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Americans

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This article is about the people of the United States of America. For other uses, see American (disambiguation). For the meanings of American in various contexts, see American (word). For a similar title, see The Americans.
Americans
Flag of the United States.svg
Total population
308,745,538[1]
2010 United States Census
320,925,485[2]
2015 estimate
Regions with significant populations
Mexico 738,100–1,000,000[3][4]
Canada 316,350–1,000,000[5][6]
Philippines 300,000–600,000[7]
Israel 200,000[8][9]
United Kingdom 139,000–197,143[10][11]
Costa Rica 130,000[12]
South Korea 120,000–158,000[13]
Germany 108,845[14]
France 100,000[15]
China 71,493[16]
Brazil 70,000[17]
Colombia 60,000[18]
Hong Kong 60,000[19]
India 60,000[20]
Australia 56,276[21]
Japan 51,321[22]
Italy 50,000[23]
United Arab Emirates 50,000[24]
Haiti 45,000[25]
Saudi Arabia 40,000[26]
Argentina 37,000[27]
Norway 33,509[28]
Bahamas 30,000[29]
Lebanon 25,000[30]
Panama 25,000[31]
El Salvador 19,000[32]
New Zealand 17,751[33]
Honduras 15,000[34]
Chile 12,000[35]
Taiwan 10,645[36]
Austria 10,175[37]
Bermuda 8,000[38]
Languages
Primarily English, but also Spanish and others
Religion
Primarily Christian (Protestantism, Catholicism, and Mormonism)[39]
Unaffiliated (no religion, agnosticism, and atheism)[39]
Various non-Christian religions (Judaism and others)[39]

Americans are citizens of the United States of America.[40] The country is home to people of many different national origins. As a result, most Americans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizenship and allegiance.[40] Although citizens make up the majority of Americans, non-citizen residents, dual citizens, and expatriates may also claim an American identity.[41]

Overview[edit]

Main articles: Race and ethnicity in the United States, Colonial United States and Immigration to the United States

The majority of Americans or their ancestors immigrated within the past five centuries, with the exception of the Native American population and people from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands who became American through expansion of the country in the 19th century,[42] and American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands in the 20th century.[43]

Despite its multi-ethnic composition,[44][45] the culture of the United States held in common by most Americans can also be referred to as mainstream "American culture", a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of Northern and Western European colonists, settlers, and immigrants.[44] It also includes influences of African-American culture.[46] Westward expansion integrated the Creoles and Cajuns of Louisiana and the Hispanos of the Southwest and brought close contact with the culture of Mexico. Large-scale immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from Southern and Eastern Europe introduced a variety of elements. Immigration from Asia, Africa, and Latin America has also had impact. A cultural melting pot, or pluralistic salad bowl, describes the way in which generations of Americans have celebrated and exchanged distinctive cultural characteristics.[44]

In addition to the United States, Americans and people of American descent can be found internationally. As many as seven million Americans are estimated to be living abroad, and make up the American diaspora.[47][48][49]

Racial and ethnic groups[edit]

Main article: Race and ethnicity in the United States
See also: Demographics of the United States
2010 U.S Census [50]Table 1[51]
Self-identified Race Percent of population
White alone
  
 72.4%
African American
  
 12.6%
Asian
  
 4.8%
American Indians and Alaska Natives
  
 0.9%
Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders
  
 0.2%
Two or more races
  
 2.9%
Some Other Race
  
 6.2%
Total
  
 100%
Hispanic and Latino American (of any race): 16.3%[52]

The United States of America is a diverse country, racially, and ethnically.[53] Six races are officially recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes: White, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and people of two or more races. "Some other race" is also an option in the census and other surveys.[54][55][56]

The United States Census Bureau also classifies Americans as "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino", which identifies Hispanic and Latino Americans as a racially diverse ethnicity that comprises the largest minority group in the nation.[54][55][57]

White and European Americans[edit]

Main articles: European Americans, White Americans, White Hispanic and Latino Americans, Iranian Americans, Arab Americans and Jewish Americans

