NATIONAL MOTTO: IN GOD WE TRUST
LECTURE I.
INTRODUCING THE USA. PHYSICAL AND HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. NATIONAL SYMBOLS.
The United States of America, commonly called the United States or simply America, lies in the central part of the North American continent with the Atlantic Ocean to the East, the Pacific to the West, Canada to the North, and Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico to the South.
The United States covers an area of 9,631,419 sq. km., making it the 3rd largest country in the world. The population of the country is 295,734,134 (2005). The UN forecast for 2025 is 325,573 thousand, and for 2050 – 349,318 thousand.
Until the 1500s, what is now the United States was largely a wilderness. Small groups of Indians lived scattered over the land between the Atlantic and the Pacific. People in Europe saw in this vast “new world” a chance to build new and better lives. Through the years large numbers of immigrants from Europe and from almost every other part of the world settled in the country. Except for black Africans brought in as slaves, these immigrants came seeking the rights and the opportunities that had become part of the American way of life. As a result of this immigration, the United States today has one of the world’s most varied populations. It has been called “a nation of immigrants”.
Being the leading capitalist country the USA has covered a most complicated and contradictory way of development in the more than 200 years of its existence. The USA past shows scientific, industrial, agricultural growth and welfare and alongside with this fantastic economic crises and high rates of unemployment.
The USA is divided into 50 states and the District of Columbia ( the territory under the capital Washington), the seat of the national government.
The USA is a country of great differences. At the same time, it has surprising similarities when one considers its size. The differences are partly a result of the geography. One cannot generalize about the weather, the landscape, or even the way of living because the nation occupies nearly half of a continent. In it can be found high mountains and the flattest of prairies, tropical heat and arctic cold, fertile valleys and deserts. There is a variety of natural resources. All sorts of products are raised, and there are industries of every kind. Some of the most densely and the most sparsely populated areas of the world are found in the United States.
If you want to go from San Francisco to New York by train, you must ride more than three thousand miles. On your way you will pass fertile plains of the famous fruit – rising area, the Sierra Nevada mountains with their snow – capped peaks and clear mountain lakes, the Salt Lake desert, the plains of sheep and cattle country known as the land of cowboys, and the richest industrial region of the country. You finally arrive in New York, the largest city in the USA.
The states of the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, are often divided into seven major regions. Each region is made up of states, that have similarities in geography, climate, economy, traditions and history. These regions are: New England, the Middle Atlantic States, the Southern States, the Midwest, the South Western States and the Pacific Coast States.
FACTS IN BRIEF
Capital: Washington, D.C.
Form of government: Republic.
Physical features: Longest river – Missouri, 2, 540 miles (4,090 km). Largest lake within the United States – Michigan, 22,300sq. miles (57,757 sq. km). Largest island – Hawaii, 4,038 sq. miles (10, 458 sq. km).
Flag:Adopted on June 14, 1777.
Motto: In God We Trust, adopted on July 30, 1956
National Anthem: ”The Star – spangled Banner”, adopted on March 3, 1931.
Bird: Bald eagle, adopted on June 20, 1782.
Flower: Rose, adopted on October 7, 1986.
Money: Basic unit – dollar.
THE US NATIONAL FLAG
The true history of the origin of the flag of the USA has become so overcrowded with traditions and legends that at times it is next to impossible to establish the true facts.
No one knows for sure who designed this flag, or who made the first one. Francis Hopkinson, a delegate to the Constitutional Congress, claimed that he had designed it. Most scholars accept this claim.
In 1870, William J. Canby claimed that his grandmother, Betsy Ross, had made the first United States flag in 1776 at the request of a committee composed of George Washington, Robert Morris, and George Ross. Betsy Ross was a Philadelphia seamstress who made flags during the Revolutionary War. However, few historians support Canby’s claim.
The Stars and Stripes is the most popular name for the red, white and blue national flag of the US. No one knows where the name come from but we do know the origin of several other names. Francis Scott Key first called the US flag the Star – Spangled Banner in 1814 when he wrote the poem that became the national anthem in 1931.
William Driver, a sea captain from Salem, Mass., gave the name Old Glory to the US flag in 1824.
The Stars and Stripes stands for the land, the people, the government and the ideals of the United States no matter when or where it is displayed. Some other flags also stand for the United States, or its government, in certain situations. The Navy Jack, a blue flag with white stars, stands for the US whenever it flies from a US navy ship. The stars and colors of the US flag appear in many federal and state flags.
The US flag was raised in its first unified form on January 2, 1776 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It consisted of 13 alternate red and white stripes, equal to the number of states. The original states were Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia. For that flag, on June 14, 1777, “Flag Day”, Congress substituted a similarly striped flag with 13 white stars on a blue field in the left – hand corner.
In 1794, with admission of Vermont and Kentucky, Congress added two more stripes and two more stars. The new country began to grow. More states joined it. But there was no place on the flag for more stripes. So in 1818 the original 13 stripes were restored, to remain unchanged thereafter, for each new state admitted to the Union, however, a new star was to be added.
Today the USA flag has 13 horizontal (7 red and 6 white) stripes and 50 white stars on the blue background representing the 50 states. The red stripes proclaim courage, the white stripes proclaim liberty, the field of blue stands for loyalty.
NATIONAL ANTHEM: “THE STAR – SPANGLED BANNER”
The words were created by Francis Scott Key (1779 – 1843) who watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry in September, 1814, during the war between the USA and Great Britain in 1812 – 1815. The melody was taken from an English song composed by John Stafford Smith (1760-18360). Congress adopted “The Star – Spangled Banner” as a national anthem in 1931.
LIBERTY BELL
The Liberty Bell was cast in England in 1752 for Pennsylvania Statehouse (now Independence Hall). The Liberty Bell, like many Americans, is an immigrant, and it was not always known by its present name. It was originally known as the Old Statehouse Bell or the Province Bell.
