HISTORY OF THE USA

1. Native Americans.
2. Immigration and the Creation of the USA.
3. Racial Inequality and the Civil War.

Based on anthropological and genetic evidence, scientists generally agree that most native Americans descend from people
who migrated from Siberia across the Bering Strait, at least 12000 years ago. One result of these successive waves of migration is
that large groups of Native Americans with similar languages and perhaps physical characteristics as well, moved into various
geographic areas of North, and then later, Central and South America. While many native American groups retained a nomadic or
semi-nomadic lifestyle through the time of European occupation of the New World, in some regions, especially in the Mississippi
River valley of the US, they built advance civilizations with monumental architecture and large-scale organization into cities and
states.
The European colonization of the Americans forever changed the lives and cultures of the Native Americans. In the 15 th to
19th centuries their populations were ruined, by the results of displacement, disease and in many cases by wars with European
groups and enslavement by them. The first native American group encountered by Columbus, the 250000 Arawaks, were violently
enslaved. Only 500 survived by the year 1550, and the group was extinct before 1650.
In the 19th century, the Westward expansion of the US expelled large numbers of Native Americans from vast areas of their
territory, either by forcing them into marginal lands farther and farther west, or by outright slaugher. Under President Andrew
Jackson, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which forced the Five Civilized Tribes from the east onto western
reservations, primarily to take their land or settlement. The forced migration was marked by great hardship and many deaths. Its
route is known as the Trail of Tears.
Conflicts generally known at the time as “Indian Wars” broke out between US forces and many different tribes. Well-
known battles include the atypical Native American victory at the battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, and the slaughter of Native
Americans at Wounded Knee in 1890, when the US cavalry attempted to destroy the Sioux [su:] Nation and killed all the men,
women and children they could find. On January 31, 1876 the US government ordered all surviving Native Americans to move into
reservations. Probably the most famous leader of the Native Americans was Geromino (1829 – 1909). He was leader of the
Chiricahua Apache who fought long against the invasion of settlers of European descent on tribal lands. His forces became the last
major force of independent Indian warriors who refused to acknowledge the US Government in the American West. This came to an
end in 1886, when Geromino surrendered to US Army General Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona. He was a prisoner initially, but
later a celebrity.
In the late 19th century reformers in efforts to civilize Indians adapted the practice of educating native children in Indian
Boarding Schools. These schools, which were primarily run by Christians proved traumatic to Indian children, who were forbidden
to speak their native languages, taught Christianity instead of their native religions (both in violation of the US Constitution) and in
numerous other ways forced to abandon their Indian identity and adopt European-American culture.
Military defeat, cultural pressure, confinement on reservations, forced cultural assimilation, outlawing of native languages
and culture of the 1950s and 1960s and slavery had negative effects on Native Americans’ mental and physical health.
Contemporary health problems include poverty, alcoholism, heart disease and diabetes.
According to 2003 US Census Bureau estimates that a little over one third of the 2,786,652 Native Americans in the US
live in three states: California with 413,382, Arizona with 294,137 and Oklahoma with 279,559. The largest tribes surviving in the
US by population were Cherokee, Navajo, Choctaw, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Blackfoot, Iroquois and Pueblo.

Immigration and the creation of the USA.

