Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first documented use was on the 2nd of January 1776, in a letter by Stephen Moylan, an aide to General George Washington. The first known public usage appeared in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette on the 6th of April 1776.
The Trail of Tears (1830-1850) was the forced removal of an estimated 60,000 Native Americans from east of the Mississippi River following the Indian Removal Act of 1830 signed by President Andrew Jackson. Between 13,200 and 16,700 people died during the forced march.
The United States became the world's largest economy by around 1890, driven by rapid industrialization in the late 19th century. Its 2024 GDP exceeded $29 trillion, constituting over 25% of nominal global economic output.
The United States spent $997 billion on its military in 2024, representing 37% of global military spending. The U.S. also possesses 42% of the world's nuclear weapons, the second-largest stockpile after Russia.
Wealth inequality is highly concentrated. In 2011, the richest 10% of adults owned 72% of household wealth while the bottom 50% owned just 2%. In 2022, about 37.9 million people (11.5% of the population) lived in poverty. In 2023, the U.S. ranked first in the world for dollar billionaires, with 735.