A Brief History of the United States
The demand for Asian spices, textiles, and dyes spurred European navigators to dream of shorter routes between East and West. Acting on behalf of the Spanish crown, in 1492 the Italian navigator and explorer Christopher Columbus sailed west from Europe and landed on one of the Bahama Islands in the Caribbean Sea. For the next 100 years English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and French explorers sailed there for gold and riches, for honour and glory.
The first English colony was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. A few years later, in July 1620, English Puritans, the Pilgrims, came to America to escape religious persecution for their opposition to the Church of England. They sailed on the ‘Mayflower’ among the first 102 colonists who wanted to set up a colony in America, to find there civil and religious freedom. They arrived in America with a strong will to create in the New World the so called ‘City upon the Hill’ – an ideal community based on Biblical Testament. Ever since, Americans have viewed their country as a great experiment, a worthy model for other nations to follow.
The Pilgrim leaders (Pilgrim Fathers) knew that in order to organize their lives in the new land they had to establish rules of their behaviour. So 41 men aboard the ‘Mayflower’ held a meeting and chose their first governor. They also signed a special document known as the Mayflower Compact (1620) – the agreement about the creation of the civil political body with the aim of supporting order and security, making just and equal laws. That was the first arrangement for self-government in America.
Though the first English settlers were the largest group, there were also colonists from other countries (Holland, France, Germany, and Sweden). Among the bulk of immigrants to North America, one group of people came unwillingly. These were Africans who were brought to the colonies as slaves. Importing slaves to the US became a crime in 1808, but slavery itself was eliminated after the Civil war, in 1865.
By the middle of the 18th century the English settlers had founded 13 colonies along the Atlantic coast. In May 1775 the Congress of Representatives of the colonies met in Philadelphia, and began to act as a national government. It organized the Continental Army and Navy under the command of G. Washington, printed its own money, and opened diplomatic relations with foreign countries. The Congress came to the conclusion that the colonies had the right to gain freedom and become independent. Th. Jefferson, G. Washington, B. Franklin, J. Madison, and A. Hamilton prepared the text of the Declaration of Independence adopted by the Congress on July 4, 1776. This document proclaimed the independence of the 13 colonies from Britain. It also proclaimed that all men are created equal and possess certain unalienable rights – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
In the 18th century the colonies in North America were developing rapidly. Meanwhile their growing strength worried Britain, which began to take measures against the development of the colonies. This led to protest and then to the War of Independence (1775-83). As a result of intense military operations the British army surrendered and the British Government asked for peace. Britain finally recognized the independence of the US by signing the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
After winning the War of Independence, the new nation needed to devise a form of government that would bind the 13 states into an efficient and workable union. The first arrangement which gave much power to the states was Articles of Confederation – the very first US Constitution. The Articles proclaimed independence, determined the system of government of the former English colonies, and consolidated the weak points of the central authority. The Articles remained valid up to 1789.
The Constitution of the United States – the source of government authority and the fundamental law of the country was drawn up in 1787 inPhiladelphia and became law in 1789. It set up a federal system with a strong central government, prescribed the structure of national government with three branches and listed its rights and fields of authority. However, the Constitution caused dissatisfaction of the Americans as it didn’t contain guarantees of certain basic freedoms and individual rights. Thus, in 1791 the Congress was forced to adopt the first 10 amendments to the Constitution dealing with civil liberties: freedom of speech, the press and religion, the right of peaceful assembly, the right to own firearms, freedom from unreasonable search, arrest and seizure. They were called collectively the ‘Bill of Rights’. Since then 17 other amendments have been added to the Constitution. Perhaps the most important of these are the Thirteenth and Fourteenth, which outlaw slavery and guarantee all citizens equal protection of the laws, and the Nineteenth, which gives women the right to vote. Together with its 27 Constitutional Amendments, adopted from 1791 till 1992, the Constitution of 1789 is in force at the present time.
Though Britain recognized American independence in 1783, it did everything to hinder the development of the new nation. British interference with American trade and economy and other aggressive acts led to war in 1812. Military operations of the two countries were conducted with a varying success and the Second War of American Independence ended in a compromise by signing the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. The Treaty restored the pre-war status quo but didn’t solve the territorial and economic matters having provoked the war.
In 1848 gold was discovered in California, and a great gold rush started. Thousands of settlers went there to find gold. The gold rush led to an intensive colonization of the west. The gold rush brought to the west not only gold-diggers, but also merchants, farmers and others, contributed to the building of post-roads and railways, the development of engineering, the attraction of investments and the development of economy as a whole.
The American Civil War began in 1861 when the 11 Southern states supporting slavery decided to leave the American Union and proclaimed themselves an independent nation – the Confederate States of America with its own President, government and army. Though the Southern army fought well it could not win the war, because the Northern Army had the support of the industrial north and the people who were against slavery. The war was over in 1865. It put an end to slavery and made the USA a single united nation. Since the late 19th century the US is marked by a growth in big business, the emergence of labour as an organized economic and political force and the increasing role in world affairs.
More than 500-year-old history of the USA is rich in excitement and drama: the transformation of an untamed land into a mighty industrial power, the growth of a basically English colony into a complex multiethnic society. The history shows the American people on their way to the American Dream: independent, democratic, powerful state with the developed economy and equal rights for everybody. There have been moments of triumph and sadness, but there also has been remarkable faithfulness to the democratic ideals proclaimed at the moment of nation’s birth.