Talk:United States
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Q1. How did the article get the way it is?
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.
Q3. Is the United States really the oldest constitutional republic in the world?
1. Isn't San Marino older?
2. How about Switzerland?
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 democratic system and subsequent influence.
Q4. 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. Q5. 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. Q6. Is the U.S. really the world's largest economy?
The United States was the world's largest national economy from about 1880 and largest by nominal GDP from about 2014, when it surpassed the European Union. China has been larger by Purchasing Power Parity, since about 2016. Q7. 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. Q8. Why isn't the treatment of Native Americans given more weight?
The article is written in summary style and the sections "Indigenous peoples" and "European colonization" summarize the situation. |
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Excessive references
[edit]I like this article, but in my opinion the number of references (565; 579 on 26 July 2024) is excessive. JacktheBrown (talk) 15:45, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
- The large number of references is unavoidable, even inevitable. The article "United States" is the most-read country article in English Wikipedia. In other Wikipedia languages, it often ranks second (after the main country that speaks that language). The U.S. is very powerful and has many detractors, so all statements and assertions—especially the positive ones—must be supported. They are otherwise challenged and can become full-blown disputes. Mason.Jones (talk) 18:46, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
- @Mason.Jones: Russia and China are also very powerful, but this doesn't justify the huge amount of sources in the U.S. and Russia articles. JacktheBrown (talk) 10:57, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
- @Mason.Jones: the Italy article last year had 151 more references. It seems strange to me that the number of references here has increased compared to last year. JacktheBrown (talk) 19:05, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
- Not surprising, as "United States" has become far more prone to disputes, reverts, and disruption than other country articles. Editors have learned to back up even general statements with a firm source, including thorough documentation. Mason.Jones (talk) 20:22, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
- Compiling bibliographies and updating sources is a major activity of historians and scholars here on Wikipedia. Moxy🍁 11:53, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
- Our purpose.....Wikipedia, like other encyclopedias, provides overviews of a topic and indicates sources of more extensive information. Moxy🍁 18:54, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
- This is a pretty good problem to have. Around 10k words is fairly large for a Wikipedia article, and United States is the most-linked article on the English Wikipedia,[1] so it gets more scrutiny than others. Rjjiii (talk) 23:00, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
- @Rjjiii: totally agree. JacktheBrown (talk) 11:08, 22 June 2024 (UTC)
- @Rjjiii: the United States page is important and it's a pity that it isn't handled as such with regard to references. JacktheBrown (talk) 13:40, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
- @Rjjiii: and it's strange that with so many Americans this page hasn't been condensed. JacktheBrown (talk) 13:48, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
- I don't think it needs to be condensed, it is far below the limit of 15,000 words. What is the issue with having lots of references? Alexanderkowal (talk) 13:52, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
- 15k words isn't "the limit", really that number is there so people who do not understand that articles are not meant to be the length of a book can have something in policy pointed out to them. I'll grant that 10k seems alright for this article.
- The point here is that every claim in an article should be sourced: some claims require multiple sources, most are fine with just one. It scans to me that this article likely could use someone economizing the number of different sources used for all its claims. Remsense ‥ 诉 08:23, 18 August 2024 (UTC)
- Countries are big and complex with various aspects. A good, encyclopedic summary should still be long to cover that variety, but it should link to articles on individual subtopics. I would think most country articles should be similar in size to this one and have a similar number of citations. United Kingdom has 550, Brazil has 519, Italy has 451, Egypt has 316. These seem appropriate to me. If anything, it's articles like Gabon with 68 or Togo with 97 that need help to become more adequate summaries, although you could say they are also fine at the length they are. IndigoManedWolf (talk) 07:57, 18 August 2024 (UTC)
- I don't think it needs to be condensed, it is far below the limit of 15,000 words. What is the issue with having lots of references? Alexanderkowal (talk) 13:52, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
- This is a pretty good problem to have. Around 10k words is fairly large for a Wikipedia article, and United States is the most-linked article on the English Wikipedia,[1] so it gets more scrutiny than others. Rjjiii (talk) 23:00, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
- The large number of references is unavoidable, even inevitable. The article "United States" is the most-read country article in English Wikipedia. In other Wikipedia languages, it often ranks second (after the main country that speaks that language). The U.S. is very powerful and has many detractors, so all statements and assertions—especially the positive ones—must be supported. They are otherwise challenged and can become full-blown disputes. Mason.Jones (talk) 18:46, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
Pueblo settlement image
[edit]Hi there, I want to suggest that we maybe exchange the Cliff Palace image with an image of a still populated Native American settlement, e.g. like the Sky City of Acoma Pueblo. The Cliff Palace image is in principle nice, but I find it more comprehensive to show an image that shows an ancient settlement AND one of contemporary Native Americans at the same time in one image. I now have edited the image caption of the Cliff Palace trying to point towards this. What do you think? Nsae Comp (talk) 19:52, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 7 August 2024
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Please change the second source in reference footnote 18 from
U.S. Insular Areas: application of the U.S. Constitution Archived November 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, November 1997, pp. 1, 6, 39n. Both viewed April 6, 2016.
