The United States of America (also known as the United States, the U.S., the USA, the States, and America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising 50 states and a federal district. Its capital is Washington in that federal district.
The nation was founded by 13 colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard of North America. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. In the 19th century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. After the Union survived the American Civil War of the 1860s, the United States grew as a superpower which it remains to this day.
Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus takes place entirely in Europe. It was written before the United States acquired its current borders. However, many of the definitive Frankenstein movies, such as the Universal Pictures productions, have been filmed in America with a mixture of American and British personnel. Some more recent adaptations relocate the setting to America as well.