The USA

Colonial life and independence from Britain

How America influenced what we eat?

“The Discovery”

•

12 October 1492

– Christopher

Columbus

reaches the island he names San Salvador (Holy Savior) – he believed he was in India.

• Inhabitants of the land became “Indians” (today they are usually called

Native Americans

).

Why America is called America?

• Italian explorer from Florence,

Amerigo Vespucci

described his journeys he made in the 1490s. • He suggested the existence of the new land to the east of Europe.

The Beginnings of English Expansion in Northern America

•

Sir Walter Raleigh

|ˈrɑːli| asked Queen Elizabeth to start a colony in the new world. • He reached

Roanoke Island

in 1584.

• He named the entire region

Virginia

(from Virgin Queen = Elizabeth I).

Roanoke

Roanoke Island 1

st

settlement

• Complete failure! • Most of the people died of hunger and attacks from Indians.

The Second time

• • In 1587, Raleigh sent colonists a second time with wives and children.

John White

was the colony’s governor.

The Lost Colony

• John White returned to England for supplies.

• He returned to America in August 1590 to find no colonists on Roanoke Island.

• On one of the trees they find a caption “

CROATOAN

” (it was the name of an island nearby as well as the name of the Native Americans living in the area.

The Virginia Company

• In 1606,

King James I

gives permission to the Virginia Company of London to try a colony.

• On

May 14, 1607

, the settlers began building the first English permanent settlement on the James River in Virginia.

• Jamestown was named after the King James I.

Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown and Roanoke Island

John Smith

• In 1608

, John Smith

takes over leadership of the Jamestown colony.

• Problems: hunger, disease, Indians.

• January 1608, only 38 of the colonists remained alive.

• Colony survives because: 1.

“No work, no eat” 2.

Bargaining for food with the

Powhatan Indians

.

Pocahontas

• Johns Smith fights with Powhatan Indians.

• He is taken prisoner • He was saved by Pocahontas, a Powhatan Native American.

Tobacco

• Englishman

John Rolfe

in 1614 found a way to harvest tobacco. • He also married Pocahontas in 1614 and thus created peace with the Powhatan Native Americans for 8 years.

Princess Pocahontas

• Pocahontas, character of popular culture.

• Brought to England, is baptized and dies young of smallpox a disease she did not know.

Pocohantas JOHN ROLFE AND POCAHONTAS early 1850s, J. W. Glass

Government and slavery

• In 1619, a Dutch ship brings the first Africans to Jamestown – beginning of slavery.

• In 1619, The Virginia Company of London sends 90 women to Jamestown as wives for the settlers (120 pounds of tobacco for a wife)

After Jamestown

•

Jamestown

colonists went to live in America because they wanted to get rich. They were sent there by businessmen (Virginia Company).

• The second important group of colonists came to live in America because they wanted

religious freedom

.

Religious conflicts in England

•

James I

– conflict with the

Puritans

• Puritans decide to emigrate – first to Holland then to America.

• Protestant dissenters: the

Puritans

– influenced by the teachings of John Calvin.

•

Puritans

– because they wanted to keep the English Church (and English people) “pure”. • They did not recognize bishops, did not want colourful churches and sumptuous masses.

1620: The Pilgrim Fathers

• 16 September 1620,

Pilgrims

leave England (Plymouth).

• They are called

Pilgrims

– because they went there for

religious

purposes.

The Mayflower

The Pilgrim Fathers / Pilgrims land in America

9 November 1620

• They land in

Massachusetts

(land named after Native American people living there).

• The first settlement is called

Plymouth

.

• The land is called

New England

.

New England: Cape Cod

Difficult life of the early colonists

• Problems similar to the problems of the previous settlers: hunger and diseases.

• Half of the colonists (50 out of more than 100) die during the first winter.

• The rest saved by native Americans who helped them and showed new food: corn, pumpkin, turkey.

Thanksgiving

• Every third Thursday in November.

• Thanks to God for good harvest after one year in America, in

November 1621

.

The Great Migration

• Ten years later, in 1630, a second much larger group came to America, around 1000 people.

• They established

Boston

.

• Between 1630-1640, around 20 000 colonists came to America.

• In 1661 – Plymouth Colony + Boston Colony = Massachusetts.

Puritan Values

• Puritans had a lasting influence on American culture.

• Very idealistic: (“city on the hill”, “the New Jerusalem”).

• But not very tolerant: duty of the government to make people obey God’s law, e.g.

o going to the church compulsory o drinking, adultery and long hair in men punished

American Utopia

• America: model for other nations (doctrine of

American exceptionalism

).

• Hard work and self moderation.

• Education for all children.

• Self-government.

Formation of Other Colonies

• 1626 – Colonists form Holland build

New Amsterdam

. In 1664 captured by the English and re-named

New York

.

