The Pacific Coastal Ranges

Geographical position.

The United States of America is the world's third largest country with an area of 9.6 million square kilometers, the population — over 300 million people (2007). Most of the country is in the central part of North America. It is bordered by Canada on the north and Mexico on the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

Due to its geographical position and administrative division the United States is one of the few fragmented countries in the world. Of the fifty states of the country forty-eight states are conterminous, or enclosed within one common boundary. The other two states, Alaska and Hawaii, are located apart from the rest of the country. Alaska is locat­ed in the far northwestern part of North America, bordering western Canada. Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean to the south and west of mainland North America. The United States occupies a favourable geographical position. The Atlantic Ocean is of great importance for the country's sea communications with Europe, Africa and South America. The sea routes to Asia and Australia pass over the Pacific Ocean. The sea route through the Panama Canal, which connects the two oceans, runs over the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

The physical geography of the United States is as varied as that of any other coun­try in the world. There are huge forests, large areas of flat, grassy plains, and deserts. An average elevation of about 762 meters masks some great variations. These variations range from a low of 86 meters below sea level in California to a high of over 6,000 meters above sea level in Alaska.

The people of the United States are descended from many, many different groups of people from around the world. It is a country of immigrants. The first inhabitants came from Asia, crossing the Bering Strait into Alaska during the last Ice Age. Almost 40,000 years later, Spanish adventurers entered what is now the southwestern United States by way of Mexico. From that time, migrations have continued — Europeans, Africans, Asians, and other people from the Americas entering the country to live and work, adding their cultures to that of the nation.

The United States is spread over a huge area of the Western Hemisphere. For exam­ple, the total distance between the most eastern Florida Key and most western island of Hawaii is 9,418 kilometers. The conterminous United States stretches some 4,664 kilo­meters from Maine in the east to California in the west. From the northern border of North Dakota to the southern border of Texas, it is 2,585 kilometers.

It is little wonder that within a country so large there can be found so many different landscapes.

The country can be divided from the point of view of physical geography into nine regions. These are: (1) the Coastal plains, (2) the Appalachian Highlands, (3) the Interior Plains, (4) the Interior Highlands, (5) the Rocky Mountains, (6) the Intermontane Plateaus and Basins, (7) the Pacific Coastal Ranges, (8) Alaska, and (9) Hawaii.

The physical geography of the United States is as varied as that of any other coun­try in the world

The Coastal Plains

A lowland area sweeps from Massachusetts to Texas along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. This coastal plain, which extends for more than3,219 kilometers is divided into two parts — the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the Gulf Coastal Plain. The Atlantic Plain follows the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean south from Cape Cod in Massachusetts to the Florida Peninsula. The coastline is irregular. Many natural harbours have been created. Some of the more important ones are Massachusetts Bay, New York Bay, Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay, and Long Island Sound.

The Gulf Plain is a much wider band of flat land and gently rolling hills. It varies in width from 241 kilometers to about 966 kilometers. At one point, the plain extends far inland to where the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi River. The Mississippi, the longest river in North America, empties into the Gulf of Mexico in Southern Louisiana. There it has made a huge delta. This part of the Gulf Coastal Plain is made up of marsh­es and bayous — a word used to describe the many small, marshy creeks and rivers that flow through the delta area.

The Appalachian Highlands

Just west of the Atlantic Coastal Plain is the Appalachian Highlands. This region takes its name from the Appalachian Mountains. The highlands stretch about 1,931 kilo­meters in the United States from northern Maine to central Alabama. They lie in a north­east to southwest direction. In the highlands is the highest peak in the eastern United States — Mount Mitchell in western North Carolina. It rises 2,037 meters above sea level.

The eastern edge of the highlands is known as the Piedmont. This low plateau varies in altitude from 152 to 305 meters above sea level. West of the Piedmont are the Appalachian Mountains. They are nearly parallel with the Atlantic coast­line.

The Interior Plains

A huge "plain region" covers the middle of the United States between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rockies. The region is divided into Central Plains the Great Plains. The Central Plains include lowland parts of central and western Kentucky and Tennessee, the Great Lakes area, and the upper Mississippi and lower Ohio and Missouri river basins. West of the river basins is the area of the Great Plains. Many long rivers flow eastward from the Great Plains, emptying into the Mississippi.

