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 SUFFRAGE: ALL CITIZENS AGE 18 OR OLDER,
VOTING IS NOT COMPULSORY
 POLITICAL PARTIES: TWO MAJOR NATIONAL
PARTIES, REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC, OTHER
MINOR GROUPS AND PARTIES
 ELECTIONS: PRESIDENTIAL EVERY FOUR YEARS
 ALL MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESEN-
TATIVES (435) EVERY TWO YEARS
 ONE-THIRD OF MEMBERS OF THE SENATE (33 OUT
OF 100), EVERY TWO YEARS
 FEDERAL ELECTIONS ARE HELD THE FIRST
TUESDAY AFTER THE FIRST TUESDAY AFTER THE
FIRST MONDAY IN NOVEMBER OF EACH EVEN-
NUMBERED YEAR

The nation's capital, Washington, D.C., with more than 3.4 million
people, is the 10th largest metropolitan area in the country. Laid out
by the French architect Pierre L’Enfant in the late 18th century, it was
the world's first city especially planned as a center of government.
The city of Washington, in the District of Columbia along the
Potomac River, is the capital of a federal union of 50 states. When the
United States declared its independence from Great Britain on July 4,
1776 (now celebrated as a national holiday), there were 13 original
states - each one sovereign, each wanting to control its own affairs.
The states tried to keep their sovereignty and independence within a
loose confederation, but their attempt proved ineffectual. Therefore, in
1789, they adopted a new Constitution establishing a federal union
under a strong central government.
The original 13 states were grouped along the Atlantic coast. As
the frontier moved westward, large areas of what is now the
continental United States were added by purchase, treaty and
annexation. As each state was settled, governments were first orga-
nized as territories and later entered the Union as states when their
territorial legislatures petitioned the Congress for admission. There are
now 50 states. Alaska and Hawaii, the last states to enter the Union,
did so in 1959.
Under the Constitution, the states delegated many of their sover-
eign powers to this central government in Washington. But they kept
many important powers for themselves. Each of the 50 states, for
example, retains the right to run its own public school system, to