Damaged after transit, it was recast in Philadelphia in 1753. It is inscribed with the words “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof”. The bell was rung on July 8, 1776, for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. At every event of national importance, the Liberty Bell joined its harmonious tones to the general acclaim: in 1789, the election of George Washington; in 1797, the election of John Adams; in 1799, the death of Washington, in 1801, the election of Thomas Jefferson.
On July 8, 1835, while telling for the funeral procession of John Marshall, Chief of Justice of the Supreme Court and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the great bell cracked.
It was after this that the Liberty Bell received its name. Since then, the bell has been on display but has never rung. In fact, no one living knows the voice of the Liberty Bell, for it has never spoken since 1835. Now it is in the Independence Hall of Philadelphia.
THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
To many people, the Statue of Liberty is one of America’s most cherished symbols. It is the symbol of freedom, a freedom that millions of people have come to America to find.
The Statue of Liberty is the large copper statue that stands in New York Harbor on Liberty Island
( formerly Bedloe’s Island). Its proper name is Liberty Enlightening the World. France gave the monument to the USA in 1884 as a symbol of friendship and of the liberty that citizens enjoy under a free form of government.
THE BALD EAGLE
The bald eagle serves as the American national bird, a symbol of the size and strength of the nation. In 1782 it was adopted as the national bird for the USA.
Benjamin Franklin objected to the choice of the bald eagle as the American national bird. He wrote, the eagle is “ a bird of bad moral character; he doesn’t get his living honestly…Too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing hawk and… takes fish from him.” Franklin suggested choosing the wild turkey instead, but he was outvoted. His colleagues saw the bald eagle as a symbol of freedom and power.
NATIONAL MOTTO: IN GOD WE TRUST
It was adopted on July, 30, 1956 by US Congress. It first appeared on some US coins in 1864, disappeared and reappeared on various coins until 1955, when Congress ordered it placed on all paper money and coins.
“UNCLE SAM”
It is the nickname for the American government. It rose during the War 1812, when Samuel Wilson was an inspector of provisions destined for the American Army, at Troy. The abbreviation of “US” marked on the casks, was then unfamiliar to the people, and one of the workmen spread the facetious saying that it meant “Uncle Sam” Wilson. The old joke about “Uncle Sam” was carried from camp – fire to camp – fire and permeated all the armies in the field.
LECTURE 2
AMERICANHISTORY
1000Leif Ericson sails to the east coast of North America
1492 October 12. Christopher Columbus lands in the Bahamas
1607Colonists establish first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia.
1776 July 4. The 13 colonies sign the Declaration of Independence
1783 September 3. Britain and US sign Treaty of Paris recognizing American independence. New nation extends from Canada south to Florida, and west from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River.
1787 May 25. Constitutional Convention meets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to revise Articles of Confederation, the compact among states governing the newly independent nation. New Constitution is adopted by delegates on September 17.
1789 February 4. George Washington is elected first president.
1791First 10 amendments, the Bill of Rights, are added to the US Constitution.
1796 John Adams is elected second president
1800 Thomas Jefferson is elected third president
1801 December 1. Federal capital moves to Washington, D.C., from temporary quarters in Philadelphia.
1812War of 1812 against Britain begins. US wins series of naval victories but fails in attempts to invade Canada.
1819US buys Florida from Spain.
1828 Andrew Jackson is elected seventh president. First US passenger railroad is begun. Noah Webster publishes American Dictionary of the English Language
1836 Texas wins independence from Mexico; it is admitted as a state to the Union in 1845.
1860 Abraham Lincoln is elected 16th president.
1863 January 1. President Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation granting freedom to slaves in southern states.
July 1 – 3. Union forces win major battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
November 19. President Lincoln delivers historic Gettysburg Address.
1865 April 9. Civil War ends with surrender of Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, to Union commander, Ulysses S. Grant, at Appo – mattox Court House in Virginia.
April 14. President Lincoln is shot while attending theater in Washington. Lincoln dies the next morning.
1867Territory of Alaska is purchased from Russia.
1878 First telephone exchange opens.
1879Thomas A. Edison invents incandescent electric lamp.
1901 September 14.Eight days after being shot, President William McKinley dies; Vice President Theodore Roosevelt becomes president.
1906President Theodore Roosevelt is first American to receive Nobel Peace Prize.
1908 October 1. Henry Ford introduces efficient, low – cost car, beginning the era of mass production, and “puts America on wheels”.
1914 August 15. Panama Canal, built by the US across Central America, opens, permitting ships to travel from Atlantic to the Pacific without rounding the tip of South America.
1936Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to the second term as president and, in 1940, to an unprecedented third term.
1944 November 7. President Roosevelt is elected to the fourth term.
1945 August 6. Atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima and, three days later on Nagasaki in Japan.
1949 April 4. United States, Canada, and Western European nations form North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to provide mutual military aid if any member is attacked.
1959Alaska becomes 49th state. Hawaii becomes 50th state.
1960 November. John F. Kennedy is elected 35th president.
1961 May 5. Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. makes first manned US space flight.
1968 April 4. Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader and winner of Nobel Peace Prize, is fatally shot in Memphis, Tennessee.
1974 August 9. President Nixon resigns from office, the first president to do so, and is succeeded by Vice President Gerald R. Ford.
1976 July 4. United States celebrates its Bicentennial.
October 3 -21 . Seven Americans win Nobel Prizes, including Saul Bellow for literature and Milton Friedman for economics.
1984 July – August. The 23rd Summer Olympic Games are held in Los Angeles, California (as they were 52 years before, in 1932).
1987 September. The nation celebrates the 2000th anniversary of the Constitution of the USA.
LECTURE 3