# When did we first use the term "USA" ?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-first-use-the-term-usa/721599>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 4, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-first-use-the-term-usa/721599 "2015-06-04T02:20:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-first-use-the-term-usa/721599/21 "2015-06-05T15:10:48Z")

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Yes. You’d think there would be many months and even years of wrangling over the name of the new country.

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**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-first-use-the-term-usa/721599/22 "2015-06-05T18:33:59Z")

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> [@samclem](#):
>
> I think you can find book cites from the 1830s-1840s using U.S.A. to mean the country. I’ll try to post them later tonight–after Cleveland beats Golden State. 😛

1. Cleveland lost. 🙂

2. Did you find anything?

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-first-use-the-term-usa/721599/23 "2015-06-05T20:49:59Z")

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> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> 1. Cleveland lost. 🙂
> 
> 2. Did you find anything?

1810–Legal book [American Precedents of Declarations: Collected Chiefly from Manuscripts of ... - John Anthon - Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=TvxKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA363&dq=%22u.s.a.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CwZyVavKB8vasAS-woKwAw&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBDgU#v=onepage&q=%22u.s.a.%22&f=false)  
1818- A child’s instruction book [The Child's Instructor: Consisting of Easy Lessons for Children, on Subjects ... - John Ely - Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=GewHAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA59&dq=%22u.s.a.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZQhyVbWcFPHIsQTY9oEI&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBjiWAQ#v=onepage&q=%22u.s.a.%22&f=false)

1820–History of the Protestant Episcopal Church–15 hits in the book–some as early as 1786

> **[An Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South-Carolina](https://books.google.com/books?id=TDkVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA487&dq=%22u.s.a.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-QlyVfCVK5K1sQTF3IK4CA&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBzjwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22u.s.a.%22&f=false)**

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**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-first-use-the-term-usa/721599/24 "2015-06-08T20:53:40Z")

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A USA button was adopted widely in 1777 for Continental troops and used widely across many regions. [Bottom row, middle](https://books.google.com/books?id=-X2vvS698p4C&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=continental+army+unit+USA+button&source=bl&ots=EZjaV802qV&sig=IvmrzMTGQ7OFi5PTXDgr4Ln0o14&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BwB2VabsOa3jsASb5oHwBg&ved=0CC4Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=continental%20army%20unit%20USA%20button&f=false) shows a picture of one.

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