People of European descent, or whites, constitute the majority of the 308 million people living in the United States, with 72.4% of the population in the 2010 United States Census.[a][50][59] They are considered people who trace their ancestry to the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.[50] Of those reporting to be White American, 7,487,133 reported to be Multiracial; with largest combination being white and black.[59] Additionally, there are 29,184,290 White Hispanics or Latinos.[59] Non-Hispanic Whites are the majority in 46 states. There are four minority-majority states: California, Texas, New Mexico, and Hawaii.[50] In addition, the District of Columbia has a non-white majority.[50] The state with the highest percentage of non-Hispanic White Americans is Maine.[60]

The largest continental ancestral group of Americans are that of Europeans who have origins in any of the original peoples of Europe. This includes people via African, North American, Caribbean, Central American or South American and Oceanian nations that have a large European diaspora.[61]

The Spanish were the first Europeans to establish a continuous presence in what is now the United States.[62] Martín de Argüelles born 1566, San Agustín, La Florida, was the first person of European descent born in what is now the United States.[63] Twenty-one years later, Virginia Dare born 1587 Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, was the first child born in the Thirteen Colonies to English parents.

In the 2013 American Community Survey, German Americans (14.6%), Irish Americans (10.5%), English Americans (7.7%) and Italian Americans (5.4%) were the four largest self-reported European ancestry groups in the United States forming 38.2% of the total population.[64]

Overall, as the largest group, European Americans have the lowest poverty rate[65] and the second highest educational attainment levels, median household income,[66] and median personal income[67] of any racial demographic in the nation.

Population by ancestry group[68][69]
Rank Ancestry group Percentage
of total est. population		 Pop. estimates Ref
John Steinbeck 1962.jpg
John F. Kennedy, White House photo portrait, looking up.jpg
Gilbert Stuart Williamstown Portrait of George Washington.jpg
Frank Sinatra (1960).jpg
Frank Sinatra (Italian)
Martha Stewart 2011 Shankbone.JPG
J S Copley - Paul Revere.jpg
Paul Revere (French)
Thomas Flintoff - Sam Houston - Google Art Project.jpg
Sam Houston (Scottish)
Thomas Edison2.jpg
Marilyn Monroe 1952.jpg
Marilyn Monroe (Norwegian)
1 German 14.60% 46,162,557 [64]
2 Irish 10.50% 33,348,049 [64]
3 English 7.70% 24,483,225 [64]
4 American 7.00% 22,217,931 [64]
5 Italian 5.40% 17,222,421 [64]
6 Mexican 5.40% 16,794,111 [70]
7 Polish 3.00% 9,383,332 [64]
8 French (except Basque) 2.60% 8,227,938 [64]
9 Scottish 1.70% 5,310,285 [64]
10 Dutch 1.40% 4,271,869 [64]
11 Norwegian 1.40% 4,484,167 [64]
White and European American (Total) 231,040,398 [59]
2010 United States Census & 2013 American Community Survey

Black and African Americans[edit]

Main articles: African American and Black Hispanic and Latino Americans

African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa.[71] According to the Office of Management and Budget, the racial category include those who self-identify as African American, Sub-Saharan Africans, and Afro-Caribbeans.[72] According to the 2009 American Community Survey, there were 38,093,725 blacks in the United States, which represented 12.4% of the population. In addition, there were 37,144,530 non-Hispanic blacks, which represented 12.1% of the population.[73] This number increased to 42 million according to the 2010 United States Census, when including Multiracial African Americans,[72] making up 14% of the total population of the United States.[b][74] African Americans make up the second largest race in the United States, but the third largest group after White Americans and Hispanic or Latino Americans (of any race);[75] the majority of the population (55%) live in the South, while compared to 2000 Census there is a decrease of African Americans in the Northeast and Midwest.[74]

Most African Americans are the direct descendants of captive Africans who survived the slavery era within the boundaries of the present United States, although some are—or are descended from—immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations.[76] As an adjective, the term is usually spelled African-American.[77] More recent immigrants from Africa may, or may not, self-identify as "African-American";[78][79] and may experience conflict with American-born African-Americans.[80][81][82][83]

