UNIVERSITY OF PEDAGOGY
Version 2015
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
AMERICAN STUDIES
HANDOUT #1
I. THE USA: AN OVERVIEW
Extracts from Living in the USA, Vermont: Pro Lingua Associates, 1996
(with latest figures updated)
I.1 History
The first inhabitants of North, South, and Central America came about 50,000 years ago from Asia. The first
Europeans to come were probably the Vikings, who arrived about 1000 A.D. from Greenland but did not
establish permanent settlements.
Christopher Columbus is credited with "discovering" America in 1492. This "discovery" caused much excitement
in Europe, and explorers from several countries began exploring various parts of the "new" continents during the
1500's. The Spanish and Portuguese explored the Southern Hemisphere. The Spanish conquered the powerful
empires of the Incas in Peru and the Aztecs in Mexico. Then they started settlements in what is now the western
United States as far north as northern California. Later the British, Dutch and French explored the east coast of
North America, establishing permanent settlements there. French settlements became eastern Canada; the British
and Dutch settlements became the United States.
By the 1700's, there were thirteen British colonies along the east coast of what is now the United States. They
stretched from New Hampshire in the north to Georgia in the south. Each colony had a legislature made up of
colonists but was under the control of Britain.
Economic opportunity and religious and political freedom attracted increasing numbers of settlers to the British
colonies. Most came from Britain, but people from almost every other Western European country also came. The
colonists rejected the idea that government was something inherited from the past. They regarded it as something
they themselves should design and control and, although they lived under British rule, they often did not follow
British laws.
Relations between the American colonies and Britain became worse during the 1700's. The British tried to
tighten control over the colonies by passing laws that restricted freedoms and increased taxes, but the Americans
had been governing themselves and had developed their own sense of self-government. Controls from Britain
were resented, and this resentment eventually developed into conflict in 1775. The Revolutionary War began and on July 4,
1776, the colonists declared independence from England. In 1783 the British were finally
defeated and forced to accept American independence.
The United States of America was officially formed in 1776 with the adoption of the Declaration of
Independence. This set forth certain "truths" that the writers felt were self-evident: that all men are created equal
and are endowed by their Creator with rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Governments were
formed to protect those rights and should therefore derive their powers with the consent of the people they
govern. A new government was set up under laws called the Articles of Confederation (1781), which were
replaced by the U.S. Constitution in 1788. This outlined the basic form of government for the nation and is still
the basis for American government today (see section 1.4).
The main political and social issue causing disagreement among the American states in the 1800's was slavery.
Slaves were the main work force for the plantation system of farming used in the South. Slavery was first
outlawed in the northern states, but the southern states continued the tradition because it provided cheap labor.
The southern states tried to secede from the Union but were told by the North that the United States must be
preserved. So in 1861 the Civil War broke out between the North and the South. This was the most tragic
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period of United States history; thousands of lives were lost and large parts of the South were left in ruins. The
North won the war in 1865, and slavery was outlawed throughout the country soon thereafter.
Throughout the 1800's, settlers moved farther and farther west, and by 1890 settlements had been established
all across the country to the Pacific coast. The settlement of the West brought disaster to many of the Native
American tribes. The Natives had no chance against the superior weapons of the settlers, and those who fought
back were killed or forced to live in certain areas called reservations. By 1900 the Native American way of life
had become almost a thing of the past.
Rapid industrial growth occurred from 1870 to 1916. The value of goods produced during this period increased
ten times, and the country grew in many ways as a result. In 1917, the United States entered into World War I in
Europe and played an important role until the war ended on November 11, 1918. From then until 1929, the
United States experienced great economic growth. Investors invested more and more money. But the economy
was not strong; only part of it was growing manufacturing. And so in 1929 the stock market collapsed and the
Great Depression began. During this period, millions of workers lost their jobs and poverty became a serious
problem.
Not only was the American economy depressed. Many other countries had the same problems, and as a result, certain leaders
gained power in Germany, Italy and Japan with promises of changing the economic situation.
