On the road to independence

The Seven Years' War cost Britain a lot of money and a lot of politicians reasoned that colonists should sustain the expenses of the war effort.

The British government, fearing that settlers migrating into

the new lands would provoke wars with the Indians, issued a royal proclamation denying the colonists the right to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. This angered the colonists.

Heavy taxes were introduced on sugar, coffee, textiles and other imported goods, Britain was worried by America's growing economy and possible competition. So she did everything to harass this development. The Quartering Act forced the colonies to house and feed British soldiers. The last of the measures of the new financial system was the amp Act of 1765 which provoked the greatest organized resistance in the colonies. It provided that special stamps were to be attached to all newspapers, pamphlets, leases other legal documents. It aroused the hostility of most of the American population, representatives from nine colonies met and convened the "Stamp Act Congress" demanding that "no taxes ever have been or can e imposed on them", and that it "subjected the rights and liberties of the colonists". Opposition was so widespread that the British government was forced to repeal the Stamp Act. At the same time British soldiers were sent to Boston where tension was high. The most popular slogan of the day was "No”

 

British government abolished many of the new taxes except that on tea. This led to new confrontation which moved to drive the colonies into war against the Mother Country. On the night of December 16, 1773, a band of men disguised as Mohawk Indians

boarded three British ships lying at anchor in Boston harbour and dumped 342 crates of tea to the waters of the port. They took this step as a form of protest. The British parliament responded by imposing the "Intolerable Acts" and closing the port of Boston to all shipping. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress was convened in Philadelphia, the Congress urged colonists to boycott British trade and to collect and store arms and organize units of militias to oppose the British army. Quite soon the growing confrontation broke into open fire.

 

On April 19,1775 the commander of the English garrison inBoston sent a unit of soldiers to the town of Concord to seize arms stored by the colonists. At the village of Lexington the British troops reached the village of Lexington on their way and encountered a band of 70 Minutemen — so-named because they were supposed to be ready to fight in a minute. Someone fired a shot, and a major exchange of fire took place leaving 8 dead and 10 wounded. This was "the shot heard round the world" which led to the American War of Independence (1775 — 1783). The English easily took Lexington and Concord, but on their way back they were harassed by hundreds of colonists, and when

they finally reached Boston they suffered more than 250 killed and wounded. The Americans lost 93 men.

In May 1775, a second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and assumed the powers of a national government. It formed a Continental Army and Navy under the Command of Colonel George Washington, a planter from Virginia and a veteran of the Seven Years' War. The Congress printed its own paper money and sought to establish diplomatic relations with foreign countries. On July 2,1776, the Congress finally decided "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent

states". Thomas Jefferson, an outstanding democrat from Virginia, together with others,

drafted a Declaration of Independence, which the Congress adopted on July 4, 1776. The Declaration not only announced the birth of a new nation, but also set forth the principles of human freedom.

However, these inalienable rights did apply to millions of Negroslaves, and the institution of slavery continued to exist well into the sixties of the 1860s.

It was one thing to proclaim independence, but another to win independence in the course of resolute struggle. At first the war did not go well for the poorly equipped and trained American army. At times it seemed that the British army of Redcoats would win. Little by little the situation changed when the American army was joined by thousands of volunteers. In October 1777 the British army under General John Burgoyne suffered heavy defeat at Saratoga in northern New York. After this victory France seized the opportunity to humble Britain, her age-old enemy. A Franco-American alliance was signed in February 1778. The Americans began to receive financial and military help fromand the French navy supported the Americans at sea.

In 1781 at Yorktown near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay (Virginia) 8,000 British soldiers under General George Cornwallis were surrounded by a French fleet from the and a combined French-American army under George Washington. Soon after the British government asked for peace. Britain finally recognized the independence of the United States by signing the Treaty of Paris in September 1783. All the territories north of Florida which was returned to Spain, south of Canada and east of the Mississippi River formed the United States of America. The 13 colonies were now free independent. The events of the War of Independence are also termed as the lean Revolution because with the formation of the United States a republic was

established as a result of the struggle of the American colonists who overthrew a monarchy based on colonial exploitation and denial of civil and political rights. The American people cherish the democratic gains of the American Revolution. Moreover,

American Revolution had a great impact on the development of events in Europe, helping to trigger the French Revolution of 1789.

 

7) Expand on the basic values of the American nation. Explain their importance. The "frontier heritage*, the heroes. What is political correctness? Refer to examples in language.