The Interior Highlands

Two separate highlands regions rise above the plains in the central United States. These are the Superior Highlands and the Ozark Plateau.

Located around Lake Superior, in the northern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, the Superior Highlands are actually a part of the Canadian Shield. Coniferous forests cover rocky plateaus. There are many lakes among the hills. The Ozark Plateau is located between the Missouri and Arkansas rivers west of the Mississippi River. The land is gently rolling in places with some rugged mountains in other places.

The Rocky Mountains

West of the Great Plains is the Rocky Mountain region. The Rocky Mountains extend from Canada south to New Mexico and Western Texas. The region occupies an area over 1,600 kilometers long, it varies in width between 200 to 600 kilometers.

The Rockies stretch from north to south. The Rocky Mountains are much more rugged and much higher than the Appalachians. Many peaks are over 3,658 meters high. Plants are greatly affected by altitude. Mountain tops not covered by snow are capped by tundra grasses and mosses.

Intermontane Plateaus

West of the Rocky Mountains lies an area of intermontane plateaus and basins. The term intermontane means "between mountains". The region lies between the Rocky Mountains and mountain ranges along the Pacific coast.

The intermontane area is long and broad, stretching from Washington to the border with Mexico. The moun­tains block rain, and as a result, the lowland basins are dry. Some of the most impressive landscapes in the country are found in the region. The best known is the Grand Canyon.

The Pacific Coastal Ranges

The most western of the physical regions of the conterminous United States is made up of the Pacific coast mountain ranges. Like the Rockies, they extend from Canada in the north to the border with Mexico in the south. The area is about 322 kilometers wide from east to west. It has some of the highest mountains as well as some of the richest farmland in the United States.

The interior range includes the Cascade Mountains in Washington and Oregon and the Sierra Nevada in California. Within the Sierra Nevada is Mount Whitney at 4,418 meters. Mount Rainier at 4,392 meters above sea level, is in the Cascade Range. Also in the Cascades are active volcanic peaks. Mount Helens erupted several times in recent years. Closer to the Pacific coast is a second range of mountains stretching from Washington to California.

Climate

The United States has areas of all five major climate groups.

Southern Florida has a tropical moist climate. Even in the coldest month of January, temperatures average above 21 degrees centigrade. The area has a growing season that lasts all year long.

North of the Ohio River and east of the Great Plains, there is a moist, cold winter cli­mate. South of the Great Lakes, summers are hot and winters have at least one month of average high temperatures below 0 degree centigrate. East and West of the Great Lakes, summers are cooler and winters are longer.

Most of the Great Plains is under a semiarid climate. Rainfall averages only 20 to 51 centimeters a year. The Rocky Mountains block moisture from the west. Summers are very hot and winters are very cold on the plains. The range of temperatures is greater here than anywhere else in the country.

From the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast, there are several small areas of sim­ilar climate broken up by the mountains. The highest parts of the Rockies are cold all year.

Basins in the intermontane region have a generally dry climate. This climate is found in parts of Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico as well as in western Texas and southeast­ern California. Summers are generally hot with cold winters.

The Pacific Coast is under mostly moist mild winter climates of two kinds. The coastal mountains of northern California, Oregon, and Washington cause warm winds blowing in from the Pacific to dump their moisture over these three states. These lowland coastal areas have a midlatitude marine climate.

In central and southern California, there is a Mediterranean climate. Summers are dry and winters are cool and rainy.

The climate of Alaska is generally cold over the whole state. The Yukon River valley has a moist, cold winter climate of the subarctic variety. Along the southern coast of Alaska, temperatures are milder than in the Yukon Valley. North of the Brooks Range is the only area of polar climate in the United States.

The climate of Hawaii is tropical and moist. It receives short periods of rain throughout the year. There are, however, small variations. Some areas near the coast are drier while highlands are very wet. Mt. Waialeale, on the island of Kauai, is one of the wettest spots in the world.

Rivers and Lakes

The Mississippi River, along with its tributary, the Missouri, is one of the world's longest rivers. It flows from the Rocky Mountains for nearly 6,437 kilometers to the Gulf of Mexico. One of its folk names is "father of waters. The Ohio River is another major tributary of the Mississippi together with the Arkansas River and the Red River.

Like the Mississippi, the many shorter rivers that rise east of the Appalachian Mountains empty into the Atlantic Ocean. Among them are the Hudson River, the Delaware and the Potomac.

