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series of lawsuits and tension between the two companies. These issues ended with the settling of their lawsuit in 2007. Advertising Apple's first slogan, "Byte into an Apple", was coined in the late 1970s. From 1997 to 2002, the slogan "Think Different" was used in advertising campaigns, and is still closely associated with Apple. Apple also has slogans for specific product lines  for example, "iThink, therefore iMac" was used in 1998 to promote the iMac, and "Say hello to iPhone" has been used in iPhone advertisements. "Hello" was also used to introduce the original Macintosh, Newton, iMac "hello again", and iPod. From the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984, with the 1984 Super Bowl advertisement to the more modern Get a Mac adverts, Apple has been recognized for its efforts towards effective advertising and marketing for its products. However, claims made by later campaigns were criticized, particularly the 2005 Power Mac ads. Apple's product advertisements gained a lot of attention as a result of
their eyepopping graphics and catchy tunes. Musicians who benefited from an improved profile as a result of their songs being included on Apple advertisements include Canadian singer Feist with the song "1234" and Yael Nam with the song "New Soul". Brand loyalty Apple customers gained a reputation for devotion and loyalty early in the company's history. In 1984, BYTE stated that Apple evangelists were actively engaged by the company at one time, but this was after the phenomenon had already been firmly established. Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki has called the brand fanaticism "something that was stumbled upon," while Ive explained in 2014 that "People have an incredibly personal relationship" with Apple's products. Apple Store openings and new product releases can draw crowds of hundreds, with some waiting in line as much as a day before the opening. The opening of New York City's Apple Fifth Avenue store in 2006 was highly attended, and had visitors from Europe who flew in for the event. In June 2017, a
newlywed couple took their wedding photos inside the thenrecently opened Orchard Road Apple Store in Singapore. The high level of brand loyalty has been criticized and ridiculed, applying the epithet "Apple fanboy" and mocking the lengthy lines before a product launch. An internal memo leaked in 2015 suggested the company planned to discourage long lines and direct customers to purchase its products on its website. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008, and in the world from 2008 to 2012. On September 30, 2013, Apple surpassed CocaCola to become the world's most valuable brand in the Omnicom Group's "Best Global Brands" report. Boston Consulting Group has ranked Apple as the world's most innovative brand every year since 2005. The New York Times in 1985 stated that "Apple above all else is a marketing company". John Sculley agreed, telling The Guardian newspaper in 1997 that "People talk about technology, but Apple was a marketing company. It was the marketing co
mpany of the decade." Research in 2002 by NetRatings indicate that the average Apple consumer was usually more affluent and better educated than other PC company consumers. The research indicated that this correlation could stem from the fact that on average Apple Inc. products were more expensive than other PC products. In response to a query about the devotion of loyal Apple consumers, Jonathan Ive responded there are 1.65 billion Apple products in active use. Headquarters and major facilities Apple Inc.'s world corporate headquarters are located in Cupertino, in the middle of California's Silicon Valley, at Apple Park, a massive circular groundscraper building with a circumference of . The building opened in April 2017 and houses more than 12,000 employees. Apple cofounder Steve Jobs wanted Apple Park to look less like a business park and more like a nature refuge, and personally appeared before the Cupertino City Council in June 2011 to make the proposal, in his final public appearance before his deat
h. Apple also operates from the Apple Campus also known by its address, 1 Infinite Loop, a grouping of six buildings in Cupertino that total located about to the west of Apple Park. The Apple Campus was the company's headquarters from its opening in 1993, until the opening of Apple Park in 2017. The buildings, located at 16 Infinite Loop, are arranged in a circular pattern around a central green space, in a design that has been compared to that of a university. In addition to Apple Park and the Apple Campus, Apple occupies an additional thirty office buildings scattered throughout the city of Cupertino, including three buildings that also served as prior headquarters "Stephens Creek Three" 19771978, Bandley One" 19781982, and "Mariani One" 19821993. In total, Apple occupies almost 40 of the available office space in the city. Apple's headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa EMEA are located in Cork in the south of Ireland, called the Hollyhill campus. The facility, which opened in 1980, houses
5,500 people and was Apple's first location outside of the United States. Apple's international sales and distribution arms operate out of the campus in Cork. Apple has two campuses near Austin, Texas a campus opened in 2014 houses 500 engineers who work on Apple silicon and a campus opened in 2021 where 6,000 people to work in technical support, supply chain management, online store curation, and Apple Maps data management. The company, also has several other locations in Boulder, Colo., Culver City, Calif., Herzliya Israel, London, New York, Pittsburgh, San Diego and Seattle that each employ hundreds of people. Stores The first Apple Stores were originally opened as two locations in May 2001 by thenCEO Steve Jobs, after years of attempting but failing storewithinastore concepts. Seeing a need for improved retail presentation of the company's products, he began an effort in 1997 to revamp the retail program to get an improved relationship to consumers, and hired Ron Johnson in 2000. Jobs relaunched A
pple's online store in 1997, and opened the first two physical stores in 2001. The media initially speculated that Apple would fail, but its stores were highly successful, bypassing the sales numbers of competing nearby stores and within three years reached US1 billion in annual sales, becoming the fastest retailer in history to do so. Over the years, Apple has expanded the number of retail locations and its geographical coverage, with 499 stores across 22 countries worldwide . Strong product sales have placed Apple among the toptier retail stores, with sales over 16 billion globally in 2011. In May 2016, Angela Ahrendts, Apple's then Senior Vice President of Retail, unveiled a significantly redesigned Apple Store in Union Square, San Francisco, featuring large glass doors for the entry, open spaces, and rebranded rooms. In addition to purchasing products, consumers can get advice and help from "Creative Pros" individuals with specialized knowledge of creative arts; get product support in a treelined Genius
Grove; and attend sessions, conferences and community events, with Ahrendts commenting that the goal is to make Apple Stores into "town squares", a place where people naturally meet up and spend time. The new design will be applied to all Apple Stores worldwide, a process that has seen stores temporarily relocate or close. Many Apple Stores are located inside shopping malls, but Apple has built several standalone "flagship" stores in highprofile locations. It has been granted design patents and received architectural awards for its stores' designs and construction, specifically for its use of glass staircases and cubes. The success of Apple Stores have had significant influence over other consumer electronics retailers, who have lost traffic, control and profits due to a perceived higher quality of service and products at Apple Stores. Apple's notable brand loyalty among consumers causes long lines of hundreds of people at new Apple Store openings or product releases. Due to the popularity of the brand, App
le receives a large number of job applications, many of which come from young workers. Although Apple Store employees receive aboveaverage pay, are offered money toward education and health care, and receive product discounts, there are limited or no paths of career advancement. A May 2016 report with an anonymous retail employee highlighted a hostile work environment with harassment from customers, intense internal criticism, and a lack of significant bonuses for securing major business contracts. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, Apple closed its stores outside China until March 27, 2020. Despite the stores being closed, hourly workers continue to be paid. Workers across the company are allowed to work remotely if their jobs permit it. On March 24, 2020, in a memo, Senior Vice President of People and Retail Deirdre OBrien announced that some of its retail stores are expected to reopen at the beginning of April. Corporate affairs Corporate culture Apple is one of several highly successful companies founded i
n the 1970s that bucked the traditional notions of corporate culture. Jobs often walked around the office barefoot even after Apple became a Fortune 500 company. By the time of the "1984" television advertisement, Apple's informal culture had become a key trait that differentiated it from its competitors. According to a 2011 report in Fortune, this has resulted in a corporate culture more akin to a startup rather than a multinational corporation. In a 2017 interview, Wozniak credited watching Star Trek and attending Star Trek conventions while in his youth as a source of inspiration for his cofounding Apple. As the company has grown and been led by a series of differently opinionated chief executives, it has arguably lost some of its original character. Nonetheless, it has maintained a reputation for fostering individuality and excellence that reliably attracts talented workers, particularly after Jobs returned to the company. Numerous Apple employees have stated that projects without Jobs's involvement ofte
n took longer than projects with it. To recognize the best of its employees, Apple created the Apple Fellows program which awards individuals who make extraordinary technical or leadership contributions to personal computing while at the company. The Apple Fellowship has so far been awarded to individuals including Bill Atkinson, Steve Capps, Rod Holt, Alan Kay, Guy Kawasaki, Al Alcorn, Don Norman, Rich Page, Steve Wozniak, and Phil Schiller. At Apple, employees are intended to be specialists who are not exposed to functions outside their area of expertise. Jobs saw this as a means of having "bestinclass" employees in every role. For instance, Ron JohnsonSenior Vice President of Retail Operations until November 1, 2011was responsible for site selection, instore service, and store layout, yet had no control of the inventory in his stores. This was done by Tim Cook, who had a background in supplychain management. Apple is known for strictly enforcing accountability. Each project has a "directly responsible i
ndividual" or "DRI" in Apple jargon. As an example, when iOS senior vice president Scott Forstall refused to sign Apple's official apology for numerous errors in the redesigned Maps app, he was forced to resign. Unlike other major U.S. companies, Apple provides a relatively simple compensation policy for executives that does not include perks enjoyed by other CEOs like country club fees or private use of company aircraft. The company typically grants stock options to executives every other year. In 2015, Apple had 110,000 fulltime employees. This increased to 116,000 fulltime employees the next year, a notable hiring decrease, largely due to its first revenue decline. Apple does not specify how many of its employees work in retail, though its 2014 SEC filing put the number at approximately half of its employee base. In September 2017, Apple announced that it had over 123,000 fulltime employees. Apple has a strong culture of corporate secrecy, and has an antileak Global Security team that recruits from the N
ational Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Secret Service. In December 2017, Glassdoor said Apple was the 48th best place to work, having originally entered at rank 19 in 2009, peaking at rank 10 in 2012, and falling down the ranks in subsequent years. Lack of innovation An editorial article in The Verge in September 2016 by technology journalist Thomas Ricker explored some of the public's perceived lack of innovation at Apple in recent years, specifically stating that Samsung has "matched and even surpassed Apple in terms of smartphone industrial design" and citing the belief that Apple is incapable of producing another breakthrough moment in technology with its products. He goes on to write that the criticism focuses on individual pieces of hardware rather than the ecosystem as a whole, stating "Yes, iteration is boring. But it's also how Apple does business. ... It enters a new market and then refines and refines and continues refining until it yields a success".
