History Main / UnitedSpaceOfAmerica

In either case, most people, space stations, ships, planets, settlements, and so on will not only have names in English, but they'll also have names that are recognizably American.

* ''{{Futurama}}'' does this in a big way. Technically the Earth has unified into one country that just seems to be called "Earth", but all aspects of the government that aren't just random jokes are clearly based on the present-day United States. The president of Earth is RichardNixon's disembodied head, the Earthican flag is even the exact same as the American flag, except with a globe in place of the stars, Washington DC is the capital and the US Constitution is still the ruling document (with some minor changes that allowed Nixon to claim AintNoRule to prevent his reelection).

* Mostly averted 'in the [[HonorHarrington Honorverse]], though the People's Republic of Haven does have similarities to the United States and the European Union that start to show through more as the series develops. The Restored Republic of Haven, once it loses the French Revolutionary theme, is actually a federal government where the structure of the government is an appointed US style cabinet.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* ''TheFifthElement'' has the President of the Federated Territories, of which Earth, specifically New York, appears to be merely the capital city.
** This probably is meant to reference the United Nations, not the USA, to be the Federated Territories's predecessor, or else the capital would be WashingtonDC.

[[AC:Literature]]
* Mostly averted ''hard'' in the [[HonorHarrington Honorverse]]... (''Her Majesty's Starship,'' anyone?) Though the People's Republic of Haven does have similarities to the United States that start to show through more as the series develops.
** The [[TheFederation Solarian League]] is headed, in theory, by a president based in the capital city of [[TheWindyCity Chicago]] on Earth, in fact being dominated by its VastBureaucracy. It's more like the European Union or pre-Constitution government where the members have veto power, no central taxes are possible, and the members have their own military forces not under the SLN.
** The Restored Republic of Haven, once it loses the French Revolutionary theme, is actually a federal government where the structure of the government is an appointed US style cabinet.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

** ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' averts this by presenting a Federation that is closer to the European Union than the United States.
** Oddly enough, the Capital of Earth is in {{Paris}}, but Starfleet Headquarters is in SanFrancisco.
*** Which is appropriate: the capital of the United States is WashingtonDC, but the UnitedNations building is in NewYorkCity.
* In the ''BattlestarGalactica'' reboot, the Twelve Colonies of Kobol needed only one more colony to be guilty of cultural copyright infringement.
** ''BattlestarGalactica'' mixes the UnitedSpaceOfAmerica with the Twelve Tribes of Israel and AncientGrome [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]].
** On the other hand, Caprica in, well, ''{{Caprica}}'' has a Prime Minister (despite the prevalence of AmericanAccents) and refers to "Ministers" (indicating parliamentary government). That, and the fact that [[FantasticRacism racism]] is directed towards foreigners (especially Taurons) rather than a subgroup of native Capricans, suggests comparisons to Britain, especially '50s Britain. The Colonies as a whole had no unified government until the Cylon war forced them to, and as a result it is hinted on occasion that the Colonial Military has more of an influence and inclination to interfere than is accepted in modern American style systems(since BattlestarGalactica was set AfterTheEnd it is hard to judge overall, but Admiral Adama was definitely of the opinion that Democracy and presidential rule was the preferred system, but if said president was deemed a threat to the operation of the military they could be safely ignored or removed).
* ''SeaQuest'': The U. E. O., despite claiming to have a U.N.-like mandate, certainly ''acts'' like the United States.
* ''{{Firefly}}'': complete with a [[TheWildWest Wild West]] motif and allusions to {{the American Civil War}}. Subverted via their cussing being in Chinese.
** The backstory explains the whole mess as the result of an alliance between the US and China, [[SpaceFillingEmpire which were apparently the only countries that mattered]] (unless of course they ''absorbed'' the others before allying, which would explain "Londinium").
** Also might explain the use of a Russian phrase as a code word.