Three great river systems drain the region west of the Rocky Mountains. They empty into the Pacific Ocean. In the north, the Columbia River and its chief tributary, the Snake River, which drains part of Idaho, Washington and Oregon. The Sacramento and its main tributary, the San Joaquin, drain much of central and northern California. The Colorado River and its many branches drain much of southwestern United States. These three river systems have great value as sources for irrigation and hydroelectric power

The Rio Grande, about 3,200 kilometers long, forms a natural boundary between Mexico and the United States and is an important source of irrigation projects to the ben­efit of both countries.

The Yukon River in the north rises in the Canadian Rockies flows westward across Alaska and empties into the Bering Sea.

North America has more lakes by far than any other continent. The largest of these are the Great Lakes. They are the greatest collection of fresh water lakes in the world. Their total area is 245 thousand square kilometers. Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario form a natural border between northeastern United States and Canada. Only Lake Michigan lies entirely inside the United States. Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes. It is about 563 kilometers long and 257 kilometers wide. The Great Lakes together with the Between LakeErie and Lake Ontario, on the Niagara River, which connects the two lakes, are the Niagara Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world, where the waters of the Niagara River precipitate from the height of 50 meters.

Another large group of lakes lies west of the Rockies. The most famous of these lakes are the Great Salt Lake, in Utah, and the Salton Sea lies about 80 meters below sea level in Southern California.

Mineral resources.

In resources of coal and natural gas, tungsten and molybdenum, lead and phosphorus the United States holds the first place in the world. In resources of copper, zinc and sulphur - the sec­ond. In resources of gold, silver, uranium, mercury and asbestos - the third. The United States is rich in oil, iron ore, various metallic ores. At the same time the country lacks a sufficient supply of some of the minerals required for modern industries. These must be imported into the United States. They include tin, nickel, manganese, chrome, cobalt, industrial diamonds.

The principal deposits of high-grade coals are concentrated in the eastern part of the country. The main producing areas are in the Appalachian region. Some other less important coal basins are to be found in the middle reaches of the Mississippi, in the north of the Great Plains and in the Rocky Mountains.

The chief oil-bearing area is in the southern part of the Interior Plains and the Gulf Coastal Plain. Other important oil fields are situated in the Pacific southwest (California) and the Rocky Mountains (Wyoming). Extensive oil-bearing areas have been discovered in the northern part of the Great Plains. Alaska is rich in oil and its resources are also tapped. Closely connected with oilfields are the vast deposits of natural gas (8 trillion cubic metres). However, the home resources of oil are insufficient, therefore the country is a major importer of oil from different countries of the world.

The chief deposits of iron ore are concentrated in the the region of Lake Superior. There are some deposits of iron ore in the south of the Appalachians, Birmingham, but the ores of this re­gion are of a poorer quality, having a lower iron content.

Pittsburg, in the heart of coal-fields, was the first of the great steel cities, because it was cheaper to bring the ore to the coal than the coal to the ore. Today, the Pittsburgh area still produces about one-fifth of the nation's steel, and also supplies coal to the other great steelmaking centres - Chicago, De­troit, Cleveland, Buffalo.

Large deposits of non-ferrous metals are to be found mostly on the territory to the west of the Mississippi River - zinc, copper, lead and others. Principal resources of such metals as gold, silver and rare elements are in the Cordilleras. The main deposits of uranium are in New Mexico. In the total resources of uranium die United States is after the South African Republic and Canada.

As a whole, the United States has considerable resources of mineral raw materials for the development of industry. It is self-sufficient in coal, copper, lead, phosphate, molybdenum and some others.

In terms of costs oil, coal, natural gas, uranium consitute nearly 89 per cent of the total output of the extracting industry of the United States. Iron ore and copper constitute three-fourths of the cost of all the extracted metals.

3.The first Europeans to arrive in North America were Vikings traveling west from Greenland. In 1001 Leif Ericson established a Norse settlement at L'Anse-aux-Meadows in northern Newfoundland in present day Canada. However, they failed to make it a permanent set­tlement and soon it was lost and forgotten.

Christopher Columbus hoped to reach Asia sailing west in 1492. Instead he landed on one of the Bahama Islands in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus never stepped on the mainland United States, but his explorations aroused tremendous interest among the Europeans. The American continent was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a noble man from Florence who helped to organize Columbus's second voyage in 1493. After Columbus, there were many expeditions organized by the Spanish, the English, the French and the Dutch.

