It’s Interesting to Know

США И АМЕРИКАНЦЫ

p. 14-15

p. 19-21

p. 25-26.

Progress Questions

1. What is the population of the USA?

2. Who were the first people inhabiting what is now the United States?

3. When did the colonization of North America begin?

4. Who were the first Europeans to establish permanent settlements along the Atlantic coast?

5. What made Europeans emigrate to the United States?

6. What countries were the main sources of immigrates before and after the year 1880?

7. What were the main waves of immigration into the USA?

8. What is the national structure of the US population?

9. In what states do immigrants live by solid communities?

10. In what way did the 1965 immigration law change the immigration pattern?

11. How is the population distributed across the country? What is its density?

12. What is the most populous state in the USA?

13. What is the least populous state in the USA?

14. What are the regions with highest and lowest density of population?

15. What are the chief urban agglomerations?

16. What process is known as ‘suburbanization’?

17. What caused the growth of the suburban population?

18. What is the proportion of urban and rural population?

19. What are the reasons for interregional migrations of the population?

20. What is the percentage of people engaged in agriculture?

21. What is the age structure of the US population?

22. What is the expectation of life for white and black Americans?

Progress Assignment

In your copybook draw a sketch map of the United States and:

a) show the density of population in different parts of the country;

b) include the largest American cities;

c) show the immigrant communities of the Germans, the Slavs, the French, the Swedes.

Seminar 2 The Population of the United States of America

1. Speak on the colonization of North America in the 1500’s and describe the role of immigration and its influence on the formation of the population of the USA.

2. Speak on the density of population of the USA; reasons for interregional migrations; main urban agglomerations. Dwell upon the process of suburbanization.

3. Analyse the sex and age structure of the US population. Religion. Speak on the rural and urban life.

Quiz

1. The first Europeans to establish permanent settlements along the Pacific coast were ___. They were concentrated in South-eastern Alaska, but the costs of maintaining these scattered, distant posts consumed most of the profits. So in 1867 ___ was sold to the United States for a price of 7.2 million dollars.

2. Over 13 per cent of the whole population of the United States are ___. Half of them live in the South, in the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia.

3. The states of ___, ___, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, Florida, Massachusetts have the largest population. ___ has the least population.

4. During much of its history, the United States had an official policy of admitting more ___ immigrants than ___, African, and Latin American ones. Changes were made in immigration policy in ___ which resulted in large numbers of non- ___ immigrants entering the country.

5. Census figures reported for 2000 showed that whites constitute about ___ per cent of the US population, 12 per cent ___, 4 per cent ___ and ___ per cent Native Americans.

6. Since 1945, the part of the US population that is over 65 years old has increased from 8 per cent to ___ per cent. Improvements in medical care have been the main reason for the increase.

7. Since Americans are free to form and follow any religious belief or religion they wish, there are a great many beliefs, denominations, and churches in the United States. The ___ ___ church is by far the single largest, with about 52 million members.

8. Some nationalities and ethnic groups which have gone into the making of America have largely lost or intentionally given up many of those specific markers which would make them much different from their neighbours, This process of assimilation, or ‘Americanization’, ___ becoming part of the ___ ___ ___ has characterized the immigrant experience in American history. Other Americans have, while becoming American in other ways, maintained much of their ethnic identities. In this sense, US society has been likened to a ‘___ ___’.

9. ___ per cent of all Americans today were born in the United States (as compared, for example, with only 85 per cent in 1910).

10. The second largest ‘minority’ in the United States are ___ (a term including all Spanish-speaking Americans, such as Mexican-Americans or ‘Chicanos’, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, etc.).

CHAPTER III

A SHORT HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(From the days of early colonization to the Civil War)

LECTURE 3

The colonization of North America in the 17^th-18^th centuries

America became known only some five centuries ago. It is the newest of great nations. The story of the United States is the story of the impact of an old culture upon environment. The first settlers were not primitive but civilized men, and they transplanted on new territory a culture centuries old. At the same time the settlers were influenced by the new environment, new traditions of people who lived on this continent.