Adolf Hitler in Germany and a group of military leaders in Japan began conquering neighboring countries, and
their actions led to World War II. From 1941 to 1945, the United States fought and with its allies won this war.
Following World War II, the United States began its greatest period of economic growth. However, many
minority groups remained poor. American history since World War II has been characterized by social change
brought about through public protest on various issues in American life. Some major movements have been: the
Civil Rights Movement, aimed at gaining equality for Black Americans; protests against American involvement
in the Vietnam War; the Women's Liberation Movement; the Gay Rights Movement (for equal rights for
homosexuals); various movements against nuclear power plants; and most recently a growing awareness of the
pollution and destruction of the environment.
On September 11, 2001, in the worst terrorist attack in US history, hijackers crashed two US airliners into the
World Trade Center, destroying both building and killing nearly 3,000 people. A third hijacked plane crashed
into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in western Pennsylvania. The US and Great Britain launched attacks
against Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003) and eventually overthrew the governments in these countries, who were
believed to be directly or indirectly involved in the tragic event of September 11.
I.2 Political Map
Below is a map of the 50 states. Each state is also listed with its postal abbreviation. Washington, D.C. (District
of Columbia) is between the states of Maryland and Virginia. It is a federal district and does not belong to any
state. Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands are not states, but they are associated with the United
States.
Fig-1: Political map of the US 1 Maine 27 Minnesota
2 New Hampshire 28 Iowa
3 Vermont 29 Missouri
4 Massachusetts 30 Arkansas
5 Rhode Island 31 Louisiana
6 Connecticut 32 Texas
7 New York 33 Oklahoma
8 Pennsylvania 34 Kansas
9 New Jersey 35 Nebraska
10 Delaware 36 South Dakota
11 Maryland 37 North Dakota
12 West Virginia 38 Montana
13 Virginia 39 Wyoming ^
14 North Carolina 40 Colorado
15 South Carolina 41 New Mexico
16 Georgia 42 Arizona
17 Florida 43 Utah
18 Alabama 44 Idaho
19 Mississippi 45 Washington
20 Tennessee 46 Oregon
21 Kentucky 47 Nevada
22 Ohio 48 California
23 Indiana 49 Alaska
24 Michigan 50 Hawaii
25 Wisconsin 51 Washington D C
26 Illinois
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I.3 Land and People
The United States is the fourth largest country in the world in area and the third in population. Its land and
climate vary from region to region, and its peoples have come from all of the major cultures of the world.
Regions- There are seven regions in the United States, not including Alaska (AK) and Hawaii (HI). They are
listed below. The 48 states listed are sometimes called the continental or contiguous (touching) states. In Alaska
they are called the "lower 48," and in Hawaii people call them "the mainland."
Note: The state names abbreviated in the list above are given with their abbreviation in I.2. For many states
there are two abbreviations for the state name. For example, Mississippi can be MS or Miss. The Post Office
encourages the use of the MS form (two capital letters without punctuation)
PACIFI
C
OCEAN
Fig-2: Regions of the USA
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Land: The United States has an area of 9,371,781 square kilometers. Alaska is the largest state. It is about the
same size as Portugal, Spain, France, and Germany together. Alaska is very mountainous. The highest mountain is
Mount McKinley (also called Denali), which is 6,914 meters high - the highest in North America.
Hawaii is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, 3,857 kilometers from California. The islands are actually the
tops of volcanoes. Hawaii is one of the smallest states (16,760 square kilometers). It is a little smaller than
Kuwait.
The other 48 states stretch across the North American continent for about 4,800 kilometers from the Atlantic to
the Pacific. There is a wide variety of land forms:
Along the Atlantic Coast the land is flat. Inland from the coast there is a low range of mountains, the
Appalachian Mountains. The highest point is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina (2,037 meters).
In the middle of the continent there is the great Mississippi River, which flows south to the Gulf of Mexico, and
the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River which flow northeast through Canada to the Atlantic Ocean. The
middle part of the country is generally flat, and toward the west, it is very open - from Texas north to the Dakotas
this area is called the Great Plains.
