particular rivaling the southern states as a destination for retired
Americans in search of a warm climate.
Population growth in the hot, arid Southwest has depended on two human
artifacts: the dam and the air conditioner. Dams on the Colorado and other
rivers and aqueducts such as those of the Central Arizona Project have
brought water to once-small towns such as Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix,
Arizona; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, allowing them to become metropolises.
Las Vegas is renowned as one of the world's centers for gambling, while
Santa Fe, New Mexico, is famous as a center for the arts, especially
painting, sculpture, and opera. Another system of dams and irrigation
projects waters the Central Valley of California, which is noted for
producing large harvests of fruits and vegetables.
THE WEST
Americans have long regarded the West as the last frontier. Yet California
has a history of European settlement older than that of most midwestern
states. Spanish priests founded missions along the California coast a few
years before the outbreak of the American Revolution. In the 19th century,
California and Oregon entered the Union ahead of many states to the east.
The West is a region of scenic beauty on a grand scale. All of its 11
states are partly mountainous, and the ranges are the sources of startling
contrasts. To the west of the peaks, winds from the Pacific Ocean carry
enough moisture to keep the land well-watered. To the east, however, the
land is very dry. Parts of western Washington State, for example, receive
20 times the amount of rain that falls on the eastern side of the state's
Cascade Range.
In much of the West the population is sparse, and the federal government
owns and manages millions of hectares of undeveloped land. Americans use
these areas for recreational and commercial activities, such as fishing,
camping, hiking, boating, grazing, lumbering, and mining. In recent years
some local residents who earn their livelihoods on federal land have come
into conflict with the land's managers, who are required to keep land use
within environmentally acceptable limits.
Alaska, the northernmost state in the Union, is a vast land of few, but
hardy, people and great stretches of wilderness, protected in national
parks and wildlife refuges. Hawaii is the only state in the union in which
Asian Americans outnumber residents of European stock. Beginning in the
1980s large numbers of Asians have also settled in California, mainly
around Los Angeles.
Los Angeles -- and Southern California as a whole -- bears the stamp of its
large Mexican-American population. Now the second largest city in the
nation, Los Angeles is best known as the home of the Hollywood film
industry. Fueled by the growth of Los Angeles and the "Silicon Valley" area
near San Jose, California has become the most populous of all the states.
Western cities are known for their tolerance. Perhaps because so many
westerners have moved there from other regions to make a new start, as a
rule interpersonal relations are marked by a live-and-let-live attitude.
The western economy is varied. California, for example, is both an
agricultural state and a high-technology manufacturing state.
THE FRONTIER SPIRIT
One final American region deserves mention. It is not a fixed place but a
moving zone, as well as a state of mind: the border between settlements and
wilderness known as the frontier. Writing in the 1890s, historian Frederick
Jackson Turner claimed that the availability of vacant land throughout much
of the nation's history has shaped American attitudes and institutions.
"This perennial rebirth," he wrote, "this expansion westward with its new
opportunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive
society, furnish the forces dominating American character."
Numerous present-day American values and attitudes can be traced to the
frontier past: self-reliance, resourcefulness, comradeship, a strong sense
of equality. After the Civil War a large number of black Americans moved
west in search of equal opportunities, and many of them gained some fame
and fortune as cowboys, miners, and prairie settlers. In 1869 the western
territory of Wyoming became the first place that allowed women to vote and
to hold elected office.
Because the resources of the West seemed limitless, people developed
wasteful attitudes and practices. The great herds of buffalo (American
bison) were slaughtered until only fragments remained, and many other
species were driven to the brink of extinction. Rivers were dammed and
their natural communities disrupted. Forests were destroyed by excess
logging, and landscapes were scarred by careless mining.
A counterweight to the abuse of natural resources took form in the American
conservation movement, which owes much of its success to Americans'
reluctance to see frontier conditions disappear entirely from the
landscape. Conservationists were instrumental in establishing the first
national park, Yellowstone, in 1872, and the first national forests in the
1890s. More recently, the Endangered Species Act has helped stem the tide
of extinctions.
Environmental programs can be controversial; for example, some critics
believe that the Endangered Species Act hampers economic progress. But,
overall, the movement to preserve America's natural endowment continues to
gain strength. Its replication replication in many other countries around
the world is a tribute to the lasting influence of the American frontier.
A responsive government.
Separation of powers and the democratic process.
The early American way of life encouraged democracy. The colonists were
inhabiting a land of forest and wilderness. They had to work together to
build shelter, provide food, and clear the land for farms and dwellings.
This need for cooperation strengthened the belief that, in the New World,
people should be on an equal footing, with nobody having special
privileges.
The urge for equality affected the original 13 colonies' relations with
the mother country, England. The Declaration of Independence in 1776
proclaimed that all men are created equal, that all have the right to
"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
The Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution after it, combined
America's colonial experience with the political thought of such
philosophers as England's John Locke to produce the concept of a democratic
republic. The government would draw its power from the people themselves
and exercise it through their elected representatives. During the
Revolutionary War, the colonies had formed a national congress to present
England with a united front. Under an agreement known as the Articles of
Confederation, a postwar congress was allowed to handle only problems that
were beyond the capabilities of individual states.
THE CONSTITUTION
The Articles of Confederation failed as a governing document for the
United States because the states did not cooperate as expected. When it
came time to pay wages to the national army or the war debt to France, some
states refused to contribute. To cure this weakness, the congress asked
each state to send a delegate to a convention. The so-called Constitutional
Convention met in Philadelphia in May of 1787, with George Washington
presiding.
The delegates struck a balance between those who wanted a strong central
government and those who did not. The resulting master plan, or
Constitution, set up a system in which some powers were given to the
national, or federal, government, while others were reserved for the
states. The Constitution divided the national government into three parts,
or branches: the legislative (the Congress, which consists of a House of
Representatives and a Senate), the executive (headed by the president), and
the judicial (the federal courts). Called "separation of powers," this
division gives each branch certain duties and substantial independence from
the others. It also gives each branch some authority over the others
through a system of "checks and balances."
Here are a few examples of how checks and balances work in practice.
8. If Congress passes a proposed law, or "bill," that the president
considers unwise, he can veto it. That means that the bill is dead
unless two-thirds of the members of both the House and the Senate vote
to enact it despite the president's veto.
9. If Congress passes, and the president signs, a law that is challenged
in the federal courts as contrary to the Constitution, the courts can
nullify that law. (The federal courts cannot issue advisory or
theoretical opinions, however; their jurisdiction is limited to actual
disputes.)
10. The president has the power to make treaties with other nations and to
make appointments to federal positions, including judgeships. The
Senate, however, must approve all treaties and confirm the
appointments before they can go into effect.
Recently some observers have discerned what they see as a weakness in the
tripartite system of government: a tendency toward too much checking and
balancing that results in governmental stasis, or "gridlock."
BILL OF RIGHTS
The Constitution written in Philadelphia in 1787 could not go into effect
until it was ratified by a majority of citizens in at least 9 of the then
13 U.S. states. During this ratification process, misgivings arose. Many
citizens felt uneasy because the document failed to explicitly guarantee
the rights of individuals. The desired language was added in 10 amendments
to the Constitution, collectively known as the Bill of Rights.