• 1634 –

Maryland,

a colony where Catholics could settle.

• In 1681 William Penn – received a permission to start a colony in America:

Pennsylvania

.

• 1691 – supporters of Charles II created

North Carolina

. • The last English colony was

Georgia

– settled in 1733.

13 English Colonies

American flag

Stars and Stripes

Growth of the Colonies

• Three major cities Philadelphia, New York and Boston.

• In 1770 –

Philadelphia

, the biggest American city with the population of 28 000.

Philadelphia

English Colonies: 3 groups

• • •

New England

colonies – mainly Puritans.

Middle Colonies

(Pennsylvania) – greater religious tolerance and diversity; people not only from England but also Germany, Sweden and Holland.

Southern Colonies

(Virginia, Carolinas, Georgia) – large plantations with slaves brought from Africa.

Westward expansion

• After 1733 – colonists start to expand to the west of the American continent looking for new land and new opportunities • The area where European settlement came to an end and the forest lands of the Amerindians began, was called

the frontier

(or later the

Wild West

).

• “Frontier way of life”: independence, self-reliance, toughness.

Conflicts with England

• Costly war with France new taxes on imports of sugar, coffee, textiles, and other goods.

• Need to feed the English soldiers.

• Limits on the expansion to the West.

• New taxes and regulations.

• Colonists' fear: government too powerful: “No taxation without representation”

Events leading up to the revolution

1.

2.

3.

The Proclamation of 1763

– England’s King George forbid colonist to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains.

The Sugar Act of 1764

the British Empire.

– tax on sugar from outside

The Stamp Act of 1765

– required colonist to pay for tax stamps on newspapers, and various legal documents. Parliament abolished the Act in 1766.

4. The Townshend Acts of 1767

placed a duty on imported goods including glass, lead, paint, and paper. Americans responded by not buying British goods.

Boston Tea Party

• On December 16, 1773,

Samuel Adams

led young men, disguised as Indians, on a raid of British ships docked in Boston’s harbor. • They dumped the cargoes of tea overboard. • This was later called the

Boston Tea Party.

The Intolerable Acts of 1774

• Britain’s response to the Boston Tea Party. • One act closed Boston’s harbor until the colonists paid for the destroyed tea. • Another took away nearly all power from Massachusetts’ legislature. • Control of the colony was given to the newly appointed British governor, General Thomas Gage.

The First Continental Congress

•

September 5 – October 26, 1774

• Attended by representatives from all the colonies except Georgia. • They met in abolished. May 1775.

Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia

to prepare for war. to protest the Intolerable Acts. • Decided to stop trade with Britain unless the Acts were • They also advised colonists • They agree to meet again in

The Forces

• Britain had large numbers of well trained soldiers. Their uniforms included bright red jackets: “

redcoats

”.

• The colonies did not have a central government, army, or navy. • Each colony did have a small citizen army called the

militia

: ordinary people.

The American Revolution: 1775

• Fighting between British soldiers and the American Patriots began April 19,1775, at Lexington and Concorde, Massachusetts. • The war’s last major battle was at Yorktown, Virginia in September and October 1781.

• Britain formally recognized America independence with the signing of the treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783.

July 4, 1776

• Declaration of Independence • New Philosophy of human freedom.

• Inspired by John Locke: natural rights of all humankind.

• Government based on popular consent.

• Benjamin Franklin: sent to Paris, makes a deal with France (Feb 8, 1778).

Declaration of Independence

• July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence

4 th of July Independence Day

The Founding Fathers / Founders

John Hancock Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson George Washington James Madison

The Statue of Liberty Declaration of Independence

The Treaty of Paris

• • • Signed September 3, 1783 The Treaty recognized the independence of the new nation. Established its borders – from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River; north to Canada; and south to Florida

Constitutional Convention

• May 1787 - Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

• Washington – leader • March 1789 – Constitution • 1791 – 10 Amendments: Bill of Rights – basic personal freedoms.

• 1789 – George Washington – the first president

Beginnings

• • • The most important document is the Constitution of the United States.

Finished in 1787 and officially adopted in 1790.

Before that the Articles of Confederation (1781).

The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia

55 delegates from 13 former colonies .

Constitution: interesting facts

• The constitution represents “the supreme law of the land”. o When state constitutions or laws are in conflict with the federal Constitution – these laws have no force.

• The oldest in the world still in force (Polish “May” Constitution 1791).

• Model for constitutions in other countries.

• Only 27 amendments to date.

Key principles

• The separation of powers.

• Three branches: o o Legislative Executive o Judicial • Each one having powers over the other.

• System of checks and balances (system hamulców i równowagi) .

The Bill of Rights (10 amendments)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Freedom of religion.

Freedom to possess guns.

No searching without warrant.

No private property taken without compensation.

Right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury.