- "O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?" - ―Lyrics from The Star Spangled Banner
The United States of America (also known as the United States, the U.S., the USA, the States, and America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising 50 states and a federal district. Its capital is Washington in that federal district.
The nation was founded by 13 British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard of North America. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. In the 19th century, the United States acquired land which spanned the continent, leading to its becoming a global superpower, and the third most populous nation in the world.
All of the canonical Oz books authors were natural-born American citizens, and much of the scenes in the Oz stories that do not take place in the Nonestican world take place in the United States. Oz' creator L. Frank Baum based his version of Oz on an idealized version of America. Baum's non-Nonestican works such as American Fairy Tales often take place in part or in whole in the USA. Other authors have followed this pattern, although Ruth Plumly Thompson deviated from it for the sake of humor and romance several times.
Many of the Oz stories revolve around American visitors (and in some cases permanent immigrants) who have made their way to the Nonestican world.
Americans in Baum's Oz[]
Dorothy Gale is from Kansas, and The Wizard of Oz is from Omaha, within the United States. (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
Billina also comes from America, and when she arrived there she started the first colony of chickens in Oz. (Ozma of Oz, The Road to Oz)
Dorothy also visited California, another state in the United States, on her way back from Australia. (Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz)
The Shaggy Man is from the United States, with no fixed address. (The Road to Oz)
Trot and Cap'n Bill are from southern California. (The Sea Fairies)
Button-Bright is from Philadelphia. (Sky Island revealed this after The Road to Oz left his point of origin unrevealed)
Betsy Bobbin is from Oklahoma. The Shaggy Man's Brother used to live in Colorado. (Tik-Tok of Oz)
In Non-Canonical Work[]
People from Oz have also visited the United States. The Tin Woodman, the Wogglebug, the Scarecrow, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, and the Gump visited the U.S. to pay Dorothy a visit for her birthday. They first arrived in New York State, where they met Jimmy Jones, and then they began traveling west towards Kansas. (Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz)
The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion, after escaping from their theatrical career, embarked on a tour of the United States, with side visits to Mexico and Bermuda. (Denslow's Scarecrow and Tin Man)
A few alternate Oz movies and TV shows also revolve around Ozians visiting the United States, including After the Wizard and Dorothy and the Witches of Oz.