Difference between revisions of "United States of America"

Revision as of 03:44, 24 December 2007

The United States of America is a democratic republic in North America.

History

Throughout the 1600s and 1700, England explored and colonialized eastern North America. These colonies were generally self-governed to begin with, because their existance wasn't too significant to England at the time. These colonies obtained land through unfair trades with the land's native peoples, and firmly established their rule by ruthlessly crushing the natives' rebellions. After Europe's Seven Years War, England was left in a terrible debt, and raised taxes among the American colonies. Additionally, England prohibited westward expansion beyond the Appalachian Mountains to appease the natives, who they saw as potentially powerful economic and military allies. Angered by England making laws for the colonies without their representation, and by England limiting the colonies' desire for selfish expansion, the American colonists rebelled.

The United States obtained independence from England in 1776 in the American Revolutionary War. Thereafter, it gained territory to the west through some more imperialism and genocide. The southern states were generally agricultural states, while the northern states were generally industrial. This lead to slavery becoming a widely-accepted practice in the South, where slaves were necessary to create cheap agricultural products. In the industrial, Protestant north, slavery was generally unnecessary, and came to be seen as somewhat morally unacceptable. Slavery eventually was (mostly) outlawed in the North. Slavery quickly became racially-based, almost all slaves being of African heritage by the 1700s. American slavery was allowed to continue mostly due to a mixture of racism and greed. During the westward expansion of the United States, people considered it important that the power of slave and non-slave states be balanced. Few people wanted to actually end slavery in the South, because it created more wealth for white, male imperialists of the whole United States.

Throughout the early and mid 1800s, an abolitionist movement started. Abolitionists were a group of decent human beings who didn't just want to contain slavery in the South, but stop its expansion, or even actually end it altogether. Abolitionists included escaped slaves who shared their terrible experiences with northerners, and various writers and politicians. Abolitionists generally tried to show the barbarism of slavery, and tried to motivate the people of the north towards ending it. During this same time period, there was a dispute over whether state or federal government should have more power, the southern states strongly supporting state power.

Both the issue of slavery and that of states' rights caused a lot of discord between North and South when Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Lincoln was a big supporter of federal government, and had a moderate, anti-expansionist view on slavery; southern states were furious that Lincoln intended to end the further expansion of the unjust and selfish practice of slavery, instead of letting states decide on the issue themselves. After throwing a hissy fit heard around the world, southern states seceded from the United States one after one to form the Confederate States of America. Lincoln, wanting to preserve the unity of the United States and the power of the federal government, refused to recognize the states' secessions. And thus, the American Civil War began in 1861, and lasted through 1865.

The North won, and the southern states were forced into a program of reconstuction, where secessionists were kicked out of the southern states' governments, and their government and social structures were rebuilt to meet the needs of the United States. Unfortunately, this didn't do much for African-Americans, who were still treated like shit, and still lived like slaves, for another century.

The United States continued to expand across North America, killing more of the land's native people and moving them to land considered less than valuable economically. By the 1890s, much of the land of the current United States had been explored and conquered.

Name Controversy

The name of the country "United States of America" is controversial on its own. In its creation, and even today, it reflects a way of thinking that places the country as leader (or even owner) of the rest of the continent. The country has, many times, intervened in other countries of America, especially in South America ("USA's backyard"). As to date, citizens of the US tend to refer to themselves as "Americans" and there is no (unambiguous) word in English to designate those who live in the rest of the continent.

There have been outlined alternatives to the name. Paul Erdos, famous mathematician has (for different reasons) nicknamed the country as "samland" (the land of uncle sam).