USA!! USA!! USA!!

Photo from AP News

From our earliest recollections in elementary school we all learned that that our country was named after an Italian explorer named Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci is credited with proving that Brazil and the West Indies were not part of Asia’s most eastern boundaries, but an entirely new land mass, which he called the “New World.” Although Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World in 1492, he thought it was part of Asia. Now you might have noticed I have refrained from using the word discovered. Although historians credit Leif Erikson with the actual discovery of the Americas about 500 years before Columbus, Erikson actually landed in Greenland. Now technically Greenland is part of the Americas, but not the Americas as we know it. Greenland is over 2000 miles from present day Maine.

Well good old Amerigo’s name will forever be known in the history of the world, but not by his hand nor with his knowledge. We can thank Martin Waldseemüller. Right.. who the #@@! is he? In 1507 Martin and Matthias Ringmann created what is called Universalis Cosmographia. Matthias was Martin’s partner. The Universalis Cosmographia was a printed map of the world. It had twelve panels. It was the first map in which the word America appeared on a map. Waldseemüller also presented a book with the map called the Cosmographiae Introductio, which translates to “An Introduction To Cosmography.” In the seventh chapter of the Cosmographiæ Introduction, written by Matthias Ringmann, it is explained why the name America was proposed for the then New World, or the Fourth Part of the World: – “And in the sixth climate toward the Antarctic, the recently discovered farther part of Africa . . . and a fourth part of the world (which may be called Amerige, as if meaning “Americus’ land”, or America) are situated.”

In the ninth chapter of the same book the reasons for the name America are given in more detail:- “But now these parts have been more widely explored, and also another fourth part has been discovered by Americus Vesputius (as will be heard in the following), and I do not see why anyone should justifiably forbid it to be called Amerige, as if “Americus’ Land”, or America, from its discoverer Americus, a man of perceptive character; since both Europa and Asia have received their names from women.” So basically he named it America, because the rest of the continents were named after women.

USA!! USA!! USA!!

So we finally come down to why I wrote this article, but you know me, I have to go through the motions. Of course “USA” stand for the “United States Of America.” Before 1776, the United States Of America was not a country, but were colonies under the British Empire. It was simply called the British Colonies. Of course we all know about the taxation without representation thing. As a matter of fact the folks in Washington DC still know about it, but that’s another story. Anywho, taxation without representation lead to the American Declaration Of Independence. During a meeting of the Second Continental Congress, on June 11, 1776, they chose five people to write the document that would become the Declaration of Independence. Massa Thomas Jefferson did most of the writing in the document that declared the people of the British Colonies to be independent and free. However, the Continental Congress did not officially approve the Declaration until July 4. On that day, twelve of the thirteen groups that represented the colonies approved and ordered the Declaration to be printed. The Province of New York did not vote. This version of the Declaration was signed only by the President of the Congress, John Hancock. On July 15, the New York group agreed with the rest of the colonies’ groups. and on July 19, the Declaration’s title was changed from “A Declaration of the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled” to “the unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America.” From that day forward, the world would know the former British colonies as “The United States Of America or USA.”

A few days ago I was surfing the political rallies on Youtube looking for my next article. Okay let me be for real. I was looking for a racist to hurl my slanderous accusations and bitter observations at. So I looked for my prey at a well known watering hole, a Republican rally about immigration. Yessiree, they was out there. Did you know that racist sometimes call black people “Canadians.” I saw a meme the other day and it fits this racial slur to a tee. “What in the Martinsburg, West Virginia is going on!!” Now I know not all Republicans are racist. But you gotta figure if you stick your hand in a hornets nest, than nine times out of ten you gonna be stung by a hornet. Anywho, we all have different social attitudes about the direction our country is heading. Me being a Democrat, it is mostly in opposition to the Republican social agenda. While I was listening to their rallies I kept thinking some of those idea’s are the most stupidest things I ever heard. The politician would come on and say’s something stupid like, ” If it wasn’t for incest and rape, the human population might have died out long ago.” It’s usually followed by a frenzied chant of “USA!! USA!! USA!!” I’m looking at these people like, “U Stupid Ass!” At some point in my research instead of hearing “USA!! and thinking United States Of America, I started hearing “USA!! and thinking “U Stupid Ass!!” Now it’s not all bad, because depending on where you stand on the social spectrum, you can hear what you want. Go ahead and try it out for yourself. Oh yeah, you’re welcome.