The west is mountainous. There are two main mountain systems: The Rocky Mountains and, nearer the Pacific,
the Sierra Nevada and the Coast/Cascade Range. In between the mountain ranges is a dry, semi desert area
called the Great Basin. Great Salt Lake is in the middle of this basin. The highest mountain in the west is Mount
Whitney (4,418 meters) in the Sierra Nevadas of California.
Climate: In general, the climate of the United States is temperate, with four distinct seasons. The northern half of
the country usually has snow in the winter. The coldest months are December, January, and February, and the
warmest are June, July, and August.
The coldest places are Alaska, Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northern Michigan, Northern New
York and northern New England. The hottest places are the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Southern Florida and Hawaii are sub-tropical. Southern California has a Mediterranean-type climate. The driest
areas are southern California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Alaska. The East is much
wetter than the West, and the wettest areas are in the lower Mississippi basin.
Population: According to the census of 2005, the population is 296 million (round figure). 79% of the population lives in
metropolitan areas (cities), 21% in rural areas (countryside). The largest state is California,
with a population of over 36 million. Six other states have populations of over 10 million. They are (highest to
lowest) Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The three smallest states have populations
of about one-half million each. They are Wyoming, Vermont, and Alaska.
In general in recent years, the U.S. population has shifted south and then west. Climate is one reason; economics
is another. Industries and the people who work in them have moved from "the rust belt" to "the Sun Belt."
Florida, Texas, and California have grown much faster than such northern industrial states as New York,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois. Also, in general, the populations of urban areas have grown faster than those of
rural areas. At the same time, the populations of the urban areas have shifted from the "Inner cities" to the
suburbs. Unlike cities in many parts of the world, American cities have centers troubled with poverty and crime
while the surrounding, more open areas are wealthier and have fewer social problems.
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The largest cities are listed below according to the United States Census Bureau (estimated in 2013):
City, State City
Population
New York NY 8,405,837
Los Angeles, CA 3,884,307
Chicago, IL 2,718,782
Houston, TX 2,195,914
Philadelphia, PA 1,553,165
Phoenix, AZ 1,513,367
San Antonio, TX 1,409,019
San Diego, CA 1,355,896
Dallas, TX 1,257,676
San Jose, CA 998,537
Language: American English is the dominant language spoken throughout the country. There are dialects in
different regions (Northern, Midland, and Southern), but Americans do not have any difficulty understanding
each other.
In some parts of the United States you will encounter large groups of people who use another language on a daily
basis. Spanish is the first language for many people in New York City, Miami, the Southwest, and California.
You will find people in northern New England and New York who speak Canadian French. Many Native
Americans have their own language, and the native people of Alaska and Hawaii have their own languages.
Although most Americans are monolingual, in recent years bilingualism has become more common.
Ethnic Groups: There are many ethnic groups in the United States. The largest group is African-Americans, who
are about 13% of the population. Spanish-speaking people from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and other Hispanic
countries are about 12.5% of the population. Asian Americans are mainly Chinese, Japanese and Indochinese.
They are the fastest growing ethnic group, representing about 4% of the U.S. population. 1Native Americans are about 2 percent of the
total (2013 estimates).
I.4 Government
Government operates on three levels in the United States: national, state, and local. The Constitution of the
United States outlines the basic principles upon which the government is founded, and it describes the powers
which belong to federal and state governments.
The federal government makes and enforces laws, collects taxes, provides services, and protects the people while
working toward national and international security. There are three branches of federal government: executive,
legislative, and judicial. The executive branch is made up of the President, executive departments, and
independent agencies. The President of the United States is responsible for enforcing laws, choosing high
government officials, commanding the army, conducting foreign affairs, and recommending laws to Congress.
The executive departments are responsible for the administration of the federal government. There are 15
departments: State, Treasury, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce,
Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy,
Education, and Veterans Affairs. The independent agencies help implement and regulate laws. They operate in
fields such as nuclear energy, interstate commerce, small business, communications, etc.