He acknowledges that people are wishing for the "excitement of revolution", but argues that people want "the comfort that comes with harmony". Furthermore, he writes that "a device is only the starting point of an experience that will ultimately be ruled by the ecosystem in which it was spawned", referring to how decent hardware products can still fail without a proper ecosystem specifically mentioning that Walkman did not have an ecosystem to keep users from leaving once something better came along, but how Apple devices in different hardware segments are able to communicate and cooperate through the iCloud cloud service with features including Universal Clipboard in which text copied on one device can be pasted on a different device as well as interconnected device functionality including Auto Unlock in which an Apple Watch can unlock a Mac in close proximity. He argues that Apple's ecosystem is its greatest innovation. The Wall Street Journal reported in June 2017 that Apple's increased reliance on Siri,
its virtual personal assistant, has raised questions about how much Apple can actually accomplish in terms of functionality. Whereas Google and Amazon make use of big data and analyze customer information to personalize results, Apple has a strong proprivacy stance, intentionally not retaining user data. "Siri is a textbook of leading on something in tech and then losing an edge despite having all the money and the talent and sitting in Silicon Valley", Holger Mueller, a technology analyst, told the Journal. The report further claims that development on Siri has suffered due to team members and executives leaving the company for competitors, a lack of ambitious goals, and shifting strategies. Though switching Siri's functions to machine learning and algorithms, which dramatically cut its error rate, the company reportedly still failed to anticipate the popularity of Amazon's Echo, which features the Alexa personal assistant. Improvements to Siri stalled, executives clashed, and there were disagreements over
the restrictions imposed on thirdparty app interactions. While Apple acquired an Englandbased startup specializing in conversational assistants, Google's Assistant had already become capable of helping users select WiFi networks by voice, and Siri was lagging in functionality. In December 2017, two articles from The Verge and ZDNet debated what had been a particularly devastating week for Apple's macOS and iOS software platforms. The former had experienced a severe security vulnerability, in which Macs running the thenlatest macOS High Sierra software were vulnerable to a bug that let anyone gain administrator privileges by entering "root" as the username in system prompts, leaving the password field empty and twice clicking "unlock", gaining full access. The bug was publicly disclosed on Twitter, rather than through proper bug bounty programs. Apple released a security fix within a day and issued an apology, stating that "regrettably we stumbled" in regards to the security of the latest updates. After insta
lling the security patch, however, file sharing was broken for users, with Apple releasing a support document with instructions to separately fix that issue. Though Apple publicly stated the promise of "auditing our development processes to help prevent this from happening again", users who installed the security update while running the older 10.13.0 version of the High Sierra operating system rather than the thennewest 10.13.1 release experienced that the "root" security vulnerability was reintroduced, and persisted even after fully updating their systems. On iOS, a date bug caused iOS devices that received local app notifications at 1215am on December 2, 2017, to repeatedly restart. Users were recommended to turn off notifications for their apps. Apple quickly released an update, done during the nighttime in Cupertino, California time and outside of their usual software release window, with one of the headlining features of the update needing to be delayed for a few days. The combined problems of the week
on both macOS and iOS caused The Verges Tom Warren to call it a "nightmare" for Apple's software engineers and described it as a significant lapse in Apple's ability to protect its more than 1 billion devices. ZDNets Adrian KingsleyHughes wrote that "it's hard to not come away from the last week with the feeling that Apple is slipping". KingsleyHughes also concluded his piece by referencing an earlier article, in which he wrote that "As much as I don't want to bring up the tired old 'Apple wouldn't have done this under Steve Jobs's watch' trope, a lot of what's happening at Apple lately is different from what they came to expect under Jobs. Not to say that things didn't go wrong under his watch, but product announcements and launches felt a lot tighter for sure, as did the overall quality of what Apple was releasing." He did, however, also acknowledge that such failures "may indeed have happened" with Jobs in charge, though returning to the previous praise for his demands of quality, stating "it's almost guar
anteed that given his personality that heads would have rolled, which limits future failures". Manufacturing and assembling The company's manufacturing, procurement, and logistics enable it to execute massive product launches without having to maintain large, profitsapping inventories. In 2011, Apple's profit margins were 40 percent, compared with between 10 and 20 percent for most other hardware companies. Cook's catchphrase to describe his focus on the company's operational arm is "Nobody wants to buy sour milk". In May 2017, the company announced a 1 billion funding project for "advanced manufacturing" in the United States, and subsequently invested 200 million in Corning Inc., a manufacturer of toughened Gorilla Glass technology used in its iPhone devices. The following December, Apple's chief operating officer, Jeff Williams, told CNBC that the "1 billion" amount was "absolutely not" the final limit on its spending, elaborating that "We're not thinking in terms of a fund limit. ... We're thinking abou
t, where are the opportunities across the U.S. to help nurture companies that are making the advanced technology  and the advanced manufacturing that goes with that  that quite frankly is essential to our innovation". As of 2021, Apple uses components from 43 different countries. The majority of assembling is done by Taiwanese original design manufacturer firms Foxconn, Pegatron, Wistron and Compal Electronics mostly in factories located inside China, but also Brazil, and India. During the Mac's early history Apple generally refused to adopt prevailing industry standards for hardware, instead creating their own. This trend was largely reversed in the late 1990s, beginning with Apple's adoption of the PCI bus in the 750085009500 Power Macs. Apple has since joined the industry standards groups to influence the future direction of technology standards such as USB, AGP, HyperTransport, WiFi, NVMe, PCIe and others in its products. FireWire is an Appleoriginated standard that was widely adopted across the industr
y after it was standardized as IEEE 1394 and is a legally mandated port in all Cable TV boxes in the United States. Apple has gradually expanded its efforts in getting its products into the Indian market. In July 2012, during a conference call with investors, CEO Tim Cook said that he "loves India", but that Apple saw larger opportunities outside the region. India's requirement that 30 of products sold be manufactured in the country was described as "really adds cost to getting product to market". In May 2016, Apple opened an iOS app development center in Bangalore and a maps development office for 4,000 staff in Hyderabad. In March, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple would begin manufacturing iPhone models in India "over the next two months", and in May, the Journal wrote that an Apple manufacturer had begun production of iPhone SE in the country, while Apple told CNBC that the manufacturing was for a "small number" of units. In April 2019, Apple initiated manufacturing of iPhone 7 at its Bengaluru
facility, keeping in mind demand from local customers even as they seek more incentives from the government of India. At the beginning of 2020, Tim Cook announced that Apple schedules the opening of its first physical outlet in India for 2021, while an online store is to be launched by the end of the year. Labor practices The company advertised its products as being made in America until the late 1990s; however, as a result of outsourcing initiatives in the 2000s, almost all of its manufacturing is now handled abroad. According to a report by The New York Times, Apple insiders "believe the vast scale of overseas factories, as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers, have so outpaced their American counterparts that "Made in the USA" is no longer a viable option for most Apple products". In 2006, one complex of factories in Shenzhen, China that assembled the iPod and other items had over 200,000 workers living and working within it. Employees regularly worked more than
60 hours per week and made around 100 per month. A little over half of the workers' earnings was required to pay for rent and food from the company. Apple immediately launched an investigation after the 2006 media report, and worked with their manufacturers to ensure acceptable working conditions. In 2007, Apple started yearly audits of all its suppliers regarding worker's rights, slowly raising standards and pruning suppliers that did not comply. Yearly progress reports have been published since 2008. In 2011, Apple admitted that its suppliers' child labor practices in China had worsened. The Foxconn suicides occurred between January and November 2010, when 18 Foxconn Chinese employees attempted suicide, resulting in 14 deathsthe company was the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, for clients including Apple, at the time. The suicides drew media attention, and employment practices at Foxconn were investigated by Apple. Apple issued a public statement about the suicides, and company spokespe
rson Steven Dowling said The statement was released after the results from the company's probe into its suppliers' labor practices were published in early 2010. Foxconn was not specifically named in the report, but Apple identified a series of serious labor violations of labor laws, including Apple's own rules, and some child labor existed in a number of factories. Apple committed to the implementation of changes following the suicides. Also in 2010, workers in China planned to sue iPhone contractors over poisoning by a cleaner used to clean LCD screens. One worker claimed that he and his coworkers had not been informed of possible occupational illnesses. After a high suicide rate in a Foxconn facility in China making iPads and iPhones, albeit a lower rate than that of China as a whole, workers were forced to sign a legally binding document guaranteeing that they would not kill themselves. Workers in factories producing Apple products have also been exposed to hexane, a neurotoxin that is a cheaper alternat
ive than alcohol for cleaning the products. A 2014 BBC investigation found excessive hours and other problems persisted, despite Apple's promise to reform factory practice after the 2010 Foxconn suicides. The Pegatron factory was once again the subject of review, as reporters gained access to the working conditions inside through recruitment as employees. While the BBC maintained that the experiences of its reporters showed that labor violations were continuing since 2010, Apple publicly disagreed with the BBC and stated "We are aware of no other company doing as much as Apple to ensure fair and safe working conditions". In December 2014, the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights published a report which documented inhumane conditions for the 15,000 workers at a Zhen Ding Technology factory in Shenzhen, China, which serves as a major supplier of circuit boards for Apple's iPhone and iPad. According to the report, workers are pressured into 65hour work weeks which leaves them so exhausted that they of