In 1497 a navigator named John Cabot arrived in Newfoundland on a mission for the English king which later gave Britain claims to North America. In 1534 the Frenchman Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River and claimed the surrounding territory for France.

The first permanent white settlement in North America was founded at St. Augustine in Florida by the Spaniards in 1565. In 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh established the first British colony on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina, but it didn't survive. In 1607 the English would try again, and this time the colony succeeded at Jamestown in Virginia, named after the English king James I. Thus a new era was opened in the colonization of North America.

By 1619 Virginia had no more than two thousand people. That year was notable for three events. One was the arrival of a ship from England with 90 "young maidens" who were to be given as wives to those settlers who would pay 120 pounds of tobacco for their transportation. Equally important was the initiation of a rep­resentative government in America. On July 30, 1619, in the Jamestown church met the first legislative assembly on the continent: a governor, six councilors, and two representatives each from ten plantations.

The third significant event of the year was the arrival in August of a Dutch ship with Negro slaves, of whom it sold twenty to the settlers. This marked the beginning of the slave trade. An important event in the colonization of North America took place in 1620 when a group of colonists known as the Pilgrim Fathers came to North America on the famous ship the Mayflower and settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts. They were separatists in England, or members of the Puritan movement wishing to purify the Church of England by making religious services simpler and discipline stricter. The Pilgrim leaders knew that in order to organ­ize their lives in the new land they had to establish rules of behavior. So 41 men aboard the Mayflower signed a special document known as the Mayflower Compact to abide by "just and equal laws" drafted by leaders of their own choosing, which was the first agreement for self-government in America. They also chose their first governor. The Puritans hoped to build an ideal society and were very in­tolerant to those who disagreed. One Puritan who disagreed was Roger Williams. Forced to leave Massachusetts Bay in 1635 he set up the neighboring Rhode Island colony where complete separation of church and state as well as freedom of religion was prac­ticed. In 1634 Maryland was settled as a refuge for Catholics and in 1681 William Penn, a wealthy Quaker received a large tract of land which became known as Pennsylvania. Here religious tolerance was practiced attracting German, Swedish and Dutch settlers. It was here he founded Philadelphia the "City of Brotherly Love". In 1626 Dutch settlers bought Manhattan Island from local Indian chiefs and built the town of New Amsterdam which in 1664 was seized by the English and renamed New York after the brother of the English king — the Duke of York. Georgia was settled in 1732, the last of the 13 colonies to be established along the Atlantic shore. The French controlled Canada and Louisiana, which included the entire Mississippi basin. The Spaniards controlled Florida.

The white settlers described an Indian town, where the local people brought them corn bread and tobacco smoked in clay pipes. Of all that the Indians gave to the white settlers food was probably the most important thing at that time. Indian foods and methods of planting, hunting, and fishing helped the settlers to survive in their new home. Two of the most important crops in the world today — Indian corn and white potatoes - were first planted by American Indians, who also introduced the settlers to more than 80 other foods, including the sweet potato, pumpkin, squash, banana, pineapple, and avocado. The Native Americans showed the settlers how to cook these unknown plants to make grits, hominy, popcorn, succotash, and tapioca. Cacao (for chocolate), chicle (for chewing gum), and tobacco were also among the new crops. Many of the drugs which Indians received from plants (such as cocaine, which was used to kill pain) are used today for medical purposes. They helped by introducing them to Indian utensils, clothing, methods of transportation. They include canoes, dog sleds, hammocks, pipes, rubber balls, snowshoes, moccasins, parkas.

The influence of Indian cultures is quite evident in American English. Thousands of mountains, lakes, rivers, cities, states, have Indian names - Ohio, Chicago, Saratoga, Massachusetts, Mexico, Nicaragua, Montana, as well as common nouns -tobacco, skunk, moose, canoe, and hundreds of others. The Red Indians did much to help white settlers in the new land, but when the whites began to take their lands the Indians began to fight for their rights and terrible wars started. The Indians were defeated because they did not have the weapons which the white settlers had. The colonization of North America became a history of bloodshed and cruelty towards the Indians. Since 1786 they were pushed to live in reservations. The Indians began to protest treatment, began to improve. Now there are 1,5 Native Americans. There is a Bureau of Indian affairs.