 

 

8) The territorial expansion of the USA in the first half of the 19^lh century. The growing antagonism between the North and the South, the violation of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and its consequences.

 

These were complicated years due to the wars in Europe when Britain and France were locked in bitter conflict for hegemony. The USA also became involved in an undeclared naval war with France. In 1801 Thomas Jefferson was elected president which made it possible to come to terms with France. In 1803 Napoleon, knowing that another war with Great Britain was impending, resolved to improve the financial position of his country by selling the huge territory of Louisiana located to the west of the Mississippi River to the United States for 15 million dollars. As a result of this deal, the United States extended-its territory as far west as the Rocky Mountains. This was a major purchase with far reaching consequences that affected the development of the whole country. The Louisiana purchase comprised 2,6 million square kilometers of land together with the port of New Orleans, a territory which would become the nation's heartland and one of the world's great granaries.

 

However, American life was characterized by a growing conflictbetween the Northern and Southern states. The words of the Declaration of Independence — "that all men are created equal" — meant nothing for millions of black people who were slaves.

By 1850, when the total population of the country exceeded twenty-three million, the total number of slaves was 3,200,000. In South Carolina and Mississippi they exceeded the whites in number; in Louisiana they nearly equaled the whites, and in Alabama they were roughly half of the population. Moreover,

most of the slaves were owned by three or four thousand families who lived on the best lands and enjoyed immense wealth and power. There was a growing rift between the free labour economy of the Northern states and the slave-based plantation economy of the South. No wonder the issue always came up issue always came up when new territories entered the American Union as states. In 1808 the opponents of slavery scored a major victory when Congress outlawed the importation of slaves. However, the southern slave owners, through their influence in the higher circles of power, stubbornly opposed any move which could endanger the tremendous wealth gained from the large cotton, rice, tobacco and sugar plantations.

 

In 1820, Southern and Northern politicians disputed the issue of whether slavery would be legal in the new western territories.Congress agreed on a compromise: slavery was permitted in the new southern state of Missouri and the Arkansas territory, but it was banned everywhere west and north of Missouri. However, the Missouri Compromise did not solve the sectional conflict, and later developments showed that Congress quite soon forgot about its decision.

Meanwhile, thousands of Americans had been settling in Texas, then a part of Mexico. But the Mexican regime was inefficient, corrupt and oppressive under the rule of a dictator. The American settlers rebelled in 1835 and set up an independent republic

which was later, in 1845, annexed by the United States. War followed between the two countries with Mexico suffering full defeat, and forced to surrender for $15 million an enormous territory — most of what is today California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado, which various writers qualified as immoral aggression. The western expansion was furthered in 1846 when the USA settled a long-standing border dispute with Canada taking over the southern half of the Oregon Country — the present states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Thus America became a truly continental power, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. With the discovery of gold in California in 1848, thousands of settlers poured into the territory and this led to an intensive colonization of the west. These developments once again raised the question: would the new territories be

free or become slave states? In 1850.Congress responded by passing another compromise:California was admitted as a free state, while the inhabitants of Utah and New Mexico territories were to decide the issue for themselves. This led to violent clashes

between the opponents and supporters of slavery and broadened the rift within the American Union. Congress also passed the Fugitive Slave Act which permitted Southerners to recapture slaves who had escaped to the free states. This was done under the pressure of the rich slave owners who tried to ban the antislavery movement (known as the abolitionist movement) that had emerged in the early 1830s. One phase of this antislavery movement involved helping slaves escape to safe refuges in the North or over the border into Canada. An elaborate network of secret routes was established known as the "Underground Railroad". In Ohio alone, it is estimated that from 1830 to 1860 no fewer than 40,000 slaves were helped to freedom. In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published "Uncle Tom's Cabin", a powerful anti-slavery novel which caused a sensation and converted many readers to the abolitionist movement. More than 300,000 copies were sold the first year.

In 1854 the old issue of slavery in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska was renewed and the quarrel became more bitter. Under the terms of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the entire region was closed to slavery. However, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois persuaded Congress to allow the inhabitants of the territories to resolve the slavery issue within their own borders and this led to violent clashes between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers. Moreover, in 1857 the Supreme Court passed a decision which denied blacks the rights of American citizens and legalized slavery in the western territories. The country was dramatically moving towards Civil War. In 1858, when Senator Douglas ran for reelection to Congress, he was challenged by Abraham Lincoln and the newly formed Republican party. In a series of historic debates with Douglas, which was followed by the whole nation, he demanded a halt to the spread of slavery.