It’s one of those things that made sense at the time, but looks a little weird if you don’t account for the history.
Folks living in the British colonies wanted to differentiate themselves from the English, so they called themselves “Americans” because they were in the “American colonies.”
The name stuck after the colonies became the United States.
But the same did not happen in the Spanish or French colonies, or even in other English colonies such as Canada or Belize. It is still weird and pretentious
The hostility with England has a big role in “American” sticking. It used to be a general term for any European colonist coming over to the Americas, but when British colonists started getting more and more pissed at the homeland, they started embracing that general term more and more.
This stuff always looks a little weird in a vacuum, but if you playback the tape and get familiar with the history, it makes a lot more sense.
It’s one of those things that made sense at the time, but looks a little weird if you don’t account for the history.
Folks living in the British colonies wanted to differentiate themselves from the English, so they called themselves “Americans” because they were in the “American colonies.”
The name stuck after the colonies became the United States.
But the same did not happen in the Spanish or French colonies, or even in other English colonies such as Canada or Belize. It is still weird and pretentious
The hostility with England has a big role in “American” sticking. It used to be a general term for any European colonist coming over to the Americas, but when British colonists started getting more and more pissed at the homeland, they started embracing that general term more and more.
This stuff always looks a little weird in a vacuum, but if you playback the tape and get familiar with the history, it makes a lot more sense.