In 1492, Columbus, an explorer and trader sailed westward from Spain, seeking a short sea route to the Orient. He found,
instead, a vast “New World” as it became known later, although Columbus himself named it the “Other World”. following
Columbus’ voyage, explorers, soldiers and settlers from several European countries sailed to this land, soon called America, after
Amerigo Vespucci, by most Europeans. Vespucci made voyages to the 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 imperialism. During the 1500 s Spaniards moved into what is now the Southeastern and
Western US. In 1565, the Spanish founded St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest permanent settlement by Europeans in what is now the
US. The English and French began exploring eastern North America in about 1500. At first both nations sent only explorers and fur
traders to the New World. But after 1600 they began establishing permanent settlements there. The French settlements were chiefly
in what is now Canada and the south of the USA. The English settlements included the 13 colonies that later became the US.
Bartholomew Gosnold in 1607 established the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown in Virginia.
Jamestown became the first real English colony and eventually led to the creation of the US of America. Many historians believe the
US would have become Spanish territory if it had not been for Gosnold.
The Pilgrims were a group of English protestant extremists who sailed from Europe to North America in 1620, in search of
a home where they could freely practice their religion and live according to their own Biblical laws. Various members of the group
had broken away from the Church of England and moved to Amsterdam to escape religious persecution. But by 1617 a poor
economy and concern over the Dutch influence on their community convinced many of them to move on, this time to the New
World. In England they joined a larger group of religious separatists and boarded “The Mayflower”. They departed in 1620, with
102 people aboard, their destination was Northern Virginia. Forced off course by North Atlantic weather, “The Mayflower” arrived
at Cape Cod. Having no legal authority to colonize the area, they met to sign their own charter, known as the Mayflower Compact,
in which they agreed to form a self-governing community.
Soon after English settlement started, the Dutch founded New Netherland, a trading post and colony, that included a
permanent settlement in New York (originally called New Amsterdam) in 1624, and in New Jersey in 1660.
By the mid-1700s, most of the settlements had been formed into 13 british colonies. Each colony had a governor and
legislature, but each was under the ultimate control of the British government. All the land west of the Mississippi was under
Spanish control, which was gradually incorporated into the (later) United States.
The slave trade was then also firmly established and by the 1750s, there were 250,000 black slaves brought from Africa
supporting a white population of over 700,000.
In matters of trade England had a consistent imperial policy. The Colonies were expected to supply the mother country
with raw and semi-finished materials, including furs, fish, rice, tobacco and timber. In exchange they received manufactured goods
from the homeland. Since Britain’s treasury was almost empty after different wars, Parliament asked the colonists to pay higher
taxes. But there was serious opposition to this “taxation without representation” (the British Parliament did not contain any
American-elected members). One of the frequently described events that define this dislike of taxation was the Boston Tea Party
when a group of merchants dressed up as native Americans boarded a ship importing crates of tea and threw the crates overboard, as
the tea carried excise and taxes payable to the British government.
Tension increased and on April 19, 1775, the American Revolution broke out between the Americans and the British.
During the war – on July 4, 1776 – the American Congress officially declared independence and formed the US of America by
adopting the Declaration of Independence. On October 19, 1781, the Americans won a decisive victory at the Battle of
Yorktown in Virginia, when thousands of British soldiers surrendered. Within months, the British Government decided to seek
peace. Finally, on Sept. 3, 1783, the Americans and the British signed the Treaty of Paris of 1783, officially ending the American
Revolution.
At the end of the American Revolution, the new nation was still a loose confederation of states. But in 1787, American
leaders got together and wrote the Constitution of the US. The Constitution became the country’s basic law and joined it together
into a solid political unit. The men who wrote it were the most famous and important figures in American history. Among them
were George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin. The authors of the Constitution, along
with other early leaders such as Tomas Jefferson, won lasting name as the Founding Fathers of the US.
There was initially a lot of opposition to the new Constitution, as many felt that it did not guarantee enough individual
rights. In response, 10 amendments known as the Bill of Rights were added to the document. The Bill of Rights became law on Dec.
15, 1791. Among other things, it guaranteed freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, freedom of religion and the rights to trial by
jury and peaceful assembly. Only in 1970th or even later these rights were granted to Native Americans or black African-Americans.
George Washington (1732 – 1799), was an American general and Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in the
American Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783) and later the first President of the US under the US Constitution (1789 – 97). For the
role he played in winning and securing American independence, George Washington is recognized as one of the most important
figures in all of US history. Unlike many other revolutionary leaders, he himself resigned even though some others wanted him to
retain that power for life.
Thomas Jefferson became president in 1800 and again in 1804. The Louisiana Purchase, the first major action of
Jefferson’s presidency, almost doubled the size of the US. In 1801, Jefferson learned that France had taken over from Spain a large
area between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains called Louisiana. France – then ruled by Napoleon was powerful and
aggressive. In 1803 Jefferson arranged the purchase of the area from France. The Louisiana Purchase added 2,144,476 square
kilometers of territory to the US.
Western farmers and pioneers, as well as city labourers and craftworkers, soon banded together politically to promote their
interests. They found a strong leader in Andrew Jackson, and helped elect him president in 1828. Jackson took steps to reduce the
power of wealthy Easterners and aid the “common man”. At the same time such social reforms were introduced as women’s rights,
improvements in education, and the abolition of slavery.
By the mid-1840s thousands of Americans lived in the Oregon Country and on the western land claimed by Mexico. At
that time large numbers of Americans believed that the US should control all of North America. That’s why Americans demanded
control of Oregon and Mexico. The struggle over the Mexican territory began in Texas in 1835, when the American settlers rebelled
against Mexican rule. In 1836, the settlers proclaimed Texas an independent republic, but also requested US statehood. Nine years
later, the US annexed Texas and made it a state. The US gained more Mexican territory as a result of the Mexican War (1846 –
1848). The treaty that ended the war gave the US a vast stretch of land from Texas west to the Pacific and north to Oregon.

