Sentence:  The consciousness it mirrors may have come earlier to Europe than to <WSD>America</WSD> , but it is the consciousness that most `` mature '' societies arrive at when their successes in technological and economic systematization propel them into a time of examining the not strictly practical ends of culture . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776