Colin Woodard in “American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America” (2011) says the deepest divisions of American history are not ones of race, religion, politics or class but of region, what he calls nations.
Listed in the order of their founding:
- First Nation – northern Canada and Greenland, North America as a set of native societies.
- El Norte, founded in the late 1500s by the Spanish in northern Mexico, a different place than Mexico further south. Anglos cut El Norte in half in the middle 1800s. Anglo-Latino culture. Long a hotbed of democratic reform and revolutionary feeling.
- Tidewater, early 1600s, English, eastern parts of Virginia and North Carolina. Founded by the second sons of rich landowners in southern England. Aristocratic, run by and for the rich. The servant class turns into a caste of black slaves. The Electoral College and the Senate were its idea.
- New France, early 1600s, founded by peasants from northern France and the native peoples of southern Quebec. Down-to-earth, egalitarian, big on consensus and negotiation. Very liberal. Spreads to northern New Brunswick and southern Lousiana.
- New Netherland, early 1600s, Dutch, New Amsterdam, now metropolitan New York. Freedom for money, trade, speech and thought. Bill of Rights. Pluralism: no one ethnic group is a shining model for others.
- Yankeedom, early 1600s, English Puritan, New England, spreads west across upstate New York, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Utopian: making man and society perfect through education, law and good government. Big on democracy and equal rights, the greater good. Abolition, prohibition. Assimilationist.
- Deep South, late 1600s, English, Charleston, South Carolina, spreads across Georgia, northern Florida, Alabama, Mississipi, northern Louisiana, East Texas. Founded by slave owners from Barbados, modelled on ancient Rome. Blacks as a caste. Those at the top know best. One-party rule.
- Midlands, late 1600s, English and German, starts in Pennsylvania, spreads west across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas – and southern Ontario. Middle America. Society should be arranged to benefit ordinary people. Suspects heavy-handed government. Politics are moderate to apathetic.
- Greater Appalachia, early 1700s, Scottish, Scotch-Irish, northern English, starting in the mountains of Virginia, spreading south-west all the way to Texas. Rednecks, NASCAR, the Klan, country music, Christian fundamentalism. God and country. Distrusts government, hates aristocrats, strong on personal freedom for white men, weak on education.
- Left Coast, late 1800s, founded by Yankees and Appalachians. The west coast from Anchorage, Alaska to Monterey, California. Both Appalachian individualism and Yankee utopianism. Sixties counterculture, hippies, personal computers, big on green issues.
- Far West, late 1800s, mountain country from Arizona and Colorado to Alaska. An inner colony that depends on big government and big business. Mining, irrigation, the Hoover Dam, the Alaskan pipeline.
Mormons, the Navajo and the African Diaspora are arguably separate nations.
In the late 1700s some of these nations formed the United States of America to throw off British rule. It has been badly divided ever since by the very different values of Yankeedom and the Deep South, as shown by the Civil War and culture wars.
 – Abagond, 2012.
See also:
- Patchwork Nation – sociological rather than historical. Cool map!
- Facebookistan – American regions according to Facebook data
- The Four Englands of America – a post based on David Hackett Fischer’s “Albion’s Seed” (1989), upon which Woodard builds:
- Northern Tier => Yankeedom
- Coastal South => Tidewater + Deep South
- Midland => the Midlands
- Southern Highlands => Greater Appalachia
- Joel Garreau’s Nine Nations of North America – Woodard builds on this to flesh out Fischer
- American ethnic groups – another way to slice it
Aba,
Great post. Traveling across this country with my agency, believe me when I say that NOTHING has changed especially number 7 and 9.
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I like this post. # 9 is the truth. I have lived and all during different phases of my life and employment in the state of Texas, #9 is a true statement. Also #7 as well. Good post.
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very interesting and thought provoking, well done
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VERY INFORMATIVE THANKS
________________________________
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#8. Sounds like it here in Southern Ontario, though I’d disagree with the politics part. We’re having a big right/left shift where (specifically in Toronto and the surrounding suburbs) downtown core of Toronto is considered liberal and the surrounding areas deemed conservative and our mayor happens to be a conservative at the moment (one I do not enjoy, he’s not fit to be a mayor).
And I’m pretty shocked at the electoral map, as I’d always assumed the northern states that boarded Canada were all generally blue states and shared some commonalities with us.
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isn’t that just so typical? the african diaspora and navajos get counted as separate nations.
good post anyway.
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Just ran across this Washington Post article Which of the 11 American nations do you live in?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/08/which-of-the-11-american-nations-do-you-live-in/)
which is based on an article by Colin Woodard (referred to by Abagond above), in the quarterly magazine of my Alma Mater, in all places (as he was a former student there as well.
Up in Arms
THE BATTLE LINES OF TODAY’S DEBATES OVER GUN CONTROL, STAND-YOUR-GROUND LAWS, AND OTHER VIOLENCE-RELATED ISSUES WERE DRAWN CENTURIES AGO BY AMERICA’S EARLY SETTLERS
http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/fall2013/features/up-in-arms.html
His map is by county, which is interesting for me as I can see where he delineates the meeting of the Midlands, Tidewater and Appalachia in the greater DC/MD/VA area. However, I don’t think it strictly follows County lines, but these 3 cultures do converge almost on top of Washington, DC. There is probably no other large metro area in the USA where the North and South collide. I can feel the line between Midlands and Tidewater slice through the middle of PG and Anne Arundel counties and the line between tidewater and Greater Appalachia slice through the northern and western regions of Fairfax and Prince William counties.
People in New York City will not feel this as much as their entire metro area is under one sociocultural norm. The same is true for Boston and San Francisco, all areas I have spent time in.
However, I did notice the split between Greater Appalachia and the Deep South in Alabama. The area I spent in Alabama is very close to the demarcation line. There is indeed a cultural shift there.
N.B. I am uncomfortable with the term “Early Settlers”. Maybe switch to “European invaders”?
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@ Jefe
That is a much better map. I put it at the top of the post. Thanks!
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“This is consistent with what I have read about them being reluctant to join the Confederate military. I am dying to learn more.”
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Hey Mirkwood,
Changing your name isn’t going to cause everyone to forget the horrors you have done here. Some of us will always see you for whom you really are!
Just sayin’ …
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@ASG-M
“…the cultural tension between the New French and Deep Southerners in 1800s Louisiana.”
I think a lot of that cultural tension was due to religion (catholic New French vs. the protestant Deep Southerners) and the allowance of a “shade-ocracy” among the New French.
The New French were slightly more flexible about the “one drop rule” of who was considered White and Black. They had several “other” categories similar to the Spanish. The Spanish were a strong influence, albeit often overlooked, in New France.
The Deep Southerners strictly enforced the “one drop rule” of British racism, where any known African ancestor, labeled a person Black, no matter their appearance. Also a lot of the Deep Southerners were English, Ulster Irish and German small farmers. As a group, they were contentious with any outsiders (including authority figures), violent and implacable foes.
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I thought parts of Georgia (particularly Savannah), Florida (Pensacola Region) also had Cajuns (New France)..
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