Hello, America, p. 120

The United States was originally peopled by Indians. The Red Indians had probably arrived 10,000 to 30,000 years before Columbus’s discovery in a series of migrations from Asia to North America by way of the Bering Strait. In their human structure, culture they resembled with the people of Asia. As many as 280 distinct aboriginal societies existed in North America prior to Columbus. They spoke about 450 distinct languages. The Indian peoples developed great civilizations, most notably those of the Incas and the Aztecs, and they contributed a great deal to world culture and the welfare of the human race: they domesticated corn, potatoes, peanuts, peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, pineapples, cocoa, and other vegetables and fruits; they cultivated tobacco, and made discoveries of at least 59 drugs that are used today in medical science.

At the time of Columbus’s arrival there were probably roughly 15 million Indians living in what are now the United States and Canada. Some Indian tribes of North America helped the early European settlers survive in the wilderness of the New World. Indian foods and herbs, articles of manufacture, methods of raising some crops, war techniques, words, a rich folklore and racial infusions are among the most obvious general contributions of the Indians to their white conquerors. But as the settlers pushed steadily westward, they became a threat to the Indian way of life, and Indians and whites became enemies. The year of 1622 marked the beginning of the century-long conflict between the Native Americans and the white settlers.

The slogan ‘The only good Indian is a dead Indian’ was used for more than 200 years. The motive for the genocide against the native peoples was to dispossess them of their land and resources and to get rid of people who could not be exploited. The means were varied and included not only outright mass extermination, but also slavery, bounty-hunting (scalping for profit), massacre of women and children, the assassination of leaders, death by European-introduced diseases, the forced relocation of peoples. By 1900 the Indians had been reduced to about 250,000.

США и американцы, с. 16

To the Europeans the American continent was known in the even 11^th century. The Vikings from Scandinavia visited North America in the year 1000. The eastern part of North America was discovered by the Viking Leif Ericson and called Vinland (An Old Saga tells that his men found there a lot of grape vines and grapes). But their settlement was not permanent and soon the Vikings left and the name became forgotten.

Hello, America, p. 106.

To European colonization the country was opened by the first voyage of Columbus, an Italian navigator employed by the Spanish king and queen, and the later explorations of John Cabot and Jacques Cartier. Columbus died in 1506 believing that he had sailed to an unknown land in the Far East. Other Europeans called this unexplored area the New World. The name America is given in honour of another Italian navigator – Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci claimed that he made voyages to New World for Spain and Portugal beginning in 1497.

The discovery of the existence of America caused a wave of excitement in Europe. To many Europeans, the New World offered opportunities for wealth, power, and adventure. Christian clergymen were eager to spread their religion to the Indians. Before long, Europeans from several countries sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to explore America and set up trading posts and colonies.

During the 1500’s, the Spanish, moved into what is now the South-eastern Western United States. They took control of Florida and of the land west of the Mississippi River. In 1565, the Spanish founded St. Augustine in Florida, the oldest permanent settlement established by Europeans in what is now the United States.

The English and French began exploring eastern North America about 1500. After 1600, they began establishing permanent settlements there. The first permanent English colony Jamestown was established in 1607 in Virginia, it was called in honour of King James I. The Dutch (from Holland) organized a colony in 1609 (New Amsterdam) on Manhattan Island.

An important landmark in the colonization of North America was the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620 on the famous ship – the Mayflower. The Pilgrim Fathers were Separatists in England, or members of the radical wing of the Puritan movement, who were persecuted in their country because of the opposition to the Church of England, Britain’s official church, and who were looking for a new land where they could worship in their own way. On September 6^th, 1620 102 men sailed away from Plymouth. After two months of voyage they landed in America, at a place now called Province Town (in the modern state of Massachusetts). This territory called ‘New England’. It was here that the Pilgrims established their colony – Plymouth Colony – the second permanent British settlement in North America. Before anyone went ashore the Pilgrims signed the so-called Mayflower Compact – the first modern example of a system of government. According to this Compact they declared that they would establish a colony on the principles of equality. They also elected the first governor Deacon Carver by name.

Settlers spreading out from Massachusetts founded the three other colonies in New England. Connecticut was first settled in 1633 and became a colony in 1636. Rhode Island was established in 1636 and became a colony in 1647. New Hampshire, first settled in 1623, became a colony in 1680.

In 1634 the first Maryland settlement was established by the English Roman Catholics who were persecuted in England and who tried to find a place where Catholics could enjoy freedom.