The first African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. The English settlers treated these captives as indentured servants and released them after a number of years. This practice was gradually replaced by the system of race-based slavery used in the Caribbean.[84] All the American colonies had slavery, but it was usually the form of personal servants in the North (where 2% of the people were slaves), and field hands in plantations in the South (where 25% were slaves);[85] by the beginning of the American Revolutionary War 1/5th of the total population was enslaved.[86] During the revolution, some would serve in the Continental Army or Continental Navy,[87][88] while others would serve the British Empire in Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment, and other units.[89] By 1804, the northern states (north of the Mason–Dixon line) had abolished slavery.[90] However, slavery would persist in the southern states until the end of the American Civil War and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment.[91] Following the end of the Reconstruction Era, which saw the first African American representation in Congress,[92] African Americans became disenfranchised and subject to Jim Crow laws,[93] legislation that would persist until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act due to the Civil Rights Movement.[94]

Population by ancestry group[69]
Rank Ancestry group Percentage
of total est. population		 Pop. estimates
DredScott.jpg
Frederick Douglass portrait.jpg
Martin Luther King, Jr..jpg
Colin Powell official Secretary of State photo.jpg
Colin Powell (Jamaican and Scottish)
Motto web dubois original.jpg
W. E. B. Du Bois (Haitian and Ghanaian)
LeVar Burton by Gage Skidmore.jpg
LeVar Burton (Nigerian)
Kareem Abdul Jabbar crop.jpg
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Trinidadian and Tobagonian)
Jack Johnson1.jpg
Jack Johnson (Ghanaian)
Shirley Chisholm.jpg
Shirley Chisholm (Barbadian)
1 Jamaican 0.31% 986,897
2 Haitian 0.28% 873,003
3 Nigerian 0.08% 259,934
4 Trinidadian and Tobagonian 0.06% 193,233
5 Ghanaian 0.03% 94,405
6 Barbadian 0.01% 59,236
Sub-Saharan African (total) 0.92% 2,864,067
West Indian (total) (except Hispanic groups) 0.85% 2,633,149
Black and African Americans (total) 13.6% 42,020,743
2010 United States Census[72]
2009–2011 American Community Survey

Asian Americans[edit]

Main articles: Asian American and Asian Hispanic and Latino Americans

Another significant population is the Asian American population, comprising 17.3 million in 2010, or 5.6% of the U.S. population.[c][95][96] California is home to 5.6 million Asian Americans, the greatest number in any state.[97] In Hawaii, Asian Americans make up the highest proportion of the population (57 percent).[97] Asian Americans live across the country, yet are heavily urbanized, with significant populations in the Greater Los Angeles Area, New York metropolitan area, and the San Francisco Bay Area.[98]

They are by no means a monolithic group. The largest sub-groups are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from Cambodia, Mainland China, India, Japan, Korea, Laos, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Asians overall have higher income levels than all other racial groups in the United States, including whites, and the trend appears to be increasing in relation to those groups.[99] Additionally, Asians have a higher education attainment level than all other racial groups in the United States.[100][101] For better or worse, the group has been called a model minority.[102][103][104]

While Asian Americans have been in what is now the United States since before the Revolutionary War,[105][106][107] relatively large waves of Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese immigration did not begin until the mid-to-late 19th century.[107] Immigration and significant population growth continue to this day.[108] Due to a number of factors, Asian Americans have been stereotyped as "perpetual foreigners".[109][110]

Asian ancestries[95]
Rank Ancestry Percentage
of total population		 Pop.
Anna May Wong (passport style photograph).jpg
Anna May Wong (Chinese)
Jose Calugas.jpg
Jose Calugas (Filipino)
Kalpana Chawla, NASA photo portrait in orange suit.jpg
MaggieQSDCCJuly10.jpg
Maggie Q (Vietnamese)
Young Philip Jaisohn.jpg
Seo Jae-pil (Korean)
Ellison Shoji Onizuka (NASA).jpg
Ellison Onizuka (Japanese)
1 Chinese 1.2% 3,797,379
2 Filipino 1.1% 3,417,285
3 Indian 1.0% 3,183,063
4 Vietnamese 0.5% 1,737,665
5 Korean 0.5% 1,707,027
6 Japanese 0.4% 1,304,599
Other Asian 0.9% 2,799,448
Asian American (total) 5.6% 17,320,856
2010 United States Census

