15. National Celebrations Americans share three national holidays with many countries: Easter Sunday, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. Easter, which falls on a spring Sunday that varies from year to year, celebrates the Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For Christians, Easter is a day of religious services and a family gathering. Many Americans follow old traditions of coloring hard-boiled eggs and giving children baskets of candy. On the next day, Easter Monday, the president of United States holds an annual Easter egg hunt on the White House lawn for young children. KAUSHAL KISHORE
16. National Celebrations …… Christmas Day, December 25, is another Christian holiday; it marks the birth of Christ. Decorating houses and yards with lights, putting up Christmas trees, giving gifts, and sending greeting cards have become traditions even for many non-Christian Americans. New Year’s Day, of course, is January 1. The celebration of this holiday begins the night before when Americans gather to wish each other a happy and prosperous new year. KAUSHAL KISHORE
17. Political Parties And Elections …… Americans regularly exercise their democratic rights by voting in elections and by participation in political parties and election campaigns. Today, there are two major political parties in the United States, the Democratic and the Republican. The Democratic Party evolved from the party of Thomas Jefferson, formed before 1800. The Republican Party was established in the 1850s by Abraham Lincoln and others who opposed the expansion of salary into new states then being admitted to the Union. KAUSHAL KISHORE
18. Political Parties And Elections …… The Democratic Party is considered to be the more conservative of the two. Democrats generally believe that government has an obligation to provide social and economic programs for those who need them. Republicans are not necessarily opposed to such programs but believe they are too costly to taxpayers. Republicans put more emphasis in the belief that a strong private sector makes citizens less dependent on government. KAUSHAL KISHORE
19. The American Economic System The United States declared its independence in the year 1776, the same year that Scottish economist Adam Smith wrote The Wealth Of Nations, a book that has had an enormous influence on American economic development. Like many other thinkers, Smith believed that in a capitalist system people are naturally selfish and are moved to engage in manufacturing and trade in order to gain wealth and power. Smith’s originality was to argue that such activity is beneficial because it leads to increased production and sharpens competition. KAUSHAL KISHORE
20. Political Parties And Elections …… As a result, goods circulate more widely and at lower prices, jobs are created, and wealth is spread. Though people may act from the narrow desire to enrich themselves, Smith argued, “an invisible hand” guides them to enrich and improve whole of society. Most Americans believe that the rise of their nation as a great economic power could not have occurred under any other system except capitalism, also known as free enterprise after a corollary to Smith’s thinking: that government should interfere in commerce as little as possible. KAUSHAL KISHORE
21. The Stock Market Very early in American history, people saw that they could make money by lending it to those who wanted to start or expand a business. To this day, small American entrepreneurs usually borrow the money they need from friends, relatives, or banks. Larger businesses, however, are more likely to acquire cash by selling stocks or bonds to unrelated parties. These transactions usually take place through a stock exchange, or stock market. Europeans established the first stock exchange in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1531. Brought to the United States in 1792, the institution of the stock market flourished, especially at the New York Stock Exchange, located in the Wall Street area of New York City, the nation’s financial hub. KAUSHAL KISHORE
22. Newspapers The top five daily newspapers by circulation in 1995 were the Wall Street Journal(1,823,207), USA Today (1,570,624), the New York Times(1,170,869), the Los Angeles Times (1,053,498), and the Washington Post (840,232). The youngest of the top five, USA Today, was launched as a national newspaper in 1982 after exhaustive research by the Gannett chain. It relies on bold graphic design, color photos, and brief articles to capture an audience of urban readers interested in news”bites” rather than traditional, long stories. KAUSHAL KISHORE
23. Magazines Magazines on virtually any topic imaginable have appeared, including Tennis, Trailer Life, and Model Railroading, Other magazines have targeted segments within their audience for special attention. TV Guide, Time , and Newsweek, for example, publish regional editions. Several magazines are attempting to personalize the contents of each issue according to an individual reader’s interests. KAUSHAL KISHORE
24. Television: Beyond The Big Three Three privately owned networks that offered free programming financed by commercials - NBC, CBS, and ABC - controlled 90 percent of the TV market from the 1950s to the 1970s. In the 1980s the rapid spread of pay cable TV transmitted by satellite undermined that privileged position. By 1994, almost 60 percent of American households had subscribed to cable TV, and non-network programming was drawing more than 30 percent of viewers. Among the new cable channels were several that show movies 24 hours a day; Cable News Network, the creation of Ted Turner, which broadcasts news around the clock, and MTV, which shows music videos. KAUSHAL KISHORE
25. Television: Beyond The Big Three …… In the meantime, a fourth major commercial network, Fox, has come into being and challenged the big three networks; several local TV stations have switched their affiliation from one of the big three to the newcomer. Two more national network - WB and UPN - have also come along, and the number of cable television channels continues to expand. There are 335 public television stations across the United States, each of which is independent and serves its community’s interests. But the stations are united by such national entities as the Public Broadcasting Service, which supplies programming. KAUSHAL KISHORE
