America became a culturally distinct place from England during the Essay

America became a culturally distinct place from England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Using information about decorative arts, architecture, - Essay Example One of the cultural differences that emerged between England and America was in speech. Americans no longer carry even a hint of a British accent. The Americans created a new unique form of English. Several reasons can explain this phenomenon. First and foremost Americans wanted to show their lack of class. Classes such as nobility, middle, and lower classes had their own accents in England. America wanted everyone to be equal. Thus by speaking slurred English, Americans showed their solidarity with one another (Larkin, 1989: 154). The melting pot of cultures that came to America also contributed to the unique English. Germans, Italians, Irish, African, and many other cultures collided with their accents making the American accent. Americans did not want to create an English Colony, they wanted to create a new country with a new language. American English is also written differently than British English. For example, Americans write center, whereas the British write centre. The British do not write words ending in er, but use re. The lack of reading material in the beginning of the Colonies might have contributed to the misspelling of words, which in turn created this whole new distinctive English (Larkin, 1989: 36). Words for common things also became different. In England, a queue is a line in America. This could be created to the illiterate, which spelled the words wrong, with a new generation adopting them, or a deliberate attempt to leave their English roots behind. The Americans created a new version of English that is still around today. Art in America reflected the culture that the artist came from. Pictures of farmers, landscapes, and hardships started appearing in the seventeenth and eighteenth century (Larkin, 1989: 176). These paintings were exclusively American, since they depicted American life. American Gothic, Old Virginia Home, and The Declaration of