ten sleep during lunch breaks. They are also made to reside in "primitive, dark and filthy dorms" where they sleep "on plywood, with six to ten workers in each crowded room." Omnipresent security personnel also routinely harass and beat the workers. In 2019, there were reports stating that some of Foxconn's managers had used rejected parts to build iPhones and that Apple was investigating the issue. Environmental practices and initiatives Apple Energy Apple Energy, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple Inc. that sells solar energy. , Apple's solar farms in California and Nevada have been declared to provide 217.9 megawatts of solar generation capacity. In addition to the company's solar energy production, Apple has received regulatory approval to construct a landfill gas energy plant in North Carolina. Apple will use the methane emissions to generate electricity. Apple's North Carolina data center is already powered entirely with energy from renewable sources. Energy and resources Following a Greenp
eace protest, Apple released a statement on April 17, 2012, committing to ending its use of coal and shifting to 100 renewable clean energy. By 2013, Apple was using 100 renewable energy to power their data centers. Overall, 75 of the company's power came from clean renewable sources. In 2010, Climate Counts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to directing consumers toward the greenest companies, gave Apple a score of 52 points out of a possible 100, which puts Apple in their top category "Striding". This was an increase from May 2008, when Climate Counts only gave Apple 11 points out of 100, which placed the company last among electronics companies, at which time Climate Counts also labeled Apple with a "stuck icon", adding that Apple at the time was "a choice to avoid for the climateconscious consumer". In May 2015, Greenpeace evaluated the state of the Green Internet and commended Apple on their environmental practices saying, "Apple's commitment to renewable energy has helped set a new bar for the indus
try, illustrating in very concrete terms that a 100 renewable Internet is within its reach, and providing several models of intervention for other companies that want to build a sustainable Internet." , Apple states that 100 of its U.S. operations run on renewable energy, 100 of Apple's data centers run on renewable energy and 93 of Apple's global operations run on renewable energy. However, the facilities are connected to the local grid which usually contains a mix of fossil and renewable sources, so Apple carbon offsets its electricity use. The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool EPEAT allows consumers to see the effect a product has on the environment. Each product receives a Gold, Silver, or Bronze rank depending on its efficiency and sustainability. Every Apple tablet, notebook, desktop computer, and display that EPEAT ranks achieves a Gold rating, the highest possible. Although Apple's data centers recycle water 35 times, the increased activity in retail, corporate and data centers also in
crease the amount of water use to in 2015. During an event on March 21, 2016, Apple provided a status update on its environmental initiative to be 100 renewable in all of its worldwide operations. Lisa P. Jackson, Apple's vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives who reports directly to CEO, Tim Cook, announced that , 93 of Apple's worldwide operations are powered with renewable energy. Also featured was the company's efforts to use sustainable paper in their product packaging; 99 of all paper used by Apple in the product packaging comes from postconsumer recycled paper or sustainably managed forests, as the company continues its move to all paper packaging for all of its products. Apple working in partnership with Conservation Fund, have preserved 36,000 acres of working forests in Maine and North Carolina. Another partnership announced is with the World Wildlife Fund to preserve up to of forests in China. Featured was the company's installation of a 40 MW solar power plant in the Sichu
an province of China that was tailormade to coexist with the indigenous yaks that eat hay produced on the land, by raising the panels to be several feet off of the ground so the yaks and their feed would be unharmed grazing beneath the array. This installation alone compensates for more than all of the energy used in Apple's Stores and Offices in the whole of China, negating the company's energy carbon footprint in the country. In Singapore, Apple has worked with the Singaporean government to cover the rooftops of 800 buildings in the citystate with solar panels allowing Apple's Singapore operations to be run on 100 renewable energy. Liam was introduced to the world, an advanced robotic disassembler and sorter designed by Apple Engineers in California specifically for recycling outdated or broken iPhones. Reuses and recycles parts from traded in products. Apple announced on August 16, 2016, that Lens Technology, one of its major suppliers in China, has committed to power all its glass production for Apple wi
th 100 percent renewable energy by 2018. The commitment is a large step in Apple's efforts to help manufacturers lower their carbon footprint in China. Apple also announced that all 14 of its final assembly sites in China are now compliant with UL's Zero Waste to Landfill validation. The standard, which started in January 2015, certifies that all manufacturing waste is reused, recycled, composted, or converted into energy when necessary. Since the program began, nearly, 140,000 metric tons of waste have been diverted from landfills. On July 21, 2020, Apple announced its plan to become carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle by 2030. In the next 10 years, Apple will try to lower emissions with a series of innovative actions, including low carbon product design, expanding energy efficiency, renewable energy, process and material innovations, and carbon removal. In April 2021, Apple said that it had started a 200 million fund in order to combat climate chan
ge by removing 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. Toxins Following further campaigns by Greenpeace, in 2008, Apple became the first electronics manufacturer to fully eliminate all polyvinyl chloride PVC and brominated flame retardants BFRs in its complete product line. In June 2007, Apple began replacing the cold cathode fluorescent lamp CCFL backlit LCD displays in its computers with mercuryfree LEDbacklit LCD displays and arsenicfree glass, starting with the upgraded MacBook Pro. Apple offers comprehensive and transparent information about the CO2e, emissions, materials, and electrical usage concerning every product they currently produce or have sold in the past and which they have enough data needed to produce the report, in their portfolio on their homepage. Allowing consumers to make informed purchasing decisions on the products they offer for sale. In June 2009, Apple's iPhone 3GS was free of PVC, arsenic, and BFRs. All Apple products now have mercuryfree LEDbackl
it LCD displays, arsenicfree glass, and nonPVC cables. All Apple products have EPEAT Gold status and beat the latest Energy Star guidelines in each product's respective regulatory category. In November 2011, Apple was featured in Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics, which ranks electronics manufacturers on sustainability, climate and energy policy, and how "green" their products are. The company ranked fourth of fifteen electronics companies moving up five places from the previous year with a score of 4.610. Greenpeace praises Apple's sustainability, noting that the company exceeded its 70 global recycling goal in 2010. It continues to score well on the products rating with all Apple products now being free of PVC plastic and BFRs. However, the guide criticizes Apple on the Energy criteria for not seeking external verification of its greenhouse gas emissions data and for not setting out any targets to reduce emissions. In January 2012, Apple requested that its cable maker, Volex, begin producing haloge
nfree USB and power cables. Green bonds In February 2016, Apple issued a US1.5 billion green bond climate bond, the first ever of its kind by a U.S. tech company. The green bond proceeds are dedicated to the financing of environmental projects. Racial Justice and Equality Initiatives In June 2020, Apple committed 100 million for its Racial Equity and Justice initiative REJI and in Jan 2021 announced various projects as part of the initiative. Finance Apple is the world's largest information technology company by revenue, the world's largest technology company by total assets, and the world's secondlargest mobile phone manufacturer after Samsung. In its fiscal year ending in September 2011, Apple Inc. reported a total of 108 billion in annual revenuesa significant increase from its 2010 revenues of 65 billionand nearly 82 billion in cash reserves. On March 19, 2012, Apple announced plans for a 2.65pershare dividend beginning in fourth quarter of 2012, per approval by their board of directors. The comp
any's worldwide annual revenue in 2013 totaled 170 billion. In May 2013, Apple entered the top ten of the Fortune 500 list of companies for the first time, rising 11 places above its 2012 ranking to take the sixth position. , Apple has around US234 billion of cash and marketable securities, of which 90 is located outside the United States for tax purposes. Apple amassed 65 of all profits made by the eight largest worldwide smartphone manufacturers in quarter one of 2014, according to a report by Canaccord Genuity. In the first quarter of 2015, the company garnered 92 of all earnings. On April 30, 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple had cash reserves of 250 billion, officially confirmed by Apple as specifically 256.8 billion a few days later. , Apple was the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization. On August 2, 2018, Apple became the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach a 1 trillion market value. Apple was ranked No. 4 on the 2018 Fortune 500 rankings o
f the largest United States corporations by total revenue. Tax practices Apple has created subsidiaries in lowtax places such as Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the British Virgin Islands to cut the taxes it pays around the world. According to The New York Times, in the 1980s Apple was among the first tech companies to designate overseas salespeople in hightax countries in a manner that allowed the company to sell on behalf of lowtax subsidiaries on other continents, sidestepping income taxes. In the late 1980s, Apple was a pioneer of an accounting technique known as the "Double Irish with a Dutch sandwich," which reduces taxes by routing profits through Irish subsidiaries and the Netherlands and then to the Caribbean. British Conservative Party Member of Parliament Charlie Elphicke published research on October 30, 2012, which showed that some multinational companies, including Apple Inc., were making billions of pounds of profit in the UK, but were paying an effective tax rate to the UK Treasu
ry of only 3 percent, well below standard corporation tax. He followed this research by calling on the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to force these multinationals, which also included Google and The CocaCola Company, to state the effective rate of tax they pay on their UK revenues. Elphicke also said that government contracts should be withheld from multinationals who do not pay their fair share of UK tax. Apple Inc. claims to be the single largest taxpayer to the Department of the Treasury of the United States of America with an effective tax rate of approximately of 26 as of the second quarter of the Apple fiscal year 2016. In an interview with the German newspaper FAZ in October 2017, Tim Cook stated, that Apple is the biggest taxpayer worldwide. In 2015, Reuters reported that Apple had earnings abroad of 54.4 billion which were untaxed by the IRS of the United States. Under U.S. tax law governed by the IRC, corporations don't pay income tax on overseas profits unless the profits are repatri