In 1638, the Swedes established a trading post and settlement called New Sweden in present-day Delaware and southern New Jersey. The Dutch claimed New Sweden in 1655. But in 1664 the British took over New Sweden. In 1681 Pennsylvania, which used to be Swedish land since 1643, became the property of England.

In 1663, king Charles II gave the land between Virginia and Florida, called Carolina to eight English properties. In 1712 the region was divided into two colonies North Carolina and South Carolina. The southern one-third of Carolina remained largely unsettled until 1733, when the state of Georgia was founded there.

Besides the British there were other colonists from other countries of Europe: from France, Holland, Germany. The French seized large tracks of land on the territory of Canada and central region of the continent, calling the area Louisiana in honour of Louis XIV of France. The Dutch territory of New Amsterdam was seized by the English in 1664 and renamed New York in honour of the Duke of York, brother of the English king to whom it was presented.

Great Britain and France has struggled for control of eastern North America throughout the colonial period. As their settlements moved inland, both nations claimed the vast territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. The struggle led to the outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1754.

The British won the war, and, under the Treaty of Paris of 1763, Britain gained control of: (1) all of what is now Canada, and (2) all French territory east of the Mississippi River except New Orleans. Britain also received Florida from Spain in 1763. As a result, the British controlled all of North America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.

Britain’s struggle against the development of the American colonies

In the colonies Negro slave labour was widely used, especially in the South on the cotton and tobacco plantations. In America the emerging bourgeoisie obtained great wealth by exploiting slave labour and robbing the native population, the Indians, and seizing their lands. In the northern colonies which were rich in material and natural resources, industry and trade developed rapidly. Here the land was cultivated mainly by farmers.

After the French and Indian War Britain had to find ways to strengthen its control over its enlarged American territory. Also, the war had nearly doubled its national debt. George III, who had become king of Great Britain in 1760, instructed the British Parliament to establish policies to solve these problems. Parliament soon began passing laws that restricted the freedom of the American colonists, taxed them, or both.

In 1764, Parliament passed the Sugar Act. In 1765 the Stamp Act taxing such things as newspapers, legal documents and other printed matter in the colonies was introduced. In response to this tax the colonists organized a widespread boycott of British goods and later representatives of nine colonies met in the Stamp Act Congress to consider joint action against Britain.

Although Great Britain repeated the Stamp Act, other tax laws were imposed, and in addition, Britain tightened its control over the colonies by setting up special courts to deal with smuggles and by stationing troops in America, which led to rioting in Boston (Boston Massacre). In 1770, Britain repeated all the taxes, except for the tax on tea. Three years later, Parliament reduced the tax on tea sold by the East India Company, a British firm. The British actions offended the colonists in two ways. They reaffirmed Britain’s right to tax the colonists and gave the East India Company an unfair advantage in the tea trade.

Aroused by the loss of the tea trade colonial traders began to fight for independence. In ports up and down the Atlantic coast agents of the East India Company were forced to resign and new shipments of tea were either returned to England or warehoused. On the night of December 16^th, 1773 a group of angry colonists dressed as Indians boarded the three British ships lying an anchor in the Boston harbour and dumped their tea cargo into the water. This event is known as ‘the Boston tea part’.

To punish the colonies, especially Boston, the British Parliament passed a series of restrictive laws in 1774, that the colonists called the ‘Intolerable Acts’. One of these laws closed the port of Boston until the tea was paid for – the action that threatened the very life of the city, for to prevent Boston from having access to the sea meant economic disaster. Another law required the colonists to house and feed British soldiers. In response to these ‘Intolerable Acts’ a congress representing all colonies – the Continental Congress – was organised in Philadelphian on September 5, 1774 to decide on a course of action. The Continental Congress called for a boycott of all trade with Great Britain. The assembly of representatives of the colonies appealed to the king of England to abolish the restrictions on trade and industry and request that the colonies shouldn’t be taxed without their consent. The king rejected the appeal. Open War began in 1775 and ended in 1783.

Hello, America, p. 137

The War of Independence and the formation of the USA

George Washington (1732-1799), a rich planter from Virginia, was appointed commander-in-chief of the army of the rebel colonies. In the spring of 1776, colonial troops drove the British from Boston. On July, 4, 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence which declared the independence of the 13 American colonies from Britain. It also proclaimed ‘that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness’. But these rights did not apply to the Negroes for the Declaration did not abolish slavery.