American Indians and Alaska Natives[edit]

Main article: Native Americans in the United States
See also: Blood quantum laws and Bureau of Indian Affairs

According to the 2010 Census, there are 5.2 million people who are American Indian or Alaska Native alone, or in combination with one or more races; they make up 1.7% of the total population.[d][111] According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a "American Indian or Alaska Native" is a person whose ancestry have origins in any of the original peoples of North, Central, or South America.[111] 2.3 million individuals who are American Indian or Alaskan Native are multiracial;[111] additionally the plurality of American Indians reside in the Western United States (40.7%).[111] Collectively and historically this race has been known by several names;[112] as of 1995, 50% of those who fall within the OMB definition prefer the term "American Indian", 37% prefer "Native American" and the remainder have no preference or prefer a different term altogether.[113]

Native Americans, whose ancestry is indigenous to the Americas, originally migrated to the two continents between 10,000-45,000 years ago.[114] These Paleoamericans spread throughout the two continents and evolved into hundreds of distinct cultures during the pre-Columbian era.[115] Following the first voyage of Christopher Columbus,[116] the European colonization of the Americas began, with St. Augustine, Florida becoming the first permanent European settlement in the continental United States.[117] From the 16th through the 19th centuries, the population of Native Americans declined in the following ways: epidemic diseases brought from Europe;[118] genocide and warfare at the hands of European explorers and colonists,[119][120][121] as well as between tribes;[122][123] displacement from their lands;[124] internal warfare,[125] enslavement;[126] and intermarriage.[127][128]

Population by selected tribal groups[111][129]
Rank National origin Percentage
of total population		 Pop.
Lange-MigrantMother02.jpg
Navajo Code Talkers.jpg
Code talkers (Navajo)
Pushmataha high resolution.jpg
Pushmataha (Choctaw)
Chief Bender, Philadelphia Athletics pitcher, by Paul Thompson, 1911.jpg
Chief Bender (Chippewa)
En-chief-sitting-bull.jpg
Sitting Bull (Sioux)
Goyaale.jpg
1 Cherokee 0.26% 819,105
2 Navajo 0.1% 332,129
3 Choctaw 0.06% 195,764
4 Mexican American Indian 0.05% 175,494
5 Chippewa 0.05% 170,742
6 Sioux 0.05% 170,110
All other 1.08% 3,357,235
American Indian (total) 1.69% 5,220,579
2010 United States Census

Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders[edit]

Main article: Pacific Islands American

As defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders are "persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands."[130] Previously called Asian Pacific American, along with Asian Americans beginning in 1976, this was changed in 1997.[131] As of the 2010 United States Census there are 1.2 million who reside in the United States, and make up 0.4% of the nation's total population, of whom 56% are multiracial.[e][132] 14% of the population have at least a bachelor's degree,[132] and 15.1% live in poverty, below the poverty threshold.[132] As compared to the 2000 United States Census this population grew by 40%;[130] and 71% live in the West; of those over half (52%) live in either Hawaii or California, with no other states having populations greater than 100,000.[130] The largest concentration of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, is Honolulu County in Hawaii,[132] and Los Angeles County in the continental United States.[130]

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander by ancestries[130]
Rank Ancestry Percentage Pop.
Duke Kahanamoku c1912.jpg
Duke Kahanamoku (Hawaiian)
The ROCK.jpg
Sonny Sandoval.jpg
Sonny Sandoval (Chamorro)
Sione Pouha.JPG
Sione Pouha (Tongan)
1 Hawaiian 0.17% 527,077
2 Samoan 0.05% 184,440
3 Chamorro 0.04% 147,798
4 Tongan 0.01% 57,183
Other Pacific Islanders 0.09% 308,697
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (total) 0.39% 1,225,195
2010 United States Census

