Билет 28. The 1715 and 1745.

The tribes opposed to the Campbell raised in army. The rising was expected by the government as a reaction on the accession of George I. 1715 November – the Battle of Sheriffmuir. Duke of Argyle commanded royal forces in Scotland and 3500 his men held up 8000 Scottish Jacobites under the Earl of Mar. This battle had the effect of checking the advance of the revolt. 1745 – the grandson of James II – Charles Edward Stewart (“Bonnie Prince Charlie”, “the Young Pretender”) landed in Scotland and marched south to Edinburgh with 2500 men. There Charles’s father was proclaimed the king of England and Scotland, then Jacobites defeated the English army. Charles moved to the South in England and created a panic in London, but not many Jacobites joined them in England, as they expected, and Charlie decided to retreat. 1746 – the Battle at Culloden, the Jacobites were defeated by the English army.

As a result, the clan system was completely destroyed. Chiefs were replaced and transformed into landowners. The tribal culture was supressed, the tribal lands were turned into sheep farms. 40 000 emigrated to America, more moved into industrial towns. The main reason for mass sufferings in Highlands (as well as in Ireland) was the rapid leap from tribal to bourgeoisie stage without feudalism and intermediate stage, which other countries had.

Билет 29. Developments in the system of government. In the period following 1688 two-party system became established as a permanent feature of Britain’s political life. The Cabinet, which was originally a small body of royal advisers, began to take its modern shape and gradually became the most important organ in the british system of government. The Cabinet system and Prime Minister were not considered in the Revolution Settlement, they grew up gradually to meet the country’s needs.

With the accession of the House of Hanover to the throne in 1714 the executive power passed from the King to the PM. This was helped by the fact that George I was not interested in the country and didn’t even know English, so he didn’t attend the Cabinet meetings and let Whigs run the government for him. Since that time no monarch has ever attended these meetings.

Sir Robert Walpole, the Whig Minister from 1721 till 1742 did most to develop the principle of the common responsibility of the cabinet and made the PM the leading man both in the Cabinet and in the House of Commons. He drove out those who didn’t agree on his policy from the Cabinet and formed the machinery by which Britain has since been ruled. The Cabinet is the link between legislative and executive, and the essential part of modern British policy.

Walpole himself never took the name of Prime Minister, though he carried most of the powers of the PM. He presided over Cabinet meetings and reported important decisions to the King. The PM’s residence in Downing Street was given to him by George II and passed to his successors. Due to Walpole’s long rule England had the time of domestic peace and stability.

The Revolution Settlement did not supply England with the new, unalterable, written constitution. But foe England it was not at all necessary. A written constitution, different from the sum of ordinary law and customs, is alien to the English political system.

The long rule of Whigs resulted in a split into two factions. One of the factions called “the Younger Whigs” and headed by William Pitt the Elder, represented the aggressive war-seeking section of bourgeoisie, while Walpole represented its conservative and peaceful section. The Younger Whigs demanded an open colonial war, focusing their attention on frequent conflicts with Spain in trade sphere. Walpole in 1739 unwillingly agreed on the war which was called “the War of Jenkin’s Ear”. This war ended the Walpole age and began the age of Pitt, who is regarded as Britain’s greatest empire-builder.

Билет 30. The Early history of the USA. In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh established the first English colony in what is now the USA and called it Virginia in honor of Elizabeth I. But the first English colonists were mostly incapable of working, so the first colonies in Virginia were failures. The first successful and permanent settlement in Virginia was established in 1607, under King James I. In 1620 a group of Puritan refugees from England, reached North America in their ship Mayflower. They founded a settlement there, Plymouth. This was the beginning of the northern English colonies in America. These first colonies were called New England.

The settlers in New England were completely different from the aristocratic southerns in Virginia. They were Puritans and had many good qualities which helped the development of these colonies. As a result, the New England settlements were prosperous colonies and had, from the start, a capitalist character. In twenty years 30,000 Puritans settled in New England. The Royalists emigrated to Virginia, where they bought large estates and tobacco plantations. Labour on these plantations was first provided by the poor from England, Scotland and Ireland, but after 1660 all the English colonies began to replace their white labour with black slaves from Africa.

By the end of the 17^th century the English dominated the whole of the Atlantic coast except Florida. The main rival of the English in the colonization of North America were the French. After the Seven Years’ War the English kept the territories they had conquered in America.The rest of the French province of Louisiana was transferred to Spain. The disappearance of the French from the North American Continent as a result of the Seven Years’ War, led to the collapse of the first British Empire. The results of the war relieved the English colonists of the dangers which made them look for protection in England.

