These Disunited States Of America

Title: American Nations

Rating: 5 Stars

Like the Battle Cry of Freedom, this is one of those nonfiction books that I feel compelled to read every couple of years. This is, I believe, the third or fourth time that I’ve read it. Even now, I’m not sure if I believe its main thesis. I do appreciate authors who take big swings at an interesting question and proposes bold and unique explanations.

In this case, the big question is, despite this deep rooted image of us Americans being one people that united together to defeat the British, that temporarily split over the issue of slavery, but since then have thought of ourselves as one people, why do we hate each so much? Why does one state highly prioritize education while another state used to have a ban on all public education in its state constitution? Why does one state work hard to get as many people as possible to vote while another state actively puts hurdles to prevent its people from voting? Why does one state try to implement governmental programs while another state thinks that governments should be drowned in bathtubs?

In Colin Woodard’s book, he proposes that in fact we are not one people. He proposes that the United States is actually comprised of eleven separate nations, all founded at different times by different people that had different priorities. Events like the Revolutionary War or the Civil War came about when various subsets of these nations united to fight an external power or to fight each other.

What are these nations?

Yankeedom: Founded by the Pilgrims / Puritans, its primary purpose was to create a state that reflected their religious beliefs (they were definitely not interested in religious freedom). Part of their belief system involved having a more personal relationship with God. Since this implied that a citizen should be able to read the bible, public education was prioritized. This also resulted in the expectation that citizens would play a significant role in government (eg town halls). John Adams is a citizen of this nation.

Deep South: The bitter enemies of Yankeedom, it was founded by descendants of Barbados slave owners. Barbados was notorious even during that time for being the cruelest of the slave nations. Being an island, the owners rapidly ran out of land. Seeing opportunity in the deep Southern states, children of these slave owners came over and recreated their culture there. It sought to recreate the old Roman culture where the few could live a life of idle luxury while their enslaved did all of the work. Accordingly, they believed in a oligarchical government with the great mass of people kept in uneducated ignorance. John Calhoun is a good example of a citizen of this nation.

New Netherland: Essentially New York City, it was founded by the Dutch and chartered by the Dutch West India Company. Established purely for commercial reasons, it valued trading and generally just making money. Given this commercial focus, it was quite diverse and accepting of most cultures.

Tidewater: Cut off from territorial expansion, its importance died off but was key in the early days of the country (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe all came out of Tidewater). Founded by younger sons of English aristocracy, it tried to recreate that type of government here.

Midlands: Founded by Quakers, this nation is marked by religious freedom and relative passivity. This is one of the key ‘swing’ nations that other nations try to recruit to join whatever cause they’re espousing.

Greater Appalachia: Populated by people coming from places like the Scottish Irish border lands, they are used to hard scrabble existences and having to fight for everything they want. Violent, quick to anger, and full of pride, they have eagerly fought in every battle in our country’s history (think Andrew Jackson).

Other nations include the oldest nation, the Spanish influenced El Norte, the Yankeedom influenced Left Coast, the corporate run / government subsidized Far West, and two nations whose prominence is most felt in Canada, First Nation and New France.

When you look at our history through the prism of these nations, some things begin to make sense. It explains why New York City was pro-English during the Revolutionary War. It explains why Yankeedom and Deep South went toe to toe during the Civil War (and in so doing, brought in allies from the other nations). It explains the paradox of how some Western states both hate the government and also are deeply subsidized by it.

It seems odd that the motives and philosophies of founders can still resonate now, several centuries later. Woodard cites sources that demonstrates that even a low number of founders can have a disproportionate impact for generations.

Although illuminating, it is also kind of depressing for me. Even though I no longer live there, I spent so much time there that I am definitely a Left Coaster. I believe in education, rationality, equality, and using technology to improve our lives. I want to believe that ultimately we’re on a path of progress that will eventually lead us to a point in our future where such common sense ideas (at least to me) will have universal appeal. Reading this book convinces me that this will not happen. There are parts of our country that are utterly inimical to such ideas and no amount of persuasion will change their minds.

These nations aren’t set by artificial boundaries like state lines. Woodard used extensive voting information by county to construct a detailed true boundary of each of these nations (shown on the cover of the book). It’s not even clear how these nations could be rationally split apart. It would appear that the entire US history to come will be a continuing struggle as various combinations of these nations try to attain supremacy.

As I said at the top, I don’t know if I’m completely sold on this. Could the behavior of a nation with a population of 330 million be explained by a small number of settlers from 400 years ago? It seems shady, but Woodard does provide some pretty compelling evidence and commentary. Over the course of my life, it does seem to explain behavior that otherwise seems inexplicable.