Racial Inequality and the Civil War.

Beginning in colonial times, many Americans – called abolitionists – had demanded an end to slavery. By the early 1800s,
every Northern state had outlawed slavery. But over the years, the plantation system of farming had spread throughout the South,
and the economy of the Southern states depended more and more on slaves as a source of cheap labour.
The question of whether to outlaw or allow slavery became an important political and social issue in the early 1800s. Till
1819 there was achieved a balance between free states and slave states. There were 11 of each. After 1854, Southerners increasingly
referred to themselves as a separate national group. In the North, abolitionists started their campaign against slavery. Eleven
Southern states separated from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, with two others “associated” and so flag
showed 13 stars.
 The election of 1860 also reflected the nation’s division. The Democratic Party split into Northern and Southern wings.
Only the Republicans remained united. They nominated Abraham Lincoln for president and this republican unity helped Lincoln to
win the election. Lincoln had a reputation as an opponent of slavery, and his election was unacceptable to the South.
The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Southern troops fired on Fort Sumter, a military post in Charleston Harbor.
The North had superior financial and industrial strength, and a larger population than the South, but the South gained the upper hand
at first. Gradually the North took more and more territory until Confederate resistance was broken and Union armies swept through
the South. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee – the commander of the Confederate Army – surrendered to the Union
commander General Ulysses S. Grant. The four years of bloody fighting between the North and South had a terrible effect on the
nation. No other war in history has taken so many American lives.
On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared freedom for slaves in all areas of the
Confederacy that were still in rebellion against the Union. The process through which the South returned to the Union was called
Reconstruction. Northerners divided into two groups over Reconstruction policy. The moderates wanted to end the bitterness
between the North and South, and the radicals believed the South should be punished. President Lincoln might have worked out a
compromise. But assassin John Wilkes Booth shot him on April 14, 1865. Vice president Andrew Johnson became president. He
tried to carry out Lincoln’s policy, but he was unable to overcome radical opposition.
The Reconstruction programme drafted by Congress included laws to extend the right of blacks. The 13 th Amendment to
the Constitution (1865) outlawed slavery throughout the US. The 14th Amendment (1868) confirmed the citizenship of blacks, and
the 15th Amendment (1870) made it illegal to deny the right to vote on the basis of race.
White Southerners loyal to their old traditions bitterly resented the new political system. Many joined the Ku Klux Klan
(KKK), a secret society that used violence to keep blacks, Jews and other ethnic minorities from voting and trying to achieve
equality. The original society was officially disbanded in 1869 but remained a powerful force. The KKK continued destroying the
property of black people and even sometimes lynching them until the 1980s.
Congress insisted that the Confederate States agree to follow all federal laws before being readmitted to the Union.
Between 1866 and 1870, all the Confederate states returned to the Union.