The United States of America is a nation of more than 50 states that covers a vast area of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. With a gross domestic product of 25.46 trillion dollars, the United States of America is undoubtedly the world’s largest and most prosperous nation. The country’s dominance in the services sector, which includes technology, retail, finance, and healthcare, is a factor in this, accounting for around 80% of its total output. In the area of land mass area, the United States ranks as the fourth-largest nation in the world, following Russia, Canada, and China.
The concept that nearly every nation on Earth derives its name from a distinct historical event is the basis for the distinctiveness of its name. In fact, nearly every country in the world is named after one of four factors:
1) a tribe
2) a unique feature of their land
3) a directional description
4) after an important person
For instance, France derives its Latin name from the Latin word “francia,” which roughly translates to “land of the Franks.” This term was reputed to encompass the entire Empire of the Franks, spanning from southern France to Eastern Germany.
The same thing can be said about England, which derives its name from the Old English word Englaland, which translates to “the land of the angles.” The Angles were said to be one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages.
The United States, unlike every other nation that derived their name from either ancestral affiliations or a specific geographical location, took a different route and acquired its name without any poetic significance attached. This article will explain how the United States was named and why it was chosen instead of other names at that time.
How the name “United States of America” came about
Before the American Revolution, the present-day territory known as the United States was commonly referred to by British colonial rulers as British North America, or simply as a part of its colonies. During the pre-independence period, British colonial officials who governed certain regions of the United States frequently preferred to use the term “the United Colonies of North America.”
Read more: The Difference between the Netherlands and Holland
It’s important to know that the name “America” has been around for a long time. It was invented by an Italian explorer and navigator named Amerigo Vespucci from Florence. The name “America” comes from his name. This term, along with the name Columbia, which was also named after another Italian explorer and navigator, Christopher Columbus, was used to describe the entire landmass of the United States at that time and not just the British colonies.
As things got worse before the colonies became independent, people started using different words to describe them. The term “United States of America” was first used by Thomas Jefferson during the American Revolution, and its formalization was accomplished by John Hancock at the Continental Congress in late 1776.
The name United States began to gain popularity because it was used a lot informally by people in the American states, which is one of the reasons it gained such a large following. However, Benjamin Franklin, one of the major figures in American history, used the phrase ‘United States of North America‘ when addressing the French. Upon the conclusion of the Peace Agreement with the British following the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the term ‘United States’ was adopted due to its popularity among the populace. On September 9, 1776, the name “United States of America” became official.
We can learn from history that changing a country’s name can be controversial. This was the case with the United States, as the transition of its name did not go as planned. Some segments of the populace were strongly opposed, believing that the recently announced United States failed to meet the appropriate requirements for a country in the Americas. They favoured a name that was more descriptive and poetic.
The people had a mixed reaction, as some of them felt that a change was unnecessary because they were familiar with the name “United States.” Several individuals advocated for the name to be renamed Columbia in honor of Christopher Columbus. When the US Constitution was drafted and ratified on September 17, 1787, the United States of America was declared the official designation of the nation, rendering all other names, such as Columbia, meaningless.
Fredonia
In 1819, a chance to change the name of the United States came up again, and since another country had taken the name Columbia, that option was lost forever. A second alternative name had been proposed, and it was referred to as Fredonia. The name came from the word freedom and sounded a little Latin because the United States was surrounded by other Latin American countries. The person who came up with the idea to change the United States name to Fredonia was Samuel Latham-Mitchill, an American medical educator.
According to Mitchill, the United States Constitution was not given a proper name by its framers. Mitchill thought that the name United States was a dull and boring representation of national identity because no one would be able to say that they were a United Statesian. He recommended that the territory occupied by the United States be referred to as Fredon, or Fredonia in its more poetic form. The people of Fredonia would then be referred to as Fredonians or Fredes, which implies that the adverbial form would be Fredish. Mitchill declared that the name Fredonia and everything associated with it would be “sonorous” and the whole language would be “rich and copious.”
Despite the jarring nature of this scenario, Mitchill’s proposals may have been successful, as they became a valid argument among certain Americans. However, the name change was not well-received by the majority of Americans, who were opposed to the idea of changing it. Furthermore, the decision to change the country’s name to Fredonia was not viewed with seriousness by any senators in the United States Senate. Because of this, the idea of Fredonia was forgotten forever and would only be remembered in American history books as a History.
The United States was chosen as the final name because it was different from the colonies that the people who lived there had known for a long time. Not only that, but its position was made crystal clear through early diplomatic use. The old name had become a part of peoples lives, even though alternatives to the United States were discussed, such as Columbia and Fredonia. After the name “Columbia” was taken by another country in the Americas, the people in charge no longer saw the need to change it.
The name “United States” may not have been as poetic as some people in power at the time would have liked, but it was the best way to describe the country’s birth after the end of the Civil War.
Source
Boonshoft, M 2015, ‘The United States of Fredonia?‘, New York Public Library, 12 November, accessed 4 January 2024, https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/11/12/united-states-fredonia
Photo by David Everett Strickler on Unsplash
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