Talk:United States

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Article policies

Archives: Index, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94

The Arbitration Committee has authorized uninvolved administrators to impose discretionary sanctions on users who edit pages related to post-1932 politics of the United States and closely related people, including this article.

Provided the awareness criteria are met, discretionary sanctions may be used against editors who repeatedly or seriously fail to adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, any expected standards of behaviour, or any normal editorial process.

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Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Q1. How did the article get the way it is?

Archives

Article Name, Article Introduction, Human Rights, Culture

Detailed discussions which led to the current consensus can be found in the archives of Talk:United States. Several topical talk archives are identified in the infobox to the right. A complete list of talk archives can be found at the top of the Talk:United States page.

Q2. Why is the article's name "United States" and not "United States of America"?

Isn't United States of America the official name of the U.S.? I would think that United States should redirect to United States of America, not vice versa as is the current case.

This has been discussed many times. Please review the summary points below and the discussion archived at the Talk:United States/Name page. The most major discussion showed a lack of consensus to either change the name or leave it as the same, so the name was kept as "United States".

If, after reading the following summary points and all the discussion, you wish to ask a question or contribute your opinion to the discussion, then please do so at Talk:United States. The only way that we can be sure of ongoing consensus is if people contribute.

Reasons and counterpoints for the article title of "United States":

"United States" is in compliance with the Wikipedia "Naming conventions (common names)" guideline portion of the Wikipedia naming conventions policy. The guideline expresses a preference for the most commonly used name, and "United States" is the most commonly used name for the country in television programs (particularly news), newspapers, magazines, books, and legal documents, including the Constitution of the United States.
- Exceptions to guidelines are allowed.

If we used "United States of America", then to be consistent we would have to rename all similar articles. For example, rename "United Kingdom" to "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" or Mexico to "United Mexican States".
- Exceptions to guidelines are allowed. Articles are independent from one another. No rule says articles have to copy-cat each other.
- This argument would be valid only if "United States of America" was a particularly uncommon name for the country.

Well-established encyclopedias in the English language appear to generally use a "common name" policy for article titles. More specifically, the following use "United States" for the title of the corresponding article: MSN Encarta, World Book, Encyclopedia Americana, Columbia, Grolier, and the Micropaedia and online versions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. In our effort to make Wikipedia an "encyclopedia of the highest possible quality," (Jimmy Wales, "Wikipedia is an encyclopedia", March 8, 2005, <wikipedia-l@wikimedia.org>) we would do well to emulate what these well-established encyclopedias do.
- The Macropaedia version of Britannica uses "United States of America" for its article title.

With the reliability, legitimacy, and reputation of all Wikimedia Foundation projects under constant attack, Wikipedia should not hand a weapon to its critics by deviating from the "common name" policy traditionally used by encyclopedias in the English-speaking world.
- Wikipedia is supposed to be more than just another encyclopedia.

Reasons and counterpoints for the article title of "United States of America":

It is the country's official name.
- The country's name is not explicitly defined as such in the Constitution or in the law. The words "United States of America" only appear three times in the Constitution. "United States" appears 51 times by itself, including in the presidential oath or affirmation. The phrase "of America" is arguably just a prepositional phrase that describes the location of the United States and is not actually part of the country's name.

The Articles of Confederation explicitly name the country "The United States of America" in article one (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation) While this is no longer binding law, the articles provide clear intent of the founders of the nation to use the name "The United States of America."

The whole purpose of the common naming convention is to ease access to the articles through search engines. For this purpose the article name "United States of America" is advantageous over "United States" because it contains the strings "United States of America" and "United States." In this regard, "The United States of America" would be even better as it contains the strings "United States," The United States," "United States of America," and "The United States of America."
- The purpose of containing more strings is to increase exposure to Wikipedia articles by increasing search rank for more terms. Although "The United States of America" would give you four times more commonly used terms for the United States, the United States article on Wikipedia is already the first result in queries for United States of America, The United States of America, The United States, and of course United States.

Q3. Is the United States really the oldest constitutional republic in the world?

1. Isn't San Marino older?

Yes. San Marino was founded before the United States and did adopt its basic law on 8 October 1600. (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sm.html) Full democracy was attained there with various new electoral laws in the 20th century which augmented rather than amended the existing constitution.