The legislative branch of the United States government includes Congress, which is the Senate and the House of
Representatives, and a number of administrative agencies. Congress makes and changes laws, establishes federal
taxes, and decides on funds for operating the federal government. The Senate has 100 members, two from each
state. The House of Representatives has 435 members who are divided among the states according to the
number of people living in each state. Distribution of seats in the House is changed every ten years to keep
up-to-date with the country's current population. The largest state, California, has 53 representatives. The seven
smallest states have one representative each.
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http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aihmcensus1.html
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The judicial branch of the government consists of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the country, and the
federal district courts located throughout the nation. There are also federal appeals courts which are above the
district courts. Federal courts decide cases which involve federal laws and the Constitution.
There are two major political parties in the United States: Democrat and Republican. Most government members
come from one of these two parties, although several minor parties also exist.
National elections are held every two years on the first Tuesday in November. Representatives to Congress are
elected every two years. The President and Vice-President are elected every four years and Senators are
elected every six years. The most recent presidential election was that of 2012. A citizen must be at least 18
years old to vote.
State governments are similar to the national government. The executive officer is called the governor, and each
state has a legislature and a judicial system. State government is important in controlling roads, vehicles and
drivers, social welfare programs, public universities, prisons, banking, tourism, and utilities such as electric
companies.
Local government can be administered at the county, city, town, or village level. Each state is divided into
counties. Counties are important in some states, and less important in others. The best-known county officer is
the head of the county police, the sheriff. The highest political officer in a city is called the mayor. The mayor
usually works with a small executive advisory group called the city council or aldermen. Each city has its own
police force. Town government is similar to city government, but it is smaller, and it is usually administered by a
small committee of community leaders. Cities and towns are responsible for public schools, local streets and
roads, water and sewer, and services such as trash/garbage collection, public transportation, public libraries, and
recreational facilities.
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I.5 Economy
The economy of the United States is based upon free enterprise. In such a system, individual people and
companies are free to make their own economic decisions. They own the raw materials and machinery needed to make their product, and
they decide how to market their product in order to make a profit. The federal
government is involved in the system by regulating business in certain ways. For instance, it establishes antitrust
laws to prevent one company from controlling an entire industry, and laws to prevent environmental pollution.
The United States has many natural resources: fuels for energy such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas; rich soil
for agriculture; water for agriculture; forests which provide wood for building and paper; and both freshwater and
ocean fish.
Manufacturing is the most important economic activity in the country. The leading products are: non-electric
machinery, transportation equipment, chemicals, food products, electric and electronic equipment, metal
products, primary metals, printed materials, paper, and rubber and plastic products.
1.6 Religion
The Constitution of the United States specifically forbids establishment of a state religion, and its First
Amendment guarantees freedom of religion for every citizen of the nation. This freedom is one reason why many
people have immigrated to the country and, as a result, there are many different religions represented.
Approximately 60% of the population belong to organized religious groups. Of that number, 52% are Protestant,
37% are Roman Catholic, 4% are Jewish, 4% are Moslem, and 3% are from Eastern Orthodox Churches. The
largest Protestant groups in the country are: Baptist, United Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Episcopalian.
Although there are a variety of religious groups in the United States, Christian traditions have influenced the
country the most. All offices are closed on Sundays, and many holidays are based on Christian tradition.
1.7 Education
Education in the United States is based on the belief that learning how to think for oneself through research and
problem-solving skills is more important than learning facts.
Education is guaranteed to all children from the age of 5 through 18 in the public school system. Public schools
are funded with money from taxes, so parents do not pay a specific additional charge when their children attend a
public school. Other types of schools are parochial and private schools. Parochial schools are funded by
religious denominations, and children attending those schools usually pay some additional fees. Private schools
are self-supporting and are therefore the most expensive.
Americans often begin their education at a public or private nursery school when they are two, three, or four
years old. Nursery schools give children a chance to learn to play with other children and to begin learning skills
which will help them in school. Most students then go to local public schools for a year or two of kindergarten,
followed by elementary school (sometimes called grade school, grammar school, or primary school). They
are required by law to start in first grade at age six. After elementary school, students attend middle school or
junior high school and then high school. In all, they spend 12 years in elementary, middle school, and high
school (called secondary school). The division between these schools, what they are called, and what they teach
is controlled by locally elected school boards. These may represent the people of a small village or a big city.
