15 Билет

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and was the first President of the United States of America (1789–1797).

The Continental Congress appointed Washington commander-in-chief of the American revolutionary forces in 1775. The following year, he forced the British out of Boston, lost New York City, and crossed the Delaware River in New Jersey. As a result of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured the two main British combat armies at Saratoga and Yorktown. Following the end of the war in 1783, Washington returned to private life and retired to his plantation at Mount Vernon.

He presided over the Philadelphia Convention that drafted the United States Constitution in 1787 because of general dissatisfaction with the Articles of Confederation. He sought to create a nation capable of surviving in a world torn asunder by war between Britain and France. Washington began a decade of peace with Britain in 1795.

Washington is seen as a symbol of the United States and republicanism. Washington died in 1799. He has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

17 Билет Protecting the nation (the war of 1812).

By 1812 more and more Americans were calling for war with Great Britain. On June 18, 1812, President James Madison declared a war. From the start, the US had a lot of troubles in the west. Then in September of 1813 Captain Oliver Perry won an important victory on Lake Erie. In the spring of 1814 GB defeated France. The war in Europe was over. So the British gave the attention to fighting in the US. In august they captured Washington DC and reached Baltimore. Thus luck was with the Americans in the east. The last part of the war was fought in the Louisiana Territory. The Americans won a smashing victory at New Orleans. THE GENERAL WAS Andrew Jackson. After this battle the peace treaty was signed. The war was over. No one gained anything from the war. Yet it helped Americans feel more confident about the future of their country.

18 билет The Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy introduced on December 2, 1823, which said that further efforts by European governments to colonize land would be viewed by the United States of America as acts of aggression.

The Monroe Doctrine was invoked to intervene militarily in Latin America to stop the spread of European influence.

The Monroe Doctrine served to inform the powers of the Old World that the Americas were no longer open to European colonization. Basically, the doctrine warned the European powers “to leave America for the Americans.”

Because the U.S. lacked both a credible navy and army, the doctrine was largely disregarded internationally. However, the Doctrine met with tacit British approval, and the Royal Navy mostly enforced it tacitly, as part of the wider Pax Britannica, which enforced the neutrality of the seas.