Cheikh Anta Diop University

Department of English
American Civilization L1 2021-2022
Dr. P. M. BA

I- Geography of the United States

1- Physical Geography
Geographers divide the United States into a number of regions that share common features. These
regions are defined by similar natural features, such as terrain and climate, or by cultural factors,
including shared economic or historical influences. These geographic divisions allow us to better
understand unique areas of the nation, how they combine into a whole and how people occupy
and use the land.

The most salient are the Megalopolis, the Appalachian Mountains, the Ozarks, the Mississippi
(River), the Missouri (River), the Ohio (River), the Colorado (River), the Rio Grande (River), the
Great Lakes (Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario), and the
Great Plains.

2- Political Geography
Today's political regions result from various mixtures of global antecedents, with Native-
American elements representing one of several continental ingredients. The main American

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regions are much-used concepts for understanding subdivisions of American society, culture and
economy: the north-east, the south, the mid-west, and the west

II- The opening of the New World and the discovery of America
The first of western peoples to search the Atlantic coast were the Portuguese, though they did not
discover America. Under the direction of Prince Henry of Portugal (1394-1460) called “the
Navigator” or “Henry the Navigator”, founder of a school of navigation, the Portuguese started
the search for African wealth and for an African route to the silks and spices of the Orient (the
East).

However, a common opinion, generally Eurocentric, attributes to Christopher Columbus, an

Italian in the service of the Spanish King and Queen Ferdinand and Isabella, the discovery of
America in 1492. After having persuaded the aforementioned sovereigns of Spain to finance an
expedition to the lands (the Indies and Asia) and the wealth (gold, silk and spice) he expected, as
Marco Polo and others had brought back from their overland expeditions centuries ago, would be
on the other side of the Atlantic.

Thus began the history, five hundred years ago, of the European invasion of the Indian
settlements in the Americas. That beginning is characterized by conquest, slavery and death
contrary to what we read in history books which hide bloodshed and praise heroic adventure
(Columbus Day is a celebration in the US). However, historians did dug into this part of history
almost exhaustively. One of the most prominent works is Christopher Columbus, Mariner (1954)
by the Harvard historian, Samuel Eliot Morison, the most distinguished writer on Columbus. In
this popular book, he retraces Columbus’s route across the Atlantic and tells about the genocide
resulting in the cruel policy by Columbus and pursued by his successors.

On the other hand, there are more than a dozen claims (generally afrocentric and sometimes
mainstream) that America was discovered by explorers who had sailed earlier than Columbus.
Scholars, including Ivan van Sertima and Gaoussou Diawara, for example, claim that Abubakari
II successfully traveled to the New World in the 14th century. But a number of archaeologists,
anthropologists, ethno-historians, linguists, and other modern pre-Columbian scholars contend
that there is no evidence of any such voyage reaching the Americas, and that there are insufficient
evidential grounds to suppose there has been contact between Africa and the New World at any
point in the pre-Columbian era.

Another claim supports that the Norsemen (Scandinavian Vikings) sailed from Greenland and
probably found the mainland of North America in the 10th century (around the year 1000). But
their voyage led apparently to no documented result. Other scholars argue that European
fishermen had discovered the fishing waters off eastern Canada by 1480. But the first recorded
voyage was made by John Cabot, an Italian navigator in the service of England, who sailed from
England to Newfoundland in 1497.
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 III- Land occupation and colonization by England

England was one of the latest European countries to adventure to the New World. Let us
remember that it was a relatively poor country with various internal difficulties, both political and
religious, followed by a long war with Spain. All these factors distracted it from dreams of
imperial grandeur. However, some English people, among them Sirs Humphrey Gilbert and
Walter Raleigh, advocated expansion and hoped to lead their fellow countrymen to colonize
abroad through financial sponsorship.

The idea of economic self-sufficiency seemed the strongest motivation though some evoked the
conversion to the Church of England’s version of Protestant Christianity. They argued that
England should rival its European competitors (Spain, Portugal and France) by acquiring
quantities of gold and silver and secure its manufactures with various raw materials from their
own colonies rather than relying on supplies from doubtful foreign friends. Sir Humphrey Gilbert
tried to colonize Newfoundland (eastern province of Canada) but drowned on his return passage.
His half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, carried on his project and planted the colony of Roanoke
(now North Carolina) in 1587.