Two or more races[edit]

Main article: Multiracial American

The U.S. has a growing multiracial identity movement. Multiracial Americans numbered 7.0 million in 2008, or 2.3% of the population;[96] by the 2010 census the Multiracial increased to 9,009,073, or 2.9% of the total population.[133] They can be any combination of races (White, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, "Some other race") and ethnicities.[134] The largest population of Multiracial Americans were those of White and African American descent, with a total of 1,834,212 self-identifying individuals.[133] Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, is biracial with his mother being of English and Irish descent and his father being of Kenyan birth;[135][136] however, Obama only self-identifies as being African American.[137][138]

Population by selected Two or More Races Population[139]
Rank Specific Combinations Percentage
of total population		 Pop.
Booker T Washington retouched flattened-crop.jpg
Booker T. Washington (African American and White)
Olivia Munn 2014 WonderCon (cropped).jpg
Olivia Munn (Asian (Chinese) and White (German and Irish))
PresleyPromo1954PhotoOnly.jpg
Elvis Presley (Native American (Cherokee) and White (French Norman, German, Scots-Irish, Scottish))
Motto edmonia lewis original.jpg
Edmonia Lewis Black (Haitian, African American), Native American (Mississauga and Ojibwe)
1 White; Black 0.59% 1,834,212
2 White; Some Other Race 0.56% 1,740,924
3 White; Asian 0.52% 1,623,234
4 White; Native American 0.46% 1,432,309
5 African American; Some Other Race 0.1% 314,571
6 African American; Native American 0.08% 269,421
All other specific combinations 0.58% 1,794,402
Multiracial Americans (Total) 2.9% 9,009,073
2010 United States Census

Ethnicity: Hispanic and Latino Americans[edit]

Main article: Hispanic and Latino Americans

Hispanic or Latino Americans (of any race) make up the largest ethnic minority in the United States and form the second largest group after non-Hispanic Whites in the United States, making up 16.3% of the population, according to the 2010 United States Census.[f][75][140]

Hispanic/Latino Americans are very racially diverse, and as a result form an ethnic category, rather than a race.[141][142][143][144]

People of Spanish or Hispanic descent have lived in what is now the United States since the founding of St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles. In the State of Texas, Spaniards first settled the region in the late 1600s and formed a unique cultural group known as Tejanos.

Population by national origin[145][146]
Rank National origin Percentage
of total est. population		 Pop.
Cesar chavez crop2.jpg
Cesar Chavez (Mexican)
MOH Versace.jpg
Humbert Roque Versace (Puerto Rican)
Félix Rodríguez.jpg
Anita Page Stars of the Photoplay.jpg
Anita Page (Salvadoran)
Al Horford2.jpg
Al Horford (Dominican)
Daphne Zuniga.jpg
Daphne Zuniga (Guatemalan)
Hilda Solis Secrétaire au travail.jpg
Hilda Solis (Nicaraguan-Mexican)
RaquelWelchApr2010.jpg
Raquel Welch (Bolivian)
BillGuerin2015 2.jpg
Bill Guerin (Nicaraguan)
1 Mexican 10.29% 31,798,258
2 Puerto Rican 1.49% 4,623,716
3 Cuban 0.57% 1,785,547
4 Salvadoran 0.53% 1,648,968
5 Dominican 0.45% 1,414,703
6 Guatemalan 0.33% 1,044,209
All other 2.64% 8,162,193
Hispanic and Latino American (total) 16.34% 50,477,594
2010 United States Census

Some other Race[edit]

Main articles: Multiracial Americans and Mestizos in the United States

According to the 2010 United States Census, 6.2% or 19,107,368 Americans chose to self-identify with the "Some other Race" category; the third most popular option. Also, 36.7% or 18,503,103 Hispanic/Latino Americans chose to identify as some other race as these Hispanic/Latinos may feel the U.S. census does not describe their European or American Indian ancestry as they understand it to be.[147] A significant portion of the Hispanic and Latino population self-identifies as Mestizo, particularly the Mexican and Central American community. Mestizo is not a racial category in the U.S. Census, but signifies someone who has both European and American Indian ancestry.

