(2015) Коллоквиум 2 (1157972), страница 2
Текст из файла (страница 2)
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence from the British rule. This famous document drafted by Thomas Jefferson maintained that all men were created qual and proclaimed their rights for life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. The Declaration of Independence was signed in so-called Independence Hall on the wall of which there is still the famous Liberty Bell, which told the people outside about the historical decisions.
6. How did the revolutionary events develop after the “Declaration of Independence” had been adopted?
The war for Independence lasted for six years and was hard to win. the British government and its generals made the fatal mistake of underestimating Washington’s army seriously. As the war
progressed, discipline and experience appeared and though the colonists lost many battles, they learned that they could be beaten but they could not be subdued. Besides France seeking the revenge to Britain had secretly provided assistance to the rebellious colonies, dispensing goods and finances through a trading company headed by French author Pierre Caron de Beaumarchais.
After the decisive victory of the colonial army at Yorktown in 1781 the British finally laid down their arms. In 1783 the ultimate peace treaty was signed in Paris. Britain recognized American independence and agreed to withdraw all its troops from the American soil. An American flag was raised. The 13 states joined together into a confederation. The citizens of the new country began to call themselves “Americans” and a new nation was born. Congress also worked out a system of adding new states to the original ones.
7. Which great advantage did American militia have over British soldiers?
Britain had the world’s greatest navy and a strong army. The rag-tag groups of irregulars seemed no match for England’s military might. Americans had only an ill trained militia and no navy. Yet they had one great advantage – they were fighting at home and for freedom. The colonial militia’s successes around Boston in the spring 1775 contributed to the American myth that British regulars were less effective than the colonials’ volunteers.
8. What were the very first steps of Philadelphia Convention after the decisive victory of the American colonial army?
One of the first tasks facing Americans was the creation of new political institutions to exercise the governmental authority seized from Great Britain. In 1787 a nation-wide meeting (named Convention) in Philadelphia adopted a new Constitution. It established a legislature of two Houses, the House of Representatives in which the places were assigned according to the population and filled by popular vote, and the Senate where every state was to send two members appointed by state. Centralized executive power was to be affected by Federal Government headed by a President with wide jurisdiction over home and foreign affairs.
9. When was the very first president of the USA elected?
During January and February 1789 elections took place in the states and soon the new congressmen gathered in the temporary capital New York. George Washington was unanimously elected the first President of the United States of America.
1. What was the situation with Indians and black slaves in the USA after the Independence?
At first Reconstruction of the Union seemed to hold many promises for Black men and women in the South, who were allowed to leave their former owners and move to other states. But in reality the Northern efforts brought few serious changes in the status of black people. The laws did not guarantee any social rights of the Blacks. They did not require redistribution of land or wealth and power and only temporarily interrupted white supremacy in the South. Without land and property black freedmen again became dependent on white landowners and worked for them as tenants. Harsh labor-contract laws, imprisonment for minor crimes, work under deplorable conditions for coal, lumber, or railroad-building corporations left most blacks in situation slightly improved from slavery. The political rights of Black people were not secured either. Under the free interpretation of the 15th P amendment the freedmen were actually denied suffrage on the grounds that they lacked education and property.
1.What factors have contributed to the USA becoming the leading economic nation?
After the end of the Civil War the United States continued the acquisition of the new territories. The United States acted like an imperial nation, gathering and settling new territories, pushing aside those who stood in its path. In 1867 the United States bought Alaska from Russia, later Spain gave most of its oversea empire to the USA – Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and a small Pacific island Guam. At the same time the USA also annexed Hawaii and a group of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Having started as a colonial country, the USA quickly became a colonial power herself.
Within twenty-five years after the end of the Civil War the Great Plains were divided into States and territories of the USA. Ranchers were feeding large herds of cattle on the “sea of grass”; farmers were using the latest harvesting technology on the large irrigated fields of “Great American Desert” to grow wheat. By 1890 the separate areas of settlement on the Pacific Coast and along the Mississippi River had moved together and the wilderness had been largely conquered.