Unlike the rulers of the other western kingdoms, the monarchs of England had no uncommitted
funds for extraordinary projects. Hence, all the English settlements in America began as private
enterprises, although launched with the approval of the government. Investors had to be
persuaded that profits could be made. It seemed to some that sufficient returns could be made by
selling or subletting land, by trading with the Indians for fur, by extracting forest products such as
tar and turpentine for shipbuilders, or by raising exotic agricultural produce, such as silk or spice.
Some investors had strictly founded “commercial” colonies. Others dreamt of holding vast estates
of land and founding noble families after the medieval manner and their colonies were called
“proprietorship”.

1) The first (thirteen) colonies

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2) British colonial policy
Most of the British colonies in North America were founded during the “Stuart Age” of English
history, when the Stuart family contributed four kings to the throne. The first two, James I and
Charles I, exerted little control over the colonies, leaving them free to develop their own way for
the greater part of the time. The Stuarts’ reign was interrupted by civil war and “the
Commonwealth” and the “Protectorate” established by Oliver Cromwell, from 1642 to 1660. By
that time, the colonists held themselves distant from the turbulence in England and continued
their independent growth.

With the “Restoration” of Charles II, they began to receive more attention from England. When
New York’s proprietor, the Duke of York, ascended the throne as James II, his unpopularity as a
Catholic was stimulated by a fear that he intended to become an absolute monarch, and he was
expelled in the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688. This event was cause for celebration in America
because he intended to destroy local self-government through the centralizing of colonial
administration in the “Dominion of New England,” with Boston as its capital. Americans were
happy to live under the dual system of government as long as they had home rule in local affairs
and were suspicious of the English interference in their internal government.

IV- The American Revolution (1775-1783) and Independence

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The XVIIIth century in America was a time of intense political activity because of the American
Revolution (1776). British officials believed that the British government—and Parliament in
particular—had the constitutional power to tax and govern the American colonies. Parliament
was dominant within the British constitution. It alone could tax or write legislation and could not
consent to divide that authority with any other body.

During the 1760s and 1770s, a dispute over taxation within the British Empire escalated into a
conflict that gave birth to a new nation, the United States of America. The American Revolution
inaugurated an era of political upheaval throughout the Western world, known to historians ever
since as the Age of Revolution. It changed forever the course of American development. Liberty
emerged as the era’s rallying cry.

The American Revolution not only broke the political bond with Great Britain but also inspired
groups within the American society to claim greater rights for themselves. Property-less men
demanded the right to vote, women began to challenge their subordination to men, indentured
servants ran away from their masters, and enslaved people seized the opportunity to gain their
freedom by fighting in the Continental army or by escaping to the British side. It set in motion the
abolition of enslavement in the northern states.

On the other hand, for some Americans independence meant a loss of liberty. Many of those who
had remained loyal to England were persecuted and forced to leave the country. The end of the
British presence removed the last barrier to the westward expansion of the American population,
making inevitable the dispossession of the remaining Indian population east of the Mississippi
River. And the formation of a national government in which slave-owners occupied the
presidency for most of the half-century after independence, helped to consolidate the institution
of slavery in the South.

V- The Constitution and Government

The fifty-five men who gathered for the Constitutional Convention included some of the most
prominent Americans. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, serving as diplomats in Europe, did
not take part. But among the delegates were George Washington, George Mason, and Benjamin
Franklin. John Adams described the convention as a gathering of men of “ability, weight, and
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experience.” Although a few, like Alexander Hamilton, had risen from humble origins, most had
been born into propertied families. They earned their livings as lawyers, merchants, planters, and
large farmers. A majority had participated in interstate meetings of the 1760s and 1770s, and
twenty two had served in the army during the Revolution. Their shared social status and political
experiences bolstered their common belief in the need to strengthen national authority and curb
what one called “the excesses of democracy.”