National personification[edit]

"Uncle Sam" is a national personification of the United States. The image bears resemblance to the real Samuel Wilson. The female personification, primarily popular during the 18th and 19th centuries, is "Columbia".

A national personification is an anthropomorphism of a nation or its people; it can appear in both editorial cartoons and propaganda.

Uncle Sam is a national personification of the United States and sometimes more specifically of the American government, with the first usage of the term dating from the War of 1812. He is depicted as a stern elderly white man with white hair and a goatee beard, and dressed in clothing that recalls the design elements of the flag of the United States – for example, typically a top hat with red and white stripes and white stars on a blue band, and red and white striped trousers.

Columbia is a poetic name for the Americas and the feminine personification of the United States of America, made famous by African-American poet Phillis Wheatley during the American Revolutionary War in 1776. It has inspired the names of many persons, places, objects, institutions, and companies in the Western Hemisphere and beyond, including the District of Columbia, the seat of government of the United States.

Language[edit]

Main articles: Languages of the United States, English language, American English and English-only
Languages spoken at home by more than 1 million persons in 2010[148]
Language Percent of
population		 Number of
speakers
English 80% 233,780,338
Combined total of all languages
other than English		 20% 57,048,617
Spanish
(excluding Puerto Rico and Spanish Creole)		 12% 35,437,985
Chinese
(including Cantonese and Mandarin)		 0.9% 2,567,779
Tagalog 0.5% 1,542,118
Vietnamese 0.4% 1,292,448
French 0.4% 1,288,833
Korean 0.4% 1,108,408
German 0.4% 1,107,869

English is the de facto national language. Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2007, about 226 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[149][150] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states.[151] Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law.[152]

While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[153] Other states, such as California, mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents. The latter include court forms.[154] Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by American Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico.

Religion[edit]

Main article: Religion in the United States
Religious affiliation in the U.S. (2014)[155]
Affiliation % of U.S. population
Christian 70.6 70.6
 
Protestant 46.5 46.5
 
Evangelical Protestant 25.4 25.4
 
Mainline Protestant 14.7 14.7
 
Black church 6.5 6.5
 
Catholic 20.8 20.8
 
Mormon 1.6 1.6
 
Jehovah's Witnesses 0.8 0.8
 
Eastern Orthodox 0.5 0.5
 
Other Christian 0.4 0.4
 
Non-Christian faiths 5.9 5.9
 
Jewish 1.9 1.9
 
Muslim 0.9 0.9
 
Buddhist 0.7 0.7
 
Hindu 0.7 0.7
 
Other Non-Christian faiths 1.8 1.8
 
Unaffiliated 22.8 22.8
 
Nothing in particular 15.8 15.8
 
Agnostic 4.0 4
 
Atheist 3.1 3.1
 
Don't know/refused answer 0.6 0.6
 
Total 100 100
 

Religion in the United States has a high adherence level, compared to other developed countries, and diversity in beliefs. The First Amendment to the country's Constitution prevents the Federal government from making any "law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted this as preventing the government from having any authority in religion. A majority of Americans report that religion plays a "very important" role in their lives, a proportion unusual among developed countries, although similar to the other nations of the Americas.[156] Many faiths have flourished in the United States, including both later imports spanning the country's multicultural immigrant heritage, as well as those founded within the country; these have led the United States to become the most religiously diverse country in the world.[157]

The majority of Americans (76%) identify themselves as Christians, mostly within Protestant and Catholic denominations, accounting for 51% and 25% of the population respectively.[158] Non-Christian religions (including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism), collectively make up about 4% to 5% of the adult population.[158][159][160] Another 15% of the adult population identifies as having no religious belief or no religious affiliation.[158] According to the American Religious Identification Survey, religious belief varies considerably across the country: 59% of Americans living in Western states (the "Unchurched Belt") report a belief in God, yet in the South (the "Bible Belt") the figure is as high as 86%.[158][161]

