SYMBOLS OF AMERICA

Ever since the very beginning, America (especially the United States of America) has been associated with the idea of happiness, freedom and welfare. It is still seen as the country of all possibilities, a place of milk and honey, and it will continue to be considered the promise land by many of us.

Do you know what “U.S.” stands for? The majority will say “United States of America”. Of course, this is more than true. Nevertheless, there are some legends that say that U.S. stands for “Uncle Sam”. The origin of the popular U. S. symbol, though disputed, is usually associated with a businessman from Troy, New York, Samuel Wilson, known affectionately as “Uncle Sam” Wilson. The barrels of beef that he supplied the army during the War of 1812 were stamped “U.S.” to indicate government property. This identification is said to have led to the widespread use of the nickname Uncle Sam for the United States; and as a resolution passed by Congress in 1961 recognized Wilson as the namesake of the national symbol.

The most representative symbol for a country is, first of all, its national flag. An invention of the ancient Indians or of the Chinese, the flags have some specific colours and designs, which are usually not arbitrarily selected but rather stem from the history, culture or religion of the particular country. The newly independent United States’ choice of the red-white-blue colours for the Stars and Stripes, however, was based on its former affiliation with Britain and the colours of the Union Jack.

The place where the most important decisions are being taken is the capital of the country. Washington DC was chosen by Congress in 1970 as the site for a permanent seat of government for the new nation. Washington thus became one of the few cities in the world that was planned expressly as a national capital. The city has its name after George Washington, the first president of the United States (1789-97) and the “Father of His Country”. It was he who negotiated a contract with the French military engineer Pierre-Charles L’ Enfant to design a plan for the city.

The official residence of the president of the United States is the White House, formerly (1818-1902) Executive Mansion. The main building has been the home of every U.S. president since John Adams and is the oldest federal building in the capital. In 1791 a public competition was held to choose the most suitable design for a presidential residence in the newly designated capital city of Washington. The Irish-American architect James Hoban of Philadelphia won the commission with his plan for a Georgian mansion in the Palladian Style. By 1809 it was already called “White House” because its white-grey sandstone contrasted strikingly with the red brick of nearby buildings. President Theodore Roosevelt adopted “White House” as the buildings official name in 1902. Over the years the White House has become a major American shrine, and its public areas are toured by, about 1,500,000 people every year. (Britannica 4: 631)

In close relation to the United States’ presidents is the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Named, bizarrely enough, after a New York lawyer, it was transformed by a

Mormon sculptor of Danish origin, Gutzon Borglum, who carved out the faces of four American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. The four huge heads represent, respectively, the nation’s founding, political philosophy, preservation, and expansion and conservation. According to Rick Wallner, the assistant chief interpreter at the Mount Rushmore National Park, the original purpose of the project was to lure tourists to the Black Hills (South Dakota). The man who dreamed it up, the state historian, Doane Robinson, wanted the monument to be carved in the nearby Needles. He also wanted it to feature “western heroes, people like Louise and Clark, Buffalo Bill and Chief Redcloud”, but Borglum changed both the location and the subjects. Borglum and his assistants began working on the mountain in1927. Borglum died in 1941 and the project was “wrapped up”, somewhat incomplete, by his son Lincoln. Today it is a national shrine and it certainly does pull in the tourists. (Worden: 47-48)

Another American symbol is the famous monetary unit, the dollar. Originally, the dollar was a silver coin that circulated in many European countries. In modern times, it is the standard monetary unit in the U.S., Canada, Australia and certain other countries. The Spanish peso, or piece of eight, which circulated in the Spanish and English colonies in America, was known as a dollar by the English speaking people. Familiarity with this coin resulted in the official designation of the United States monetary unit in 1792. The word itself is a modified form of the Germanic word thaler, the name of the silver coin first struck in 1519 under the direction of the Count Schlick, who had appropriated a rich silver mine discovered in St. Joachimsthal, Bohemia. These coins were current in Germany from the 16th century onward. Only in 1873 was the thaler replaced by the mark as the German monetary unit (Britannica 4: 156). Nowadays supremacy of the United States of America dollar may be threatened by the newly appeared Euro, a monetary unit of the “United States of Europe”. Will the dollar maintain its power on the international money markets or will it give in to the new Euro? All one can answer to that question is “wait and see”.

Besides Washington, another famous city of America is New York. Though many people do not realize it, New York is a city made up of islands. Its most important borough, Manhattan, is an island, while Queens and Brooklyn form of Long Island. Only the Bronx sits on terra firma. There are also many smaller islands: Liberty Island, home of the Statue, is most famous, but it is followed by Ellis Island, the place where many immigrants began their American adventure.

