The Civil War, its consequences.
The geographical position
of the USA. Rivers and lakes. Natural resources. Climate. Wildlife.
The United States of America stretches from Atlantic Ocean across North America and far into the Pacific.
Because of such a huge size of the country the climate differs from one part of the country to another. The coldest climate is in the northern part, where there is heavy snow in winter and the temperature may go down to 40 degrees below zero. The south has a subtropical climate, with .temperature as high as 49 degrees in summer.
The continental part of the USA consists of the highland regions and two lowland regions. The highland regions are the Appalachian mountains in the east and the Cordillera in the west. Between the Cordillera and the Appalachian mountains are the centre! lowlands which are called- the prairie, and eastern lowlands called the Mississippi valley. There are many mountains especially in the west and southwest. The Rocky mountains extend all the way from New Mexico to Alaska. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States and appears on its Great Seal. The bald eagle's range includes all of the contiguous United States and Alaska.
Many rivers cross the country. The most important are the Mississippi, Missouri, Colorado, Sacramento. The main lakes in the USA are the Great Lakes in the north. The nation's natural advantages and resources are probably greater than those of any other area of equal size. The land is as varied as it huge. There are plains and mountains, grasslands and forests, sandy soil, clay and rich, dark loams.
The mineral resources vary from precious gold and rare uranium to common lead and zinc. Coal, oil, iron, copper and other minerals are abundant. They form basis of modern industry.
Population of the USA. Immigration. Ethnic groups.
The population of the USA is over 312 million people. Many nationalities and races inhabit the USA. Every year many immigrants move to the USA, so the population rapidly grows.
The first immigrants who settled down in America were the English and the Dutch. Later on, Hispanic and Asian settlers flocked to the USA in large numbers.
The country was even once called a “melting pot”, because of its multinational population.
The US is a multi-ethnic country. The state officially categorizes its population into six groups notably the Whites, African Americans, Native Americans/Alaskan Natives, Pacific Islanders, Asians, and Native Hawaiians.
African American
|
|
|
The majority of Afro-Americans came to the US during the era of slavery in the European settlements. The slaves came from West and Central Africa. Today, the African Americans constitute 14.6% of the total population;
English
Most of the English population is found in north-western US and largely originated from the UK. The group being white from the start has had notable success mainly because they had colonized America. Today, they make up a 12.6% of the total population.
Irish
The Irish are probably the most prominent ethnic group in the US, with at least 22 presidents of the country having Irish descent. Presently 11.6% of the total population in the country.
Native Americans
Also called the Alaska natives, the ethnic group makes up 1.6% of the US population. Before the British colonization, America belonged to this community group but after years of intermarriages with the settlers and then the slavery regime, the population dwindled to a mere 5 million.
Mexicans
Mexicans have been immigrating to the US throughout the history of the country due to the proximity of the country to the US. This ethnic group makes up 10.9% of the population.
3.4 Discovery of America by Europeans.
Colonization. The first English settlements in America.
The early people of Europe and the Near East were slow to discover the West mainly because of their fear of the open sea. But the Icelandic sagas tell of a Norseman, Eric the Red, and his son, about the voyages they made. They discovered Vinland at the end of the 10th century, built houses, wintered there and returned to Greenland. The ancient Norsemen left sailing instructions behind them. It was Leif Ericsson.
In the late 1400s Spain began searching for another water route to the East. Instead of it, Spanish explorers found a new continent. A mapmaker called it the New World — the land across the Atlantic that was not part of Asia. Three ships headed by Christopher Columbus left Spain and sailed to the west. Columbus made three more voyages to the New World. But he never knew that he had discovered a new world. He was sure that he had approached China and India from the east. But his name America got from another traveler, who proved that Columbus discovered the New World, Amerigo Vespucci.
|
|
|
In the early 1500s a number of Spanish soldiers and adventurers went to Hispaniola and Cuba, islands in the West Indies. From these islands they were planning to explore other parts of the New World. These adventurers called themselves conquistadors, which meant conquerors. One of the conquistadors was Hernando Cortes. In Mexico Cortes learnt about the rich and powerful Aztec Indians. Cortes led an army to conquer the Aztecs. The Spaniards were amazed by the Aztec city, fine architecture and sculpture. They captured Tenochtitlan, the capital, and took Montezuma, the Aztec leader, prisoner. In the end, the Spaniards defeated the Aztecs. They declared themselves masters of Mexico and sent shiploads of golf and silver to Spanish King Carlos I. of Spar was pleased.