to
U.S. Insular Areas: application of the U.S. Constitution Archived from the original November 3, 2013, November 1997, pp. 1, 6, 39n. Both viewed April 6, 2016.
or similar because the link is dead. McYeee (talk) 18:24, 7 August 2024 (UTC)
Done and reference formatted with cite templates. Reconrabbit 20:18, 7 August 2024 (UTC)
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 7 August 2024 (2)
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Please change [[Policies of states in the United States|is given to states and several territories]] to [[Federalism in the United States|is given to states and several territories]] in the lede. The article currently linked doesn't seem as related and is a stub. McYeee (talk) 18:40, 7 August 2024 (UTC)
Done – Dhtwiki (talk) 06:47, 8 August 2024 (UTC)
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 7 August 2024 (3)
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Please change cite-note [d] in the infobox to be superscript. McYeee (talk) 18:46, 7 August 2024 (UTC)
Done – By placing efn on infobox line meant for area footnotes. Didn't see any other way (and efn wasn't displaying properly where it was). Dhtwiki (talk) 07:19, 8 August 2024 (UTC)
Forgetting about something
[edit]You forgot to put and U.S.A! — Preceding unsigned comment added by NinjaMiura (talk • contribs) 22:55, 11 August 2024 (UTC)
- With regard to what, the initials given in the lead? See MOS:USA, which deprecates the use of periods in that and similar abbreviations. Dhtwiki (talk) 05:12, 14 August 2024 (UTC)
Update
[edit]It's been bugging me for awhile. On the (Top) section, it says the US economy accounted for 15% of the global economy in 2023. But then, on Economy section, it says the economy constituted for over 25% of global economy and 15% of purchasing power parity in 2023. Can we fix on the (Top) section so that it says the US economy accounted for over 25% of global economy and 15% of purchasing power parity in 2023?
Also, on the Sports subsection under Culture and society section, since the Paris Olympics ended almost week ago, shouldn't it be updated to say U.S. athletes won 3,094 medals (1,219 of them golds) since in Paris, Team USA won 126 medals, 40 of them golds? Hopefully, someone with authority for the article can fix this. Sorry for the inconvenience. Ryumikhail (talk) 19:24, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 21 August 2024
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38.25.16.57 (talk) 17:28, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
Stop Calling the USA @America@, America is a continent with 3 sub continents: South, North and Central America. USA is USA. Everybody living in any subcontinent of America is american. Stop hijacking the term.
Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the
{{Edit extended-protected}}
template. Remsense ‥ 论 17:29, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
- Oh no, not this again! I suggest that you read American (word) which explains why "America" refers to the US in English. The anglosphere regards the Americas as two separate continents: North and South America, and only one country in the Americas, the United States of America, has "America" directly in its name. Because of that, only those from the US are considered "American" in the English language. As this is the English Wikipedia, we refer to the US as "America" and people from the US as "Americans". -- RockstoneSend me a message! 21:53, 21 August 2024 (UTC)
- Also, see FAQ question number 7 on this page, as well as the numerous previous talk page threads in the archives that deal with this issue. Dhtwiki (talk) 01:25, 22 August 2024 (UTC)
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