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Florida

Florida

Florida is a Southern state in the United States, situated upon a large peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida. "Florida" is a Spanish adjective which means "flowery." The peninsula was discovered and settled by Juan Ponce de León on Easter Sunday, March 27, 1513, which is known as Pascua Florida in Spanish. Its U.S. Postal abbreviation is FL while its traditional abbreviation is Fla.

History

1513 Archaeological finds indicate that Florida had been inhabited for many thousands of years prior to any European settlements. Of the many indigenous people, the largest tribes were the Calusa, Tequesta, Timucuan, and the Tocobago tribes. Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish navigator, named this new land in honor of his discovery of the land on Easter Sunday, March 27, 1513, which is called by Spaniards Pascua Florida, "Holy Day of Flowers." From that date forward, the land became known as "La Florida." Over the following century, the Spanish and French both established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success. Spanish Pensacola was established by Don Tristan de Luna as the first European settlement in the current United States in 1559 (its settlement was interrupted by a hurricane). Six years later, in 1565, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés established Saint Augustine as the first permanent European settlement. These two cities would come to be the capitals of the British and Spanish colonies of East and West Florida. The area of Florida diminished with the establishment of British colonies to the north and French colonies to the west. Control of parts of Florida passed among Spanish, British, and American control. Spain finally ceded Florida to the United States with the Adams-Onís Treaty in 1819, in exchange for the U.S. renouncing any claims on Texas. On March 3, 1845, Florida became the 27th state of the United States of America. Florida seceded from the Union on January 10, 1861 and was one of the founding members of the Confederate States of America (CSA, also known as the Confederacy). Florida joined the CSA on February 10, 1861. After the fall of the Confederacy in 1865, Florida was readmitted into the Union on June 25, 1868. Until the mid-twentieth century, Florida was the least populous Southern state. However, migration from the Rust Belt combined with Florida's warm climate made it a haven for newcomers. Today, Florida is the second most populous state in the South (behind Texas and the fourth most populous state in the United States. The USS Florida was named in honor of this state.

Law and government

USS Florida The basic structure, duties, function, and operations of the Government of the State of Florida are defined and established by the Florida Constitution, which also establishes the basic law of the state and guarantees various rights and freedoms of the people. The state government consists of three separate branches, the judicial, executive and legislative. The Florida Legislature enacts legislation, such as those in the Florida Statutes, which are signed into law by the Governor of Florida. The Florida Legislature has a Senate of 40 members and a House of 120 members. The current governor is Republican Jeb Bush, brother of President George W. Bush and son of former President George H. W. Bush. Though Florida has traditionally been a Democratic state, in recent years explosive population growth has brought with it many Republicans, leaving the state approximately evenly split between the two parties. Despite this demographic parity, Republicans control the governorship and most other statewide elected offices, both houses of the state legislature, 18 of the state's 25 seats in the House of Representatives, and one of the state's two Senate seats. The 2000 Presidential election in Florida was extremely close. As such, and because of its high population and large number of electoral votes, Florida is considered by political analysts to be a key swing state in Presidential elections. The Tampa area, once a major center of Democratic union support, is now almost evenly split between registered Republicans and Democrats, making it part of the important I-4 Corridor swing region.

Taxation

Florida is one of the nine states which do not impose a personal income tax (list of others). The state sales tax rate is 6 (six) percent. Local governments may levy an additional local option sales tax of up to 1.5 percent. A locale's use tax rate is the same as its sales tax rate, including local options if any. Use taxes are payable for purchases made out of state and brought into Florida within 6 months of the purchase date. Other taxes are mostly levied on businesses. They include the following taxes: Corporate Income, Communication Services, Intangibles, Unemployment, Solid Waste, Documentary Stamps, Insurance Premium, Pollutants, and various fuel taxes. For more information visit the Florida Department of Revenue website at [http://www.myflorida.com/dor].

Geography

Florida consists of the Panhandle extending along the northern Gulf of Mexico and the large Peninsula with the Atlantic Ocean as its eastern border and the Gulf of Mexico as its western border. It is bordered on the north by the states of Georgia and Alabama and on the west, at the end of the panhandle, by Alabama. It is near the countries of the Caribbean, particularly the Bahamas and Cuba. At 345 feet (105 metres) above mean sea level, Britton Hill is the highest point in Florida. This is also the lowest highpoint of any U.S. state. Contrary to popular belief, however, Florida is not an entirely "flat" state. Some places, such as Clearwater, feature relatively high vistas rising 50 to 100 feet above the water. Much of the interior of Florida, typically 25 miles or more away from the coastline, features rolling hills with elevations ranging from 100 to 250 feet in many locations. Lake County holds the highest point of peninsular Florida, Sugarloaf Mountain , at 312 feet. The amount of topographical change will surprise many visitors.

Boundaries

The state line begins at the Atlantic, traveling west, south, and north up the thalweg of the Saint Mary's River. At the origin of that river, it then follows a straight line nearly due-west and slightly north, to the point where the confluence of the Flint River (from Georgia) and the Chattahoochee River (down the Alabama/Georgia line) used to form Florida's Apalachicola River. (This point is now under Lake Seminole since Woodruff Dam was built.) The border with Georgia continues north through the lake for a short distance up the former thalweg of the Chattahoochee, then with Alabama runs due west along latitude 31°N to the Perdido River, then south along its thalweg to the Gulf via Perdido Bay.