The Colonization of America began with the explorations of the early European explorers. The famous European explorers came from England, Spain, Italy, Portugal and France - Refer to the French in America and the Spanish in America. The voyages of the first explorers and the countries of Europe were motivated by various reasons, the foremost being to build great empires - which led to the Colonization of America. The other reasons were as follows:
§ Increased Power in Europe
§ Prestige
§ Wealth - gold, silver, spices and the raw materials of new lands
§ Opportunities for trade
§ Spreading the Christian Religion - refer to Religion in the Colonies
The Colonization of America was made possible by the voyages and discoveries of the early explorers who came from the great sea-faring nations of Europe.
The first English settlement in America was founded in 1607 in Virginia and was named Jamestown. Trading post, founded by members of the crews of three English ships under the command of captain Newport, at the same time served as an important Outpost on the path of the Spanish advance into the continent. Just a few years, Jamestown became a thriving settlement with its built there in 1609 the plantation of tobacco. European immigrants were attracted to America's rich natural resources faraway continent and its remoteness from European religious dogma and political bias. Exodus to the New world was financed primarily by private companies and persons who received income from transportation of goods and people. Many immigrants moved to the New world with their
|
|
|
families and communities at their own expense. Despite the attractiveness of new lands, in the colonies felt the constant lack of human resources. In late August 1619 in Virginia, arrived a Dutch ship that brought to America, black Africans, twenty of which were immediately bought by the colonists as slaves. In December 1620, on the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts arrived ship "Mayflower" with 102 puritans-Calvinists. This event is considered the beginning motivated the British colonization of the continent. They sign an agreement, called Mayflowers. It reflects in the most General form of the first American colonists on democracy, governance and civil liberties. Later concluded a similar agreement between the colonists of Connecticut, new Hampshire and Rhode island. After 1630 in Plymouth colony — the first colony of New England, later to become the colony of Massachusetts Bay, appeared no less than a dozen small towns, which are settled newly arrived English puritans. Immigration wave 1630-1643, delivered to New England about 20 thousand people, not less than 45 thousand settled in the colonies of the American South or on the Islands of Central America.
War for Independence
(1775-1783) The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence,[43] was a global war that began as a conflict between Great Britain and her Thirteen Colonies, which declared independence as the United States of America. After 1765, growing philosophical and political differences strained the relationship between Great Britain and its colonies. Following the Stamp Act, Patriot protests against taxation without representation escalated into boycotts, which culminated in the Sons of Liberty destroying a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor. Britain responded by closing Boston Harbor and passing a series of punitive measures against Massachusetts colony. Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, and they established a shadow government which wrested control of the countryside from the Crown. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, establishing committees and conventions that effectively seized power. British attempts to disarm the Massachusetts militia at Concord in April 1775 led to open combat. Militia forces then besieged Boston, forcing a British evacuation in March 1776, and Congress appointed George Washington to command the Continental Army. Concurrently, an American attempt to invade Quebec and raise rebellion against the British decisively failed. On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted for independence, issuing its declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe launched a British counter-offensive, capturing New York City and leaving American morale at a low ebb. However, victories at Trenton and Princeton restored American confidence. In 1777, the British launched an invasion from Quebec under John Burgoyne, intending to isolate New England. Instead of assisting this effort, Howe took his army on a separate campaign against Philadelphia, and Burgoyne was decisively defeated at Saratoga in October 1777. Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tories in Parliament, and the surrender gave them the upper hand. In early 1782, Parliament voted to end all offensive operations in North America, but the war continued in Europe and India. Britain remained under siege in Gibraltar but scored a major victory over the French navy. On September 3, 1783, the belligerent parties signed the Treaty of Paris in which Great Britain agreed to recognize the sovereignty of the United States and formally end the war. French involvement had proven decisive,[45] but France made few gains and incurred crippling debts. Spain made some minor territorial gains but failed in its primary aim of recovering Gibraltar. The Dutch were defeated on all counts and were compelled to cede territory to Great Britain. In India, the war against Mysore and its allies concluded in 1784 without any territorial changes.
|
|
|
Slavery
Historians normally date the start of slavery in the North American colonies to 1619. The English settlers who established the Jamestown colony in 1607 did not bring with them any slaves. These were white English who contracted to work under specific conditions for a set number of years in exchange for their passage to America. As labor shortages and the costs of indentured servants increased, the English turned increasingly to slavery, eventually transporting tens of thousands of Africans to the New World each year. The economies of the colonies soon depended on slave labor.In 1641, Massachusetts became the first colony to legally recognize slavery. Other states, such as Virginia, followed.