2. How about Switzerland?

Yes, but not continuously. The first "constitution" within Switzerland is believed to be the Federal Charter of 1291 and most of modern Switzerland was republican by 1600. After Napoleon and a later civil war, the current constitution was adopted in 1848.

Many people in the United States are told it is the oldest republic and has the oldest constitution, however one must use a narrow definition of constitution. Within Wikipedia articles it may be appropriate to add a modifier such as "oldest continuous, federal ..." however it is more useful to explain the strength and influence of the US constitution and political system both domestically and globally. One must also be careful using the word "democratic" due to the limited franchise in early US history and better explain the pioneering expansion of the democractic system and subsequent influence.

The component states of the Swiss confederation were mostly oligarchies in the eighteenth century, however, much tighter than most of the United States, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Connecticut excepted.

Q4. Isn't St. Augustine, Florida the first European settlement in the United States?

Technically, yes. However, Florida was not one of the original 13 colonies that formed the United States and thus the article mentions Jamestown and not St. Augustine.

This decision has been disputed and no explicit consensus has ever been formed on this question.

If you wish to challenge this decision, please do so on the Talk:United States page.

Q5. Why are the Speaker of the House and Chief Justice listed as leaders in the infobox? Shouldn't it just be the President and Vice President?

The President, Vice President, Speaker of The House of Representatives, and Chief Justice are stated within the United States Constitution as leaders of their respective branches of government. As the three branches of government are equal, all four leaders get mentioned under the "Government" heading in the infobox.

Q6. Why are the President's, Vice President's, and Speaker's parties listed, but not the Chief Justice's?

Though the Chief Justice of the United States may belong to a political party, his or her office is a judicial appointment, not an elected office. Therefore, the Chief Justice's party is not included when referencing him or her. (E.g. John Roberts is a Republican, but he is not referenced as John Roberts (R).)

Q7. What is the motto of the United States?

There was no de jure motto of the United States until 1956, when "In God We Trust" was made such. Various other unofficial mottos existed before that, most notably "E Pluribus Unum". The debate continues on what "E Pluribus Unum"'s current status is (de facto motto, traditional motto, etc.) but it has been determined that it never was an official motto of the United States.

Q8. Is the U.S. really the world's largest economy?

Yes. The United States has been the world's largest national economy since the Gilded Age and the world's largest economy since 2014, when it surpassed the European Union.

Q9. Isn't it incorrect to refer to it as "America" or its people as "American"?

In English, America (when not preceded by "North", "Central", or "South") almost always refers to the United States. The large super-continent is called the Americas.

Q10. Why isn't the treatment of Native Americans given more weight?

The article is written in summary style and the independence and expansion section summarizes the situation.

United States has been listed as one of the Geography and places good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
December 15, 2005	Good article nominee	Listed
May 7, 2006	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
May 8, 2006	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
May 18, 2006	Peer review	Reviewed
July 3, 2006	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
September 21, 2006	Peer review	Reviewed
June 19, 2007	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
July 9, 2008	Good article reassessment	Kept
June 27, 2009	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
September 6, 2009	Peer review	Reviewed
January 19, 2011	Peer review	Reviewed
March 18, 2012	Good article reassessment	Delisted
August 10, 2012	Good article nominee	Not listed
January 21, 2015	Good article nominee	Listed
A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on February 3, 2015. The text of the entry was: Did you know [...] that the United States* accounts for 37% of all global military spending?*
A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on July 4, 2008.
Current status: Good article

This article is of interest to multiple WikiProjects. Click [show] for further details.

WikiProject United States

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This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions.

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	This article was a past U.S. Collaboration of the Month.

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WikiProject North America

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This article is within the scope of WikiProject North America, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of North America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.

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Wikipedia Version 1.0 Editorial Team / v0.5 / Vital / Supplemental

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This article has been reviewed by the Version 1.0 Editorial Team.

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This article has been rated as GA-Class on the quality scale.

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Additional information:

	This article is within of subsequent release version of Geography.
	This article has been selected for Version 0.5 and subsequent release versions of Wikipedia.
	This article is a vital article.
	This article is one of the supplemental core articles, which every encyclopedia should have.