Билет 31. The American Revolution and the War of Independence. Capitalism in the English colonies in North America was developing rapidly, the interests of the colonial bourgeoisie were different from those of British manufacturers. British Parliament passed a number of laws to paralyze the rising industry and commerce in the colonies. Trade between the English colonies and the French and Spanish settlements in America was also prohibited. Smuggling became one of the national employments of all the Americans. After the wars with France Britain was in financial difficulties, and the burden of high taxes was put on the people, especially in the colonies. The Empire in the 18^th century demanded that the most valuable products of the colonies (tobacco, rice, sugar etc.) should only be exported to England. The colonists had to pay for the English troops stationed in the colonies. It caused immediate protest and the colonists raised the slogan “No taxation without representation”. It was over this issue that the Revolution was made. The important thing was that the American bourgeoisie were growing up and had to break the barriers standing in their way.

The Americans banned English goods, and the first open act of violence against the English was the Boston Tea Party. 1774 – First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. American patriots organised military training, and in 1775 the first shots of the war were fired at Lexington. The Second Continental Congress met again in Philadelphia, organised the “American Continental Army”, George Washington being its commander. The hostilities(военные действия) began at Bunker Hill in 1775. The first years of the war brought a number of English successes – the American soldiers lacked discipline and military training. 1777 – the Americans won their first victory, which brought France, Spain and Holland into the war against England and was the turning point of the war. The North was under American control. The war continued in the South, where after several defeats the Americans won the decisive battle in 1781. The king George III signed the treaty only in 1783. Britain recognised the independence of the United States (former 13 colonies). The American Constitution was adopted in 1789.

Билет 32. England’s rise as the workshop of the world. During the period between 1760-1850 Britain became the first industrial power in the world (“the workshop of the world”). There are reasons why industrialization took place earlier in England than in other countries: 1) Early decline of feudalism, the growth of strong bourgeoisie which held a successful revolution in the 17^th century. 2) Colonial expansion – the accumulation of the capital and increasing demand of goods. 3) Technical improvements in agriculture freed labourers for work in the factories and provided the growing industrial population with food. 4) Important inventions which encouraged technical progress in industry an the development of transport. 5) Large resources of coal and iron were a necessary base of raw material. The revolutionary economic changes were accompanied by social and political changes. ? The accumulation of capital, reasons: - the growing National Dept, hence growing taxation, and great masses of capital were concentrated in the City of London (Bank of England founded in 1694); - the rapid increase of trade, based on the monopoly in the colonial empire; - the direct plunder(разграбление) of India.

Билет 33. The Agrarian revolution. Agriculture was the most important of English industries in the eighteenth century. The changes that took place at this time in agricultural technique created conditions, without which the Industrial Revolution was impossible.

The Revolution of 1688 brought England into closer contact with the more advanced technique of Holland and such things as artificial grass crops like clover. The introduction of these crops meant the change from the old rotation of two corn crops for a more scientific rotation. The introduction of fodder(фураж) made it possible to feed beasts throughout the winter. The new methods of breeding had the effect on the growing of corn. Oxen were found unsuitable for the deep ploughing and were gradually replaced by horses. By the beginning of the nineteenth century an all iron plough came into general use. The “improving landlords” put their capital into the land and studied, practised scientific agriculture and stock -breeding. Thus each advance in one branch of agriculture led to further advance in other branches. All these changes could only take place with the use of big quantities of capital.

The most striking feature of the Revolution was the rise in the number of inhabitants of Britain during the reign of George III, from about 7,5 to above 14 millions. This rise in population was due to the improvements in medical science and practice, and to an improved standard of living.

A large immigration of Englishmen from the rural districts into the new industrial areas was taking place, the rise in population coinciding with new opportunities for employment in industrial centres. But changes occurred in the rural village too: the removal of industries from the villages to urban areas; and the enclosure(огораживание общинных земель) of fields to grow more corn.

The Industrial Revolution destroyed the full-time employment of villagers in such trades as spinning , clock-making, basket-weaving, carriage and wagon building, milling and brewing, saddlery tailoring, and the great national industry of cloth-weaving.

The enclosure movement was necessary to feed the increasing population. The enclosures of the 18^th century were compact farms on which the new farming could be profitably carried out. More than four million acres of land were enclosed under Enclosure Acts between 1717-1820. But the enclosures had not brought equal benefits to all. The smaller farmers were ruined because they could not compete with the up-to-date methods of their richer neighbours.

The revolution in agriculture had three results: 1) It increased the productivity of land and made possible the feeding of the industrial population. 2) It provided a force of free labourers corresponding to the free capital, when the large scale production was at last possible, which was the essence of the Industrial Revolution. 3) It created a big internal market for manufactured goods. The farmer with his domestic industry and his isolation, might consume much and yet buy very little. The labourer usually consumed much less but everything he consumed had to be bought.