Climate

Perdido Bay Perdido Bay.]] The climate of Florida is tempered somewhat by its proximity to water. Most of the state has a humid subtropical climate with the extreme tip of Florida and the Florida Keys bordering on a true tropical climate. However, Florida averages 300 days of full sunshine a year. The seasons in Florida often called "Hot and Hotter" are actually determined more by precipitation than by temperature with warm, relatively dry winters and autumns (the dry season) and hot, wet springs and especially the summers (the wet season). The Gulf Stream has a moderating effect on Florida climate and although it is common for much of Florida to see a high summer temperature over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, it is not common for the mercury to go above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Florida. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the state was 109 °F set on June 29, 1931 in Monticello. The coldest was 2 °F below zero, on February 13, 1899 just 25 miles away, in Tallahassee. Mean high temperatures for late July are primarily in the low 90's. Mean low temperatures for late January range from the low 40's in North Florida to the mid-50's in South Florida. While Florida's nickname is the "Sunshine State", severe weather is a common occurrence in Florida. Central Florida is known as the Lightning capital of the U.S. as it experiences more lightning strikes than anywhere else in the country. Statewide, Florida has the highest average precipitation of any state, due in large part to afternoon thunderstorms which are common throughout most of the state from late spring until the early autumn. However, a sunny day may be interrupted with a storm only to return to regular gorgeous weather. These thunderstorms, which are caused by airflow from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean colliding over the peninsula, seemingly "pop up" in the early afternoon and can often bring heavy downpours, high winds and sometimes tornadoes. This is frequently due to "onshore flow," or a collision of sea breezes from the east and west coasts. Florida leads the nation in tornadoes per square mile, although the tornadoes in Florida do not get as large as those in the Midwest or Great Plains. Hail is not an uncommon occurrence in some of the more severe thunderstorms. Snow is a rare occurrence in Florida. During the Great Blizzard of 1899, Florida experienced blizzard conditions for possibly the first time since explorers had arrived. During that time, the Tampa Bay area had "Gulf effect" snow, similar to lake effect snowfall. The Great Blizzard of 1899 was also the only time the temperature has fallen below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, registering -2° F in Tallahassee on February 13, 1899. The most widespread snowfall in Florida history happened in February 1978 with snow falling over much of the state in different times of the month, extending as far south as Homestead. Snow flurries fell on Miami Beach for the only time in recorded history. In 1989, there was a severe hard freeze that created lots of ice and also caused minor flurries in sections of the state and resulted in rolling blackouts due to power failures caused by massive demands on the power grid for heating. Although some storms have formed out of season, hurricanes pose a threat during hurricane season, which is from June 1 to November 30. Florida saw a slew of destruction in 2004 when it was hit by a record four hurricanes. Hurricanes Charley (August 13), Frances (September 4-5), Ivan (September 16), and Jeanne (September 25-26) cumulatively cost forty-two billion dollars to the state. In 2005, Hurricane Dennis (July 10) became the fifth storm to strike Florida within 11 months. Later, Hurricane Katrina (August 25) passed through South Florida and Hurricane Rita (September 20) swept through the Florida Keys. Hurricane Wilma made landfall in Florida in the early morning of October 24 as a category 3 hurricane, with storm's eye hitting near Cape Romano, just south of Marco Island, according to National Hurricane Center. Florida was also the site of the second most costly single weather disaster in U.S. history, Hurricane Andrew, which caused more than twenty-five billion dollars ($25,000,000,000) in damage when it struck on August 24, 1992. Among a long list of other infamous hurricane strikes were the 1926 Great Miami Hurricane, the Lake Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928, the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Donna in 1960, and Hurricane Opal in 1995.

Economy

1995 The gross state product of Florida in 2003 was $550 billion. The per capita personal income was $30,098, ranking 26th in the nation. Florida's economy is heavily based on tourism. Warm weather most of the year and hundreds of miles of beach provide a thriving vacation spot for travelers from around the world. The large Walt Disney World Resort with four theme parks and over twenty hotels plus countless water parks, shopping centers and other facilities, located in Lake Buena Vista drives the economy of that area, along with more recent entries into the theme park arena such as the Universal Orlando Resort. The great amount of sales and tourist tax revenue is what allows the state to be one of the few to not levy a personal income tax. Other major industries include citrus fruit and juice production, banking, and phosphate mining within the Bone Valley region. With the arrival of the space program at Kennedy Space Center in the 1960s, Florida has attracted a large number of aerospace and military industries to the state. Florida did not have any state minimum wage laws until November 2, 2004, when voters passed a Constitutional Amendment requiring inflationary increases to the minimum wage every six months. Historically, Florida's economy was based upon cattle farming and agriculture (especially sugar cane, citrus, tomatoes, and strawberries). As land speculators discovered Florida in the early 1900's, and when Plant and Flagler developed the railway systems, more people moved in, drawn by the usually good weather. From then on, tourism boomed, fueling a cycle of development and tourism that overwhelmed a great deal of farmland. Other key industries, commercial fishing and water-based tourist activities (sports fishing and diving) are threatened by severe Red Tide outbreaks in 2004 and 2005 off the west coast.

Demographics

As of 2004, the state's population was estimated to be 17,397,161.

Race and ancestry

  White65.4%
Hispanic 16.8%
Black14.6%
Asian1.7%
Native American0.3%
Mixed Race2.4%
The largest reported ancestries in the 2000 Census were German (11.8%), Irish (10.3%), English (9.2%), American (8%) and Italian (6.3%). Blacks, who during the cotton and sugar plantation era made up fully 50 percent of the state's population, have a large presence in the deeply southern middle Florida region of North Florida and in the cities of Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Fort Lauderdale. Transplanted Northerners are prominent on the West Coast, particularly in the Tampa suburbs. Floridians of British ancestry are dominant in most coastal cities, while Floridians of white American ancestry dominate the culturally Southern areas of inland North Florida. Florida's large and diverse Hispanic community consists particularly of Cubans in Miami and Tampa, Puerto Ricans in Tampa and Orlando as well as Dominicans in the latter, and Mexican migrant workers in inland West-Central and South Florida. There is also a number of Haitian Americans in Miami and other parts of Florida. Native Floridians, especially those who have descended from long-time Florida families, are affectionately referred to as "Crackers." This is because many early settlers were cattle farmers, and used bullwhips to "crack" over the cattle to move them during the annual cattle drives westward across the central part of the state to the port of Tampa, as well as to kill rattlesnakes economically, thereby preventing the numerous rattlesnakes from killing cattle on the long cattle drives. Florida is one of the only states in which Hispanics predominantly vote Republican. This descrepancy arises because people classified as "Hispanic" come from widely diverse backgrounds. People whose race is identified as "Hispanic" in Florida are mostly of Cuban descent, as opposed to Mexican descent (who live largely in the southwest of the U.S.) or Puerto Rican descent (who live largely in the northeast of the U.S.). Florida's fast-growing Hispanic population is heaviest in Miami, Orlando, and the Gulf Coast. Black Floridians are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. Blacks comprise a large fraction of the populations of North Florida, Fort Lauderdale, and the Tampa Bay Area.

Languages

As of 2000, 76.9% of Florida residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 16.5% speak Spanish. French is the third most spoken language at 2.2%, followed by German at 0.6% and Italian at 0.4%. Article II, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution provides that "English is the official language of the State of Florida." This was adopted in 1988 by a vote following an Initiative Petition.

