August 9, in the Wake of the watergate break-in and cover-up, President nixon resigns from office, the first President to do so, and is succeeded by VIce President gerald R. Ford

1976 JULY 20 and SEPTEMBER 3, unmanned Viking 1 and II spacecraft successfully land on Mars.

**JUIY 4, the United States celebrates the restoration of the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France in 1886.

1987 DECEMBER 8, at a summit meeting in Washington, D.C., President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty eliminating an entire class of intermediate-range and shorter-range nuclear missiles.

1993 DECEMBER 8, President Bill Clinton signs the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), establishing free trade between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Vocabulary notes

Settlement - поселение

Abundant - обильный

Persecution - преследование

tax revenues – налоговые поступления в казну

interfere - вмешиваться

refuge - убежище

toleration - терпимость

prosperity - процветание

Disguised - замаскированные

Rebellion – восстание, бунт

Besiege - осаждать

Alliance - союз

Troop - войско

Ban - запрещать

Invade – вторгаться, оккупировать

Slavery - рабство

Abolish - отменять

to declare war – объявлять войну

surrender - сдаваться

acquisition - приобретение

conscription – воинская повинность

Assassinate – покушаться на жизнь

Amendments – поправки (конституционные)

Tribe - племя

Incandescent - раскаленный

Armistice - разоружение

mutual aid - взаимопомощь

Government

Introduction

The United States is a federal union of 50 states, with the District of Columbia as the seat of the federal government. The Constitution outlines the structure of the national government and specifies its powers and activities, and defines the relationship between the national government and individual state governments. Power is shared between the national and state (local) governments. Within each state are counties, townships, cities and villages, each of which has its own elective government.

Article 1 of the Constitution defines the legislative branch and vests power to legislate in the Congress of the United States. The executive powers of the President are defined in Article 2. Article 3 places judicial power in the hands of one Supreme Court and inferior courts as Congress sees necessary to establish.