Point of View, from Life in the USA: The Complete Guide for Immigrants and Americans

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Life in the USA
Land, History and Language
The American Land

Point of View
When Americans refer to the different regions of their country, they might classify the states differently, depending on the purpose. All these classifications are arbitrary, of course. The East, for example, can mean all the states east of the Mississippi River, or just the states on the Atlantic coast, or even just the northeastern states, depending on who is making the reference, and for what purpose. The South may or may not include Texas, and in the mind of a speaker may or may not include states like Missouri or Kentucky. The term Midwest can have several meanings also: the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, certainly, but it can also extend west to include states like Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. Further west, the plains states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas may sometimes fall into this category, especially if spoken about by outsiders. The West of the United States is always west of the Mississippi and often considerably west of that: the land associated in the popular imagination with cowboys, Indians, wagon trains, gold mines, and the like. Big states like New York, Texas, Florida, and especially California are often spoken about on their own.

While groups of states do cooperate with each other, or even with Canadian provinces, on a regional basis, the individual 50 states and the District of Columbia are the only legal subdivisions of the Federal United States. Each of these states in turn is divided into counties for administrative purposes.



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