United States (Manifest Destiny)

The United States of America (also called the United States, the US, the U.S.A., or America) is a federal constitutionalist republic comprised of states, nine incorporated territories, and a federal district. Situated mainly on the North American continent, the 48 contiguous states are commonly referred to as the 'main 48', or the 'upper 48', while the remaining 11 are non-contiguous, though three (Yucatan, Belize, and Panana) are geographically part of North America, the remainder are part of or entirely comprised of islands. The United States shares borders with Mexico to the south, Central America to the west and Colombia to the east (Panama), as well as maritime borders with the West Indies to the southeast of Puerto Rico and to the north and south of Guadeloupe & Martinique.

The United States is a member of the G11, G30, NATO, and is a permanent (and founding) member of the World Assembly, with which it carries considerable weight in the Security Council. America possesses the seventh-largest military in the world by number of troops and the largest air force and navy, as well as the status of one of the world's ranked superpowers. It is also a nuclear weapons state and possesses the second-largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world, with a total stockpile of 6,500 warheads, behind only the Soviet Union's 9,000.