Religion

Florida is mostly Protestant, but with a growing Roman Catholic community due to immigration. There is also a sizable Jewish community in some parts of Florida which makes Florida unique among Southern states (no other Southern state has a large Jewish community). Florida's current religious affiliations are shown in the table below:
- Christian – 82%
  - Protestant – 54%
    - Baptist – 19%
    - Methodist – 6%
    - Presbyterian – 4%
    - Episcopal – 3%
    - Lutheran – 3%
    - Pentecostal – 3%
    - Other Protestant – 16%
  - Roman Catholic – 26%
  - Other Christian – 2%
- Jewish – 4%
- Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious – 13%

Important cities, towns, and communities

Jewish] Jewish] Jewish] Jewish] Jewish] Jewish]
Metropolitan Area Population > 5,000,000
- Miami-Ft.Lauderdale Metropolitan Area Population > 2,500,000
- Tampa-St. Petersburg Metropolitan Area Population > 1,000,000
- Jacksonville
- Orlando
- West Palm Beach Metropolitan Area Population > 400,000
- Cape Coral-Fort Myers
- Daytona Beach
- Lakeland
- Melbourne-Titusville
- Pensacola
- Port Saint Lucie-Fort Pierce-Stuart
- Sarasota-Bradenton City Population > 200,000
- Hialeah
- Jacksonville
- Miami
- Orlando
- St. Petersburg
- Tampa City Population > 100,000
- Cape Coral
- Clearwater
- Coral Springs
- Fort Lauderdale
- Gainesville
- Hollywood
- Miami Gardens
- Pembroke Pines
- Miramar
- Port Saint Lucie
- Pompano Beach
- Tallahassee 		City Population > 75,000
- Boca Raton
- Brandon
- Davie
- Deltona
- Kendall
- Lakeland
- Miami Beach
- Palm Bay
- Plantation
- Sunrise
- West Palm Beach City Population > 50,000
- Boynton Beach
- Bradenton
- Daytona Beach
- Deerfield Beach
- Delray Beach
- Fort Myers
- Fountainbleau
- Kendale Lakes
- Kissimmee
- Largo
- Lauderhill
- Lehigh Acres
- Margate
- Melbourne
- North Miami
- North Miami Beach
- Palm Harbor
- Pensacola
- Sarasota
- Spring Hill
- Tamarac
- Tamiami
- Town 'n' Country
- Weston 		City Population > 25,000
- Altamonte Springs
- Aventura
- Apopka
- Bonita Springs
- Coconut Creek
- Cooper City
- Coral Gables
- Dunedin
- East Lake
- Egypt Lake-Leto
- Fort Pierce
- Greater Carrollwood
- Greenacres
- Hallandale Beach
- Homestead
- Jupiter
- Kendall West
- Lake Magdalene
- Lake Worth
- Lauderdale Lakes
- North Fort Myers
- North Lauderdale
- Ocala
- Ocoee
- Oakland Park
- Ormond Beach
- Oveido
- Palm Beach Gardens
- Panama City
- Pinellas Park
- Plant City
- Port Orange
- Port Charlotte
- Riviera Beach
- Sanford
- Titusville
- University
- Wellington
- Westchester
- Winter Haven
- Winter Park
- Winter Springs

Miscellaneous information

Winter Springs
- Nickname: "The Sunshine State"
- State Bird: Mockingbird
- State Flower: Orange blossom - (Citrus sinensis)
- State Insect: Zebra Longwinged Butterfly
- State Song: "Old folks at home (Suwannee River)" by Stephen C. Foster
- State Tree: Sabal Palm
- State Reptile: American Alligator
- State Animal: The Florida Panther
- State Saltwater Mammal: The Manatee
- State Drink: Orange Juice
- State Fruit: Orange
- State Shell: The Horse Conch (The great band shell)
- State Saltwater Fish: The Sailfish
- State Freshwater Fish: Florida Largemouth Bass
- Highest Point: Britton Hill; 345 feet, 50th
- State Motto: None
- State Wildflower: Tickseed (unofficial)

Transportation

Tickseed

Highways

Florida's interstates, state highways and U.S. Highways are maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation. Florida's interstate highways include:
- I-4, which bisects the state, connecting Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando, and Daytona Beach
- I-10, which traverses the panhandle, connecting Jacksonville, Lake City, Tallahassee, and Pensacola
- I-75, which enters the state near Lake City and continues southward through Gainesville, Ocala, and Tampa's eastern suburbs to Naples, where, as a toll road it crosses the "Alligator Alley" to Ft. Lauderdale
- I-95, which enters the state near Jacksonville and continues along the Atlantic Coast through Daytona Beach, Melbourne, Palm Bay, West Palm Beach, and Ft. Lauderdale before terminating near Miami
- I-110, a spur from I-10 into downtown Pensacola.
- I-175, which connects I-275 to southern downtown St. Petersburg
- I-195
- I-275
- I-295, a beltway in Jacksonville
- I-375, which connects I-275 to northern downtown St. Petersburg
- I-395
- I-595, which connects I-75, I-95, and the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
- I-795, proposed near Jacksonville Florida's interstate highway system contains 1,473 miles of highway, and there are 9,934 miles of non-interstate highway in the state, such as Florida state highways and U.S. Highways. Florida has several toll roads. The state has 515 miles of toll roads in the state highway system. The section of Interstate 75 passing through the Everglades is a toll road. The Florida Turnpike, which begins off of Interstate 75 just south of Ocala, continues southeast to Orlando, and down to West Palm Beach is also a toll road. Connecting I-75 to the southwest Tampa area is the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway.

Intercity Rail

In 2000, voters approved a constitutional amendment to construct a high speed rail system to interconnect Florida's major cities. A committee was formed by the Florida Legislature to oversee the project. However, Jeb Bush and other lawmakers pushed for an amendment in 2004 to remove the amendment, which succeeded. They stated that the cost would have been too high to construct the system; however, proponents of the system have said the claims regarding high cost were exaggerated and taken out of context, compared with the cost of building roads, maintaining automobiles, and so forth. Amtrak service exists in Florida, but it is considered by many not to be extensive or convenient enough for anything but vacation travel.

Public Transportation

Public transportation systems exist in many major cities. Miami has a monorail system as well as a metro system, and most cities have bus service. Greyhound provides bus service between different cities in Florida.

Airports

Major international airports in Florida, with passenger traffic over 20 million annually, are Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Miami International Airport, Orlando International Airport and Tampa International Airport. Secondary airports, with annual passenger traffic over 7 million annually include Jacksonville International Airport and Southwest Florida International Airport. There are many other smaller regional airports including those in Daytona Beach, Key West, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, and Naples.

Education and culture

Florida's public school revenue per student and spending per $1000 of personal income usually ranks in the bottom 25% of U.S. states. Average teacher salaries rank near the middle of U.S. states. Florida public schools have consistently ranked in the bottom 25% of many national surveys and average test score rankings. It should be noted that many education surveys are not scientific, but do measure prestige. Governor Jeb Bush has been criticized by many Florida educators for a program that penalizes underperforming schools (as indicated by standardized tests, such as the FCAT) with fewer funding dollars. Major testing organizations frequently discount the use of state average test score rankings, or any average of scaled scores, as a valid metric (see psychometrics for more details on scaled test scores). In 2000, Governor Bush and the state legislature acted to abolish the Board of Regents that governed the State University System of Florida. Instead, each public university is now controlled by its own Board of Trustees who are directly appointed by the governor. As is typical of executive-appointed government boards, the appointees so far have been overwhelmingly Republican. This has not been without controversy. [http://www.sptimes.com/News/050801/State/Bush_s_trustees_mostl.shtml] In 2002, Democratic Senator Bob Graham started a ballot referendum designed to revert to the Board of Regents system.