ated into the United States and as such Apple argues that to benefit its shareholders it will leave it overseas until a repatriation holiday or comprehensive tax reform takes place in the United States. On July 12, 2016, the Central Statistics Office of Ireland announced that 2015 Irish GDP had grown by 26.3, and 2015 Irish GNP had grown by 18.7. The figures attracted international scorn, and were labelled by Nobelprize winning economist, Paul Krugman, as leprechaun economics. It was not until 2018 that Irish economists could definitively prove that the 2015 growth was due to Apple restructuring its controversial double Irish subsidiaries Apple Sales International, which Apple converted into a new Irish capital allowances for intangible assets tax scheme expires in January 2020. The affair required the Central Bank of Ireland to create a new measure of Irish economic growth, Modified GNI to replace Irish GDP, given the distortion of Apple's tax schemes. Irish GDP is 143 of Irish Modified GNI. On August 30,
2016, after a twoyear investigation, the EU Competition Commissioner concluded Apple received "illegal state aid" from Ireland. The EU ordered Apple to pay 13 billion euros 14.5 billion, plus interest, in unpaid Irish taxes for 20042014. It is the largest tax fine in history. The Commission found that Apple had benefited from a private Irish Revenue Commissioners tax ruling regarding its double Irish tax structure, Apple Sales International ASI. Instead of using two companies for its double Irish structure, Apple was given a ruling to split ASI into two internal "branches". The Chancellor of Austria, Christian Kern, put this decision into perspective by stating that "every Viennese cafe, every sausage stand pays more tax in Austria than a multinational corporation". , Apple agreed to start paying 13 billion in back taxes to the Irish government, the repayments will be held in an escrow account while Apple and the Irish government continue their appeals in EU courts. On July 15, 2020, the EU General Court an
nuls the European Commission's decision in Apple State aid case Apple will not have to repay 13 billion to Ireland. Board of directors the following individuals sit on the board of Apple Inc. Arthur D. Levinson chairman Tim Cook executive director and CEO James A. Bell nonexecutive director Al Gore nonexecutive director Andrea Jung nonexecutive director Ronald Sugar nonexecutive director Susan Wagner nonexecutive director Executive management the management of Apple Inc. includes Tim Cook chief executive officer Jeff Williams chief operating officer Luca Maestri senior vice president and chief financial officer Katherine L. Adams senior vice president and general counsel Eddy Cue senior vice president Internet Software and Services Craig Federighi senior vice president Software Engineering John Giannandrea senior vice president Machine Learning and AI Strategy Deirdre O'Brien senior vice president Retail People John Ternus senior vice president Hardware Engineering Greg Josiwak
senior vice president Worldwide Marketing Johny Srouji senior vice president Hardware Technologies Sabih Khan senior vice president Operations Lisa P. Jackson vice president Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives Isabel Ge Mahe vice president and managing director Greater China Tor Myhren vice president Marketing Communications Adrian Perica vice president Corporate Development List of chief executives Michael Scott 19771981 Mike Markkula 19811983 John Sculley 19831993 Michael Spindler 19931996 Gil Amelio 19961997 Steve Jobs 19972011 Tim Cook 2011present List of chairmen The role of chairman of the Board has not always been in use; notably, between 1981 to 1985, and 1997 to 2011. Mike Markkula 19771981 Steve Jobs 1985 Mike Markkula 19851993; second term John Sculley 1993 Mike Markkula 19931997; third term Steve Jobs 2011; second term Arthur D. Levinson 2011present Litigation Apple has been a participant in various legal proceedings and claims since it began operation. I
n particular, Apple is known for and promotes itself as actively and aggressively enforcing its intellectual property interests. Some litigation examples include Apple v. Samsung, Apple v. Microsoft, Motorola Mobility v. Apple Inc., and Apple Corps v. Apple Computer. Apple has also had to defend itself against charges on numerous occasions of violating intellectual property rights. Most have been dismissed in the courts as shell companies known as patent trolls, with no evidence of actual use of patents in question. On December 21, 2016, Nokia announced that in the U.S. and Germany, it has filed a suit against Apple, claiming that the latter's products infringe on Nokia's patents. Most recently, in November 2017, the United States International Trade Commission announced an investigation into allegations of patent infringement in regards to Apple's remote desktop technology; Aqua Connect, a company that builds remote desktop software, has claimed that Apple infringed on two of its patents. Privacy stance Ap
ple has a notable proprivacy stance, actively making privacyconscious features and settings part of its conferences, promotional campaigns, and public image. With its iOS 8 mobile operating system in 2014, the company started encrypting all contents of iOS devices through users' passcodes, making it impossible at the time for the company to provide customer data to law enforcement requests seeking such information. With the popularity rise of cloud storage solutions, Apple began a technique in 2016 to do deep learning scans for facial data in photos on the user's local device and encrypting the content before uploading it to Apple's iCloud storage system. It also introduced "differential privacy", a way to collect crowdsourced data from many users, while keeping individual users anonymous, in a system that Wired described as "trying to learn as much as possible about a group while learning as little as possible about any individual in it". Users are explicitly asked if they want to participate, and can active
ly optin or optout. With Apple's release of an update to iOS 14, Apple required all developers of iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch applications to directly ask iPhone users permission to track them. The feature, titled "App Tracking Transparency", received heavy criticism from Facebook, whose primary business model revolves around the tracking of users' data and sharing such data with advertisers so users can see more relevant ads, a technique commonly known as targeted advertising. Despite Facebook's measures, including purchasing fullpage newspaper advertisements protesting App Tracking Transparency, Apple released the update in midspring 2021. A study by Verizon subsidiary Flurry Analytics reported only 4 of iOS users in the United States and 12 worldwide have opted into tracking. However, Apple aids law enforcement in criminal investigations by providing iCloud backups of users' devices, and the company's commitment to privacy has been questioned by its efforts to promote biometric authentication technology
in its newer iPhone models, which don't have the same level of constitutional privacy as a passcode in the United States. Prior to the release of iOS 15, Apple announced new efforts at combating child sexual abuse material on iOS and Mac platforms. Parents of minor iMessage users can now be alerted if their child sends or receives nude photographs. Additionally, ondevice hashing would take place on media destined for upload to iCloud, and hashes would be compared to a list of known abusive images provided by law enforcement; if enough matches were found, Apple would be alerted and authorities informed. The new features received praise from law enforcement and victims rights advocates, however privacy advocates, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, condemned the new features as invasive and highly prone to abuse by authoritarian governments. Charitable causes Apple is a partner of PRODUCTRED, a fundraising campaign for AIDS charity. In November 2014, Apple arranged for all App Store revenue in a t
woweek period to go to the fundraiser, generating more than US20 million, and in March 2017, it released an iPhone 7 with a red color finish. Apple contributes financially to fundraisers in times of natural disasters. In November 2012, it donated 2.5 million to the American Red Cross to aid relief efforts after Hurricane Sandy, and in 2017 it donated 5 million to relief efforts for both Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey, as well as for the 2017 Central Mexico earthquake. The company has also used its iTunes platform to encourage donations in the wake of environmental disasters and humanitarian crises, such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 Japan earthquake, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in November 2013, and the 2015 European migrant crisis. Apple emphasizes that it does not incur any processing or other fees for iTunes donations, sending 100 of the payments directly to relief efforts, though it also acknowledges that the Red Cross does not receive any personal information on the users donating an
d that the payments may not be tax deductible. On April 14, 2016, Apple and the World Wide Fund for Nature WWF announced that they have engaged in a partnership to, "help protect life on our planet." Apple released a special page in the iTunes App Store, Apps for Earth. In the arrangement, Apple has committed that through April 24, WWF will receive 100 of the proceeds from the applications participating in the App Store via both the purchases of any paid apps and the InApp Purchases. Apple and WWF's Apps for Earth campaign raised more than 8 million in total proceeds to support WWF's conservation work. WWF announced the results at WWDC 2016 in San Francisco. During the COVID19 pandemic, Apple's CEO Cook announced that the company will be donating "millions" of masks to health workers in the United States and Europe. On January 13, 2021, Apple announced a 100 million "Racial Equity and Justice Initiative" to help combat institutional racism worldwide. Criticism and controversies Apple has been criticized
for alleged unethical business practices such as anticompetitive behavior, rash litigation, dubious tax tactics, production methods involving the use of sweatshop labor, customer service issues involving allegedly misleading warranties and insufficient data security, and its products' environmental footprint. Apple has also received criticism for its willingness to work and conduct business with nations such as China and Russia, engaging in practices that have been criticized by human rights groups. Critics have claimed that Apple products combine stolen or purchased designs that Apple claims are its original creations. It has been criticized for its alleged collaboration with the U.S. surveillance program PRISM. The company denied any collaboration. Products and services Apple's issues regarding music over the years include those with the European Union regarding iTunes, trouble over updating the Spotify app on Apple devices and collusion with record labels. In 201819, Apple faced criticism for its failu
re to approve NVIDIA web drivers for GPUs installed on legacy Mac Pro machines up to mid 2012 5,1 running macOS Mojave 10.14. Without access to Appleapproved NVIDIA web drivers, Apple users faced replacing their NVIDIA cards with graphic cards produced by supported brands such as the AMD Radeon, from a list of recommendations provided by Apple to its consumers. In June 2019, Apple issued a recall for its 2015 MacBook Pro Retina 15" following reports of batteries catching fire. The recall affected 432,000 units, and Apple was criticized for the long waiting periods consumers experienced, sometimes extending up to 3 weeks for replacements to arrive; the company also did not provide alternative replacements or repair options. In July 2019, following a campaign by the "right to repair" movement, challenging Apple's tech repair restrictions on devices, the FTC held a workshop to establish the framework of a future nationwide Right to Repair rule. The movement argues Apple is preventing consumers from legitimatel
