The USA

There are two major political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The national parties contest presidential elections every four years.

The USA is the member of all major international organizations: UN (United Nations, OSN), OAS (Organization of American States), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

The flag – The American flag is read, white, and blue. The thirteen red and white stripes represent the original thirteen colonies. There are fifty white stars which symbolize 50 states.

INTERESTING PLACES

Shrine of Democracy- giant faces of four presidents (Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt).

The National Air and Space Museum in Washington is the most visited museum in the world. There we can see the rocket which landed as the first on the Moon.

THE HISTORY OF THE USA

Till 1400 native Indians were the only inhabitants.

In 1492 a great demand for spices, textiles and also a navigation error brought Christopher Columbus (an Italian mariner under Spanish monarchs) to the Caribbean Sea instead to Asia.

The colony called Plymouth was founded in the northeastern region (now Massachusetts) in the 17th century. They were Puritans- members of a religious sect which wanted to reform the Church of England. They called themselves the Pilgrim Fathers. They wanted to build up a colony based on their own religious ideals.

Foundation of the USA, The War of Independence (1775-83)

British government started to charge new taxes on sugar, coffee, textiles etc. to cover the costs of the war against France. The american colonists refused to pay taxes. In 1773 a group of patriots, dressed as Indians, threw a cargo of British tea into the Boston Harbor. This Independence was written mainly by Thomas Jefferson.

Many northern states abolished slavery by the early 1880 but southern economy was based on large plantations where slaves have worked. They were used to grow cotton, rice, tobacco and sugar. About sixty years of never ending disputes led to the Civil War between the North and the South. It started after Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. The North won. The War abolished slavery and also decided, once for all, that America was a single and indivisible nation.

Industrial growth started after the Civil War. USA became the world’s leading industrial power. In 1917 the US entered the World War I against Germany and helped France and England. In 1929 the Great Depression started after the stock marked crash.Then unemployment was high and poverty widespread. It lasted till the beginning of the World War II. The war was declared against Japan in 1941 and president Harry Truman ordered the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. American blacks demanded an and to racial discrimination through the civil rights movement- civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated. The assassination of president John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy shocked the world. Economic issues dominated the 80s which began with high unemployment, high inflation and slow economic growth.