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 1st 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.
2.
“No work, no eat”
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.
JOHN ROLFE John
ANDRolfe
POCAHONTAS
early 1850s, J. W. Glass
Pocohantas
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 Francenew 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.
4.
The Proclamation of 1763 – England’s King George
forbid colonist to settle west of the Appalachian
Mountains.
The Sugar Act of 1764 – tax on sugar from outside
the British Empire.
The Stamp Act of 1765 – required colonist to pay for
tax stamps on newspapers, and various legal
documents. Parliament abolished the Act in 1766.
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 Carpenter’s
Hall in Philadelphia to
protest the Intolerable Acts.
• Decided to stop trade with
Britain unless the Acts were
abolished.
• They also advised colonists
to prepare for war.
• They agree to meet again in
May 1775.
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,
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
4th of July
Independence Day
The Founding Fathers / Founders
Benjamin Franklin
John Hancock
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 Legislative
o 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.