Colleges and universities

Bob Graham Bob Graham

Sports

Professional sports teams in Florida

Spring training

Florida is the traditional home for Major League Baseball spring training, with teams informally organized into the "Grapefruit League." As of 2004, Florida hosts the following major league teams for spring training:
- Atlanta Braves at Walt Disney World
- Baltimore Orioles in Fort Lauderdale
- Boston Red Sox in Fort Myers
- Cincinnati Reds in Sarasota
- Cleveland Indians in Winter Haven
- Detroit Tigers in Lakeland
- Florida Marlins in Jupiter
- Houston Astros in Kissimmee
- Los Angeles Dodgers in Vero Beach
- Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers
- New York Mets in Port St. Lucie
- New York Yankees in Tampa
- Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater
- Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton
- Saint Louis Cardinals in Jupiter
- Tampa Bay Devil Rays in St. Petersburg
- Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin
- Washington Nationals in Viera

Minor-league teams

Florida also hosts the following minor league baseball teams:

External links


- [http://www.fla.us/ Discover Florida] Information, Maps, Vacation Planning
- [http://www.myflorida.com The Official Portal of the State of Florida]
- [http://www.floridamemory.com/ Florida Memory Project] Over 300,000 photographs and documents from the State Library & Archives of Florida
- [http://www.magicmomentproductions.com Florida Entertainment]
- [http://www.floridazest.com Florida Information]
- [http://ecofloridamag.com Florida Nature Travel/Ecotourism]
- [http://www.mediatico.com/en/newspapers/northamerica/usa/florida/ Florida Newspapers]
- [http://obit.obitlinkspage.com/fl.htm Florida Obituary Links Page]
- [http://www.floridarivers.org/ Florida Rivers Discussion Forum]
- [http://www.flsouthern.edu Florida Southern College]
- [http://www.fsu.edu Florida State University]
- [http://www.flausa.com Florida Tourism]
- [http://www.floridavisiting.com Florida Visiting]
- [http://www.genealogybuff.com/fl/ GenealogyBuff.com - Florida Library of Files]
- [http://www.iespana.es/Miami la Voie de Miami News]
- [http://roamingfeet.com/id22.htm Palm trees in Florida]
- [http://www.terragalleria.com/america/florida/ Photos of Florida - Terra Galleria]
- [http://www.anhinga.info/florida/index.html Roundtrips with a lot of pictures]
- [http://www.ufl.edu University of Florida]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/12000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- [http://www.floridacountiesmap.com/index.html Florida Counties Maps]
- [http://www.blinkbits.com/rssfeeds/wikipedia.php?w=Florida Wikipedia Florida RSS Feed - Externally hosted]
- Category:States of the United States ko:플로리다 주 ms:Florida ja:フロリダ州 simple:Florida th:มลรัฐฟลอริดา

U. S. Southern States

The Southern United States or the South constitute a distinctive region covering a large portion of the United States. Due to the region's unique cultural and historic heritage, the South has developed its own customs, literature, musical styles (such as country music and jazz), and cuisine. The South has also been prominently involved in numerous issues faced by the United States as a whole, including the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, slavery, the American Civil War, and Presidential politics (with the majority of the recent Presidents of the United States having come from the region).
The U.S. South
300px
The Southern United States
Red states show the core of the American South. States shown as pink may or may not be included in the South, with their inclusion or exclusion varying from source to source.
Population: 99,664,761
Total area: 1,481,438 sq/mi, 2,384,143 km²
Largest City (proper): Houston, Texas 2,009,834
Highest elevation: Guadalupe Peak 8,750 ft, 2,667 m
Lowest elevation: New Orleans -8 ft, -2.5 m
Largest state: Texas 696,241 km²
Smallest state: Delaware 6,452 km²
Census Bureau Divisions
- East South Central
- South Atlantic
- West South Central

Geography

As defined by the Census Bureau, the Southern region of the United States includes 16 states, and is split into three smaller units, or divisions: The South Atlantic States, which are Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia (plus the District of Columbia); the East South Central States of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee; and the West South Central States of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. However, not all definitions of the South are based on geographic divisions, with culture and history also playing a large role in defining what is the South. For example, the Deep South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the American South which consists of the South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana (six of the seven original states of the Confederate States of America, the seventh state being Texas). Many Southerners do not consider Kentucky and West Virginia as southern states since they were not part of the Confederacy; though most residents of the two states (excepting the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia and Northern Kentucky bordering Cincinnati) self-identify themselves so. In contrast, the portions of Illinois and Indiana south of Interstate 70 exhibit strong Southern cultural characteristics, as well as large areas of Missouri. The Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas as well as South Florida have retained very little Southern cultural identity over the past century. Historically, the South can also refer to the Old South, which are the Southern States represented in the original thirteen American colonies. The Old South includes South Carolina, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and often Georgia. The Deep South and the Old South used to be known colloquially as Dixie (and is still referred to nostalgically as such). Despite these definitional differences, when most people today refer to the South they mean to the region as designated by the U.S. Census. This region currently contains a number of the twenty-five largest metropolitan areas in the United States. In order of size they are: Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, Washington, Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, Tampa/St. Petersburg. The Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area would be the largest metropolitan area in the South, but is no longer officially recognized by the census burearu—although it is still in popular use. If Missouri is considered to be part of the South, St. Louis' metro would also be included. While not one of the largest metro areas in the South, San Antonio is notable for being one of only three cities in the South with a city proper population of over a million, the others being Dallas and Houston. The South is a vast region, having numerous climatic zones ranging from temperate, to sub-tropical, to tropical, to arid. Many crops grow easily in its soils and can be grown without frost for at least six months of the year. Some parts of the South, particularly the Southeast, have landscape characterized by the presence of live oaks, magnolia trees, jessamine vines, and flowering dogwoods. Another common environment is the bayous and swampland of the Gulf Coast, especially in Louisiana, which looms large in American film history. The South is famously a victim of kudzu, a fast-growing vine which covers large amounts of land.