Several of the original Thirteen Colonies were established by settlers who wished to practice their own religion without discrimination: the Massachusetts Bay Colony was established by English Puritans, Pennsylvania by Irish and English Quakers, Maryland by English and Irish Catholics, and Virginia by English Anglicans. Although some individual states retained established religious confessions well into the 19th century, the United States was the first nation to have no official state-endorsed religion.[162] Modeling the provisions concerning religion within the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the framers of the Constitution rejected any religious test for office, and the First Amendment specifically denied the federal government any power to enact any law respecting either an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise, thus protecting any religious organization, institution, or denomination from government interference. The decision was mainly influenced by European Rationalist and Protestant ideals, but was also a consequence of the pragmatic concerns of minority religious groups and small states that did not want to be under the power or influence of a national religion that did not represent them.[163]

Culture[edit]

Main article: Culture of the United States
Apple pie and baseball are icons of American culture.

The culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture but is influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. The United States of America has its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore.[45]

Its chief early European influences came from English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish settlers of colonial America during British rule. British culture, due to colonial ties with Britain that spread the English language, legal system and other cultural inheritances, had a formative influence.[164] Other important influences came from other parts of Europe, especially Germany,[165] France,[166] and Italy.[167]

Original elements also play a strong role, such as Jeffersonian democracy.[168] Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia was perhaps the first influential domestic cultural critique by an American and a reactionary piece to the prevailing European consensus that America's domestic originality was degenerate.[168] Prevalent ideas and ideals that evolved domestically, such as national holidays, uniquely American sports, military tradition,[169] and innovations in the arts and entertainment give a strong sense of national pride among the population as a whole.[170]

American culture includes both conservative and liberal elements, scientific and religious competitiveness, political structures, risk taking and free expression, materialist and moral elements. Despite certain consistent ideological principles (e.g. individualism, egalitarianism, and faith in freedom and democracy), American culture has a variety of expressions due to its geographical scale and demographic diversity.

American diaspora[edit]

See also: Amerasian
Africa
The American Flag
Americas
Latin America
Elsewhere
Asia
Europe
Oceania

See also[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ Of the foreign-born population from Europe (4,817 thousand), in 2010, 61.8% were naturalized.[58]
  2. ^ Of the foreign-born population from Africa (1,607 thousand), in 2010, 46.1% were naturalized.[58]
  3. ^ Of the foreign-born population from Asia (11,284 thousand), in 2010, 57.7% were naturalized.[58]
  4. ^ Of the foreign-born population from Northern America (807 thousand), in 2010, 44.3% were naturalized.[58]
  5. ^ Of the foreign-born population from Oceania (217 thousand), in 2010, 36.9% were naturalized.[58]
  6. ^ Of the foreign-born population from Latin America and the Caribbean (21,224 thousand), in 2010, 32.1% were naturalized.[58]

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Central Europe
Eastern Europe
Northern Europe
Southeast Europe3
Southern Europe
Western Europe
Other Europeans
1 Poles came to the United States legally as Austrians, Germans, Prussians or Russians throughout the 19th century, because from 1772-1795 till 1918, all Polish lands had been partitioned between imperial Austria, Prussia (a protoplast of Germany) and Russia until Poland regained its sovereignty in the wake of World War I.

2 Russia is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. The vast majority of its population (80%) lives in European Russia, therefore Russia as a whole is included as a European country here.

3 Yugoslav Americans are the American people from the former Yugoslavia.

4 Turkey is a transcontinental country in the Middle East and Southeast Europe. Has a small part of its territory (3%) in Southeast Europe called Turkish Thrace.

5 Azerbaijan and Georgia are transcontinental countries. They have a small part of their territories in the European part of the Caucasus.

6 Kazakhstan is technically a bicontinental country, having a small portion in European hands.

7 Disputed; Roma have recognized origins and historic ties to Asia (specifically to Northern India), but they experienced at least some distinctive identity development while in diaspora among Europeans.
Central Asian3, 4
Map showing the United States in blue, and the nations where Asian Americans originate from in shades of orange
East Asian
South Asian3, 6
Southeast Asian
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