In the 1880s great Mesabi deposits of iron were found near Lake Superior. Soon the Mesabi became one of the largest producers of iron ore in the world. Besides iron at that time a great amount of coal was being extracted in the USA. Iron and coal were used to make steel for the railroads, locomotive, freight wagons and passenger cars. The first railroad finished in 1869 and was quickly joined by others. By 1884 four more major transcontinental lines had crossed the continent to link the Atlantic with the Pacific Coasts. New towns appeared along the railroads. By 1890 the industries of the USA were earning the country more than its farmlands. Within a few decades after the civil war the USA transformed from an undeveloped backwater into a primary world power.
2.What role did tycoons play in American society?
By 1913 more than one third of the whole world’s industrial production had been originated from the mines and factories of the USA. The growth of American industry was organized and controlled by the number of powerful businessmen like Andrew Carnegie, the owner of the giant Carnegie Steel Corporation and D. Rockfeller, the “king” of the growing oil industry. As the corporations grew bigger and more powerful, they often became “trusts”. By the early 20-century the trusts had controlled large parts of American industry. The biggest trusts were richer than most other nations. By their wealth and power - and especially their power to decide wages and prices - they controlled the lives of millions of people.
The handful of rich and powerful men bribed politicians to pass laws, which favored them. Others hired private armies to crush any attempts by their workers to obtain better conditions.
3.Why were measures taken to control big business?
The United States was created as a land of equal opportunities to everyone. Yet half the American people had hardly enough finance to buy sufficient food and clothing. In the industrial cities of the North, such as Chicago and Pittsburgh, immigrant workers still labored long hours for low wages in steel mills, factories and slaughter houses. The workers’ homes were over-crowded slums. In the South thousands of poor farmers, both black and white, worked from sunrise to sunset to earn barely enough to live on.
The handful of rich and powerful men bribed politicians to pass laws, which favored them. Others hired private armies to crush any attempts by their workers to obtain better conditions. Their attitude to the rights of other people was summed up in a famous remark of the railroad “king” William H. Vanderbilt. When he was asked whether he thought that railroads should be run in the public interest, “The public be damned” he replied.
Progressive Americans were alarmed by the power of the trusts and the contemptuous way in which leaders of industry like Vanderbilt rejected the criticism. In the early years of the twentieth century a stream of books and magazine articles drew people’s attention to a large number of national problems.
4.What were the main causes of the Great Depression?
In the first two decades of the 20th century thousands of Americans invested money in successful firms so that they could share their profits. There was also an orgy of speculation in real estate and stocks, buying and selling shares - “playing the market” became a national hobby and a sort of fever. Many Americans borrowed the large sums of money from the banks to buy shares on credit and to get “easy money” on selling them later “on the margin” (a higher price).
Bank debts were mounting. Low wages of most workers led to underconsumption. Excessive industrial profits and low industrial wages distributed one third of all personal income to only 5% of the population. The agricultural sector was also suffering with overproduction.
In October 1924 stock prices dropped dramatically. The nation began to panic. The money crash unlashed a devastating depression.
By 1932 the situation became still harder. Thousands of banks and over 100000 businesses had closed down. Industrial production had fallen down by half and wage payments by 60%. Twelve million people, one out of every four of the country’s workers, were unemployed. The factories were silent, shops and banks closed. With the number of people out of work rising day by day, farmers could not sell their produce.
5.Why were the World Wars so beneficial for the USA?
The USA quickly became the main supplier of weapons and other goods to the countries fighting Hitler Germany. American factories began working at full swing again. The unemployment practically ended.
The USA government organized the whole American economy towards winning the war. “Old Dr. New Deal has to be replaced by Dr. Win-the-War”, said. Roosevelt. Controls on wages and prices were placed, and high income taxes were introduced. Gasoline and some foods were rationed. Factories stopped producing consumer goods such as cars and washing machines, and started making tanks, bombers and other war supplies. The USA war production became six times greater than the military output before the war. The overall effect of the war was a positive one for the economy in general and the business community in particular.