History

While Southern history stretches back to prehistoric times, the unique culture of the South primarily has its origins with the settlement of the region by British colonists in the early 17th century. Many of the immigrants who moved to the South were of European Celtic origins; according to an 1860 census, "three-quarters of white Southerners had surnames that were Scottish, Irish or Welsh in origin." [http://www.americasvoices.org/archives2003/AdamsJ/AdamsJ_061403.htm] These people mixed culturally with the Native Americans who were already in the region (such as the Creek Indians and Cherokees) and with the Africans who were brought in as slaves to support the region's agriculture. Early in its history, the South's economy became focused nearly exclusively on agriculture, with tobacco being the first big cash crop, followed by cotton from the 1790s onward. Because of the large amount of labor required to cultivate cotton, the South saw a surge in the enslavement of Africans and their descendants. Slavery did not only exist in the South - during the 18th century New York City ranked second out of the original American colonies for total number of slaves (Charleston, South Carolina being first [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/society_culture/protest_reform/slave_island_03.shtml]). However, the explosion of cotton cultivation [http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/lec.slavery.html] made this so-called "peculiar institution" of slavery an integral part of the South's early 19th century economy. Due to the South's powerful agricultural success, the region became integral to the political history of the United States, with the South supplying many of the United States' early military and political leaders (including nine of its first twelve presidents). However, by the middle of the 19th century sectional differences surrounding the issues of slavery, taxation, tariffs, and states' rights led to the secession of most of the Southern states after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. The Southern states that seceded formed the Confederate States of America with Richmond as its capital. During the four year Civil War which followed, the South found itself as the primary battleground, with almost all of the main battles taking place on Southern soil. Because of this fact, many white Southerners fought in the Confederate army for what they saw as a defense of their homeland from an invading army. Though it is often unrecognized, Black Southerners also served in the Confederate army. Blacks were not subject to the draft until just before the war's end; drafted Blacks never actually served in combat. However, earlier in the war Blacks entered Confederate units in three different ways. First, Black slaves sometimes accompanied their masters into service (these Blacks may have officially been listed as servants rather than soldiers). Second, some free Blacks enlisted individually. Some states, such as Tennessee, officially permitted this. In other states, it was unofficially allowed. Finally, some Black Southerners joined all-Black or predominately-Black army or militia units. (Morett, 2005). The Confederates were eventually defeated by the Union. While casualties for the Union were higher than for the Confederates, as a proportion of their respective populations the South suffered much more than the North did. Overall, the Confederates had 95,000 killed in action and 165,000 who died of other causes, for a total of 260,000 total Confederate dead and/or missing[http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wars19c.htm#ACW], out of a total Southern population at the time of around 9 million (of which 3.5 million were slaves).[http://www.vectorsite.net/twcw02.html] After the Civil War, the South found itself devastated, both in terms of its population, infrastructure, and economy. The South also found itself under Reconstruction, with Union military troops in direct political control of the South. Many white Southerners who had actively supported the Confederacy found themselves without many of the basic rights of citizenship (such as the ability to vote) while, with the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (which outlawed slavery), the 14th Amendment (which granted full U.S. citizenship to African Americans) and the 15th amendment (which extended the right to vote to black males), African Americans in the South began to enjoy more rights than they had ever had in the region. By the 1890s, though, a political backlash against these rights had developed in the South. Organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, a clandestine organization sworn to perpetuate white supremacy, used lynchings, cross burnings and other forms of violence and intimidation to keep African Americans from exercising their political rights, while the Jim Crow laws were created to legally do the same thing. It would not be until the late 1960s that these changes would be undone by the American Civil Rights Movement. (For more on racial issues in the South, see the Race relations section below.) It is worth noting, though, that not only African Americans suffered in the South after the Civil War. With the region devastated by its loss and the destruction of its civil infrastructure, much of the South was generally unable to recover economically until World War II (1939 - 1945). The South was noted by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the "number one priority" in terms of need of assistance during the Great Depression (1929-1939), the lack of capital investment also contributed to its economic hardship. References Morett, C.W. (2005). Black Soldiers in Grey. United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) Magazine. November, 2005; p.14.

Politics

In the century after the American Civil War and Reconstruction, Southerners often identified with the then-conservative Democratic Party. This lock on power was so strong the region was politically called the Solid South. In the last thirty-five years this has changed because of Democratic Party's support for the civil rights movement and the conservative realignment of the Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan presidencies in the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, the Republican Party has benefited from Southern support, in large measure due to the evangelical Christian vote. Although the South as a whole defies stereotyping, it is nonetheless known for entrenched conservatism. Support for such conservative causes is often found in the South, including resistance to same-sex marriage and abortion while in the past there was major resistance to feminism, desegregation, the abolition of slavery and interracial marriage. Constitutional bans prohibiting the recognition of marriages between persons of different races persisted until the 1990s and 2000s (although they generally have not been enforced since the 1970s). The last state to do so was Alabama in 2000, with 41% of voters wanting to keep it in place. See Interracial marriage bans in the southern United States

Presidential history

The South has long been a center of political power in the United States, especially with regards to Presidential elections. During the history of the United States, the South has supplied between sixteen and eighteen of the country's forty-three presidents. This difference in counts depends on whether people consider George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush as Southern. While both were not born in the South, they lived most of their lives in Texas and received their political starts there. A similar argument could be given for Abraham Lincoln, who was born in Kentucky but started his political career in Illinois. Most of the recent Presidents of the United States—Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush—have either come from the region or, like George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, spent most of their lives there. This fact is a result of the renewed political power of the South and the unique nature of the Electoral College, both of which make it difficult for a Presidential contender to win the White House without carrying part of the South.

Other politicians and political movements

In addition to Presidents, the South has also produced numerous other well-known politicians and political movements. Infor President on the American Independent Party ticket. Wallace ran a "law and order" campaign similar to that of Republican candidate, Richard Nixon. While Nixon won, Wallace won a number of Southern states. This inspired Nixon and other Republican leaders to create the Southern Strategy of winning Presidential elections. This strategy focused on securing the electoral votes of the U.S. Southern states by having candidates promote culturally conservative values, such as family issues, religion, and patriotism, which appealed strongly to Southern voters. In 1994, another Southern politician, Newt Gingrich, ushered in a political revolution with his Contract with America. Gingrich, then the Minority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives, created the document to detail what the Republican Party would do if they won the that year's United States Congressional election. The contract mainly dealt with issues of governmental reform (such as requiring all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply to Congress). Almost all Republican candidates in the election signed the contract and for the first time in 40 years the Republicans took control of the U.S. Congress. Gingrich became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving in that position from 1995 to 1999. A number of current Congressional leaders are also from the South, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas.

Culture

Southern culture has been and remains generally more socially conservative than that of the north. Due to the central role of agriculture in the antebellum economy, society remained stratified according to land ownership. Rural communities developed strong attachment to their churches as the primary community institution.

Religion

The South, perhaps more so than any other industrial culture in the world, is highly religious, resulting in the reference to regions of the South as the "Bible Belt", from its prevalence of evangelical or fundamentalist Protestantism. The region is often stereotyped as being somewhat intolerant to other religious faiths or the non-religious. Southern churches evangelize more than churches in other regions, which many non-Protestants consider hostile, but few southerners question the actual freedom of worship or non-worship. Cities such as Atlanta and Houston have significant Jewish and Islamic communities. In addition, there are significant Catholic populations in most cities in the South—with larger concentrations in cities such as New Orleans—and immigrants from Southeast Asia and South Asia have brought Buddhism and Hinduism to the region as well.

Southern Dialect

Southern American English is a dialect of the English language spoken throughout the South. Southern American English can be divided into different sub-dialects (see American English), with speech differing between, for example, the Appalachian region and the coastal area around Charleston, South Carolina. The South Midlands dialect was influenced by the migration of Southern dialect speakers into the American West. The dialect spoken to various degrees by many African Americans, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), shares many similarities with Southern dialect, unsurprising given that group's strong historical ties to the region. The Southern American English dialect is often stigmatized, as are other American English dialects such as New York-New Jersey English. However, in recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the Southern dialect.

Cuisine

As an important feature of Southern culture, the cuisine of the South is often described as one of its most distinctive traits. The variety of cuisines range from Tex-Mex cuisine, Cajun and Creole, traditional antebellum fare, all types of seafood, and Texas, Carolina & Memphis styles of Barbecue. Non-alcoholic beverages of choice include "sweet tea," and various soft drinks, many of which had their origins in the South (e.g. Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, and Dr Pepper. In many parts of Georgia and Alabama, and other parts of the South, the term "soft drink" is discarded in favor of "Coke"). Lagers and Pilsners are generally preferred to heavier/darker beers due to the predominance of hot climate. Texas is also the center of a burgeoning wine boom, due to its climate and well drained limestone based soils, particularly in the Texas Hill Country. Traditional African-American Southern food is often called "soul food"; in reality there is little difference between the traditional diet of Southerners and the diet in other regions of the U.S. Of course, most Southern cities and even some smaller towns now offer a wide variety of cuisines of other origins such as Chinese, Italian, French, Middle Eastern, as well as restaurants still serving primarily Southern specialties, so-called "home cooking" establishments.

Literature

The South has a strong literary history. Characteristics of southern literature including a focus on a common southern history, the significance of family, a sense of community and one’s role within it, the community's dominating religion and the burden religion often brings, issues of racial tension, land and the promise it brings, and the use of southern dialect. Perhaps the most famous southern writer is William Faulkner, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949. Faulkner brought new techniques such as stream of consciousness and complex narrative techniques to American writings (such as in his novel As I Lay Dying). Other well-known Southern writers include Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, James Dickey, and Walker Percy. One of the most famous southern novels of the 20th century, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, won the Pulitzer Prize when it was published in 1960.

Music

The South is by far the richest area of music in the United States. The musical heritage of the South was developed by both whites and blacks, both influencing each other directly and indirectly. The South's musical history actually starts before the Civil War, with the songs of the African slaves and the highlands folk music brought from Europe. Blues was developed in the rural South by Blacks at the beginning of the 20th century. In addition, gospel music, spirituals, country music, rhythm and blues, soul music, bluegrass, jazz, and Appalachian folk music all were either born in the South or developed in the region. Rock n' roll began in the south as well. Early rock n' roll musicians from the south include Johnny Cash (Arkansas), Buddy Holly (Texas), Bo Diddley (Mississippi), Ray Charles (Georgia), Carl Perkins (Tennessee), Elvis Presley (born in Mississippi, alhough lived in Memphis, Tennessee during his career), and Jerry Lee Lewis (Louisiana) among others. Chuck Berry, the most important early rock n' roll figure along with Elvis, is from St. Louis, Missouri, a state that is sometimes considered Southern, and a city with an undeniable Southern influence, largely due to its large African American population and location on the Mississippi River. Many who got their start in show business in the South eventually banked on mainstream success as well: Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton are two such examples. Recently, the spread of rap music (which is arguably the only major American music not started in the South) has lead to the rise of the sub-genre Dirty South, among others.

Sports

The South is known for its love of football. While the South has had a number of Super Bowl winning National Football League teams (such as the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens), the region is noted for the intensity with which people follow high school and college football teams -- especially the Southeastern Conference and in Texas where high school football, especially in smaller communities, is elevated to near-religion status. Baseball is also very popular in the South, with Major League Baseball teams like the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins being recent World Series victors. Minor league baseball is also closely followed in the South (with the South being home to more minor league teams than any other region of the United States). The South is also the birthplace of NASCAR auto racing. Other popular sports in the South include golf (which can be played year-round because of the South's mild climate) and fishing. Ironically, the hot-weather Tampa Bay Lightning are the defending National Hockey League champions. Atlanta was the host of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

Film

The South has contributed to some of the most-loved and financially successful movies of all time, including Gone with the Wind (1939) and Smokey and the Bandit (1977). The Dukes of Hazzard remains a very popular television show nearly thirty years after its inception. All were filmed in Georgia with other places in the South also featured prominently.

