Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The United State's Name

Episode Date: April 6, 2021

In 1776, 13 British colonies in North America declared their independence. If you got a brand new country with that new country smell, what’s the first thing you need to do? Well, you need to come up with a name for the country. Believe it or not, The United States of America wasn’t everyone’s first choice. Learn more about the name of the United States on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1776, 13 British colonies in North America declared their independence. If you got a brand new country with that new country smell, what's the first thing you need to do? Well, you need to come up with a name for the country. Believe it or not, the United States of America wasn't everyone's first choice. Learn more about the name of the United States on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the part of the of the story that may have gone unnoticed.

It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the Thuline podcast from NPR. Hello. My name is Talia Smith, the host of Once Upon a Time, a storytelling podcast. On our show, we talk to historians, artists, podcasters, and creators from all around the world about the stories. that impact our lives. Join us for once upon a time,

a storytelling podcast season three, streaming on all platforms April 2nd. You can find us at a storytelling podcast on Instagram for more information. Before we get into the creation of the name of the country in question, we have to take a step back and look at the origin of the word America.

As you might be aware, the word America is believed to have come from the name of an Italian navigator named Amerigo Vespucci. The first use of the word America was in 1507. German cartographer Martin Waldseed Mueller created a map which was at the time the largest map in the world. His map was the very first one that showed a unique landmass that was separate from Asia. For 15 years after the first voyage of Columbus, most people still thought that this land was part of Asia

and that a route to India might still be possible. Vespucci was one of the first people to postulate that this was a brand new world. After taking part in several voyages in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Vespucci wrote popular books about his travels which circulated amongst the European literati. In these books, he speculated that this land was something brand new. The Waldseed Mueller map used a Latinized version of Amerigo and called it America. In fact, on the original map, America was only applied to South America. As the Valtseed Mueller map spread in Europe, other cartographers began using the same convention for the

the name of this new land. A book that accompanied the maps, which was probably written by Waldseed Mueller's assistant, said, quote, I do not see what right anyone would have to object to calling this part after Americus, who discovered it, and who was a man of intelligence, American, that is, the land of Americas, or America, since both Europa and Asia got their names from women. Unquote. There's no evidence that Amerigo Vespucci ever knew that this land was named after him before his death in 1512. Now fast forward about 250 years, and some British colonies are itching to become independent. In the early stages of the Revolutionary War, the reference was always to the United Colonies. However, the term colony carries baggage with it. A colony is subservient to some

other country. Many people who sought independence insisted that they were not colonies, but in fact, independent nation states. The first written reference using the term the United States of America dates back to January 2nd, 1776. It was in a private letter from Stephen Moyland to George Washington's aide-to-camp Joseph Reed. He wrote of going, quote, with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain, unquote, to get Spain's support in the war. The first public publication of the phrase was in the Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia on April 6, 1776. The term United States of America was also put in the first articles of the Confederation, as well as the Declaration of Independence.

The term is really more descriptive than anything else. There are states, they are united, and they are in America. However, it's really kind of a mouthful. It's ten syllables. Most countries have a long form and a short form of their name. For example, the People's Republic of China just goes by China. The Federal Republic of Germany just goes by Germany. And the independent and sovereign republic of Kiribati just goes by Kiribati. The United States didn't really lend itself to a short, simple name. In 1800, one Dr. Samuel Mitchell of New York proposed using the name Friedonia. Actually, he was more concerned about changing the demonem of people from the United States,

from American to Friedonian. The term American didn't really sit well with some people for a couple of reasons. First, anyone in North or South America could call. themselves American, and they wouldn't be wrong. Second, and most important for Dr. Mitchell, is that the term American was used by the English as a pejorative. Needless to say, Fredonia never caught on. However, it was used as the name of a fictional country in the Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup.

You might be wondering that there is a short form for the name of the United States. It's called America. Well, believe it or not, the use of the word America as a short form for the United States wasn't really even a thing until the 20th century. The first president to use it extensively was Theodore Roosevelt. For most of the 19th century, the short term used to describe the country was Columbia. Patriotic songs in the 19th century include Columbia, Gem of the Ocean, and Hail Columbia. Other 19th century patriotic songs, such as the Battle of Him of the Republic, the Star-Spangled Manor,

and My Country Tis of thee, never used the word America. and I'll confess, this is something I never even realized until I had to write this show. It wasn't until the 20th century when we had songs such as America the Beautiful and God Bless America. Columbia is a Latinized, feminized form of Columbus. After the Revolution, King's College in New York changed its name to Columbia University. Likewise, when the federal district was created, it was dubbed the District of Columbia, and South Carolina named its capital city, Columbia. There was never any real support for changing the name of the country to Colombia.

It was just sort of something that was informally used. Besides, it all became moot when a country in South America grabbed the name in the early 19th century. Other proposed alternative names for the United States have included Vinland, Appalachia, Hesperia, and Eusonia. The last one, Eusonia, comes from using the initials U.S. Frank Lloyd Wright called his style Usonian. One of the other big shifts in how we refer to the country is if the term United States is singular or plural. Early in the country's history, the term United States was always used in the plural. In the Constitution, there are references to treason which refer to the United States in the plural, as does the 13th Amendment.

The start of the change from plural to singular started with the Civil War. However, despite what many people think, it was not a sudden change. An analysis of Supreme Court decisions show a slow change over time. In fact, as late as 1890, the plural usage was still predominant. Today, it's almost exclusively used in the singular. We say the United States is rather than the United States are. Some people don't like the use of the term American to describe people from the United States, as there are other people from the Americas.

However, the United States of America is the only country in the world with the term America in its name. Yet, we are not the only country to use the words United States in the United States in the their name. The official name of Mexico is Estados Unidos Mexicanos, or the United States of Mexico, although there's a movement to change the official name of Mexico, too. So, whether it's America, Fredonia, or Colombia, the United States of America are, or is, still the country sandwiched between Canada and Mexico, regardless of what you want to call it. The associate producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Thor Thompson. If you'd like to support the show, please donate over at patreon.com.

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