y fixing their devices at local repair shops which is having a negative impact on consumers. On November 19, 2020, it was announced that Apple will be paying out 113 million related to lawsuits stemming from their iPhone's battery problems and subsequent performance slowdowns. Apple continues to face litigation related to the performance throttling of iPhone 6 and 7 devices, an action that Apple argued was done in order to balance the functionality of the software with the impacts of a chemically aged battery. On January 25, 2021, Apple was hit with another lawsuit from an Italian consumer group, with more groups to follow, despite the rationale for the throttling. On November 30, 2020, the Italian antitrust authority AGCM fined Apple 12 million for misleading trade practices. AGCM stated that Apple's claims of the iPhone's water resistance weren't true as the phones could only resist water up to 4 meters deep in ideal laboratory conditions and not in regular circumstances. The authority added that Apple pr
ovided no assistance to customers with waterdamaged phones, which it said constituted an aggressive trade practice. Privacy Ireland's Data Protection Commission also launched a privacy investigation to examine whether Apple complied with the EU's GDPR law following an investigation into how the company processes personal data with targeted ads on its platform. In December 2019, a report found that the iPhone 11 Pro continues tracking location and collecting user data even after users have disabled location services. In response, an Apple engineer said the Location Services icon "appears for system services that do not have a switch in settings." Antitrust The United States Department of Justice also began a review of Big Tech firms to establish whether they could be unlawfully stifling competition in a broad antitrust probe in 2019. On March 16, 2020, France fined Apple 1.1 billion for colluding with two wholesalers to stifle competition and keep prices high by handicapping independent resellers. The ar
rangement created aligned prices for Apple products such as iPads and personal computers for about half the French retail market. According to the French regulators, the abuses occurred between 2005 and 2017 but were first discovered after a complaint by an independent reseller, eBizcuss, in 2012. On August 13, 2020, Epic Games, the maker of the popular game Fortnite, sued Apple and Google after its hugely popular video game was removed from Apple and Google's App Store. The suits come after both Apple and Google blocked the game after it introduced a direct payment system, effectively shutting out the tech titans from collecting fees. In September 2020 Epic Games founded the Coalition for App Fairness together with other thirteen companies, which aims for better conditions for the inclusion of apps in the app stores. Later in December 2020, Facebook agreed to assist Epic in their legal game against Apple, planning to support the company by providing materials and documents to Epic. Facebook had, however, st
ated that the company will not participate directly with the lawsuit, although did commit to helping with the discovery of evidence relating to the trial of 2021. In the months prior to their agreement, Facebook had been dealing with feuds against Apple relating to the prices of paid apps as well as privacy rule changes. Head of ad products for Facebook Dan Levy commented, saying that "this is not really about privacy for them, this is about an attack on personalized ads and the consequences it's going to have on smallbusiness owners," commenting on the fullpage ads placed by Facebook in various newspapers in December 2020. Politics In January 2020, US President Donald Trump and attorney general William P. Barr criticized Apple for refusing to unlock two iPhones of a Saudi national, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, who shot and killed three American sailors and injured eight others in the Naval Air Station Pensacola. The shooting was declared an "act of terrorism" by the FBI, but Apple denied the request to crack
the phones to reveal possible terrorist information citing its data privacy policy. Apple Inc., shareholders increased pressure on the company to publicly commit to respect freedom of expression as a human right, upon which Apple committed to freedom of expression and information in its human rights policy document. It said that the policy is based on the guidelines of the United Nations on business and human rights, in early September 2020. In 2021, Apple complied with a request by the Chinese government to ban a Quran app from its devices and platforms. The request occurred in the context of the Chinese government's ongoing mass repression of Muslims, particularly Uyghurs, in Xinjiang, which some have labeled a genocide. In December 2021, The Information reported that CEO Tim Cook had negotiated in 2016 a fiveyear agreement with the Chinese government, motivated in part to allay regulatory issues that had harmed the company's business in China. The agreement entailed promised investments totaling 275 b
illion. In September 2021, Apple removed an app from its App Store created by Alexei Navalny meant to coordinate protest voting during the 2021 Russian legislative election. The Russian government had threatened to arrest individual Apple employees working in the country unless Apple complied. Patents In January 2022, Ericsson sued Apple over payment of royalty of 5G technology. See also List of Apple Inc. media events Pixar References Bibliography Further reading External links 1976 establishments in California 1980s initial public offerings American brands Companies based in Cupertino, California Companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Companies in the PRISM network Companies listed on the Nasdaq Computer companies established in 1976 Computer companies of the United States Display technology companies Electronics companies of the United States Home computer hardware companies Mobile phone manufacturers Multinational companies headquartered in the United States Networking hardwar
e companies Portable audio player manufacturers Retail companies of the United States Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Software companies established in 1976 Steve Jobs Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Technology companies established in 1976 Technology companies of the United States
Aberdeenshire ; is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area includes all of the area of the historic counties of Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire except the area making up the City of Aberdeen, as well as part of Banffshire. The county boundaries are officially used for a few purposes, namely land registration and lieutenancy. Aberdeenshire Council is headquartered at Woodhill House, in Aberdeen, making it the only Scottish council whose headquarters are located outside its jurisdiction. Aberdeen itself forms a different council area Aberdeen City. Aberdeenshire borders onto Angus and Perth and Kinross to the south, Highland and Moray to the west and Aberdeen City to the east. Traditionally, it has been economically dependent upon the primary sector agriculture, fishing, and forestry and related processing industries. Over the last 40 years, the development of the oil and gas industr
y and associated service sector has broadened Aberdeenshire's economic base, and contributed to a rapid population growth of some 50 since 1975. Its land represents 8 of Scotland's overall territory. It covers an area of . History Aberdeenshire has a rich prehistoric and historic heritage. It is the locus of a large number of Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites, including Longman Hill, Kempstone Hill, Catto Long Barrow and Cairn Lee. The area was settled in the Bronze Age by the Beaker culture, who arrived from the south around 20001800 BC. Stone circles and cairns were constructed predominantly in this era. In the Iron Age, hill forts were built. Around the 1st century AD, the Taexali people, who have left little history, were believed to have resided along the coast. The Picts were the next documented inhabitants of the area, and were no later than 800900 AD. The Romans also were in the area during this period, as they left signs at Kintore. Christianity influenced the inhabitants early on, and t
here were Celtic monasteries at Old Deer and Monymusk. Since medieval times there have been a number of traditional paths that crossed the Mounth a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven through presentday Aberdeenshire from the Scottish Lowlands to the Highlands. Some of the most well known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth and Elsick Mounth. Aberdeenshire played an important role in the fighting between the Scottish clans. Clan MacBeth and the Clan Canmore were two of the larger clans. Macbeth fell at Lumphanan in 1057. During the AngloNorman penetration, other families arrive such as House of Balliol, Clan Bruce, and Clan Cumming Comyn. When the fighting amongst these newcomers resulted in the Scottish Wars of Independence, the English king Edward I travelled across the area twice, in 1296 and 1303. In 1307, Robert the Bruce was victorious near Inverurie. Along with his victory came new families, namely the
Forbeses and the Gordons. These new families set the stage for the upcoming rivalries during the 14th and 15th centuries. This rivalry grew worse during and after the Protestant Reformation, when religion was another reason for conflict between the clans. The Gordon family adhered to Catholicism and the Forbeses to Protestantism. Aberdeenshire was the historic seat of the clan Dempster. Three universities were founded in the area prior to the 17th century, King's College in Old Aberdeen 1494, Marischal College in Aberdeen 1593, and the University of Fraserburgh 1597. After the end of the Revolution of 1688, an extended peaceful period was interrupted only by such fleeting events such as the Rising of 1715 and the Rising of 1745. The latter resulted in the end of the ascendancy of Episcopalianism and the feudal power of landowners. An era began of increased agricultural and industrial progress. During the 17th century, Aberdeenshire was the location of more fighting, centred on the Marquess of Montrose and
the English Civil Wars. This period also saw increased wealth due to the increase in trade with Germany, Poland, and the Low Countries. The present council area is named after the historic county of Aberdeenshire, which has different boundaries and was abandoned as an administrative area in 1975 under the Local Government Scotland Act 1973. It was replaced by Grampian Regional Council and five district councils Banff and Buchan, Gordon, Kincardine and Deeside, Moray and the City of Aberdeen. Local government functions were shared between the two levels. In 1996, under the Local Government, etc. Scotland Act 1994, the Banff and Buchan District, Gordon District and Kincardine and Deeside District were merged to form the present Aberdeenshire Council area. Moray and the City of Aberdeen were made their own council areas. The present Aberdeenshire Council area consists of all of the historic counties of Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire except the area of those two counties making up the City of Aberdeen, as wel
l as northeast portions of Banffshire. Demographics The population of the council area has risen over 50 since 1971 to approximately , representing 4.7 of Scotland's total. Aberdeenshire's population has increased by 9.1 since 2001, while Scotland's total population grew by 3.8. The census lists a relatively high proportion of under 16s and slightly fewer people of working age compared with the Scottish average. Aberdeenshire is one of the most homogeneousindigenous regions of the UK. In 2011, 82.2 of residents identified as 'White Scottish', followed by 12.3 who are 'White British', whilst ethnic minorities constitute only 0.9 of the population. The largest ethnic minority group are Asian ScottishBritish at 0.8. In addition to the English language, 48.8 of residents reported being able to speak and understand the Scots language. The fourteen biggest settlements in Aberdeenshire with 2011 population estimates are Peterhead 17,790 Fraserburgh 12,540 Inverurie 11,529 Westhill 11,220 Stonehaven 10,820 Ellon