No country’s history has been more closely bound to immigration than that of the United States. During the first 15 years of the 20th century alone, over 13 million people came to the U. S., many passing through Ellis Island, the federal immigration center that opened in the N. Y. harbour in 1892. The island was named for Samuel Ellis, who owned it in the 1770s. Though no longer in service, Ellis Island reopened in 1992 as a monument to the millions who crossed America’s threshold there.

The greatest symbol of America is that of the Statue of Liberty, formerly “Liberty Enlightening the World”. It commemorates the friendships of the American and French peoples. Standing 302 ft (92 m) high including its pedestal, the statue represents a woman holding a torch in her raised right hand and a tablet bearing the date July 4, 1776, in her left, proclaiming liberty. A French historian, Edouard de Laboulaye, made the proposal for the statue after the American Civil War. Funs were contributed by the

French people, and work began in France in 1875 under sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi. The statue was dedicated by president Cleveland on Oct 28, 1886. Deeply ingrained in most Americans, is the conviction that the Statue of Liberty does, indeed, stand as a symbol for the United States as she lifts her lamp before the ”golden door”, welcoming those “yearning to breathe free”. This belief, and the sure knowledge that their forebearers were once immigrants, has kept the United States a nation of nations(Britannica 7:332)

The document that was of chiefly importance for the States is the famous Declaration of Independence adopted July 4, 1776. Not only did it announce the birth of a new nation but also set forth a philosophy of human freedom that would become a dynamic force throughout the entire world. The Declaration draws upon French and English Enlightenment political philosophy, but one influence in particular stands out: John Locke’ Second Treatise on Government. Locke took conceptions of the traditional rights of Englishmen and universalized them into the natural rights of all humankind.

The Liberty Bell, an enduring symbol of American freedom, was first rung on July 8, 1776 to celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. It was rung on this date each year until 1836, when it cracked during the funeral of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. The Bell itself bears the motto “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof” (Leviticus 25:10). It is now on permanent display in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Important development occurred in civil engineering in the first half of the 20th century. Thus, advancing techniques for large-scale construction produced many spectacular skyscrapers, bridges, and dams all over the world, but especially in the United States. The city of New York acquired its characteristic skyline built upon the exploitation of steel frame and reinforced concrete. The first great skyscraper of N.Y. was the Empire State Building, designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon. It rises to a height of 1,250 feet (381 m) and was the highest structure in the world until 1945.

Skyscrapers have become fashionable in a very short period of time. Designed by Minoru Yamasaky, an American architect, the famous World Trade Center, New York, was notable for its huge twin towers, each of which had 110 stories and was 1,350 feet (411 m) tall. They were the world’s tallest buildings until surpassed in 1973 by the Sears Tower in Chicago. On September 11, 2001, World Trade Center was destroyed by an act of terrorism. This event came as a real shock for the Americans as well as for the entire world. Nevertheless, it proved to be one of those moments when a nation must stay together and show some sense of patriotism. And the Americans did not disappoint us. The patriotic atmosphere we often get to see in most American movies proved to be a real one.

One of the most powerful countries of the world, America may be "discovered" around us in so many things. For example, the popular soft drink Coca-Cola comes from America. The Coca-Cola Company, founded in 1892, is today engaged primarily in the manufacture and sale of syrup and concentrate for Coca-Cola. It is a sweetened, carbonated beverage that is a cultural institution in the United States and a symbol around the world of American taste. McDonald’s, in its turn, is the largest and best-known global retailer with about 28,000 restaurants in 121 countries. Its father is Ray Kroc, a 52 years-old salesman, who associated with Dick and Mac McDonald and opened the first restaurant, Des Plaines, in San Bernardino, California, in 1955.

The last, but not the least symbol of America is the jeans (also called "blue jeans", "Denims" or "Levi’s"). Originally designed in the United States, San Francisco, by Levi Strauss, in the mid-19th century as a durable work clothes, they were eventually adopted by workingmen throughout the United States and then worldwide. Jeans are particularly identified as a standard item of “western” apparel worn by the American cowboy. After the mid-20th century, various adaptations became internationally a characteristic part of clothing for both men and women. Up to now it is said that the Levi Strauss & co. has sold more than 2,5 billion pairs of jeans. It does not surprises us anymore as most of the things originating from America are sold the best.

America had a great influence upon the development of most nowadays societies and one can feel its presence in many peoples' way of thinking or behaving. It really is a country full of symbols recognized throughout the whole world . Therefore, almost everything that comes from America will soon be regarded as a symbol of the western life.