- •Early america
- •Native Americans
- •E uropeans Explore the New World
- •Causes of Exploration
- •Motives for Exploration
- •Spaniards in the New World
- •The English in the New World
- •The Old and New Worlds Meet
- •The colonial period
- •The Chesapeake Settlements
- •Cultural Focus: Setting up Slavery
- •The New England Colonies
- •The Mayflower Compact
- •Cultural Focus: Thanksgiving Day
- •The Southern Colonies
- •Colonial Life and Institutions
- •New England
- •The Middle Colonies
- •Southern Colonies
- •Colonial Culture
- •Fighting for independence Colonies on the Eve of the Revolution
- •The French and Indian War
- •Taxation without Representation
- •American Revolution
- •War Begins
- •Declaration of Independence
- •Fighting for Independence
- •Forming a republic
- •The us Constitution
- •Focus on Government
- •Westward expansion
- •Acquiring Western Lands
- •The War of 1812 and its Effect
- •Cultural Focus: Uncle Sam
- •Settling the Frontier
- •Life on the Frontier
- •Indian Resistance and Removal
- •The civil war and the reconstruction
- •New States: Free or Slave?
- •The South and the North
- •The Conflict Begins
- •Fighting for the Union
- •The After-War Period
- •The Reconstruction Period
- •2) Recruit, recruitment
- •Growth and transformation
- •The Last Frontier
- •Industrial Growth
- •Immigration in the Age of Industrial Growth
- •Labor Unions
- •The Progressive Era
- •Cultural Focus: National Parks in America
- •2) Annihilate, annihilation
- •3) Exterminate, extermination, exterminator
- •4) Magnify, magnification
- •Modern history the united states before, during and after world war I
- •Becoming an Empire
- •The usa before World War I
- •Entering the War
- •Cultural Focus: Veterans' Day
- •Post-War Years
- •The Booming Twenties
- •The Great Depression
- •Isthmus, annexation, collide, ultimatum, crucial, negotiate, armistice, consumerism, disparity, subsidy
- •World war II and its aftermath
- •Beginning of World War II
- •The usa in World War II
- •The usa after World War II
- •The Post-War Foreign Affairs
- •The Cold War at Home and Abroad
- •The post-war era
- •Changing Economic Patterns
- •New Patterns of Living
- •Cultural Focus: Levittown
- •The Culture of the Fifties
- •The Other America
- •1) Suburb, suburban, suburbanite, suburbia
- •2) Fertile, fertility, fertilize, fertilizer
- •3) Metropolis, metropolitan
- •Time of change
- •Cold War – 2
- •The War in Vietnam and Watergate
- •The Civil Rights Movement
- •Ethnicity and Activism
- •The Rise of Feminism
- •The Revolt Generation
- •Approaching the new era
- •From Recession to Economic Growth
- •The End of the Cold War
- •Information Age and the Global Economy
- •Terrorism
- •Bibliography
Cultural Focus: National Parks in America
In the late 19lh – early 20th century, the system of national parks developed in America. Today Americans say: "We do not have magnificent cathedrals or ancient historic buildings as Europeans have, instead we own great geographical attractions that are carefully preserved". American national parks attract millions of visitors every year – they come to see wild nature's beauty.
One of the first people to speak about a "national park" was George Catlin (1796–1872), a self-taught artist who traveled among the native peoples of North America, sketching and painting portraits, landscapes, and scenes from daily Indian life. On a trip to the Dakotas in 1832, he worried about the impact of America's westward expansion on Indian civilization, wildlife, and wilderness. They might be preserved, he wrote, "by some great protecting policy of government... in a magnificent park.... A nation's park, containing man and beast, in all the wild and freshness of their nature's beauty!"
The idea was accepted many years later, when in 1864, Congress donated Yosemite Valley to California for preservation as a state park. The establishment of Yellowstone National Park by act of Congress on March 1, 1872, for the first time signified that public lands were to be administered by the federal government "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people".
In 1891, President Harrison established Yellowstone Timberland Reserve as the nation's first forest reserve, and in 1903, President Roosevelt established Pelican Island in Florida as the first national wildlife refuge. There was still no real system of national parks in the United States until August 25, 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act creating the National Park Service (NPS). At that time the NPS was responsible for protecting 40 national parks and monuments then in existence. Only in 1933, a truly national system of parks – a system that includes areas of historical, cultural, scientific, and scenic importance was developed.
Today the National Park System comprises 376 areas covering more than 83 million acres in 49 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. These areas are of such national significance as to justify special recognition and protection in accordance with various acts of Congress.
Task 2. Answer the following questions.
Hqw did American government encourage people to settle new territories?
What impact did the railroad network have on Native Americans?
What land was reserved for Native Americans?
What were the signs of industrial growth in the USA in the early 20th century?
What changes did the influx of immigrants bring to the country?
What factors caused high job-fatality rate and workers' poverty?
What were the factors promoting further unionization of the work ers?
What were the aims of Progressive movement?
What reforms were advocated by Progressives?
10. What were the major achievements of the Roosevelt era?
Task 3. Vocabulary development. State the meaning of the following derivatives and fill in the gaps.
1) reserve (n, v), reservation
a) President the right to veto Parliament's decisions.
b) is an area kept in natural state to protect the site or species
living there.
c) Today Native American tribes live in special zones called .