9,910 Portlethen 7,327 Banchory 7,111 Turriff 4,804 Kintore 4,476 Huntly 4,461 Banff 3,931 Kemnay 3,830 Macduff 3,711 Economy Aberdeenshire's Gross Domestic Product GDP is estimated at 3,496M 2011, representing 5.2 of the Scottish total. Aberdeenshire's economy is closely linked to Aberdeen City's GDP 7,906M, and in 2011, the region as a whole was calculated to contribute 16.8 of Scotland's GDP. Between 2012 and 2014, the combined Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City economic forecast GDP growth rate is 8.6, the highest growth rate of any local council area in the UK and above the Scottish rate of 4.8. A significant proportion of Aberdeenshire's working residents commute to Aberdeen City for work, varying from 11.5 from Fraserburgh to 65 from Westhill. Average Gross Weekly Earnings for fulltime employees employed in workplaces in Aberdeenshire in 2011 are 572.60. This is lower than the Scottish average by 2.10 and a fall of 2.6 on the 2010 figure. The average gross weekly pay of people resident in Aberdeenshir
e is much higher, at 741.90, as many people commute out of Aberdeenshire, principally into Aberdeen City. Total employment excluding farm data in Aberdeenshire is estimated at 93,700 employees Business Register and Employment Survey 2009. The majority of employees work within the service sector, predominantly in public administration, education and health. Almost 19 of employment is within the public sector. Aberdeenshire's economy remains closely linked to Aberdeen City's and the North Sea oil industry, with many employees in oilrelated jobs. The average monthly unemployment claimant count rate for Aberdeenshire in 2011 was 1.5. This is lower than the average rate of Aberdeen City 2.3, Scotland 4.2 and the UK 3.8. Major industries Energy There are significant energyrelated infrastructure, presence and expertise in Aberdeenshire. Peterhead is an important centre for the energy industry. Peterhead Port, which includes an extensive new quay with adjacent lay down area at Smith Quay, is a major support loc
ation for North Sea oil and gas exploration and production and the fastgrowing global subsea sector. The Gas Terminal at St Fergus handles around 15 of the UK's natural gas requirements and the Peterhead power station is looking to host Britain's first carbon capture and storage power generation project.There are numerous offshore wind turbines near the coast. Fishing Aberdeenshire is Scotland's foremost fishing area. In 2010, catches landed at Aberdeenshire's ports accounted for over half the total fish landings of Scotland, and almost 45 in the UK. Peterhead and Fraserburgh ports, alongside Aberdeen City, provide much of the employment in these sectors. The River Deeis also rich in salmon. Agriculture Aberdeenshire is rich in arable land, with an estimated 9,000 people employed in the sector, and is best known for rearing livestock, mainly cattle. Sheep are important in the higher ground. Tourism this sector continues to grow, with a range of sights to be seen in the area. From the lively Cairngorm Mo
untain range to the bustling fishing ports on the northeast coast, Aberdeenshire samples a bit of everything. Aberdeenshire also has a rugged coastline, many sandy beaches and is a hot spot for tourist activity throughout the year. Almost 1.3 million tourists visited the region in 2011 up 3 on the previous year. Whisky distilling is still a practised art in the area. Governance and politics The council has 70 councillors, elected in 19 multimember wards by single transferable vote. The 2017 elections resulted in the following representation The overall political composition of the council, following subsequent defections and byelections, is as follows The council is the first in Scotland to have councillors form an Alba party political group these councillors are Leigh Wilson, Alastair Bews and Brian Topping. The council's Revenue Budget for 201213 totals approx 548 million. The Education, Learning and Leisure Service takes the largest share of budget 52.3, followed by Housing and Social Work 24.3, Infr
astructure Services 15.9, Joint Boards such as Fire and Police and Misc services 7.9 and Trading Activities 0.4. 21.5 of the revenue is raised locally through the Council Tax. Average Band D Council Tax is 1,141 201213, no change on the previous year. The current chief executive of the council is Jim Savege and the elected Council Leader is Jim Gifford. Aberdeenshire also has a provost, who is Councillor Bill Howatson. The council has devolved power to six area committees Banff and Buchan; Buchan; Formartine; Garioch; Marr; and Kincardine and Mearns. Each area committee takes decisions on local issues such as planning applications, and the split is meant to reflect the diverse circumstances of each area. Boundary map In the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 60.36 of voters in Aberdeenshire voted for the Union, while 39.64 opted for independence. Notable features The following significant structures or places are within Aberdeenshire Balmoral Castle, Scottish Highland residence of the British royal f
amily. Bennachie Burn O'Vat Cairness House Cairngorms National Park Corgarff Castle Crathes Castle Causey Mounth, an ancient road Drum Castle Dunnottar Castle Fetteresso Castle Fowlsheugh Nature Reserve Haddo House Herscha Hill Huntly Castle Kildrummy Castle Loch of Strathbeg Lochnagar Monboddo House Muchalls Castle Pitfour estate Portlethen Moss Raedykes Roman Camp River Dee River Don Sands of Forvie Nature Reserve Slains Castles, Old and New Stonehaven Tolbooth Ythan Estuary Nature Reserve Hydrology and climate There are numerous rivers and burns in Aberdeenshire, including Cowie Water, Carron Water, Burn of Muchalls, River Dee, River Don, River Ury, River Ythan, Water of Feugh, Burn of Myrehouse, Laeca Burn and Luther Water. Numerous bays and estuaries are found along the seacoast of Aberdeenshire, including Banff Bay, Ythan Estuary, Stonehaven Bay and Thornyhive Bay. Aberdeenshire has a marine west coast climate on the Kppen climate classification. Aberdeenshire is in the rain shadow of the Grampians,
therefore it has a generally dry climate for a maritime region, with portions of the coast, receiving of moisture annually. Summers are mild and winters are typically cold in Aberdeenshire; Coastal temperatures are moderated by the North Sea such that coastal areas are typically cooler in the summer and warmer in winter than inland locations. Coastal areas are also subject to haar, or coastal fog. Notable residents John Skinner, 17211807 author, poet and ecclesiastic. Penned the famous verse, "Tullochgorum". Hugh Mercer, 17261777, born in the manse of Pitsligo Kirk, near Rosehearty, brigadier general of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Alexander Garden, 17301791, born in Birse, noted naturalist and physician. He moved to North America in 1754, and discovered two species of lizards. He was a Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War, which led to the confiscation of his property and his banishment in 1782. The gardenia flower is named in his honour. John Kemp, 17631812, born in Auch
lossan, was a noted educator at Columbia University who is said to have influenced DeWitt Clinton's opinions and policies. George MacDonald 18241905, author, poet, and theologian born and raised in Huntly. Dame Evelyn Glennie, DBE, born and raised in Ellon on 19 July 1965, is a virtuoso percussionist, and the first fulltime solo percussionist in 20thcentury western society. She is very highly regarded in the Scottish musical community, and has proven that her profound deafness does not inhibit her musical talent or daytoday life. Evan Duthie, born 2000, an awardwinning DJ and producer. Peter Nicol, MBE, born in Inverurie on 5 April 1973, is a former professional squash player who represented first Scotland and then England in international squash. Peter Shepherd, 18411879, Surgeon Major, Royal Army Medical Corps Johanna Basford born 1983, illustrator and textile designer References External links Aberdeenshire Council Aberdeenshire Tourist Guide Aberdeenshire Libraries Service Aberdeenshire Museums Servic
e Peterhead and Buchan Tourism Web Site Aberdeenshire Arts Aberdeenshire Sports Council Council areas of Scotland
Aztlan Underground is a band from Los Angeles, California that combines HipHop, Punk Rock, Jazz, and electronic music with Chicano and Native American themes, and indigenous instrumentation. They are often cited as progenitors of Chicano rap. Background The band traces its roots to the late1980s hardcore scene in the Eastside of Los Angeles. They have played rapcore, with elements of punk, hip hop, rock, funk, jazz, indigenous music, and spoken word. Indigenous drums, flutes, and rattles are also commonly used in their music. Their lyrics often address the family and economic issues faced by the Chicano community, and they have been noted as activists for that community. As an example of the politically active and culturally important artists in Los Angeles in the 1990s, Aztlan Underground appeared on Culture Clash on Fox in 1993; and was part of Breaking Out, a concert on pay per view in 1998, The band was featured in the independent films Algun Dia and Frontierland in the 1990s, and on the upcoming Studi
o 49. The band has been mentioned or featured in various newspapers and magazines the Vancouver Sun, New Times, BLU Magazine an underground hip hop magazine, BAM Magazine, La Banda Elastica Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times calendar section. The band is also the subject of a chapter in the book It's Not About a Salary, by Brian Cross. Aztlan Underground remains active in the community, lending their voice to annual events such as The Farce of July, and the recent movement to recognize Indigenous People's Day in Los Angeles and beyond. In addition to forming their own label, Xicano Records and Film, Aztlan Underground were signed to the Basque record label Esan Ozenki in 1999 which enabled them to tour Spain extensively and perform in France and Portugal. Aztlan Underground have also performed in Canada, Australia, and Venezuela. The band has been recognized for their music with nominations in the New Times 1998 "Best Latin Influenced" category, the BAM Magazine 1999 "Best Rock en Espaol" category, and the
LA Weekly 1999 "Best Hip Hop" category. The release of their eponymous third album on August 29, 2009 was met with positive reviews and earned the band four Native American Music Award NAMMY nominations in 2010. Discography Decolonize Year1995 "Teteu Innan" "Killing Season" "Lost Souls" "My Blood Is Red" "Natural Enemy" "Sacred Circle" "Blood On Your Hands" "Interlude" "Aug 2 the 9" "Indigena" "Lyrical Drive By" SubVerses Year1998 "Permiso" "They Move In Silence" "No Soy Animal" "Killing Season" "Blood On Your Hands" "Reality Check" "Lemon Pledge" "Revolution" "Preachers of the Blind State" "Lyrical DriveBy" "Nahui Ollin" "How to Catch a Bullet" "Ik Otik" "Obsolete Man" "Decolonize" "War Flowers" Aztlan Underground Year 2009 "Moztlitta" "Be God" "Light Shines" "Prey" "In the Field" "9 10 11 12" "Smell the Dead" "Sprung" "Medicine" "Acabando" "Crescent Moon" See also Chicano rap Native American hip hop Rapcore Chicano rock References External links Myspace l
ink Facebook page Native American rappers American rappers of Mexican descent Musical groups from Los Angeles Rapcore groups West Coast hip hop musicians
The American Civil War April 12, 1861 May 9, 1865; also known by other names was a civil war in the United States between the Union states that remained loyal to the federal union, or "the North" and the Confederacy states that voted to secede, or "the South". The central cause of the war was the status of slavery, especially the expansion of slavery into territories acquired as a result of the Louisiana Purchase and the MexicanAmerican War. On the eve of the Civil War in 1860, four million of the 32 million Americans 13 were enslaved black people, almost all in the South. The practice of slavery in the United States was one of the key political issues of the 19th century. Decades of political unrest over slavery led up to the Civil War. Disunion came after Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 United States presidential election on an antislavery expansion platform. An initial seven southern slave states declared their secession from the country to form the Confederacy. Confederate forces seized federal forts withi
