3.3. America in XIX c.

In 1801 Thomas Jefferson became the 3^rd President (the Republican). At that time Napoleon was the ruler of France; was fighting many wars in Europe and needed money. He sold Louisiana and New Orleans to the United States for $15 mln. So, the U.S. doubled its size in 1803. In this year the war had broken out between France and Great Britain. In 1812 the U.S. declared war on Great Britain and in 1814 they decided to stop fighting. Nothing changed.

Andrew Jackson became the president of the United States in 1828. The period from 1812 till 1845 (Jackson died) is characterized by fighting the Americans and the Cherokee Indians against the Greek Indians living in the South.

In 1821 Mexico became a free country. Texas broke away from Mexico; in 1836 the leaders of Texas wrote a Declaration of Independence (the Texas Revolution). In 1845 Texas became the 28^th state in the U.S. In 1846 a war started between the U.S. and Mexico. In 1848 it was over, the Rio Grand was the line between the U.S. and Mexico. 15 mln. $ were given for this land by the U.S.

In 1859 Oregon became a state. Oregon had lots of trees for building new houses and good land for farming. Thousands of Americans moved west (1848s). In 1848 a “gold rush” began in California. It became a state in 1850.

After the Mexican War and American’s moving to the West, people from the South wanted to start new plantations there and to bring their slaves. The Northern states did not want slavery in the West. The North and South began to quarrel. The North made their products expensive and made the South pay extra money, or a tax, for the European goods.

In 1860 Abe Lincoln became the president of the U.S. and prohibited slavery. The Civil War began on April 12, 1861. The South did not want to be a part of the Union and started a new country called the Confederate States of America. Robert E. Lee was the leader of the Confederate army. President Lincoln was the leader of the Union. In April, 9 1865 the war was over. A few days after it, Lincoln was shot in the head at the Ford Theatre.

The late 1800’s are characterized by the last Indian Wars (1870 – 1890) and the growth of big business which is connected with the inventions of a telephone, a light bulb, etc., the company General Electric, steel industry (Andrew Carnegie’s steel empire), oil business (John D. Rockefeller got control of most of the country’s oil business).

Answer the questions:

1. Who were the American presidents in XIX c.?

2. What new states appeared during this period?

3. What wars were there in XIX c.?

4. When did the Civil War begin?

5. Why did these wars start?

6. What are the late 1800’s characterized by?

3.4. America in the first half of the XX c.

Theodore Roosevelt became President in 1901, one of the most popular Presidents in American History. To show America’s naval power, he sent sixteen battleships on a trip around the world. He sometimes sent warships and marines to small countries to Latin America to protect American property according to the Monroe Doctrine, which had been issued by President Monroe in1823 as a warning to Europe not to start any new colonies in Latin America.

One idea Theodore Roosevelt had for expanding American power was to build a canal through the narrow land that connects North and South Americas in order the United States Navy could move more easily between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 1914 the work was complete, and the Panama Canal was open to ship traffic.

In the 1920’s America became a nation on wheels. The most popular car was Model T, made by Henry Ford. More people due to so called plan “buying on time” were able to buy expensive goods. Electric ovens were new in the 1920’s.The first radio stations began broadcasting.

In 1929, American business ran into trouble – the stock market crashed, banks and companies went out of business, industries cut down production, jobs were hard to find, wages lowered considerably, farm families lost their land. The situation was so bad and lasted so long that the 1930’s are called the Great Depression.

In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President. He promised Americans a New Deal – new plans to end the Depression. By 1936 there had been started dozens of programs to create new jobs and help people make a new start. So, Roosevelt easily won election to a second term as President. In 1940 he was elected to a third term, which broke the old tradition that limited a President to two terms in office.

On December 7, 1941 Japanese airplanes attacked an American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This was the largest single-day loss in U.S. Navy History. This attack brought the United States into World War II, and Congress declared war on Japan, Germany, and Italy.

After the victory of the Soviet Union over Hitler’s troops in Europe (the Nazi Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945), the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet People was finished. But Japan did not surrender and in the summer of 1945 American airplanes dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It led to Hirohito’s formal surrender on 2 September 1945.

A cold war started between the U.S. and the USSR almost as soon as WW II ended because of disagreement over what should happen to the countries of Eastern Europe. New types of weapons and new forms of using them were invented, and both the United States and the Soviet Union built up a tremendous supply of powerful armaments. This contest became known as the arms race. In April 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created because of fear of Communism as one of the reasons.

Answer the questions:

1. Who were the presidents of America in the first half of the XX c.?

2. What main events took place in this period of time?