British Influence in American Culture

To this day, the influence of early British colonists can be felt in multiple facets of American life. This is far more than can be said for the limited authority manifested in present day American culture in regard for Spanish colonialism and subsequent influence. Perhaps the most glaring of influences credited to the country of Great Britain, is the fact that the English language remains the official form of communication throughout the whole of the country.

Although Spanish is spoken extensively, currently with nearly 31 million speakers in the United States, this only accounts for approximately ten per cent of the population, whereas English accounts for nearly a full hundred per cent. Further support for the claim comes in the form of the country’s religious practices. Although the presence of a myriad of religions is a reality in America, by and large, Protestantism has been the focal point for many of its citizens, a direct result of British Anglicanism.

Of all the religious bodies which were brought from the Old World to the New during the entire colonial period, none received so much assistance from the mother country in gaining a foothold in America as did the Church of England . Additionally, it is possible to look to the architecture of most American homes to establish the root influence responsible for them. Although more popular in the American southwest than in other regions, the so-called Spanish style can only account for roughly 7 per cent of designs.
The Tudor style, of British origins is far more popular in the U. S. Bibliography. Religion in Colonial America, William Warren Sweet. Cooper Square Publishers, 1965, NY. Colonial America, Richard Middleton. Blackwell Publishers, 1996, Cambridge, Masachusetts. American Colonies and the British Empire 1607-1763, Kenneth M. Stampp. Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1834, NY. American Colonies, Alan Taylor. Viking Publishers, 2001, NY. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. HTTP://www. wikipedia. org