Important events in the American history

The first English settlers came to the era of the present USA in the 17 th century to work for private companies, such as the Virginia company of London. These first colonists consisted mainly of the landless, the unemployment and those in search of religious freedom. They founded Virginia on the shore of Atlantic Ocean in 1607.

The most famous of these early settlers were the Pilgrim Fathers who left England to avoid persecution by King James I. and his Church. The Pilgrim Fathers left the English port Plymouth aboard the ship May – flower in September 1620 and they reached Cape Cod in the present state of Massachusetts in November 1620. They decided to land at the best place they could find. In December they set up a camp at a place they named Plymouth.

The Pilgrims didn’t have enough food and many of them were sick. Winter in that country is sharp with cruel storms. The frozen ground and the deep snow made it difficult for them to build houses. Before spring came, half of the little group of settlers was dead. But the Pilgrims were determined to succeed. The fifty survivors built better houses.

Friendly American Natives (Indians) gave them seed corn and showed them how to plant it. They also showed the Pilgrims the best places to catch fish. As the harvest that summer and autumn was good, the Pilgrims wanted to give thanks to god for their good fortune. After the example of the American Indians who thanked nature for the food, the pilgrims decided to celebrate their first harvest with a feast of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day has become a national holiday and is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday in November.

Another religious group, known as the Quarkees founded the colony called Pennsylvania, while some English Catholics settled in the colony, which they called Maryland.

Within the next few years the Pilgrim Fathers were followed by thousands of other settlers: English, Dutch, Irish… They called their new home New England which is an area of the north – eastern United States including the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

By the end of the 18 th century, the whole of the eastern coast of north America had been colonised. There were 13 colonies under the British rule. The colonies supplied the mother country with raw materials and did not compete in manufacturing.

When Britain asked to contribute to the coast of maintaining the British army through raised taxes, there was a serious opposition to this taxation as there were no American – elected members in the British Parliament. The whole affair culminated by the famous Boston Tea Party when on the night of 16 December 1773 all cargoes of tea of the British East India Company were thrown into the sea.

The British Parliament reacted to this “act of vandalism” by closing Boston harbour. Representatives from the American colonies met in Philadelphia in September 1774 replied by composing a trade embargo on Boston. A war became unavailable. The colonists met again in Philadelphia made George Washington their commander-in-chief and on 4 July 1776 the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed. It includes the famous declaration that “all men are created equal”. That means that all people have rights that cannot be taken from them by any government. All people should therefore be treated as equals before the law. That means, the law should be the same for all American people. The Declaration claims that all men have a natural right to “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

The American ambassador to France Benjamin Franklin persuaded the French government to join in the struggle gainst Britain. The fighting ended when George Washington aided by the French army and navy surrounded the British forces at Yorktown in October 1781. The peace settlement signed in Paris in 1783 recognised the independence and sovereignty of the 13 colonies.

The next 50 years the American having gained control of the continent began to expand across it displacing the Native Americans. Expansion brought problems not least because of the very different societies of the North and the South. The problem of slavery was first raised when Missouri was admitted into the Union in 1821.

The anti-slavery movement gained a great support after the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin by H.B. Stowe. Political divisions over slavery led to the formation of the Republican Party, whose main principle was opposition to the extension of slavery.

The Civil War (1861-1865)

When the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, was elected President on 1860, South Carolina announced that its union with all other states was dissolved. It was followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and formed together a Confederacy with a constitution based on slavery.

The war between the North and the South, the Civil War, broke out in 1861. In the Mississippi Valley in the West, General Grant and his forces gradually split the Confederacy, while in Virginia Union forces suffered numerous defeats against the southern generals, Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jackson. The war become lost for South after the battle of Gettysburg in July 1865, when general Lee and his army were forced to surrender at Appomattox, Virginia.

During the war, on January 1, 1863 President Lincoln issued his Emancipation proclamation in which he announced freeing the slaves in the Confederate States. The Proclamation led in 1865 to the thirteenth amendment to the American constitution, which officially ended slavery in all parts of the United States.

Five days after the Confederate commander, General Lee, surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox in 1865 President Abraham Lincoln was shot death by a Southern fanatic (John W. Booth) during a theater performance in Washington D.C. In less than fifty years, between the Civil War and the First World War, the USA was transformed from a rural republic into an industrial, rich country. The era of expansion was characterised by great inventions. The USA of America was becoming a world power.

WW1

President Woodrow Wilson didn´t want to fight, but Germany wanted to connect Mexico against USA, so Wilson declared war to Germany.

In the twenties there was prohibition, because organized crime was there. Black Thursday came October 24, 1929 when stock market crash in New York. After effects were catastrophic. Over 13 million people were without job. Country was in deep depression. Thanks to the president Franklin D. Roosevelt USA get out of it. Acts were passed that helped banks and farmers and ensured social support for citizens – New Deal.

WW2

• Japanese attack on Pearl harbor on December 7, 1941 – the USA entered the war on the side of the Allies
• Operation Overlord – general Dwight, D. Eisenhower (“ike”)