There has been a tendency in recent years to substitute "United States" for
"American" in course catalogues, AHA publications, etc., in order to avoid
giving offense to other Americans. It is said that Brazilians, Panamanians,
and Canadians are American, so to call the history of the United States
"American history" is a bit presumptuous (at the least). The problem is
that there are other countries whose actual names include "United States,"
such as our neighbor immediately to the south, and there is no other
country, so far as I know, whose name includes "America." It seems to me,
then, that "American" actually is preferable to "United States" even on the
grounds the advocates of the latter phrase offer. (Besides that, everyone
in the world knows that an "American" is someone from the USA, while a
Brazilian (denizen, as I understand it, of another country whose name
includes "United States") is a "Brazilian.") Or am I mistaken?
Prof. K.R. Constantine Gutzman
Department of History
Western Connecticut State University
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Finkelman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: how did US get its name
> Well, they ceased to be "colonies" when they declared their independence,
and
> each became its own "state" as in own separate government; hence they were
the
> "United" states, and of course they were "of America" so they would not be
> confused with some other colleciton of united states, like Switzerland or
> Holland
>
> Robin Gabriel wrote:
>
> > I know that this is not strictly a VA history questions, but hopefully
> > someone will be able to point me in the right direction. I have received
a
> > letter from a child who wants to know why the US was called the United
> > States and not the United Colonies, or some other such name. Is there a
> > simple answer to this question?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Robin Gabriel
> > Director of Education
> > Monticello
> >
> > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
instructions
> > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>
> --
> Paul Finkelman
> Chapman Distinguished Professor
> University of Tulsa College of Law
> 3120 East 4th Place
> Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104-2499
>
> 918-631-3706 (office)
> 918-631-2194 (fax)
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
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