In 1672, England officially got into the slave trade as the King of England chartered the Royal African Company, encouraging it to expand the British slave trade.
The “Middle Passage” was the journey of slave trading ships from the west coast of Africa where the slaves were obtained, across the Atlantic, where they were sold. In the 17th and 18th centuries three distinctive systems of slavery emerged in the American colonies. In Maryland and Virginia, slavery was widely used in raising tobacco and corn and worked under the "gang" system.Slavery became a highly profitable system for white plantation owners in the colonial South. Georgia, the last free colony, legalized slavery in 1750. That meant slavery was now legal in each of the thirteen British colonies that would soon become the United States.
After the American Revolution (1775-83), many colonists began to link the oppression of black slaves to their own oppression by the British, and to call for slavery's abolition
All throughout the early part of the 1800s, many people in the north more and more opposed slavery. Free blacks and other antislavery northerners had begun helping fugitive slaves escape from southern plantations to the North via a loose network of safe houses as early as the 1780s.
When the former colonies met to draft a new Constitution in 1787, they clashed over the issue of slavery.
Slavery in the United States was essentially ended by the Civil War - a vast and destructive war with far-reaching consequences between the U.S. government (supported by the non-slave holding northern and western states) and a confederacy of rebellious southern states (which fought to preserve slavery).
In the midst of the war, in 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the Confederate States (though not those in the Union). At war's end, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution finally abolished slavery in the United States.
After reconstruction and even for decades after World War I African Americans experienced a period of great discrimination and hardship. During this time southern states passed laws that prohibited Blacks from voting and instituted segregation in all areas of life.
Between 1900 and 1920 many African Americans moved from the south to northern cities, a population movement called "The Great Migration". Not only did they move to the north, they moved especially to the cities.
Since the Civil Rights Movement, African-Americans have improved their social-economic standing significantly and in recent decades the African-American middle class has grown rapidly. The problem with discrimination still has a very strong effect on lives of black Americans in the society.
The Civil War, its consequences.
It was a military conflict between the United States (the Union) and the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865. The American Civil War sometimes called the War between the States, the War of Rebellion, or the War for Southern Independence. It began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, it lasted until May 26,1865, when the last Confederate army surrendered (сдалась).
The young country grew quickly, and by the middle of the nineteenth century it had 31 million people. But there were serious differences between the North and the South. And in 1861 a terrible war started.. At least 600,000 people died in the battles or from disease. The war began because the southern states kept slaves to work in the cotton fields but slaves were not allowed in the North. People from the South wanted to have slaves in the new lands of the west, but people from the North argued against this. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected sixteenth president of the USA. He belonged to the Republican Party, which did not want people to have slaves. On 24 December, South Carolina said that it wanted to be independent and the other southern states soon followed. The fighting began on 12 April 1861, at Fort Sumter.
The South had some of the best soldiers - one was the famous Robert E. Lee - and they had plenty of money from selling their cotton to Britain. But the North had more men and more factories. They also had Lincoln, one of the best presidents that the USA has ever had. [He was born on a farm in Kentucky but he worked hard in order to learn as much as he could. Lincoln made the Republican Party strong and spoke about rights and freedom.] A very important battle was won by the soldiers of the North at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania in 1863. Lincoln spoke there afterwards about the brave soldiers who had died. This became known as the Gettysburg Address and contains the famous words: ' government of the people, by the people, for the people.'
It was the most dramatic war on the territory of the USA. America lost more soldiers in this war than in any other-635,000 killed on both sides. It put an end to slavery, which was abolished by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1965.It is also decided forever that the USA is a single united nation.
The victory of the North contributed to the further development of the United States. The country began to make great progress in the development of industry, trade, agriculture. More and more immigrants began to come to America. In the countryside the settlers could easily get land and start farming. Capitalism began to make rapid progress.
Abraham Lincoln – the 16th president of the USA (1861-1865) and one of the great leaders in American history. He became a legend and a folk hero after his death. Sadly, on 14 April 1865, five days after the end of the war, President Lincoln was shot at the theatre by a man called John Wilkes Booth, who hated Lincoln and was angry about the war. After Lincoln's death, the new president was
not strong enough to bring the North and the South together, and people continued to argue about the rights of black people.
Reconstruction in the USA
Reconstruction refers to the period 1865-1877, immediately after the end of the Civil War. Eleven Southern States had seceded. At the end of the war all but Tennessee were under military occupation and martial law (Tennessee had been largely occupied since 1862 and thus escaped postwar reconstruction). Reconstruction was the process by which the seceded states were gradually allowed to re-enter the American political process under new, Union-loyal leadership. The other goal was to integrate the newly freed slaves into American life.
