Declaration Of Independence Dbq

United States is a country that consist 50 country which is covering a vast of North America. How United States began is when the early colonist settlers who came to United Stated were often fleeing unfair treatment, especially religious persecution, in their own countries. The reason why they came is because they were seeking for a freedom and new opportunities. Before United States became a separate and independent nation, the United States was made up of 13 colonies that were ruled by Great Britain. People living in the colonies had no say in which laws were passed or how they were governed. They especially objected to taxation without representation. This means that people had to pay taxes, but they had no say in how their government operated (Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants, 2015).

By 1776, many people believed that this policy was unfair and that they should govern themselves.

Representatives from the colonies issued a Declaration of Independence. This important document declared that the colonies were free, independent, and no longer ruled by Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. He later became the third president of the United States. The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. Americans nowadays celebrate July 4 every year as their Independence Day (Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants, 2015).
The United States had to fight for its freedom from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War. After the colonies won the war, they became states. Each state had its own government. The people in these states wanted to create a new form of government to unite the states into a single nation. Today, this central government is called the federal government (Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants,

2015).

2.0 ELECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
The United States is a federal republic with elected officials at the federal or national, state and local levels. According to Louis Sandy Maisel & Mark D. Brewer (2008), elections in which those on the ballot are identified by their political party affiliation; by contrast, in non-partisan elections no designation appears next to a candidate’s name. Elections in the United States have some elements like National Conventions, Congressional Elections, Electoral Colleges, Campaigns, Political Polls and Voting. Elections occur in every even-numbered year for Congress and some state and local government offices in the United States. Every four years, Americans elect a president and vice president. Every two years, Americans elect all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and approximately one-third of the 100 members of the U.S. Senate. Senators serve staggered terms of six years each.
There are two basic types of elections: primary and general. The most common method used in U.S. elections is the first-past-the-post system, where the highest polling candidate wins the election. Some may use a two-round system, where if no candidate receives a required number of votes then there is a runoff between the two candidates with the most votes. Since 2002, several cities have adopted instant-runoff voting in their elections.
The United States relies on a complex federal system of government, where the national government is central but state and local governments exercise authority over matters that are not reserved for the federal government. So, state and local governments have varying degrees of independence in how they organize elections within their jurisdictions, but they hold frequent and well-administered elections.