11 Билет. The fight for Independence

All the advantages in the military struggle between America and Great Britain appeared to lie with the British. They possessed the greatest navy and the best-equipped army in the world. The Americans, by contrast, were struggling to create an army and a government at the same time. Yet the United States had advantages that were not at first apparent. Americans were fighting on their own ground, far from the center of Britain. They were more committed to the conflict; the British people were only half-heartedly supporting the war. And beginning in 1777, the Americans had the benefit of substantial aid from abroad, after the American war had merged with a world contest in which Great Britain faced the strongest powers of Europe—most notably France—in a struggle for imperial supremacy. But the American victory was not simply the result of these advantages, or even of the remarkable spirit and resourcefulness of the people and the army. It was a result, too, of a series of big mistakes and miscalculations by the British in the early stages of the fighting, when England could have won.

12 Билет

The American Revolution refers to the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies of North America rejected the British monarchy to become the sovereign United States of America. In this period the colonies first rejected the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain and formed self-governing independent states. These states then joined against the British to defend that self-governance in the armed conflict from 1775 to 1783 known as the American Revolutionary War. This resulted in the independent states uniting to form one nation, breaking away from the empire in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. After seven years of war came effective American victory on the battlefield in October 1781, with British recognition of the United States' independence and sovereignty in 1783.

The American Revolution included a series of social shifts that occurred in the early American society. Many issues of national governance were not settled until the Constitution of the United States (1787), including the United States Bill of Rights (1789) comprising its first 10 amendments, replaced weak Articles of Confederation. In contrast to the loose confederation, the Constitution enshrined the natural rights.

13 Билет

The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It provides the framework for the organization of the United States Government. The document defines the three main branches of the government: the legislative branch with a bicameral Congress, an executive branch led by the President, and a judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court.

The United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; it has since been amended twenty-seven times, the first ten amendments being known as the Bill of Rights. The U.S. Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation as the governing document for the United States. The Constitution has a central place in United States law and political culture.

The federal government of the United States is the central United States governmental body, established by the United States Constitution. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. The policies of the federal government have a broad impact on both the domestic and foreign affairs of the United States. In addition, the powers of the federal government as a whole are limited by the Constitution.