybe you can apply for the job. Answer these
three questions. Are you a U.S. citizen? Are you 35 years old or older? Have you been a resident of
the U.S. for 14 years or longer? Did you say "yes" to all three questions? Then you can take the first
steps to the White House.
You become president for a term. A term is 4 years. You can only serve two terms. This
means that you can only be president twice. This became law in 1951. Before that, the law was

different. In fact, Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933. He was still president when he
died in 1945. He was president for twelve years. No one was president longer than he was.
As president of the U.S., you earn $200,000 a year. You also get an extra 450,000 for
expenses, tax-free. You have your own limousine, jet, and housekeepers, all free. You also live rent
free, in the White House in Washington, D.C. And you are head of the richest country in the world.
Presidents of the United States are very different people. Twenty-two were lawyers, four
soldiers, four farmers, four teachers, two writers, two businessmen, one tailor, and one actor. Eight
of them did not have a college education! The most common first name for a president is James or
some variation of it.

President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States.
He was born on August 4th, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a mother from Kansas, Stanley
Ann Dunham, and a father from Kenya, Barack Obama Sr. He was also raised by his grandfather,
who served in Pattons army, and his grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial
pool to become vice president at a local bank.
He worked his way through schoolOccidental College in Los Angeles, Columbia
University in New York, and later, Harvard Law Schoolwith the help of scholarship money and
student loans.
In 1985, Barack Obama moved to Chicago, where he got his start in community organizing
on the citys South Side, working to help rebuild communities devastated by the closure of local
steel plants.
The President called that time in his life "the best education I ever had, better than anything I
got at Harvard Law School." He has credited that experience as crucial to finding his identity
something that shaped his path to the White House.
Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996. During his time in
Springfield, he passed the first major ethics reform in 25 years, cut taxes for working families, and
expanded health care for children and their parents. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004.
Barack Obama was sworn in as president on January 20th, 2009, in the middle of the worst
economic crisis since the Great Depression, at a time when economy was losing 800,000 jobs a
month.
Exercises:
I. Match words in bolds with their semantic equivalents.
Term, earn, resident, a limousine, serve, U.S. citizen, expenses, in fact
1. To be president, you must be a person who lives in the USA for 14 years.
2. To be president, you must be a person whose country is the U.S.
3. You become president for a fixed period of time.
4. A president can only work for two terms.
5. When you are a president, you make $200,000 a year.
6. You also get $450,000 for money to pay for other things you need.
7. As president, you get free use of an expensive car with a driver.
8. Before 1951, you could be president for more than eight years. In truth, F.D. Roosevelt
was president for 12 years.
II. Provide answers.
1. You can be president for .
2. How many presidents were lawyers?
3. What is the nickname of the USA?
4. Why do we call America a federal union?
5. When was the Constitution adopted?
III. What is wrong?

1. To be president, you must be forty-five years old or older.

2. To be president, you must be a lawyer in the U.S. for 14 years.
3. A term is 8 years.
4. Franklin D. Roosevelt was president for two terms.
5. Eight presidents did not have a teacher education.
6. As president, you are the businessman of the richest country in the world.