American Nations

According to an article in the Tufts University alumni magazine (something we all never miss an issue of, amiright?), the so-called "United" States is really a collection of separate nation states, each with its own history, politics, and culture.

I don't disagree with his premise, and being a native of the Yankeedom nation state who's lived in the Deep South nation state for some 30 years now, I can attest to the cultural and political differences, which might explain some of the culture shock I experience on a regular basis here in Georgia.

But I can take exception to some of the specific boundaries shown for the Yankeedom nation state, as it's the area of the country I know best.  For starters, I would include Long Island in his New Netherlands, not in Yankeedom. Suburban, coastal Long Island is much more similar culturally and politically to suburban New Jersey and the Jersey Shore, southern New York State, and the Connecticut suburbs, the other portions of New Netherlands, than it is to the New England states.   

Further, New France extends down from Quebec into the Champlain Valley of northern Vermont and New York State, and possibly into parts of Maine as well, although I'd have to research the latter part about Maine a little more before I can be sure.

Finally, and I think this is the most significant difference, the Rust Belt cities of the Great Lakes states such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo, don't belong in the same nation state as the New England states, but the article has them lumped in together. They're very different politically, economically, socially, and culturally, and the residents don't even sound very much alike.  Personally, I would draw a line down the NewYork/New England boundary, a line I've come to call "The Chowder Curtain," and call the nation state to the west the "Rust Belt" and the nation state to the east either "New England" in keeping with "New France" and "New Netherlands," or "Yankeedom" if that's what's preferred.  

In support of the Yankeedom proposition, one thing that perplexes residents of the Deep South, who consider any and everybody not from the Deep South to be "Yankees" and the term itself to be derogatory, "Yankee" is considered more of an honorific among New Englanders, who consider only people from the six New England states to be true Yankees, and the name "Yankees" for a New York baseball team is just another annoyance fueling the already tense Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.  The NY Yankees, it's felt, have not only stolen great players from the Red Sox, from the Babe or Clemons to Johnny Damon, but also have stolen even the name "Yankees."  

So maybe "Yankeedom" is the right term, but only if it's restricted to five of the New England states and the portions of Connecticut east of the Connecticut River.  All of western Connecticut should go to New Netherlands, and everything west of The Chowder Curtain should be called "The Rust Belt"

I can apply this level of detailed specificity to Yankeedom because it's the area of the country I know best. The Deep South looks about correct, and I can certainly agree with the way they've drawn the northern border, but after that I'm a little fuzzy on where the Deep South boundary should lie.  As for the whole rest of the map, I'll have to leave it to others who've lived in those areas and are as familiar with the territory as I am with Yankeedom and the northern boundary of the Deep South.