[[AC: TabletopGames]]
* The Terran Confederation of the early ''{{Traveller}}'' timeline, as detailed in the volume ''Interstellar Wars''.
** The Terran Confederation is almost an example of TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. The default of ''Interstellar Wars'' games is about 2170 that is, which is a long time from now by many peoples reckoning, but it is not 3,000 years from now. So {{United Space of America}} is reasonably well justified. In any case it is convenient as an entry level player won't have to much problem role-playing the culture in a believable manner.
* Subverted in the backstory of ''Battletech''. There were plenty of colonies that traced their culture and ancestry to the United States of America. However they were also the closest colonies to Terra due to America's technological edge allowing them to get there first. When the unification wars started, they were also the first to be burned to the ground leaving the Successor States with very few "North American" survivors. The South Americans though helped form the Free Worlds League.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* [[EncyclopediaExposita The Codex]] for ''MassEffect'' claims that the countries are still all divvied up more or less as they are now (save that the European Union looks to be [[UnitedEurope all one country now]], and Mexico and Canada joined the US to form the United North American States). The Systems Alliance, however, is the face of humanity as far as the other species of the galaxy are concerned, and they see us as pushy and self-righteous. Strange, that.
** More accurately, according to the Codex, the Alliance was granted extraterrestrial rights to all human interests in space and accepted by the various governments as the face of humanity. Prior to this, it was little more than a token organization to organize the various government's efforts into space.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''{{Futurama}}'' does this in a big way. Technically the Earth has unified into one country that just seems to be called "Earth", but all aspects of the government that aren't just random jokes are clearly based on the present-day United States. The president of Earth is RichardNixon's disembodied head, and the Earthican flag is even the exact same as the American flag, except with a globe in place of the stars.
** Not to mention that DC is the capital, they celebrate "Freedom Day", Zoidberg is a Yiddish immigrant, one episode features Italian-American stereotypes as immigrants, the dominant sports are Blernsball and Pro Robot Wrestling, and many others.
** And judging from the episode of Nixon's election, the US Constitution is still the ruling document. Except that the 22nd Amendment now says "No body shall be elected to the office of President more than twice" instead of "No person shall be elected...". It's that loophole that allowed Nixon's head (and his shiny new body) to be elected.

-->'''Angus Deayton:''' There's also been a lawsuit revolving around the ''Pathfinder''. [...] NASA have been sued by a couple of Yemeni men, because they claim they own Mars. They were left it by ancient ancestors.\\

'''Martin Clunes:''' Well, it's better than the Americans just assuming it's theirs...\\
-- '''''HaveIGotNewsForYou''': The Official Pirate Video''

This trope is about the tendency in works of science fiction to show the default form ofhuman government to be an American-style Republic. Such settings will (generally) have American standards regarding cultural norms, rights, and freedoms (with the occasional strange addition or subtraction, just to show that we aren't dealing with modern day Earth). Sometimes the cultural supremacy of the United States over all other human or alien "nations" is explicitly declared, while other times it's shown with a bit more subtlety.

** The [[TheFederation Solarian League]] is headed, in theory, by a president based in the capital city of [[TheWindyCity]] Chicago on Earth, in fact being dominated by its VastBureaucracy. It's more like the European Union or pre-Constitution government where the members have veto power, no central taxes are possible, and the members have their own military forces not under the SLN.
** The Restored Republic of Haven, once it loses the French Revolutionary theme, is actually a federal government where the structure of the government is an appointed US style cabinet.

** On the other hand, Caprica in, well, ''{{Caprica}}'' has a Prime Minister (despite the prevalence of AmericanAccents) and refers to "Ministers" (indicating parliamentary government). That, and the fact that [[FantasticRacism racism]] is directed towards foreigners (especially Taurons) rather than a subgroup of native Capricans, suggests comparisons to Britain, especially '50s Britain. The Colonies as a whole had no unified government until the Cylon war forced them to, and as a result it is hinted on occasion that the Colonial Military has more of an influence and inclination to intefer than is accepted in modern american style systems(since BattlestarGalactica was set AfterTheEnd it is hard to judge overall, but Admiral Adama was definitely of the opinion that Democracy and presidential rule was the preferred system, but if said president was deemed a threat to the operation of the miltiary they could be safely ignored or removed).

* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' does this by having the Earth Alliance be created by the major powers in the wake of FirstContact to replace the UN. It took a war to bring some of the smaller countries in (or something like that), and San Diego got nuked by terrorists as a result. The President and Vice President are directly elected, but the various countries of Earth still exist, subject to Earth Alliance law. 'Earthdome' is however in Geneva, home of many League of Nations entities, not San Fransisco or New York.

** The Terran Confederation is almost an example of TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. The default of ''Interstellar Wars'' games is about 2170 that is, which is a long time from now by many peoples reckoning, but it is not 3000 years from now. So UnitedSpaceOfAmerica is reasonably well justified. In any case it is convenient as an entry level player won't have to much problem roleplaying the culture in a believable manner.

** More accurately, according to the Codex, the SA was granted extraterrestial rights to all human interests in space and accepted by the various governments as the face of humanity. Prior to this, it was little more than a token organization to organize the various government's efforts into space.

* ''{{The Simpsons}}'' episode ''The Secret War Of Lisa Simpson'' has a fimstrip that ends with the phrase "The moon belongs to America, and anxiously awaits the arrival of our astro-men. Will you be among them?"

** And judging from the episode of Nixon's election, the US Constitution clearly is the ruling document, with the 22nd Amendment remaining for the past thousand years.
*** Not at all - the Earth Constitution states that "nobody can be elected more than twice," while the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: "no person shall be elected...more than twice." Since the episode hinges on the fact that the word "nobody" is used (Nixon technically doesn't have a body anymore,) the U.S. Constitution is not what is being used here. (Unless it's been amended, of course.)
*** That or he has already been of President of the Earth twice before...
** There are aspects of the government that ''aren't'' jokes?
** Seeing how the UN shows up later,yah think?

** The [[TheFederation Solarian League]] is headed, in theory, by a president based in the capital city of [[TheWindyCity]] Chicago on Earth, in fact being dominated by its VastBureaucracy.

* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' does this by having the Earth Alliance be created by the major powers in the wake of FirstContact to replace the UN. It took a war to bring some of the smaller countries in (or something like that), and San Diego got nuked by terrorists as a result. The President and Vice President are directly elected, but the various countries of Earth still exist, subject to Earth Alliance law.

* ''RedDwarf'' seems to play with this. American flags are all over the ship, the brig is styled after American prisons and officially there isn't a Floor 13 (which is a mostly American tradition). Spacelanes are on the right and in the alternate history from ''Tikka to Ride'', Russia's victory in the space race resulted in ''Red Dwarf'' not being built.
** ...the hell? I have not seen a single American...anything, ever, on RedDwarf (save the JFK episode, which was a RecycledPremise from StarTrek). No flags, definitely, and all the characters are from England.

** ...the hell? I have not seen a single American...anything, ever, on RedDwarf (save the JFK episode, which was a RecycledPlot from StarTrek). No flags, definitely, and all the characters are from England.

This trope is about the tendency in works of science fiction to show the default form of human government to be an American-style Republic. Such settings will (generally) have American standards regarding cultural norms, rights, and freedoms (with the occasional strange addition or subtraction, just to show that we aren't dealing with modern day Earth). Sometimes the cultural supremacy of the United States over all other human or alien "nations" is explicitly declared, while other times it's shown with a bit more subtlety.

** The Terran Confederation is almost an example of TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. The default of ''Interstellar Wars'' games is about 2170 that is, which is a long time from now by many peoples reckoning, but it is not 3000 years from now.

** ''BattlestarGalactica'' mixes the UnitedSpaceOfAmerica with the Twelve Tribes of Israel [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]].

** On the other hand, Caprica in, well, ''{{Caprica}}'' has a Prime Minister (despite the prevalence of AmericanAccents) and refers to "Ministers" (indicating parliamentary government). That, and the fact that [[FantasticRacism racism]] is directed towards foreigners (especially Taurons) rather than a subgroup of native Capricans, suggests comparisons to Britain, especially '50s Britain. The Colonies as a whole had no unified government until the Cylon war forced them to.

** Oddly enough, the Capital of Earth is in Paris, but Starfleet Headquarters is in SanFrancisco.
*** Which is appropriate: the capital of the United States is WashingtonDC, but the United Nations building is in New York.

* ''StarWars'' refers to Congress.