The War of Independence was a difficult war. At the beginning victory was not on the side of the colonists, they experienced very serious hardships and defeat but eventually the course of the war changed in favour of the Americans.

The year 1777 proved to be the turning point in the war. The first major defeat of the British took place at Saratoga, New York, where American forces under general Horatio Gates surrounded the British troops. On October 17, 1777, Burgoyne, the British general surrounded his army.

After Britain’s defeat at Saratoga, France saw an opportunity to seriously weaken its ancient enemy and restore the balance of power upset by the Seven Years’ War (the French and Indian War). On February 6, 1778, American and France signed a Treaty of Amity and Commerce in which France recognized America and offered trade concessions. They also signed a Treaty of Alliance, which stipulated that if France entered the war, neither country would lay down its arms until America won its independence, that neither country would conclude peace with Britain without the consent of the other. In June, 1778 British ships fired on French vessels, and the two countries went to war. In 1779 Spain, hoping to reacquire territories taken by Britain in the Seven Years’ War entered the conflict on the side of France, but not as an ally of the Americans. In 1780 Britain declared war on the Dutch, who had continued to trade with the Americans. The combination of these European powers was a far greater threat to Britain than the American colonies standing alone.

The war dragged on until Lord Cornwallis, the British commander, was trapped at Yorktown, Virginia, by Washington, whose American troops were aided by French forces. After a brief battle, on October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered. The war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The Treaty recognized American independence and American’s right to all land from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean between Canada and Florida.

World Book, p. 161

With independence the 13 colonies became states, and the Continental Congress became the government of the United States. In 1787 the American Constitution was drawn up in Philadelphia, which with its 26 amendments is in force at the present time. In 1788 George Washington was elected the first president of the United States. John Adams was elected the first Vice-President. In 1800 the American Government moved from Philadelphia to Washington, which is in the special district of Columbia (it doesn’t belong to any of the states).

The expansion of the USA in the first half of the 19^th century and the growing confrontation between the North and the South

In the 19^th century the USA continued to expand its territory. In 1803 the western boundary of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains by the purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon in 1803 and in 1840 the Oregon region in the north-west. In 1818 the USA troops under the pretext of pursuing Indians who were defending their rights invaded Florida and occupied it (only afterwards the Americans formally bought it from Spain). Texas which was an independent republic was invaded by the US troops and included into the United States in 1845. The border with Canada was determined in 1842 and 1846. In 1848 after invading Mexico the United States took possession of New Mexico and California. A great gold rush resulted from the discovery of gold in California in 1848, which in its turn furthered the intensive colonization of the West.

Two streams of colonists flowed west – the rich planters of the South with their slaves and poor people who hoped to acquire a plot of land to set up a farm. The latter had no money to buy land so they seized it on their own. These people came to be known as ‘squatters’. They united in groups and defended with arms the land they had seized. They clashed with planters in the South who did not allow farmers to acquire plots. European migrants attracted by the possibility to settle on ‘free’ land continued to arrive in great numbers: from 1787 to 1914 about 35 million Europeans migrated to North America.

In 1867 Americans bought Alaska from Russia. Most Americans were either indifferent to or indignant at this action by Secretary of State, William Seward, and Alaska widely referred to as ‘Seward’s Folly’ and ‘Seward’s Icebox’. But 30 years later, when gold was discovered on Alaska’s Klondike River, thousands of Americans headed north and many of them settled in Alaska permanently. When Alaska became the 49^th state in 1959, it replaced Texas as the largest state in the Union.

World Book, p. 158

By the middle of the 19^th century only the vast area of Kansas and Nebraska in the very center of the country, remained inhabited by Red Indians.

In 1854 Congress permitted the settlement of American citizens on this territory and soon it was occupied by thousands of settlers. The planters wanted to make Kansas a slave-owning state but the farmers and other settlers were against it. After fierce war the farmers of Kansas were forced to yield to the slave-owners who were supported by troops of the central government. The conflict in Kansas spread to other territories leading to greater antagonism between the industrial North developing rapidly on the principles of free labour and the agrarian South based on slave labour. In 1859 the armed struggle continued in Virginia. Here, John Brown, an antislavery fanatic, who had captured and killed five proslavery settlers in Kansas three years before, led a group of followers in an attack on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry (in what is now the state of West Virginia). Brown’s goal was to use the weapons seized to lead a slave uprising. After two days of fighting, Brown and his surviving men were captured. Later John Brown was hanged for treason. He became a symbol of the depth of the North-South split.

