The Linguistic Culture-6 (Fight for Independence) (1157933), страница 2
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Протестпротив Чайного закона вылился в инцидент, известный в истории страны как«Бостонское чаепитие».Междустановилисьтемвсеразрывближе.сАнглией,Первыевооруженноевооруженныестолкновениестолкновениямеждуанглийскими войсками и американскими силами произошли в Ленсингтоне иКонкорде. Три недели спустя после этих событий, 10 мая 1775 г. вФиладельфии открылся Континентальный конгресс. На нем было приняторешение о создании регулярной армии. Главнокомандующим был назначенмолодой плантатор Джордж Вашингтон.Историческая наука рассматривает Американскую революцию какреволюцию, в которой борьба за освобождение от колониальной зависимостипереплелась с борьбой за экономические и политические преобразования.Американскаяреволюцияоказаласьтесносвязаннойспроцессомформирования новой нации.В) Исключительная личность в Американской истории.
ДжорджВашингтон.Среди героев Америки нет человека, равного Джорджу Вашингтону(173299). Неутомимый и энергичный вождь, он казался гигантом даже среди тойгруппы окружавших его людей, которых называют создателями и «отцами»США. По словам одного из его современников, Джордж Вашингтон был«первым на войне, первым в мирной жизни и первым в сердцах своихсоотечественников.Вашингтон стяжал бессмертие, сыграв в истории США три важных роли: онкомандовал Континентальной армией, которая в ходе революционной войнызавоевала стране независимость от Великобритании; он был председателемКонвента, который в 1787 году выработал Конституцию США; он былизбран первым президентом США и определил форму и стиль правлениянового государства.До1775г,когдаВашингтонбылизбранглавнокомандующимКонтинентальной армией, он занимался главным образом управлениемсвоего поместья в штате Виржиния.
Он также был членом законодательногооргана самоуправления в колонии - ассамблеи этого штата. Еще ранее онбыл военным и во время войны с французами и индейскими племенамикомандовал Вирджинскими силами, находясь в подчинении британскомукомандованию. Историк и биограф Джемс Флекснер в предисловии к своейкниге «Вашингтон - исключительная личность» пишет, что когда он начализучать жизнь Вашингтона, перед ним предстал «человек, которому, как идругим, свойственно было ошибаться, человек из плоти и крови, сильныйдухом, а вовсе не мраморная статуя.
Во всей мировой истории немногие изобладающих такой властью так мудро и благоразумно пользовались ею наблаго своих соотечественников.Formation of American NationThe Independence was extremely important for the formation of American state.The leaders of the new nation believed in their country’s uniqueness. The classicalrepublican heritage of Greece and Rome provided a constant source of imitation.The names “president”, “Congress”, and “Senate” were derived from Latin roots.American writers, artists and architects revived neoclassical style.
The capitolbuilding in the newly - built republican center of Washington exemplified thisstyle.Establishment of a firm economic base was another aim of national development.Iron manufacture in Pennsylvania became the basis of the industrial economy. Theshortage of labor caused development of mechanization of the operations and thegrowth of machine technology. The construction of the first railroads was begun.Congress worked out a system of adding new states to the original 13 ones.
It wasdecided that when the population of any area grew to 60 thousand this area couldbecome a state. Thus five new states were formed from North-west territory: Ohio,Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Thomas Jefferson became the thirdpresident of the United States in 1801 and began to look to the West of thecontinent to provide land for growing agrarian population. He foresaw the daywhen Americans would expand to the Pacific coast. In 1798 Spain grantedAmericans access to the Mississippi and to the port at New Orleans. In 1803 theUSA bought 828,000 square miles (2, 144, 000 km/2)) of French land west of theMississippi.
This deal became known as the Louisiana Purchase, which includedthe present-day states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa,Nebraska, and North and South Dakota.T. Jefferson also asked the USA Congress to allocate appropriate funds forthe expedition to the Northwest and exploration of the Missouri River and itstributaries.
In 1804, President Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clarkto explore and map the territory, and to find a water route for boats from theMissouri River to the Pacific Ocean. The explorers, guided by an Indian womanSacagawea, traveled by boat and on horseback from the Mississippi Riverwestward to Oregon and the Pacific Ocean.In spite of the War of 1812 which the USA fought on the side of Franceagainst Britain the American government continued to take steps to expand theterritory available for white settlement on the northern frontier. In 1817 federalgovernment forced Indian tribes in Ohio to sell their lands and migrate fartherwest.