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United States has been listed as a level-3 vital article in Geography. If you can improve it, please do. This article has been rated as GA-Class.

This article has been mentioned by multiple media organizations:

"The 50 most-viewed Wikipedia articles in 2009 and 2008". The Daily Telegraph. August 17, 2009. (details)
"Topics that spark Wikipedia 'edit wars' revealed". BBC News. July 18, 2013. Retrieved July 18, 2013. (details)

This article is substantially duplicated by a piece in an external publication. Please do not flag this article as a copyright violation of the following sources:

Surhone, L. M., Timpledon, M. T., & Marseken, S. F. (2010), Orson Scott Card: United States, author, critic, public speaking, activism, genre, Betascript Publishing
Miller, F. P., Vandome, A. F., & McBrewster, J. (2009), Biosphere 2: Biosphere 2, closed ecological system, Oracle, Arizona, Arizona, United States, Biome, space colonization, Biosphere, rainforest, Ed Bass, BIOS-3, Eden project, Alphascript
Miller, F. P., Vandome, A. F., & McBrewster, J. (2010), Military journalism: Combatant commander, psychological warfare, United States, public affairs (military), propaganda, journalist, Civil-military operations, Alphascript Publishing
Click the "show" link above for further details.

OCLC 636651797, ISBN 9786130336431.

This subject is featured in the Outline of the United States, which is incomplete and needs further development. That page, along with the other outlines on Wikipedia, is part of Wikipedia's Outline of Knowledge, which also serves as the table of contents or site map of Wikipedia.

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, labor, traveled), and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

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This talk page is automatically archived by lowercase sigmabot III. Any threads with no replies in 14 days may be automatically moved. Sections without timestamps are not archived.

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Congratulations to the main article and it deserve more!!!!!!!!!![edit]

I like the distinctive style of the main article especially in the introduction section, it is very organized, it does not confuse me as a reader of the article; especially that I do not know any information or background on the United States. Mr. James Dimsey (talk) 14:56, 30 October 2018 (UTC)

Map of North American sports teams is outdated[edit]

The map of NA sports teams, which is from March 2008, should be updated. Specifically it does not have Las Vegas as having a sports team, when it now has an NHL team. Maybe no one with editing privileges on this page has it noticed it yet, maybe everyone is just too lazy to change it. Just throwing it out there.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Chaws1 (talk • contribs) 01:35, 6 November 2018 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 6 November 2018[edit]

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

update current population numbers, as they are out of date, and the source no longer works. change to 328,941,142 ^[1] Internets Up (talk) 07:07, 6 November 2018 (UTC)

Done – I've changed the infobox reference URL so it doesn't point to an error page. However, that new page gives the 2017 estimate. I didn't find a 2018 estimate table online and I'm not going to link to the population clock, since that would invalidate any population figure we give here. Dhtwiki (talk) 08:16, 6 November 2018 (UTC)

U.S. articles of cities and states give two populations in info box: latest (2010) U.S. Census count and latest (2017) U.S. Census estimate. There won't be an official 2018 population estimate published by the Census Bureau till December. Any figure greater than 326 million you see out there (they are on the Internet) is either the Commerce Department's daily population clock (a projection) or non-Census Bureau source (business magazine, of which there are many). There should be one standard, and we are using that standard. Other figures can be referenced under "Demographics," but non-standard, non-Census sources must be specifically identified, and not just in footnotes. Otherwise, it's apples/oranges, one of Wikipedia's persistent flaws. Mason.Jones (talk) 17:59, 7 November 2018 (UTC)

References

^ https://www.census.gov/popclock/~~~~Internets_Up

Semi-protected edit request on 12 November 2018[edit]

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

I need to add languages to the United States article. Thank you! LeeJohn2313 (talk) 23:48, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Deli nk (talk) 00:03, 13 November 2018 (UTC)

[1] ttps://www.census.gov/popclock/~~~~Internets_Up

[1]

Talk:United States

Contents

Congratulations to the main article and it deserve more!!!!!!!!!![edit]

Map of North American sports teams is outdated[edit]

Semi-protected edit request on 6 November 2018[edit]

Semi-protected edit request on 12 November 2018[edit]

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