[214] The United States has a very diverse population; 37 ancestry groups have more than one million members. [needs update][246] Same-sex marriage is legal nationwide, and it is legal for same-sex couples to adopt. The American economy boomed, becoming the world's largest. The Beat Generation writers opened up new literary approaches, as have postmodernist authors such as John Barth, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo.[464]. [190] The Great Plains west of the 100th meridian are semi-arid. [400], The rise of fascism and Nazism in the 1920s and 30s led many European scientists, including Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and John von Neumann, to immigrate to the United States. [405], Accounting for 4.24% of the global population, Americans collectively possess 29.4% of the world's total wealth, the largest percentage of any country. Article One protects the right to the writ of habeas corpus. [360] As of 2020, the Prison Policy Initiative reported that there were some 2.3 million people incarcerated. The federal capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City. [51] Natives taught many settlers to cultivate corn, beans, and squash. [270], About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. The launch of a "War on Poverty" expanded entitlements and welfare spending, including the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, two programs that provide health coverage to the elderly and poor, respectively, and the means-tested Food Stamp Program and Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Baptists collectively form the largest branch of Protestantism at 15.4%,[237] and the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest individual Protestant denomination at 5.3% of the U.S. Suicide Rate Highest Among Wealthy Nations | Commonwealth Fund", "Deaths by suicide, drugs and alcohol reached an all-time high last year", STATCAST - Week of September 9, 2019. [212] The United States is the third most populous nation in the world, after China and India. [470], The American fast food industry, the world's largest,[471] pioneered the drive-through format in the 1940s. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson took a leading diplomatic role at the Paris Peace Conference and advocated strongly for the U.S. to join the League of Nations. The flat, fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast. [21], The first known use of the name "America" dates back to 1507, when it appeared on a world map created by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller. [221], English (specifically, American English) is the de facto national language of the United States. Alaska became the 49th state of the United States on January 3, 1959. [133], The United States often opposed Third World movements that it viewed as Soviet-sponsored, and occasionally pursued direct action for regime change against left-wing governments, even occasionally supporting authoritarian right-wing regimes.