April 1865 Lee surrended in Virginia. The South was destroyed. Boom in the North-industry. 1867 purchase of Alaska, 1890s new states applied last-1898-Hawaii.
1869-A. Lincoln assassinated, Andrew Johnson-president. Former slave-owner. Plan of Restoration of the South. Without Congress’s agreement. Seceded states were still in the union. They had to agree to Oath of Allegiance to the Union. Every southern state sent representatives to the government. 1865-Congress refuse to include these representatives. Committee on Reconstruction formed. 1863-1866 the South adopted a set of laws. The Black Codes-to guarantee whites’ supremacy. Integration started. The Congress didn’t agree to the codes. The seceded states divided into 5 military districts with military commanders. Base for re-admission-ratification of 14th amendment, (vote to the niggers.)1865 Abolishment of slavery. -13 amend. 14-all are equal.
Blacks were elected to public offices. Went to congress, 2-to the senate. (H. Ravels) Threat of negro rule. 100 years to finish reorganization of southern states. Comprehensive schools appeared. Black academies. Freedman’s Burro-to guard their rights. Ku Klux Klan- = circle(Greek) to prevent blacks from voting. 1875-Civil Right act. The Supreme court proclaimed it UNCONSTITUTIONAL. 1883-Official segregation policy. 1890-each state passed Jim Crow Laws. How blacks must be kept from the whites. The civil Right Act adopted in 1964 only. The Congress was even pressed to it. Movement to ban Jim Crow Law. Linda Brown case-refused to accept her to school-won the case in the Supreme court.
A major result of the Reconstruction period in American history was the dominance of the Democratic party in the South. By pandering to racism and Southern pride, the Democrats were able to further demonize the Republican party and win the majority of white male votes.
The USA the World war II
The military history of the United States in World War II covers the war against Germany, Italy, Japan and starting with the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. During the first two years of World War II, the United States had maintained formal neutrality
Neutrality was the official American response up to the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939. Legislation, enacted from 1935 to 1937, had prohibited trade with or credit to any of the warring nations. With the fall of France and the air war against Britain in 1940, the debate intensified between those who favored joining the war affort and the isolationists. The United States joined Canada in a Mutual Board of Defense, and aligned with the Latin American republics in extending collective protection to the nations in the Western Hemisphere. Congress voted immense sums for rearmament and in early 1941 approved the Lend-Lease Program, which enabled President Roosevelt to transfer arms and equipment to any nation (notably Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China) deemed vital to the defense of the United States. By 1941, there was an undeclared war between the United States and Germany in the Atlantic -- with U.S. warships protecting supply convoys from attacks by German submarines.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On December 8, Congress declared a state of war with Japan; three days later its allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States.
The western Allies decided that their essential military effort was to be concentrated in Europe. As a result of Germany's strong land forces, however, Great Britain and the United States postponed a cross-channel attack until June 1944. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Allied forces landed in Normandy. On August 25, Paris was liberated. By February and March 1945, troops advanced into Germany and on May 7, Germany surrendered.
What was the Cold War?
The Cold War was a struggle for world dominance between the capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union.
The Cold War was a global conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, lasting from 1947 to 1991, over which of the two superpowers would hold economic and ideological sway over the world. It's called the Cold War because no actual military engagement took place between the United States and the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Instead, fighting took place in proxy wars conducted in "third-world" countries. The United States and USSR clashed over their economic and political philosophies
Causes of Cold War - The Soviet Union wanted to spread its ideology of communism worldwide, which alarmed the Americans who followed democracy. - The acquisition of atomic weapons by America caused fear in the Soviets. - Both countries feared an attack from each other adhering to mutual mass destruction. - The Soviet Union's action of taking control over Eastern Europe was a major factor for US suspicions. - The US President had a personal dislike of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. - America was annoyed by the Soviet Union's actions in the part of Germany it had occupied. - The Soviets feared that America would use Western Europe as a base to attack it. Effects of Cold War - Both the USA and the Soviet Union built up huge arsenals of atomic weapons and ballistic missiles. - The military blocs, NATO and the Warsaw Pact were formed. - Led to destructive conflicts like the Vietnam War and the Korean War. - The Berlin Wall was demolished and the two German nations were unified. - The Warsaw Pact disintegrated. - The Baltic States and some former Soviet Republics achieved independence. - America became the sole superpower of the world. - Communism collapsed worldwide.
Дата добавления: 2018-08-06; просмотров: 1257; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!