Sentence:  And so well is such ignorance preserved by the amateur and the money-maker that even at the college level most of the hundred odd folklore courses given in the <WSD>United</WSD> States survive on sentiment and nationalism alone . 
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