Cultural Variations

There continues to be debate about what constitutes the basics elements of Southern culture.[http://www.storysouth.com/summer2002/wheresouth.html] This debate is influenced, in part, by the fact that the South is such a large region. As a result, there are a number of cultural variations on display in the region. Among the variations found in Southern culture are:
- Areas having an influx of outsiders may be less likely to hold onto a distinctly Southern identity and cultural influences. For this reason, urban areas during the Civil War were less likely to favor secession than agricultural areas. Today, due in part to continuing population migration patterns between urban areas in the North and South, even historically "Southern" cities like Atlanta, Richmond, and Charleston, have assimilated regional identities distinct from a "Southern" one.
- In many ways Texas has one foot in the South, and one in the Southwest, though most Texans would probably claim that both feet are planted firmly in their own boots. Its major cities have a very culturally diverse population, including Hispanic and Asian Americans. Many Americans from other parts of the U.S. have also moved to the state in the last four decades. Generally, east Texas maintains a southern influence, while the rest of the state tends to be influenced by the southwest. In terms of regional identity, however, a vast majority of residents would identify themselves as Texans rather than Southerners or Westerners.
- Also, prior to its statehood in 1907, the eastern part of Oklahoma was "Indian Territory." The majority of the Native American tribes in Indian Territory sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. Similar to Texas in that it has a Southwestern influence, Oklahoma holds strong ties to Southern culture, evidenced by dialect, religion, politics, cuisine, etc. It is geographically often grouped with the Midwest, but culturally is truly more Southern, especially in the eastern part of the state.
- Southern Louisiana, having been colonized by France and Spain rather than Great Britain, has different cultural traditions, especially within the Cajun, Creole, Latin American and Caribbean influenced culture of southern Louisiana. Importantly, the Gulf Coast regions of Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and northern Florida also share a similar French/Spanish colonial history, but lack the heavy concentration of French influences present in Louisiana.
- Florida has had rapid population growth due to retirees from the North and immigrants from Latin America. Miami, Florida has become more a part of the culture of the Caribbean, with a large influx of immigrants from Cuba, and also Brazil, Haiti and other parts of Latin America. Orlando has also been a magnet to Hispanics, owning large Puerto Rican and Dominican communities. Often, non-Hispanic whites and native-born African Americans have migrated north from Miami to find higher wages, lower costs of living, and cultures where they feel more comfortable. While southern and central Florida are seen by many as not truly part of the South in terms of culture, the Florida Panhandle, northeastern areas, North Central Florida, and the Nature Coast of Florida remain culturally tied to the South. An unofficial "Southern line" can be drawn at or just south of Tampa, Florida on the state's west coast and stretching through Lakeland, Florida over to Melbourne, Florida on the state's east coast; below this line, the culture of the areas can be described as much more "Northern." (but not completely; in virtually any part of the state outside of the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metroplex, southern accents can still be heard and the culture can still be described as more "Southern" than any region of the U.S. not in the "Deep South").
- While West Virginia is often defined as a southern state, its peculiar geographic shape means that the northernmost tip is at about the same latitude as central New Jersey. This has caused the northernmost part of the state, which is about an hour's drive from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to increasingly become an exurb of the city, resulting in a less "Southern" culture. The easternmost tip of the state is close enough to Baltimore and Washington, DC that it too has started to become an exurb of these areas with a unique North-South "hybrid" culture (in fact, the two easternmost counties, Berkeley and Jefferson, are considered part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area by the Census Bureau). A visitor to Huntington, near the state's boundary with Ohio and Kentucky, would likely identify the area as part of the Rust Belt. Also, West Virginia broke away from Virginia during the Civil War and remained loyal to the Union; thus, purists do not consider West Virginia to be part of the South.
- Many do not consider Maryland and Delaware to be culturally Southern states, despite those lands being largely colonised by the relatively same people in Virginia; their cultural designation is disputed due to their proximity to both North and South. Those who view them as Southern cite the fact that although neither state joined the Confederacy, slavery remained legal in them until ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, and that the Mason-Dixon line, long considered to be the border between North and South, is in fact the Maryland-Pennsylvania border. Today, they are sometimes grouped with Southern states for corporate and governmental administrative regions. However, Baltimore, Maryland, Wilmington, Delaware, and Newark, Delaware are located within the BosWash megalopolis, which further separates them from the South, and ties them to a culture that has little in common with Southern culture. Most of the northern third of Delaware consists of bedroom communities to Philadelphia and Wilmington, which are definitely not Southern cities culturally. In addition, they are much more liberal than any other region in the defined South, sharing political trends with the Northeastern states (for example, both states voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1992).
- The District of Columbia itself is almost never considered to be culturally Southern. By definition as the seat of the Union's government it could not be part of the Confederate States of America, though strictly-speaking it was part of the South (which in itself produced pressure for Maryland to remain with the Union, thus preventing the U.S. Capitol from being completely surrounded by Confederate territory). Politically, its populace is more liberal than any U.S. state and even any major U.S. city except perhaps San Francisco. Nonetheless, it has some Southern characteristics, including a muggy heat in the summer and neo-classical Federalist architecture reminiscent of Southern plantations (many of the Founding Fathers were Virginia planters). John F. Kennedy once famously described D.C. as a city of "Northern charm and Southern efficiency."
- Northern Virginia has been largely settled by Northerners attracted to job opportunities resulting from expansion of the federal government during and after World War II. Still more expansion resulted from the Internet boom around the turn of the 21st century. Economically linked to Washington, D.C., residents of the region tend to consider its culture more Northern, as do Southerners (although most Northerners consider them Southern) mainly due to its proximity to Washington D.C. However, it remains politically somewhat more conservative, as opposed to Washington's suburbs across the Potomac River in Maryland, which are generally politically quite liberal.
- The most recent shift in "Southern" cultural influence and demographics has occurred in North Carolina. As recently as the mid-1980s, this was a very entrenched "Southern" state culturally and demographically (for example, the prominence of extremely conservative politicians such as former Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC). However, many newcomers have transformed the landscape since then. Surprisingly many are from the Northeast and especially from the New York metropolitan area. Three regions have seen the bulk of this migration: the Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham areas due to economic growth (banking/finance in Charlotte's case, high-tech in Raleigh-Durham's); and the Asheville area/western North Carolina by retirees who a generation ago might have moved to Florida but prefer the climatic balance produced by the combination of a relatively high elevation and a southerly latitude. The most extreme example of this is found in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb in the Raleigh-Durham area that has exploded in population since 1980 almost exclusively with Northern transplants to the region. Politically the state is still conservative (the 2004 presidential election was easily won by George W. Bush, though early exit polling had the race much closer than initially expected), but in the Raleigh-Durham area and to a lesser extent the Charlotte area, "Southern" accents are becoming less common; and urban areas in central North Carolina (like Raleigh-Durham and the Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point "Piedmont Triad" area) have experienced the fastest rise in Latino and Asian American population of any part of the Southeast during recent years. To a much lesser degree, the same effect is occurring in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
- Southern Illinois, notably (Little Egypt and Buda), is more Southern than it is Midwestern. It forms a coherent cultural region with the Missouri Bootheel, northeast Arkansas, Kentucky's Purchase, and West Tennessee.

