Fiche de révision : What Is an American?

📋 Plan du Cours

1. Population et recensement américains
2. Origines et composition démographique
3. Race et identité statistique
4. Citoyenneté américaine
5. Naturalisme et intégration civique
6. Un pays-continent
7. Les quatre grandes régions

📖 1. Population et recensement américains

★ À maîtriser

• Since 1790, the United States has organized a census every ten years to count its population.

• The 2020 census counted over 331 million inhabitants in the United States.

Compléments

• In 2024, undocumented immigrants were estimated to number between 14.5 and 16 million, while homeless people were estimated to number over 771,000 in January 2024.

• According to the US Census Bureau, the eleven US cities with more than one million inhabitants in 2024 were New York City with over 8.4 million, Los Angeles with almost 3.9 million, Chicago with 2.7 million, Houston with 2.3 million, Phoenix with 1.6 million, Philadelphia with 1.5 million, San Antonio with 1.5 million, San Diego with 1.4 million, Dallas with 1.3 million, Jacksonville with one million, and Fort Worth with one million.

💡 Astuce mémo

Census → estimates → cities

📖 2. Origines et composition démographique

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• American Dream : presents the United States as a land of opportunity and new beginnings

★ À maîtriser

• The United States was built on immigration because the people who established colonies in the New World came from Europe.

• The 2020 census recorded:

  • 60% Whites
  • 19% Hispanics and Latinos
  • 13.4% Blacks
  • 5.9% Asian Americans
  • 1.3% Native Americans

Compléments

• Irish mass immigration to the United States increased in the 1850s after the potato famine in Ireland.

💡 Astuce mémo

Immigration économique versus persécution politique

📖 3. Race et identité statistique

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Race : Office of Management and Budget - a social and cultural category that also takes ancestry into account, rather than a primarily biological or genetic category

★ À maîtriser

📌 When completing the census, Americans may identify with several races, such as being both Black and Hispanic or White and Native American.

Compléments

• Whites are expected to represent less than 50% of the US population by 2050.

📖 4. Citoyenneté américaine

★ À maîtriser

📌 US citizens are divided into natural-born citizens, who acquire citizenship by birth, and naturalized citizens, who acquire it through a legal process.

📌 Under the Fourteenth Amendment, every person born on US soil, in US airspace, in US territorial waters, or on a US ship or plane is automatically a US citizen, even if their parents are not American citizens.

Compléments

• In June 2026, the US Supreme Court ruled that birthright citizenship is fully protected by the Constitution.

• ICE agents have led raids against illegal immigrants since the first day of Donald Trump's second term, and some immigrants have been sent back to their countries.

💡 Astuce mémo

Born citizen versus naturalized citizen

📖 5. Naturalisme et intégration civique

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Green card : an official document allowing foreigners to live and work legally in the United States for ten years before renewal

★ À maîtriser

📌 Immigrants may begin naturalization after legally living and working in the United States for at least five years with a Permanent Resident Card, or if they have an American relative such as a parent or grandparent.

• 🔄 The naturalization process consists of:
  1. a literacy test
  2. a US history and government test
  3. an oath of good moral character
  4. a naturalization ceremony

Compléments

📌 Foreigners who marry an American do not automatically receive US citizenship and may apply after three years instead of five.

💡 Astuce mémo

Literacy → history and government → oath → ceremony

📖 6. Un pays-continent

★ À maîtriser

• The United States is the fourth largest country in the world, after Russia, Canada, and China.

• The United States has four time zones:

  • Pacific Time
  • Mountain Time
  • Central Time
  • Eastern Time

Compléments

• The greatest distance across the United States is 2,800 miles from east to west and 1,650 miles from north to south.

💡 Astuce mémo

East Coast versus West Coast

📖 7. Les quatre grandes régions

★ À maîtriser

• The Northeast includes New England and the Mid-Atlantic, contains the thirteen original states, and is known as the cradle of American democracy.

• The South is associated with slavery, segregation, conservative politics, religious fundamentalism, and the Bible Belt, while the Sun Belt extends from Florida to California and has a dynamic economy.

• The Midwest is mainly rural and agricultural, is nicknamed the breadbasket of the country, and is known for small family farms and small towns.

• The West is both a geographical region and a myth associated with freedom, self-reliance, and the future.

Compléments

• The West has a diverse economy including:

  • agriculture
  • cattle-ranching
  • sheep-ranching
  • oil
  • mining
  • electronics
  • aerospace
  • tourism

• Examples of protected regions in the West are:

  • Death Valley
  • the Grand Canyon
  • the Rocky Mountains

📊 Tableaux de synthèse

Citoyenneté américaine