In 1854, during the period of the struggle in Kansas the Republican Party was formed. This new party was composed of northerners and westerners who from the southern viewpoint, stood for only one thing – opposition to the extension of slavery. Abraham Lincoln of Illinois became the Republican candidate for President in 1860.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the son of a poor farmer, a settler of Kentucky. His father couldn’t even read. The Lincolns were very friendly to the Negroes, that’s why they were dislike by the rich neighbours. They were forced to leave Kentucky and move to the West. In his youth Lincoln changed many professions: he was a clerk in a store; a raftsman on the Mississippi River. He learned in his own and passed his law examinations. In 1848 he was elected member of Congress. His speeches against slavery were the most popular in the United States. Here is the citation from his speech made in 1856: ‘You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.’

The Democratic Party began to function at the end of the 18^th century. At that time it was a broad coalition of farmers, the poor people of towns and planters of the South. All these different people were against the rich bourgeoisie of the North. It became structurally organized during the election campaign of 1828 and received its present name in the early 30’s of the 19^th century.

Hello, America, pp. 152, 155, 157.

The Civil War (1861-1865) between the North and the South and its historical significance

In 1860 the Republican Party won the presidential elections and Abraha, Lincoln became president of the USA. Lincoln had earned a reputation as an opponent of slavery, and his election was unacceptable to the South. Southerners feared the new President would end or restrict slavery. Alarmed by this prospect on December 20, 1860 South Carolina seceded from the union. Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas soon followed. The seceding States formed a separate nation, the Confederate States of America. In the spring of 1861, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas joined the Confederacy. They had their own president Colonel Davis from the State of Mississippi, government and army. Civil War began.

The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when Confederate forces in Charleston, South Carolina, fired on a federal fort, Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbour. The main cause of the war was the economic and political contradictions between the industrial states of the North and the slave-owning states of the South. It was an armed struggle for power, for the victory of one of the existing social systems. Slavery stood in the way of the developing US capitalism, and it had to be abolished.

In 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which from January 1, 1863, set free ‘all persons held as slaves within any state’. It helped to make the slaves available for the Union (Federal) Army. So by the end of the war 186,000 coloured troops had joined the Union Army.

Each side entered the war with high hopes for an early Victory. In material; resources the North enjoyed a decided advantage. 23 states with a population of 22 million were arrayed against 11 states inhabited by 9 million. The industrial superiority of the North exceeded even its preponderance in population, providing it with abundant facilities for manufacturing armies and ammunition, clothing and other suppliers. Similarly, the network of railways in the North enhanced federal military prospects.

The South had certain advantages as well. The most important was geography; the South was fighting a defensive war on its own territory. The South also had a stronger military tradition and more experienced military leaders.

The first large battle of the war, at Bull Run, Virginia, near Washington stripped away any illusions that victory would be quick and easy. For the first years the South would often win the battle, but not the war. July 1863 proved to be the turning point for the Union forces. In July, 1863 one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War was fought at Gettysburg. The battle lasted for three days and ended with the Union victory.

Southerners, however, stubbornly resisted the northern forces until on April 3, 1865 Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy was captured by the Union commander General Ulysses S. Grant. Six days later on April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee – the commander of the Confederate Army – surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox in Virginia. The last Confederate troops surrendered on May 26.

A week after Appomattox, President Lincoln was attending a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, when he was assassinated by a southern sympathizer, actor John Wilkes Booth. Andrew Johnson became the president of the USA.

The main result of the victory of the North in the Civil War was the restoration of the American Union under the political supremacy of the big bourgeoisie of the North. Though slavery was abolished the Negroes were downtrodden and deprived of elementary rights, therefore their struggle against race discrimination continued. The victory of the North contributed to the further development of the working class movement: in the course of the war many trade unions were formed, in some states the workers won an 8-hour working day. In 1866 the National Workers’ union was formed. The Homestead Act opened western lands to settlement. The Civil War was a bourgeois-democratic revolution. With the help of the farmers and workers the big bourgeoisie of the North crushed the planters and slaveholders of the South and established its own political domination. Capitalism began to make rapid progress in the USA. The American Civil War was a world-historic event which enhanced the development of the USA and contributed to the making of modern America.