Examine the beginning of colonization of North America by the 1st settlers from Europe. What considerations influenced many people to move to America? Who were the Pilgrim Fathers?

The USA was originally peopled by Indians and was opened by the first voyage of Christopher Columbus (1492), and the later discoveries of John Cabot (1497-1498) and Cartier in 1534-1541. Some Europeans knew about the New World long before Columbus made his first voyage. Lief Ericson (a Viking raider) discovered North America (NA) in 1000, calling the territory Vinland (from the word “vine”). Columbus died believing that he had found the Far East and never understood that he had discovered a new continent. The American continent was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a nobleman from Florence, who helped to organize Columbus’s second voyage in 1493. Vespucci made 4 voyages to the New World (NW) himself. As early as1532 most Europeans were calling the new continent “America”.

The first permanent white settlement in NA was founded at St. Augustine in Florida by the Spaniards in 1565, and the first permanent English colony (Jamestown) was established in 1607 in Virginia. It was named after the English king James I.

The history of English settlement in America began on a beautiful April morning in 1607, when three ships anchored the mouth of Chesapeake Bay (one of the leaders of the expedition – George Percy).

The white settlers (WS) described an Indian town, where the local people brought them corn bread and tobacco smoked in clay pipes. Soon the WS found out from Indians how to grow tobacco. Indians did much to help the WS in the new land, but when the whites began to take their lands, the Indians began to fight for their rights and terrible wars started. The Indians were defeated, because they didn’t have weapons which WS had.

In 1620 a group of colonists known as Pilgrim Fathers (PF) came to NA on the famous ship the Mayflower. The PF were Separatists in England, or members of the Puritan movement. They wished to purify the Church of England by making religious services simpler and discipline stricter. They were persecuted by English officials, and so many of the Puritans fled to Holland. They were not happy in Holland, their children began to speak Dutch and they began to be persecuted. Once they thought of moving and this time they considered America. Some English merchants agreed to pay for their journey so that afterwards the Puritans would return their money. So after returning to England, a small group of Puritans together with some other passengers left for the NW on the ship Mayflower. These Puritans began to call themselves Pilgrims because of their wanderings in search of religious freedom.

It was September of 1620 when their ship left England with 102 men, women, and children on board. During the voyage one man died and there was also one birth (the girl, who was born on the ship was called Ocean). After 65 days at sea the ship landed in Provincetown Harbour at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The Pilgrim leaders 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 the meeting and choose their first governor. They also signed a special document Mayflower Compact which was the first agreement for self-government America.

For about the month the Pilgrims lived aboard the ship and sent out a small group f men to explore the land around Cape Cod Bay. At Plymouth, the men found a harbour with good fishing, some cleared land, cornfields and fresh water. The men went back to the ship and reported their discovery. A few days later the Mayflower sailed across Cape Cod Bay to Plymouth Harbour. Then the Pilgrims moved ashore in a small boat. According to tradition the Pilgrims landed on a large rock (Plymouth Rock). This was the beginning on the second permanent English settlement in America.

5. Discuss the reasons, development and consequences of the War of Independence [1775 - 1783) .

Reasons:

Britain introduced to the colonies heavy taxes, without their agreement "No taxation without representation" Large distanse between Br & USA

1765 - Stamp Act. Great opposition. December 1773 - Boston tea party, a group of colonists boarded British ships in Boston harbour. The ships were loaded with tea. They threw 342 crates of tea into the waters of the harbour to protest against the tea tax. Closing of the port of Boston to all outside trade by the British government and sending more troops to the colonies.

April 19, 1775 - 700 British soldiers were sent from Boston to seize an arms depot in the town of Concord.

May 1775- The Congress of representatives of the colonies met in

Philadelphia and began to act as a national government.

July, 4, 1776 - Declaration of Independence was adopted be the Congress. Tomas Jefferson democrat prepared. Proclaimed the independence of the 13 American colonies from Britain.

1776 - the British Army took New York.
1777 - Philadelphia.

October 1777 - the British Army under General John Burgoyne suffered heavy defeat at Saratoga in northern New York and surrendered,

1781 – Cornwallis surrendered. Commandment - George Washington.

September 1773 – Britain finally recognized the independence of the USA by singing the Treaty of Paris.

