Otázka: American History
Jazyk: Angličtina
Přidal(a): Monika
I.First settlements
- 40,000 years ago – The ancestors of the American Indians came to America.
- 1000 AD – The Vikings discovered America-the leader LIEF ERICSON
- 12.10. 1492 – Christopher Columbus discovered America.
- 1620 – The Pilgrim Fathers(sailed on the ship the MAYFLOWER)established a colony on the northeast coast
- 1756-1763 – The French and Indian War=(the Seven Years War)-brought under British control Canada
II. Foundation of the USA, The War of Independence(1775-1783)
1773The Boston Tea Party
- British government (George III) started NEW TAXES on sugar, coffee, textiles etc. to cover the costs of the war against France-> The colonists refused to pay taxes.
- A group od patriots, dressed as Indians, threw a cargo of British tea into the Boston Harbor.
- 1775-The Americans began the war
The War of Independence (1775-1783)
-Who? 13 american colonies(leader G.WASHINGTON)
x
Britain
-Reason? New taxes
-Winner? Colonies won and wrote the declaration
4.7.1776: The Declaration of Independence was signed
–George Washington took over the command of the Continental army.
-The Continental Congress began to work as a national government.
-written mainly by THOMASS JEFFERSON.
It declared an ideal principle on which the American society was supposed to be based.
1789 The Constitution went into effect.
-The war ended when Britain signed the peace treaty in Paris in 1789. It recognized the USA and granted the Americans independence.
-In 1791 ten amendments were made to it. (The Bill of Rights – freedom of religion, a free press, free speech, the right to carry arms, the right to a fair trial, etc.)
-G. Washington was the first president in office (1789-1797) – the White House in Washington D. C.
The Civil War (1861-1865) – between the NORTH and the SOUTH
Why?
- social reforms became important, especially the abolition of SLAVERY
Who?
- The north – abolished slavery
– began to develope an industrial economy
– represented by the Republicans
- The south – the economy was based on large plantations where slaves were used to grow cotton, tabacco and sugar.
– was represented by the Democrats
- The disputes led to the Civil War
The process:
- The civil war started after ABRAHAM LINCOLN(north) was elected President in 1860. He took a strong anti-slavery stand
- Southern states protested against Lincoln and left the Union and formed the CONFEDERACY
- A. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which granted freedom to all slaves.
Winner?
-The southern army (Confederates) won some victories
-but later the Northern Army (Unionists) won in April 1865.
A. Lincoln was assassinated at the Ford Theatre in Washington shortly after the end of the war.
Results of the war:
- It took 635,000 lives.
- The North came out of the war strong and rich.
- The South lay in ruins.
- The country became united once again.
- Slavery was abolished in the Constitution in 1865. (The terror of the Ku Klux Klan – against the black people)
- The reconstruction of the South was carried out between 1865-1877.
III. The USA in the World War I and the World War II
1917-1918– the USA in WWI (President Woodrow Wilson).
– The US entered the war after German submarines had attacked passenger ships and the discovery of a German plot to involve Mexico in war with the US.
The „Roaring Twenties
– brought large economic prosperity
-It lasted until1929- the GREAT DEPRESSION which started after the stock market crash at Wall Street= „BLACK FRIDAY“
->In the next decade unemployment was high and poverty widespread.
- The depression lasted till the beginning of the WWII.
In 1933: Franklin Roosevelt was elected President.He introdeuced a series of measures called the New Deal. It reduced unemployment.
1941-1945: The USA in WWII
The US entered the war after the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbour, the naval base in Hawaii.
- American troops contributed significantly to the invasion of France in 1944 (the operation OVERLORD-General Eisenhower), the defeat of Hitler and the victory over Japan and the Far East.
- President Harry Truman ordered to drop the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
- 1945 – The United Nations Organization(the UNO) was founded with the headquarterts in New York.
The Post-war Period
-It was a time of:
- economic expansion: The US continued as a world leader in scientific, medical and technological achievements.
- the space race (the US had the first man on the Moon in 1969).
- testing nuclear weapons.
- the “Cold War“ against the Soviet Union, which ended in 1989 with the collapse of communism (Bush and Gorbachev).
- several war conflicts: the Korean War (1950-1953)
the Vietnam War (1961-1973)
the Gulf War (1991)
- the 60´s social changes and unrest(assassinations of the civil rights leader M. L. King-1968, President J. F. Kennedy-1963, R. Kennedy-1968).
The USA in 21st century
- There were military actions in some parts of former Yugoslavia in spring 1999, where the US got involved with their modern weapons.
- The WAR ON TERRORISM began after the radical Islamic terrorists´ attack on New York (the World Trade Center destruction) and the Pentagon on 11th September 2001
- The US and their coalition partners´ military actions continued in IRAQ against Saddam Hussein, who was captured in 2004.
- The aim of the international cooperation is to prevent another terrorist attack elsewhere in the world.
- In the elections of 2008 Democrat Barack Obama received the most votes. He took office as the 44th president of the USA in January 2009. He was re-elected in 2012.