Americans was the only nation in the world that the Second World War had made better off. Their homes had not been bombed or their land fought over like the homes and land of the Russian people. Busy wartime factories had given them good wages. Americans became the most prosperous people in the world.
6.What were the main reasons of the “witch-hunt” of the 50s in the 20PthP century?
Despite economic prosperity during the years under president Truman (1945-53) and then president Eisenhower (1953-61) there was a constant anxiety in America and fear of the Russian influence on the afterward world. After two unpleasant surprises – the Soviet Union’s atomic bomb and the creation of communist China – a wave of panic swept across the USA. Due to the terrible propaganda some Americans started to see communist plots everywhere. When in 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea their fears became even stronger. An ambitious and unscrupulous politician McCarthy tried to use these fears to win fame and power for himself. He started the campaign that came into American history with the name a “Witch Hunt” – a search for people he could blame for supposed threats to the United States. For over five years, from early 1950s till the mid 50s McCarthy launched the serial of “hearings”, accusing a lot of people – government officials, scientists, and famous entertainers – of secretly working for the Soviet Union. He never gave proofs, but Americans were so much frightened by the threat of communism that many believed his accusations. They were afraid to give jobs or even to show friendship to anyone “suspected” in “Soviet sympathy”.
7.What is the role of John Kennedy in the détente?
When J. Kennedy came to the office, foreign problems were numerous. Soviet Union power was growing and relations between two superpowers were as cold as ever. The incipient nations of Africa were rebellious. Fidel Castro had taken control of Cuba. Unrest was evident in all Latin America. Kennedy’s first two innovations – the Peace Corps and the Alliance for Progress – captured the imagination of much of the world. The Peace Corps sent thousands of young Americans abroad to assist underdeveloped countries. The Alliance for Progress was designed as a broad assault upon the economic and social problems of Latin America.
In June 1961 a group of anti-Castro Cuban exiles supported by the CIA attempted an invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. Although the attempt was a dismal failure, the Soviet Union tried to install Soviet mediation-range ballistic missiles and bombers in Cuba. Kennedy met the Soviet Union challenge and displayed great mind in dealing with what was probably the most serious confrontation of the Cold War era. He gave the promise not to invade Cuba. The leader of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev also promised to recall the weapons from Cuba. The two leaders succeeded in setting up a “Hot Line” to facilitate a quick exchange of views in case of major crises, and in signing a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that halted surface atmospheric and outer space testing. While Kennedy was president he frequently said: “All I want them to say about me is what they said about John Adams, “He kept the peace”. In the speech he had intended to give in Dallas on November 22,1963, the day of his assassination, Kennedy declared: “We ask…that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of ”peace on earth, goodwill toward men”. Kennedy’s sensible policy not only reduced the tension between the two but also started the policy of so-called “détente”.
Discussion Points:
1.Franklin Roosevelt and his role in American history
Roosevelt was crippled by polio he was energetic and determined to care for the welfare of ordinary people. Roosevelt’s main idea was that the federal government should take the lead in the fight against the Depression. His program, which he called “The New Deal”, consisted of a number of legislative measures. At first Roosevelt took active steps to stabilize banking. He also put right agricultural production by paying subsidies to farmers and introduced a system of regulated prices for corn, cotton, wheat, rice and diary products. Believing that his most urgent task was to give employment to the American people, he proposed a plan for public works and relief payments to the needed citizens. Roosevelt was especially anxious about the young people. The Civilian Conservation Corps found work for many young people. Part-time employment was provided for students who were invited to build roads and construct hospitals and schools. Roosevelt’s New deal program financed the painting of murals and the staging of plays. Writers were paid to write guidebooks and regional ethnic. In 1935 new trade unions were organized.
During his first term Franklin Roosevelt did not manage to fight unemployment and solve some other tasks completely As a result of all his measures unemployment dropped from 13 million people in 1933 to 9 million in 1936, but there were still over four million jobless people in the country and there was no real increase in the life of Afro-Americans, Indians and other minorities.
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