Race relations

African Americans have a long history in the South, stretching back to the first settlements in the region. While some Blacks came to the South on their own and lived as free people, most were brought to work as agricultural slaves (for more information, see History of slavery in the United States). Slavery ended with the South's defeat in the American Civil War. During the Reconstruction period that followed, African Americans saw major advancements in the civil rights and politcal power in the South. However, as Reconstruction ended, Southern states moved to prevent black people from voting. Since most blacks still worked for whites, this could usually be done by threatening economic coercion. In addition, organized militias like the first Ku Klux Klan also threatened black voters with violence. (Current, pp. 457-458) As Senator Ben Tillman of South Carolina proudly proclaimed in 1900, "We have done our level best [to prevent blacks from voting]...we have scratched our heads to find out how we could eliminate the last one of them. We stuffed ballot boxes. We shot them. We are not ashamed of it." (Logan, p. 91) With no voting rights and no voice in government, blacks were subjected to what was known as the Jim Crow laws, a brutal system of segregation and discrimination. Blacks could not go to the same schools as whites; they could not eat in the same restaurants, travel on the same train cars, live in the same neighborhoods, shop in the same stores. Nor could they serve on juries, which meant that they had little if any legal recourse. During the first half of the 20th century, Southern Whites could beat, rob, or murder Blacks at will for minor infractions (Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me, pp. 160-165). In Black Boy, an autobiographical account of life during this time, Richard Wright writes about being struck with a bottle and knocked from a moving truck for failing to call a white man "sir" (Wright, Chapter Nine). Between 1889 and 1922, the NAACP calculates that lynchings reached their worst level in history, with almost 3,500 people, almost all of them black men, murdered.http://uncpress.unc.edu/chapters/estes_i.html In response to this treatment, the South witnessed two major events in the lives of 20th century African Americans: the Great Migration and the American Civil Rights Movement. The Great Migration began during World War I, hitting its high point during World War II. During this migration, Black people left the racism and lack of opportunities in the South and settled in northern cities like Chicago, where they found work in factories and other sectors of the economy. (Katzman, 1996) This migration produced a new sense of independence in the Black community and contributed to the vibrant Black urban culture seen during the Harlem Renaissance. The migration also empowered the growing American Civil Rights Movement. While the Civil Rights movement existed in all parts of the United States, its focus was against the Jim Crow laws in the South. Most of the major events in the movement occurred in the South, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Mississippi Freedom Summer, the March on Selma, Alabama, and the assasination of Martin Luther King, Jr.. In addition, some of the most important writings to come out of the movement were written in the South, such as King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail". As a result of the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow laws across the South were dropped. Today, while some people believe race relations in the South to still be a contested issue, many others now believe the region leads the country in working to end racial strife. It cannot be ignored that the south has a significantly larger black population than any other region of the country. As proof of this, some people cite the fact that a second Great Migration appears to be underway, with African Americans whose parents left the South two generations ago moving back to the region in record numbers. Other examples of the improving racial situation in the South are the successful 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia and the fact that there have been few race riots in the South since the 1960s (whereas there have been a number in both the Northern United States and the Western United States, the most recent examples of which were the 1992 Los Angeles riots and the 2001 Cincinnati riots).

Symbolism of the South

The "Rebel Flag" of the Confederacy has become a highly contentious image throughout the USA. Although it and other reminders of the Old South can sometimes be found on automobile bumper stickers, on tee shirts, and flown from homes, restrictions (notably on public buildings) have been imposed as a result of numerous legal cases. Groups including the League of the South continue to promote secession from the United States, citing a desire to protect and defend the heritage of the South. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) - a civil rights group - has added the League of the South to its list of watched hate groups. It is worth noting that most people in the South do not believe in either of these extremes. They instead value their heritage while also recognizing the need to continue improving race relations while also embracing the changing nature of the South.

Today's South: "The New South"

In the last two generations, the South has changed dramatically. After two centuries in which the region's main economic engine was agriculture, the South has in recent decades seen a boom in its service economy, manufacturing base, and high technology industries. Examples of this include the surge in tourism in Florida and along the Gulf Coast, numerous new automobile production plants in places like Alabama and a BMW production plant in Spartanburg, SC, and the creation of computer programming and communications companies (such as the Cable News Network, which is based in Atlanta). This economic expansion has enabled parts of the South to boast some of the lowest unemployment rates in the United States.[http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/050819/jobless.shtml]

GDP

3.53 trillion USD

See also


- Country music
- Deep South
- History of the Southern United States
- Politics of the Southern United States
- Southern American English
- Southern literature

External links


- [http://docsouth.unc.edu/index.html DocSouth: Documenting the American South] - numerous online text, image, and audio collections.
- http://research.unc.edu/endeavors/spr97/south.html
- http://www.columbia.edu/~hah15/H_2004_Poetics.pdf

References


- Richard N. Current, et. al, American History: A Survey, 7th ed., New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.
- David M. Katzman, "Black Migration," in The Reader's Companion to American History, Houghton Mifflin Co. (accessed July 6, 2005); James Grossman, "Chicago and the 'Great Migration'," Illinois History T

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the fifty states (four of which officially favor the term commonwealth) which, together with the District of Columbia and Palmyra Atoll (an uninhabited incorporated unorganized territory), form the United States of America. The separate state governments and the U.S. federal government share sovereignty, in that an "American" is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of residence. The United States Constitution allocates power between the two levels of government in general terms; the general idea is that by ratifying the Constitution, each state has transferred certain aspects of its sovereign powers to the federal government while retaining the remainder for itself. The tasks of education, health, transportation, and other infrastructure are generally the responsibility of the states. Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did.

Legal relationship

At the time of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776, the 13 colonies became 13 independently sovereign states, which became fourteen in 1777 with the formation of the Vermont Republic; for a brief period, they were in effect legally separate nations. But upon the adoption of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the states became a single sovereign political entity as defined by international law, empowered to levy war and to conduct international relations, albeit with a very loosely structured and inefficient central government. After the failure of the union under the Articles of Confederation, the thirteen states joined the modern union via ratification of the United States Constitution, beginning in 1789. Under Article IV of the Constitution, which outlines the relationship between the states, the Congress has the power to admit new states to the union. The states are required to give "full faith and credit" to the acts of each other's legislatures and courts, which is generally held to include the recognition of legal contracts, marriages, criminal judgments, and - at the time - slave status. The states are guaranteed military and civil defense by the federal government, which is also required to ensure that the government of each state remains a republic. The Constitution is silent on the issue of the secession of a state from the union. The Articles of Confederation had stated that the earlier union of the colonies "shall be perpetual", and the preamble to the Constitution states that Constitution was intended to "form a more perfect union". In 1860 and 1861, several states attempted to secede, but were brought back into the Union by force of arms during the Civil War. Subsequently, the federal judicial system, in the case of Texas v. White, established that states do not have the right to secede without the consent of the other states.
- Four of the states bear the formal title of Commonwealth: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In these cases, this is merely a name and has no legal effect. However, the United States has non-state areas called commonwealths (Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas) which do have a legal status different from the states.
- States are free to organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as due process is protected. See state supreme court for more information. For example, most lawsuits in the state of New York are filed in the Supreme Court, and then appealed to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. The highest court in New York is the Court of Appeals.
- The joint resolution which admitted the Republic of Texas to the Union as a state guaranteed Texas the right to divide itself up into up to 5 states. This clause may be redundant, however, as any such state would arguably require Congressional approval, just as when Maine was split off from Massachusetts; it may also be unconstitutional, as reducing the equal suffrage of the other states in the United States Senate.

List of states

The states, with their U.S. postal abbreviations, traditional abbreviations, capitals and largest cities, are as