n territory they claimed. The last minute Crittenden Compromise tried to avert conflict but failed; both sides prepared for war. Fighting broke out in April 1861 when the Confederate army began the Battle of Fort Sumter in South Carolina, just over a month after the first inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. The Confederacy grew to control at least a majority of territory in eleven states out of the 34 U.S. states in February 1861, and asserted claims to two more. Both sides raised large volunteer and conscription armies. Four years of intense combat, mostly in the South, ensued. During 18611862 in the war's Western Theater, the Union made significant permanent gainsthough in the war's Eastern Theater the conflict was inconclusive. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal, declaring all persons held as slaves in states in rebellion "forever free." To the west, the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy by the summer of 1862, then much of its weste
rn armies, and seized New Orleans. The successful 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg. Western successes led to General Ulysses S. Grant's command of all Union armies in 1864. Inflicting an evertightening naval blockade of Confederate ports, the Union marshaled resources and manpower to attack the Confederacy from all directions. This led to the fall of Atlanta in 1864 to Union General William Tecumseh Sherman and his march to the sea. The last significant battles raged around the tenmonth Siege of Petersburg, gateway to the Confederate capital of Richmond. The Civil War effectively ended on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Lee surrendered to Union General Grant at the Battle of Appomattox Court House, after Lee had abandoned Petersburg and Richmond. Confederate generals throughout the Confederate army followed suit. The conclusion of the American Civil War la
cks a clean end date land forces continued surrendering until June 23. By the end of the war, much of the South's infrastructure was destroyed, especially its railroads. The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and four million enslaved black people were freed. The wartorn nation then entered the Reconstruction era in a partially successful attempt to rebuild the country and grant civil rights to freed slaves. The Civil War is one of the most studied and written about episodes in the history of the United States. It remains the subject of cultural and historiographical debate. Of particular interest is the persisting myth of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The American Civil War was among the earliest to use industrial warfare. Railroads, the telegraph, steamships, the ironclad warship, and massproduced weapons saw wide use. In total the war left between 620,000 and 750,000 soldiers dead, along with an undetermined number of civilian casualties. President Lincoln was assassinated just five days a
fter Lee's surrender. The Civil War remains the deadliest military conflict in American history. The technology and brutality of the Civil War foreshadowed the coming World Wars. Causes of secession The causes of secession were complex and have been controversial since the war began, but most academic scholars identify slavery as the central cause of the war. The issue has been further complicated by historical revisionists, who have tried to offer a variety of reasons for the war. Slavery was the central source of escalating political tension in the 1850s. The Republican Party was determined to prevent any spread of slavery to the territories, which, after they were admitted as states, would give the North greater representation in Congress and the Electoral College. Many Southern leaders had threatened secession if the Republican candidate, Lincoln, won the 1860 election. After Lincoln won, many Southern leaders felt that disunion was their only option, fearing that the loss of representation would hamper
their ability to promote proslavery acts and policies. In his second inaugural address, Lincoln said that "slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it." Slavery Slavery was the main cause of disunion. Slavery had been a controversial issue during the framing of the Constitution but had been left unsettled. The issue of slavery had confounded the nation since its inception, and increasingly separated the United States into a slaveholding South and a free North. The issue was exacerbated by the rapid territorial expansion of the country, which repeatedly brought to the fore the issue of whether new territory should be slaveholding or free. The issue had dominated politics for decades leading up to the war. Key att
empts to solve the issue included the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850, but these only postponed an inevitable showdown over slavery. The motivations of the average person were not inherently those of their faction; some Northern soldiers were even indifferent on the subject of slavery, but a general pattern can be established. Confederate soldiers fought the war primarily to protect a Southern society of which slavery was an integral part. From the antislavery perspective, the issue was primarily whether slavery was an anachronistic evil incompatible with republicanism. The strategy of the antislavery forces was containmentto stop the expansion of slavery and thereby put it on a path to ultimate extinction. The slaveholding interests in the South denounced this strategy as infringing upon their constitutional rights. Southern whites believed that the emancipation of slaves would destroy the South's economy, due to the large amount of capital invested in slaves and fears of integrating the exsl
ave black population. In particular, many Southerners feared a repeat of 1804 Haiti massacre also known as "the horrors of Santo Domingo", in which former slaves systematically murdered most of what was left of the country's white population including men, women, children, and even many sympathetic to abolition after the successful slave revolt in Haiti. Historian Thomas Fleming points to the historical phrase "a disease in the public mind" used by critics of this idea and proposes it contributed to the segregation in the Jim Crow era following emancipation. These fears were exacerbated by the 1859 attempt of John Brown to instigate an armed slave rebellion in the South. Abolitionists The abolitionists those advocating the end of slavery were very active in the decades leading up to the Civil War. They traced their philosophical roots back to the Puritans, who strongly believed that slavery was morally wrong. One of the early Puritan writings on this subject was The Selling of Joseph, by Samuel Sewall i
n 1700. In it, Sewall condemned slavery and the slave trade and refuted many of the era's typical justifications for slavery. The American Revolution and the cause of liberty added tremendous impetus to the abolitionist cause. Slavery, which had been around for thousands of years, was considered normal and was not a significant issue of public debate prior to the Revolution. The Revolution changed that and made it into an issue that had to be addressed. As a result, during and shortly after the Revolution, the northern states quickly started outlawing slavery. Even in southern states, laws were changed to limit slavery and facilitate manumission. The amount of indentured servitude dropped dramatically throughout the country. An Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves sailed through Congress with little opposition. President Thomas Jefferson supported it, and it went into effect on January 1, 1808. Benjamin Franklin and James Madison each helped found manumission societies. Influenced by the Revolution, many sl
ave owners freed their slaves, but some, such as George Washington, did so only in their wills. The number of free blacks as a proportion of the black population in the upper South increased from less than 1 percent to nearly 10 percent between 1790 and 1810 as a result of these actions. The establishment of the Northwest Territory as "free soil" no slavery by Manasseh Cutler and Rufus Putnam who both came from Puritan New England would also prove crucial. This territory which became the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota doubled the size of the United States. In the decades leading up to the Civil War, abolitionists, such as Theodore Parker, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Frederick Douglass, repeatedly used the Puritan heritage of the country to bolster their cause. The most radical antislavery newspaper, The Liberator, invoked the Puritans and Puritan values over a thousand times. Parker, in urging New England Congressmen to support the abolition o
f slavery, wrote that "The son of the Puritan ... is sent to Congress to stand up for Truth and Right...." Literature served as a means to spread the message to common folks. Key works included Twelve Years a Slave, the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, American Slavery as It Is, and the most important Uncle Tom's Cabin, the bestselling book of the 19th century aside from the Bible. By 1840 more than 15,000 people were members of abolitionist societies in the United States. Abolitionism in the United States became a popular expression of moralism, and led directly to the Civil War. In churches, conventions and newspapers, reformers promoted an absolute and immediate rejection of slavery. Support for abolition among the religious was not universal though. As the war approached, even the main denominations split along political lines, forming rival southern and northern churches. In 1845, for example, Baptists split into the Northern Baptists and Southern Baptists over the issue of slavery. Aboliti
onist sentiment was not strictly religious or moral in origin. The Whig Party became increasingly opposed to slavery because they saw it as inherently against the ideals of capitalism and the free market. Whig leader William H. Seward who would serve in Lincoln's cabinet proclaimed that there was an "irrepressible conflict" between slavery and free labor, and that slavery had left the South backward and undeveloped. As the Whig party dissolved in the 1850s, the mantle of abolition fell to its newly formed successor, the Republican Party. Territorial crisis Manifest destiny heightened the conflict over slavery, as each new territory acquired had to face the thorny question of whether to allow or disallow the "peculiar institution". Between 1803 and 1854, the United States achieved a vast expansion of territory through purchase, negotiation, and conquest. At first, the new states carved out of these territories entering the union were apportioned equally between slave and free states. Pro and antislavery forc
es collided over the territories west of the Mississippi. The MexicanAmerican War and its aftermath was a key territorial event in the leadup to the war. As the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo finalized the conquest of northern Mexico west to California in 1848, slaveholding interests looked forward to expanding into these lands and perhaps Cuba and Central America as well. Prophetically, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that "Mexico will poison us", referring to the ensuing divisions around whether the newly conquered lands would end up slave or free. Northern "free soil" interests vigorously sought to curtail any further expansion of slave territory. The Compromise of 1850 over California balanced a freesoil state with stronger fugitive slave laws for a political settlement after four years of strife in the 1840s. But the states admitted following California were all free Minnesota 1858, Oregon 1859, and Kansas 1861. In the Southern states, the question of the territorial expansion of slavery westward again became ex
