Cultural history of the United States

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This article covers the cultural history of the United States primarily since its founding in the late 18th century. The region has had patterns of original settlement by different peoples, and later settler colonial states and societal setups. Various immigrant groups have been at play in the formation of the nation's culture. While different ethnic groups may display their own insular cultural aspects, throughout time a broad American culture has developed that encompasses the entire country. Developments in the culture of the United States in modern history have often been followed by similar changes in the rest of the world (American cultural imperialism).

This includes knowledge, customs, and arts of Americans, as well as events in the social, cultural, and political spheres.

The Americas before European colonization were home to a variety of societies, economies, and cultures.^[1]

The Columbian exchange was a series of biological and cultural transfers between Europe, Africa, and Asia, on the one hand, and North and South America, on the other.^[2] Among these were concepts of liberty, private property, and labor.^[3]

By the 18th century, Americans felt less disconnected from civilization and instead felt themselves to be participants in a broader British network.^[8] In the mid-18th century, several musings began to appear on the possibility of the United States one day becoming a mighty nation with a great culture. Some of these drew upon the concepts of translatio imperii and translatio studii in arguing that American greatness would be the natural successor of previous forms of civilization, such as the Roman Empire.^[9]

In the first decades after independence, Americans remained hard to distinguish from Britons. This lent the War of 1812 what many considered a "civil war"-like quality.^[10]

Reconstruction's end in 1877 halted progress on racial justice.^[12]

In the aftermath of World War II, it became customary to look back to the failures of the interwar period and aim to prevent the "next war". During the Cold War, the federal government became more involved in maintaining civic memory, though local communities also celebrated events such as the American Civil War Centennial.^[13] The concept of being "cool" came into vogue during this time.^[14]

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs were instituted by the early 21st century to increase minority group advancement. During the second presidency of Donald Trump, anti-DEI policies were instituted at the federal level, leading to fewer depictions of minority history and culture by some government agencies.^[15]

Prior to the early 19th century, people were infrequently jailed. Jails were considered too expensive and could not competently secure a criminal for a lengthy period. Those convicted were either flogged, placed in stocks for a time, or hanged. In 1829, an attempt was made to reform (induce repentance in) convicts by incarcerating them in a penitentiary. Strict silence was enforced. This model was widely copied and persisted for nearly a century. Authorities conceded failure when those incarcerated often went insane through lack of social contact.^[16]

Individualism in the United States has its beginnings dating back as far as the Revolutionary period. The ideas of the Enlightenment influenced many of the Founding Fathers when it came to philosophy on government and its relationship with individual rights. The founding documents of the United States, particularly the Bill or Rights, sought to protect individual rights and promote free expression of its citizens.^[18]

As the United States expanded westward, individualism became synonymous with the frontier character. Coined by President Herbert Hoover as "rugged individualism" in 1928, many Americans developed a strong oppositional stance to the government in their lives. The brand of western individualism was defined by self-reliance as a result of living in remote areas. Today, attitudes of individualism are still prevalent in many areas that made up the western frontier. This is especially the case when it comes to counties with lower population densities.^[19]

In the 19th century, American exceptionalism influenced belief in a unique trajectory for the new nation, which was ascribed to factors such as divine intervention, successful republicanism, and geography.^[20] Over time, economic growth and improvements to quality of life have generally increased Americans' ability to be self-reliant while participating in broader society.^[21]

In the early decades of independence, there was an intense effort to inscribe civic virtue into the fabric of the new republic, as seen in the Greek and Roman architecture built at the time and the commemoration of unifying figures such as the Marquis de Lafayette and George Washington.^[22]

The equalizing nature of American democracy also gave rise to some of the unique divisions in the country: it reduced hierarchies among white men, but put them at greater odds with those who were initially outside of democratic society, namely white women and racial minorities.^[23]

Though technological progress was slow in the colonial era, ideas from the European and Christian heritage of early Americans led to a focus on improving material life.^[24]

During the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, the rise of corporations and the industrial restructuring of the economy were major factors that changed American society.^[25] The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 fed into the rise of populism, with general anxieties around reduction of economic opportunity playing a role.^[12] Americans became more tied to metropolitan centers, and were being influenced by private organizations that formed a new national life.^[26] Economic growth was linked to moral progress, but also gave rise to concerns of staidness and people becoming "overcivilized".^[27]

Upon independence, the United States began to divorce itself from its British heritage, often writing its own history in a way that failed to capture long-term continuities with British and European traditions. This allowed the new nation to more easily impact the world in a way which it could claim as its own, but muddied the waters around the nature and utility of American imperialism.^[28]

American involvement in the world became more intense after the Civil War, as the nation stabilized and its economy industrialized.^[29] By the 1890s, the reduction in economic opportunity, spurred on by the closing of the frontier and the increasing economic inequality observed in cities, was weakening confidence in the direction of the nation; some aimed to counter this trend by forcefully expanding American involvement in the world.^[30] The new national pastime of baseball became an encapsulation of American values on a global stage, sometimes being exported as part of military expeditions.^[31] Sports in general came to form a significant part of American outreach to the world, channeling the nation's desire to civilize and integrate with the world, though sometimes facing local resistance and adaptations.^[32]

In the first Cold War decades, a newly hegemonic United States began culturally influencing the world on a larger scale (see also: United States cultural exchange programs); however, the country maintained information barriers and concerns around absorbing international influences.^[33] The shock of the Vietnam War then disrupted American unity and created a scarring disruption that altered society.^[34][35]

The first centuries of European migration to the United States abounded with optimism around and exploration of the unique possibilities of the new nation.^[36] British immigrants brought the diversity of their homeland along with ideas around the possibilities and importance of societal progress (see also: civilizing mission).^[37]

Immigration from the turn of the 20th century onward began to reshape American society, encouraging an identity forged around civic participation rather than ancestry.^[38] Initially, many immigrants self-segregated out of mainstream American society, with the World Wars then offering a backdrop to American policies that sought to utilize or suppress ethnic uniqueness among European groups.^[39] The metaphor of the melting pot came to be used, symbolizing the possibility of overcoming divisions while learning from them.^[40] However, an anti-immigrant stance was adopted by the end of the Roaring Twenties.^[41]

By the turn of the 21st century, new computing and transportation technologies and the impact of globalization also played a significant role in how immigrants entered and altered American culture.^[42]

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