Беликова Е.К., Саратовская Л.Б. - The United Kingdom and United States of America in Past and Present (1268141), страница 18
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By 1750there were thirteen British colonies, competing with the French ones. In1749 the French sent an expedition down the Ohio River to claim the landin the Mississippi basin for Luis XV. The British government respondedby organizing an elaborate offensive against the French.
The SevenYears’ War ended in the expulsion of France from North America andstirred a wave of patriotism among the English population in America.Colonials cheered when the Treaty of Paris (1763) gave England controlover all of North America east of the Mississippi.After the French war Great Britain rose to the heights of national powerand prestige. At the same time the costly seven-year struggle severelystrained Britain’s treasury and pointed up glaring differences of interestsbetween England and Americans who felt much less dependent on themother country.
The colonies had become quite different and no longerwanted to be seen as extensions of England. The controversy betweenEngland and the colonies after 1763 revolved around the laws affectingthe settlement of the West, colonial trade, currency, taxes, courts ofjustice and legislative assembly. The British Prime Minister GeorgeGranville was determined to make the American colonies realize theirobligations to the Empire. He introduced a series of new administrativeand financial programs for America: the Quartering Act (1765) demandedcolonials to furnish shelter and provisions for the English troops. TheCurrency Act of 1764 extended an earlier edict against making colonialmoney legal.
A New Sugar and Molasses Act in 1764 put a duty on thegoods shipped to the colonies. Besides sugar taxes were put upon silk andwine. In 1765 Stamp Act laid taxes on all printed items such as paper,70licenses, newspapers, playing cards and even college diplomas.
To showthat the tax had been paid, a stamp seller put a stamp on the paper.The answer in colonies was boycott against the importation of Britishgoods. The first political action - the Congress toward Stamp Act tookplace in New York. After more than two weeks of debate at the Congressthe representatives of nine colonies issued a declaration of rights andgrievances that stated that colonies could be taxed constitutionally onlyby their own legislatures.
In 1766 an Organization “Sons of Liberty” wascreated in New York, and together with other organizations it broadenedthe base of the resistance movement. They urged citizens not to buyimported goods. Even American women, who had traditionally remainedoutside of politics, joined the resistance movement. In towns throughoutAmerica young women calling themselves Daughters of Liberation satpublicly at their spinning wheels all day boycotting English cloth, eatingonly American food and drinking American herbal tea.In March 1770 British redcoats who had been sent to enforce certainBritish Acts clashed with colonial civilians.
Five men were killed and sixwounded. The incident was later known as “The Boston massacre Whenthe uproar in America reached Britain, the British Parliament repealed allthe duties except the tea tax, but most basic sources of discontentremained. The Americans felt angry upon the presence of unnecessarytroops, the English courts and customs officers. The East India Company,finding itself in critical financial state, appealed to the British governmentand was given a monopoly on all tea exported to North America. Whenthree ships loaded with tea came into the port of Boston in December 16,1773 American colonists refused to pay the tax and unload the tea.Instead at night a group of 60 men disguised as Indians boarded the shipsand dumped the cargo of three hundred forty two chests into the water ofthe harbor.
This event came into American history under the name “TheBoston Tea Party”. British King George and Parliament condemned the“Tea Party” as an act of vandalism and advocated legal measures to bringthe insurgent colonists into line. Punitive measures were taken. Thenewly adopted British laws-called by the colonists “Coercive Acts’closed the port of Boston until the cost of the lost tea was paid for.
NewBritish officials were appointed in American colonies, and many moreBritish troops were stationed there. But the resistance of the colonistscontinued to grow. In 1774 Americans established so-called Committeesof Correspondence, which sent delegates to the First Continental71Congress in Philadelphia. Delegates from 12colonies except Georgia wrote to King Georgeasking to reopen Boston Harbor. Americanlawyers Thomas Jefferson and James Wilsonworked out the rights of Americans and theirown legislation. King George did not answerthe letter and sent more warships to America.American patriots called on Americans to takeup arms to defend their rights.
In April, 1775the British regulars at Lexington and Concord (near Boston) were met byarmed American volunteers (so-called militia). Their first skirmishedproclaimed the beginning of American War for Independence.The Second Continental Congress, whichalso convened in Philadelphia, authorized anAmerican army and appointed a youngVirginian planter George Washington as its.commander-in-chief. On July 4, 1776, theContinental Congress adopted the Declarationof Independence from the British rule. Thisfamous document drafted by Thomas Jeffersonmaintained that all men were created equal andproclaimed their rights for life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
TheDeclaration of Independence was signed in so-called Independence on thewall of which there is still the famous Liberty Bell, which told the peopleoutside about the historical decisions. Independence was inevitable.Many Americans were ready to die for colonial rights, singing the wordsfrom John Dickinson’s “Liberty Song”: “Come, join hand in hand, braveAmericans, all, and rouse your hearts”.The war for Independence lasted for six years and was hard to win. InGreat Britain at that time there lived 9 million people, in the Americancolonies – less than 3 million, 20 percent of which were slaves. Britainhad the world’s greatest navy and a strong army.
The rag-tag groups ofirregulars seemed no match for England’s military might. Americans hadonly an ill trained militia and no navy. Yet they had one great advantage– they were fighting at home and for freedom. The colonial militia’ssuccesses around Boston in the spring 1775 had contributed to theAmerican myth that British regulars were less effective than thecolonials’ volunteers. At the same time the British government and its72generals made the fatal mistake of underestimating Washington’ raggedarmy seriously.
As the war progressed, discipline and experienceappeared and though the colonists lost many battles, they learned thatthey could be beaten but they could not be subdued .The overwhelmingtriumph of the Americans at Saratoga in October 1777 decided theRevolution. Besides France seeking the revenge to Britain had secretlyprovided assistance to the rebellious colonies, dispensing goods andfinances through a trading company headed by French author PierreCaron de Beaumarchais.After the decisive victory of the colonial army at Yorktown in 1781the British finally laid down their arms. In 1783 the ultimate peace treatywas signed in Paris. Britain recognized American independence andagreed to withdraw all its troops from the American soil.
An Americanflag was raised. The 13 states joined together into a confederation. Thecitizens of the new country began to call themselves “Americans” and anew nation was born Congress also worked out a system of adding newstates to the original ones.One of the first tasks facing Americans was the creation of newpolitical institutions to exercise the governmental authority seized fromGreat Britain. In 1787 a nation-wide meeting (named Convention) inPhiladelphia adopted a new Constitution. It established a legislature oftwo Houses, the House of Representatives in which the places wereassigned according to the population and filled by popular vote, and theSenate where every state was to send two members appointed by statelegislature. Centralized executive power was to be effected by FederalGovernment headed by a President with wide jurisdiction over home andforeign affairs.
During January and February 1789 elections took place inthe states and soon the new congressmen gathered in New York, thetemporary capital. George Washington was unanimously elected the firstPresident of the United States of America.In 1791 ten amendments were added to the Constitution, known as the“Bill of Rights”, according to which the Federal government guaranteesfreedom of speech, press, or religion.
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