Underrated American History

Everyone knows something about the United States of America.  McDonald’s.  Coca-Cola.  Hollywood.  Facebook.  History buffs know about the American Revolution, Abraham Lincoln, World War II, and Martin Luther King, Jr.  But for whatever reason, as is the case with many disciplines, certain historical topics get more air time than others.  That’s not to say that the more overlooked tidbits are uninteresting.  In fact, they can be just as key for understanding a place.  Here is an assortment of underrated American history that tends to hide out in the nooks and crannies.

The Multi-century Build

• The United States was the first European colonial entity in the Western Hemisphere to declare independence from its mother country (July 4, 1776).
• The 50 states were assembled over more than 170 years. On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to join the Union.  Hawaii joined the club as number 50 on August 21, 1959.

The Understated Wars

• The Mexican-American War doesn’t get a ton of love relative to other wars. Thanks to this conflict that lasted from 1846-1848, Mexico ceded to the United States a huge piece of territory that included parts or all of modern-day New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, Texas, and California.
• The Spanish-American War, a three-month saga in 1898, was flanked by two more mainstream conflicts, namely the American Civil War (1861-1865) and World War I (1914-1918). But the short war had a lasting impact on the U.S. in the form of an independent Cuba as well as several territorial gains including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.  During the conflict, the U.S. strategically used a naval base at Pearl Harbor.  This fact, along with a wave of nationalism, convinced Congress to formally annex Hawaii in the same year.  As above, Hawaii ultimately became the 50th state in 1959.

The Random

• New England is a prominent six-state region in the northeast corner of the U.S. But whatever happened to New France? Remember that vast swath of land extending from modern-day Canada (abutting New England) to the Great Lakes and down to Louisiana? Well, between the Seven Years’ War, the American Revolution, and the Louisiana Purchase, France relinquished most of its land claims in North America.  But the French language is alive and well in Canadian provinces like Quebec and New Brunswick.  And listen carefully, because you might uncommonly still hear French in places like Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.  Because a little piece of New France lives on in New England.
• Despite the New France connection, Tagalog (the basis of Filipino) is actually more widely spoken in the U.S. than French.  Why? Remember the Spanish-American War? After the war (and until Philippine independence in 1946), Filipinos were considered American nationals, paving the way for a wave of immigration to the U.S.

A little digging can go a long way.