Consequences:

all the territory north of Florida, south of Canada and east of the Mississippi

river formed the US of America. The 13 colonies were now free and

independent. The American people are proud of their heroic revolutionary struggle for independence -

1787 - the American Constitution was drawn up in Philadelphia which with its 26 amendments is in force at the present time. The first president - G. Washington A new capital - Washington
1800 - USA began to develop rapidly

6 Expand on the basic values of the American nation. Explain their importance. Expand on the notion "the frontier heritage”, the heroes. What is political correctness?
7 values:

- material wealth

- lack of formality

- hard work

- individual freedom

- self reliance

- equal opportunity to succeed

- equal competitions

The heritage of the frontier is still very much alive in the USA today. The frontier spirit is one of the national values of America. The frontier experience began when the first colonists settled on the east coast of North America in 1600s. It ended about 1890 when the last western lands were settled. The American frontier consisted of the unsettled regions of the US, usually found in the western part of the country. Here, both land and life were more rough or rugged and primitive than in the more settled eastern parts. By settling one frontier area after another, Americans moved across the whole continent, about 4,500 km wide. Americans considered the frontier, its life and its people as the best examples of their most important values. The frontier gave many examples of hard work, as forests were cut and towns grew up. There was much adventure on the western frontier. The rush for gold in California, for silver in Montana, and for good land in all the western territories provided endless stories of adventure. The frontiersman depended on himself. He had to build his own house, hunt, look after the farm, make his own clothes and the things which he needed for his home. The hero is a man who is physically strong, tough and rugged because of frontier life, kind and polite to women and children, very independent.

There are 2 types of heroes: of the-early period before the civil war - the main struggle was against the wilderness or the forces of nature.

Daniel Boone. Explored the wilderness in Kentucky in the 1760s and 1770s. in 1778 was captured by Indians, -who were so impressed with his physical strength and skills that made him a member of their tribe. Later he managed to escape. He became a hero because he was a brave man who conquered the wilderness.

The second period - 1860s until the end of the 19th century. The struggle of man against man.

The hero of this period is a strong, tough man who can easily defeat two or three men at one time, a defender of good against evil. Jesse James and Wyatt Earp.
Polite correctness: it’s concerned with avoiding attitudes, actions, forms of expression, which suggest prejustice and are likely to offend people. Human being instead of man Miss - miss and missis Afro-American - black Native American – Indian. With limited physical abilities – invalid With limited mental abilities – fool

7. Analyze growing antagonism between the North and the South. Examine the chief events of the Civil war, its consequences.
1820 - the American Congress agreed on a compromise on the question of slavery in the new state of Missouri and the Arkansas territory. Slavery was permitted here, but banned everywhere west and north of Missouri-. But it wasn't fulfilled in a proper way.

1850 - the Congress passed an unpopular Act which gave the southern slave-owners the right to catch and return the slaves who had run away to the free states.
1854 - the Congress permitted the settlement of American citizens on the territory of Nebraska and Kansas and allowed the inhabitants to solve the question of slavery within these territories themselves which was against the Missouri Compromise of 1820. As a result - struggle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers. The struggle in Kansas spread to other parts of the country, 1859 - in Virginia John Brown who was against slavery tried to raise a revolt of the black slaves. The attempt was crushed by the government, J.B. was executed. The antislavery movement became a mass movement in the country. In 1854 during the period of struggle in Kansas the Republican Party was formed. It united the industrialists of the North, the free fanners and many inhabitants of the towns who were all against slavery. Abraham Lincoln became a leading figure in the party. In 1860- the R. Party won the presidential elections and A.L. became the president ofthe USA. The south decided to leave the American Union. In December 1860 South. Carolina announced that it was leaving the Union. Soon it was joined by 10 more southern states. These 11 states proclaimed themselves an independent nation - the Confederate States of America with its own president,, government and army. The American Civil war begin (1860-65). January 1 1864 - Lincoln, Emancipation Proclamation, granted freedom to all slaves.

1863, summer - Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania is stopped at Gettysburg in July where the greatest battle of the Civil War took place which eventually led to the victory Of the North [general Grant). 1865, April 9- General Lee surrendered to General Grand at Appomattox and the Civil War was over. 1865 - Lincoln is assassinated by John Booth during the celebrations in Washington. 1865 - Slavery abolished by Amendment XIII to the Constitution. Consequences: abolition of slavery USA is a single united nation

The victory of North contributed to the further development of the US & Great progress in the development of industry, trade, agriculture.