VI- Contemporary America: Society and culture

Ethnic culture
In terms of ethnic culture, initial US colonial settlement was largely composed of British arrivals,
who shared North America with indigenous Native-American communities and other Europeans,
such as the French and the Spanish. Until 1776, over half of the population came from the British
Isles. These people gradually assimilated other early European settlers into a white, mainly
Anglo-American, Protestant dominant culture. They were responsible for promoting many of the
new nation's political, social, constitutional and religious institutions, which produced a
mainstream American identity and set of values whose impact is still felt. Their political
principles were based on democracy, independence of the people and skepticism about
government. Their social values were conditioned by a belief in individualism, a Protestant work
ethic (working hard in this life to be rewarded here and in the next) and the rule of law.
After the colonial period and American independence from Britain, northwestern Europe
supplied over two-thirds of episodic US immigration for most of the nineteenth century. There
were also many Asian immigrants (particularly Chinese) during this time. At the end of that
century there was a shift towards newcomers from southern and eastern Europe. Much of this
later immigration was neither Anglo by descent nor Protestant in religion, and it significantly
altered the demographic composition of the USA.
Despite greater immigration restrictions, the twentieth century saw a large variety of other
nationalities from worldwide origins emigrating to the USA. In the 1980s, 1990s and early
twenty-first century, the largest groups of immigrants have come from Asia, South and Central
America and the Caribbean. In total, some 60 million immigrants entered the USA between 1820
and 2000.

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Today, the biggest minority immigrant population is Latino. It is found in southern states such as
Florida, Texas, New Mexico and California, in the cities of New York and Los Angeles and in
smaller towns throughout the country. However, critics argue that Anglo-Protestant culture and
institutions are still central to American national and civic identity; and that the country remains a
fundamentally Protestant society with its large number of mainstream and evangelical churches.
These features significantly influence contemporary social, economic and political life although
they may decline in the future as more multicultural elements develop in the population.
Ethnic diversity has brought advantages and disadvantages over time. It has also gradually
reduced the dominance of the original Anglo-American Protestant culture, which had to take
account of a growing social pluralism. It is argued that the USA has historically managed to
integrate its immigrants successfully into the existing society at varying levels, and newcomers
have generally adapted to American life. Today, they must live together in spite of tensions
between them.
Religious culture
Religion is the second major American culture and has its roots in the many faiths that colonists,
enslaved Africans and immigrants have brought to the USA over the centuries. Some early
settlers escaped religious persecution in their homelands and hoped to establish communities
based on what were often nonconformist beliefs. Others brought established native
denominations with them. The religious motivations of many initial arrivals were clear and
provided an institutional and moral bedrock for the new nation. Many later immigrants also often
strongly identified with their home faiths and preserved them in the new country.
Although religion is a private matter and constitutionally separate from the state, it informs
aspects of social, economic and political life. The precise influence of religion on many areas of
American life, such as education, politics and ethics, continues to be hotly debated. Despite a
desire to keep religion out of politics, some critics question whether it is realistic to deny religion
a full and active part in public life.
Political-legal culture
The third major American culture consists of political-legal elements. Its nature has been largely
shaped by the central place of law and the Constitution in American life. The Constitution is
central to this structure, but it has to be interpreted by the judiciary (particularly the US Supreme

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Court in Washington DC) to determine whether actions of government are constitutional or not.
The political system has layers of institutional checks and balances at various state and federal
levels, which can sometimes result in stalemate.
Racial or ethnic differences, immigration and social diversity have been barriers to national unity,
and are still problematic. Consequently, it is often argued that the American political-legal system
consists of both hard-nosed manipulation of group and ideological interests and an exaggerated
rhetoric which might hopefully promote common resolutions. Americans are also aware of
occasional corruption and incompetence in the political and legal systems and that claims to
liberty and freedom are not always respected in reality. Responses to pluralism have often
resulted in consensus politics based on political and judicial compromise.
American politics, reflecting the federal nature of US government, often tend to be more
influenced by local, special and regional or state interests than national matters. Politicians in the
febrile atmosphere of Washington DC promote their own constituency legislation as a response to
local and regional pressures.
Economic culture
The fourth major US culture is the economic framework, which is also idealistic/abstract and
materialistic/practical. Americans generally have a belief in individualism and a free-enterprise
system, which is supposed to deliver goods and services demanded by the consumer market. The
people historically have had to fight for their economic and social survival, a process which can
result in exploitation of others, excesses and a Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality. The
competitive nature of American life creates considerable disparities of wealth, social inequalities
and varying life opportunities.
However, debates about the capitalist model often ignore significant economic cooperation,
charitable organizations and volunteerism in American society. Furthermore, they do not always
acknowledge the influence of a substantial public-sector structure in the national economy.