In the following years many Indian nations, recognizing the futility ofresistance, signed over their territories and left. White settlers rushed westward,and five new western states joined the Union. The US government encouragedpeople to settle in the territory of Oregon, so that it could claim the land as part ofthe United States.The annexation of Texas (the 28-th American state) in 1845 broughtranching into American life. Americans moved across Indiana and Illinois and intothe plains as trappers, traders and adventurers, acquiring horses and cattle.
Thisbegan the range cattle industry in Kansas and Nebraska, which supplied beef andfresh horses to immigrants going west, and also fed mining camps and railroadbuilders.Fleeing from political turmoil or economic distress at home over 4 millionimmigrants entered the United States from the 1840s to1880s.The first organizedgroup of American settlers came to California in 1841.
In 1848, after the end of theMexican War, Mexico ceded California to its powerful neighbor. By mid-centurythe United States extended its power from the Atlantic to the Pacific, pushing asideall Indian nations and conquering its neighbors.The discovery of gold in California in 1848 set off the famous “Gold Rush”.“Gold Rush” or “Gold Fever”, dramatically described by famous American writerJack London, occupies a special place in the USA history. The influence of it bothon the region and on the whole nation was enormous.
After the news about thegold in California had spread, over 80,000 Americans as well as thousands offoreigners streamed to the West with hope to get rich. Some of the new arrivalstraveled to the port of San Francisco. In the following seven years the influx ofnewcomers continued and by 1856 the state already numbered 300,000.Almost allof them tried to make their fortunes by mining gold and thousands of miners livedin camps separated from their loved ones, alone in vast and hostile wilderness.Very many of such fortune-seekers died because of difficult conditions andillnesses.
Law and order were constantly broken down there. Even if a miner“struck it rich” (had success) there were always those who tried to take the goldaway: gamblers, outlaws, thieves, and saloon keepers.The gold rush helped to change California from a frontier area into a state. In 1850California became the 31 American state.There were some who made fortune byselling goods to the miners. A German businessman Levi Strauss bought strongdenim canvas and used it to make pants for the miners. Farmers raised foodstuff tosell to the miners and settlers on their way west.
Most of the farmers there wereMormons, who built new towns and grew corn and fruit on large irrigated fields ofSouthern California where the latest harvesting technology was used.The Civil WarWhile the nation was growing and developing, thesituation with the Native Americans and black slaves was gettingeven more complex. The American Revolution gave great impetusto the movement to end slavery by granting freedom to thoseblacks who served in the armed forces. Following the AmericanRevolution a number of states in the North abolished slavery, andits opponents hoped that emancipation would gradually spread to other areas of thecountry.
But although many northerners opposed slavery, most of them rejectedimmediate efforts to eradicate it. Age-old prejudices against the Indians and blacksprevented the “white” Americans from considering them as their equals and verymany Americans still believed that blacks were basically more inferior to whites.Besides by the Constitution the issue about slavery was left in the hands of theState legislature and Federal Government had no right to abolish it. When EliWhitney in 1793 invented the machine cleaning cotton of its seeds, theproductivity of slave-labor in cotton-growing increased by 50 times and slaverycame to be regarded as the mainstay economics in many Southern states.
Theincreased importance of cotton for the South strengthened the hold of slavery inthis region.In 1820 by the Missouri Compromise Act slavery was allowed south of 36^30’ butnot north of it, but a special Bill in 1854 virtually repealed the MissouriCompromise. The new Fugitive Law compelled the northerners to assist incapturing slaves who had escaped from their owners in the South.The new Republican Party, which sprang up in 1854, with Abraham Lincoln as oneof its chief founders, demanded that slavery be kept within old boundaries set outin 1820.
Tremendously important in awakening the nation’s consciousness wasHarriet Beecher Stowe’s novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (1852), 300 000 copies ofwhich were sold within the first year and which was soon translated into dozens offoreign languages. Frederick Douglas’s autobiography, a poignant account of slavelife, was also sold in numerous copies. Later Douglass edited his own newspaper,consistently urging militant action to bring about the abolition of slavery in theUSA.In 1854 the Republican Party became associated with the name of AbrahamLincoln.
The revival of slave controversy stirred him deeply. “If slavery is notwrong, nothing is wrong”, he stated with the clarity and simplicity of expressionfor which he later became famous. He was convinced that America could not bedivided and said “A home divided against itself cannot stand. I believe thisGovernment cannot endure permanently, half slave, half free”.In November 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected the sixteenth president of theUSA. “Honest Abe”, was a shrewd politician and a person of strong principles.
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