After high school, there are a number of different types of institutions for higher education. Community colleges
provide two years of higher education at minimal cost. State colleges and universities provide the four years of
education needed to receive a bachelor's degree; these two- and four-year programs are called undergraduate
education. The universities also have graduate schools that offer additional education for a master's degree and/or
a doctorate. Fees vary from state to state. In addition to tax-supported community and state (public) institutions,
there are also many private colleges and universities. They are usually more expensive than public institutions.
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1.8 The Arts
In general, the arts in America have been influenced by three traditions: European, Native American Indian, and
African. The unique American experience of exploring and developing a new continent has also influenced the
arts. The decorative traditions of Native American art are still seen in many ways, especially in weaving and
pottery. These traditions existed before the arrival of European explorers. The American Southwest is the
contemporary center of this tradition.
Many settlers from Europe arrived during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They brought their artistic
traditions with them. Many artists and craftsmen, however, produced distinctive American art forms that are
called Colonial (early 1600s to late 1700s) and Federalist (late 1700s to early 1800s). Especially well known are
the furniture and household furnishings of these times. Americans are also very proud of the architecture of this
period. Many buildings have been preserved and restored. The U.S. government now protects approximately
1,800 national historic landmarks, and many other government and private organizations protect other
architectural and historic sites. In some places villages have been restored or rebuilt. Some of the best known are
Williamsburg in Virginia, Sturbridge Village and Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, and Strawbery Banke in
New Hampshire. One famous house in Boston, Massachusetts, is the home of Paul Revere, a hero of the
revolution and a great silversmith.
During the nineteenth century, American literature began speaking in a voice different from English literature.
The American wilderness and frontier, along with American ideas of freedom and independence, contributed
in important ways to writers who are still well known. James Fenimore Cooper was America's first popular
novelist. He wrote novels about the frontier, such as "The Last of the Mohicans." Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Henry David Thoreau were essayists who celebrated American self-reliance and independent thinking.
Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" stands as one of the classics of world literature. On one level, it is a battle of
man against nature - the hunt for the great white whale. Walt Whitman became America's first great poet, with
the notion of democracy as one of his central themes. In 1884, Mark Twain published his masterpiece,
"Huckleberry Finn," perhaps the most important American novel ever written. But the most powerful novel of
the nineteenth century was "Uncle Tom's Cabin," written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852. It brought
attention to the evils of slavery, and it is often called one of the causes of the American Civil War.
The African-American experience has been the most important influence on music in America. In the nineteenth
century, African-Americans developed religious songs called "spirituals." These choral songs, based on African
call-and-response patterns led to a variety of musical forms from gospel music to blues and jazz. The jazz of
African-Americans is a unique contribution to the music of the contemporary world, from pop to rock to classical
music.
In the fields of painting and sculpture, American artists tended to work within the European tradition. Some
artists produced work with distinctively American themes. Thomas Cole was the first important landscape painter
in the United States. He founded the Hudson River School (1820-50). Artists in this school portrayed American
forests, rivers, and mountains in romantic scenes. In the twentieth century, a group of regional painters,
sometimes called anti-modernists, tried to portray the strength and energy of rural America. Thomas Hart Benton
of Missouri was one of the most successful artists of the 1930s.
There are over 7,000 art museums In the United States. Many of these museums have special collections of
American art. The most important collections can be seen in the Los Angeles County Museum, the Chicago Art
Institute, the Butler Institute in Youngstown, Ohio, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine
Arts, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and in New York City, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Throughout the twentieth century, American writers, musicians, painters, sculptors, craftsmen and architects
continued to find ways to express the diversity and the unity of the American experience, but two art forms stand
out among all others: the cinema and the skyscraper. The cinema, with its cousin the television, dominates mass
entertainment on a world-wide basis. The skyscraper dominates the skyline of America's cities as a symbol of
America as the most powerful country at the end of the 20th century. What will the twenty-first century bring?