plosive. Both the South and the North drew the same conclusion "The power to decide the question of slavery for the territories was the power to determine the future of slavery itself." By 1860, four doctrines had emerged to answer the question of federal control in the territories, and they all claimed they were sanctioned by the Constitution, implicitly or explicitly. The first of these "conservative" theories, represented by the Constitutional Union Party, argued that the Missouri Compromise apportionment of territory north for free soil and south for slavery should become a Constitutional mandate. The Crittenden Compromise of 1860 was an expression of this view. The second doctrine of Congressional preeminence, championed by Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party, insisted that the Constitution did not bind legislators to a policy of balancethat slavery could be excluded in a territory as it was done in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 at the discretion of Congress; thus Congress could restrict human b
ondage, but never establish it. The illfated Wilmot Proviso announced this position in 1846. The Proviso was a pivotal moment in national politics, as it was the first time slavery had become a major congressional issue based on sectionalism, instead of party lines. Its bipartisan support by northern Democrats and Whigs, and bipartisan opposition by southerners was a dark omen of coming divisions. Senator Stephen A. Douglas proclaimed the third doctrine territorial or "popular" sovereignty, which asserted that the settlers in a territory had the same rights as states in the Union to establish or disestablish slavery as a purely local matter. The KansasNebraska Act of 1854 legislated this doctrine. In the Kansas Territory, years of pro and antislavery violence and political conflict erupted; the U.S. House of Representatives voted to admit Kansas as a free state in early 1860, but its admission did not pass the Senate until January 1861, after the departure of Southern senators. The fourth doctrine was advoc
ated by Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis, one of state sovereignty "states' rights", also known as the "Calhoun doctrine", named after the South Carolinian political theorist and statesman John C. Calhoun. Rejecting the arguments for federal authority or selfgovernment, state sovereignty would empower states to promote the expansion of slavery as part of the federal union under the U.S. Constitution. "States' rights" was an ideology formulated and applied as a means of advancing slave state interests through federal authority. As historian Thomas L. Krannawitter points out, the "Southern demand for federal slave protection represented a demand for an unprecedented expansion of Federal power." These four doctrines comprised the dominant ideologies presented to the American public on the matters of slavery, the territories, and the U.S. Constitution before the 1860 presidential election. States' rights A long running dispute over the origin of the Civil War is to what extent states' rights triggered the con
flict. The consensus among historians is that the Civil War was fought about states' rights. But the issue is frequently referenced in popular accounts of the war and has much traction among Southerners. The South argued that just as each state had decided to join the Union, a state had the right to secedeleave the Unionat any time. Northerners including proslavery President Buchanan rejected that notion as opposed to the will of the Founding Fathers, who said they were setting up a perpetual union. Historian James McPherson points out that even if Confederates genuinely fought over states' rights, it boiled down to states' right to slavery. McPherson writes concerning states' rights and other nonslavery explanations Before the Civil War, the Southern states used federal powers in enforcing and extending slavery at the national level, with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and Dred Scott v. Sandford decision. The faction that pushed for secession often infringed on states' rights. Because of the overrepresent
ation of proslavery factions in the federal government, many Northerners, even nonabolitionists, feared the Slave Power conspiracy. Some Northern states resisted the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act. Historian Eric Foner stated the act "could hardly have been designed to arouse greater opposition in the North. It overrode numerous state and local laws and legal procedures and 'commanded' individual citizens to assist, when called upon, in capturing runaways." He continues, "It certainly did not reveal, on the part of slaveholders, sensitivity to states rights." According to historian Paul Finkelman "the southern states mostly complained that the northern states were asserting their states rights and that the national government was not powerful enough to counter these northern claims." The Confederate constitution also "federally" required slavery to be legal in all Confederate states and claimed territories. Sectionalism Sectionalism resulted from the different economies, social structure, customs, and
political values of the North and South. Regional tensions came to a head during the War of 1812, resulting in the Hartford Convention, which manifested Northern dissatisfaction with a foreign trade embargo that affected the industrial North disproportionately, the ThreeFifths Compromise, dilution of Northern power by new states, and a succession of Southern presidents. Sectionalism increased steadily between 1800 and 1860 as the North, which phased slavery out of existence, industrialized, urbanized, and built prosperous farms, while the deep South concentrated on plantation agriculture based on slave labor, together with subsistence agriculture for poor whites. In the 1840s and 1850s, the issue of accepting slavery in the guise of rejecting slaveowning bishops and missionaries split the nation's largest religious denominations the Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches into separate Northern and Southern denominations. Historians have debated whether economic differences between the mainly industri
al North and the mainly agricultural South helped cause the war. Most historians now disagree with the economic determinism of historian Charles A. Beard in the 1920s, and emphasize that Northern and Southern economies were largely complementary. While socially different, the sections economically benefited each other. Protectionism Owners of slaves preferred lowcost manual labor with no mechanization. Northern manufacturing interests supported tariffs and protectionism while Southern planters demanded free trade. The Democrats in Congress, controlled by Southerners, wrote the tariff laws in the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, and kept reducing rates so that the 1857 rates were the lowest since 1816. The Republicans called for an increase in tariffs in the 1860 election. The increases were only enacted in 1861 after Southerners resigned their seats in Congress. The tariff issue was a Northern grievance. However, neoConfederate writers have claimed it as a Southern grievance. In 186061 none of the groups that propos
ed compromises to head off secession raised the tariff issue. Pamphleteers North and South rarely mentioned the tariff. Nationalism and honor Nationalism was a powerful force in the early 19th century, with famous spokesmen such as Andrew Jackson and Daniel Webster. While practically all Northerners supported the Union, Southerners were split between those loyal to the entirety of the United States called "Southern Unionists" and those loyal primarily to the Southern region and then the Confederacy. Perceived insults to Southern collective honor included the enormous popularity of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the actions of abolitionist John Brown in trying to incite a rebellion of slaves in 1859. While the South moved towards a Southern nationalism, leaders in the North were also becoming more nationally minded, and they rejected any notion of splitting the Union. The Republican national electoral platform of 1860 warned that Republicans regarded disunion as treason and would not tolerate it. The South ignored
the warnings; Southerners did not realize how ardently the North would fight to hold the Union together. Lincoln's election The election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860 was the final trigger for secession. Efforts at compromise, including the Corwin Amendment and the Crittenden Compromise, failed. Southern leaders feared that Lincoln would stop the expansion of slavery and put it on a course toward extinction. When Lincoln won the presidential election in 1860, the South lost any hope of compromise. Jefferson Davis claimed that all the cotton states would secede from the Union. The Confederacy was formed of seven states of the Deep South Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas in January and February 1861. They wrote the Confederate Constitution, which provided greater states' rights than the Constitution of the United States. Until elections were held, Davis was the provisional president. Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861. According to Lincoln, the America
n people had shown that they had been successful in establishing and administering a republic, but a third challenge faced the nation maintaining a republic based on the people's vote, in the face of an attempt to destroy it. Outbreak of the war Secession crisis The election of Lincoln provoked the legislature of South Carolina to call a state convention to consider secession. Before the war, South Carolina did more than any other Southern state to advance the notion that a state had the right to nullify federal laws, and even to secede from the United States. The convention unanimously voted to secede on December 20, 1860, and adopted a secession declaration. It argued for states' rights for slave owners in the South, but contained a complaint about states' rights in the North in the form of opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act, claiming that Northern states were not fulfilling their federal obligations under the Constitution. The "cotton states" of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Te
xas followed suit, seceding in January and February 1861. Among the ordinances of secession passed by the individual states, those of threeTexas, Alabama, and Virginiaspecifically mentioned the plight of the "slaveholding states" at the hands of Northern abolitionists. The rest make no mention of the slavery issue and are often brief announcements of the dissolution of ties by the legislatures. However, at least four statesSouth Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texasalso passed lengthy and detailed explanations of their causes for secession, all of which laid the blame squarely on the movement to abolish slavery and that movement's influence over the politics of the Northern states. The Southern states believed slaveholding was a constitutional right because of the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution. These states agreed to form a new federal government, the Confederate States of America, on February 4, 1861. They took control of federal forts and other properties within their boundaries with little
resistance from outgoing President James Buchanan, whose term ended on March 4, 1861. Buchanan said that the Dred Scott decision was proof that the South had no reason for secession, and that the Union "was intended to be perpetual", but that "The power by force of arms to compel a State to remain in the Union" was not among the "enumerated powers granted to Congress". Onequarter of the U.S. Armythe entire garrison in Texaswas surrendered in February 1861 to state forces by its commanding general, David E. Twiggs, who then joined the Confederacy. As Southerners resigned their seats in the Senate and the House, Republicans were able to pass projects that had been blocked by Southern senators before the war. These included the Morrill Tariff, land grant colleges the Morrill Act, a Homestead Act, a transcontinental railroad the Pacific Railroad Acts, the National Bank Act, the authorization of United States Notes by the Legal Tender Act of 1862, and the ending of slavery in the District of Columbia. The Revenu