History and political system of the USA

The USA• the federal republic

• consists of 50 states and the District of

Columbia

• each state has its own government, laws, customs, education, taxes, traffic regulations, etc.

• each state government has to keep to the Constitution, which was officially adopted in 1790 by the original 13 states

• the federal government is responsible only for matters concerning the country as a whole: foreign affairs, defence and finance

The USA

The President• the head of the executive power • chosen in nationwide elections every 4 years• elected by people• quite big power

• duties - appoints federal judges, ministers and ambassadors

- can veto or refuse a law

- proposes bills

White House the seat of the president

Barack Obama

• 44th president of the USA (1st African

American)

• since January 2009

• Democratic party

• Nobel Peace Prize in 2009

• is a graduate of Columbia

University and Harvard

Law School

The Congress• the supreme law-making body in the country

• to make federal laws, declare a war and deal

with foreign treaties

• members - elected in direct election

435 Representatives

100 Senators

• the seat - the Capitol

The Congress• the House of Representatives

- elected for 2 years

- each state has the number of

representatives

according to its population

• the Senate

- elected for 6 years

- 2 members from

each state

Political parties• two leading parties the Democrats

the Republicans

• only rarely – 3rd party or independent representatives

Democratic Party (logo)

Republican Party (logo)

History of the USA

1492

1773

1775-

1783

1776

1861-

1865

1929

Match these dates with events

• signing the Declaration

of Independence

• Boston Tea Party

• Civil War

• discovery of the USA

• Wall Street Crash

• the War of Independence

Discovery and early

settlement• formal history of the USA starts in 1492 when Christopher Columbus reached the continent

OR WITH

• the prehistory of indigenous people (Indians) lived in what is now the US for thousands of years and developed complex cultures

Christopher Columbus• an Italian explorer,

navigator and colonizer

• born in Italy

• completed 4 voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the auspices of Spanish monarchs

• those voyages initiated the Spanish colonization of the New World

First colony

• 1607 - 1st permanent English settlement was founded in Jamestown, Virginia

- named after English king James I

• 1620 – 102 Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth (Massachusetts)

on the Mayflower - these people left England in search of

religious freedom

• by the late 18th century – there were 13 colonies under the British control

Boston Tea Party• 1773 – a group of Americans dressed as

Indians threw 342 large boxes of tea into the sea

The War of Independence• 1775 – 1783• all 13 colonies united in a Congress that led

to armed conflict

• 4th July 1776 the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence which was written by Thomas Jefferson

• it explained the reasons for wanting to be separate from Britain and officially denied colonial obligations to England

• it’s considered as the beginning of the USA

Franklin, Jefferson, Adams working on the

Declaration

George Washington• 1st American

president (1789-97)

• he was called ‘the Father of his Country’

• he led the army to success in American Revolution

• he was elected twice

George Washington• his memory honoured by the Washington

Monument names of the country’s capital, a state, many counties, government buildings, schools, streets, ….

• his image appears on the dollar note

Gold Rush 1848-1849• about 40 000 people moved to California

after gold was discovered there• these people hoped to make fortune• later the gold rush spread to Canada and

Alaska

Civil War 1861 - 1865• 2 main causes – SLAVERY

(should Africans who had been brought by force

to the US be used as slaves???)

– STATE RIGHTS(should US federal government be more

powerful than the governments of individual states???)

Civil War 1861 - 1865The South – economy based on agriculture (cotton

picking = hard work = > slaves)

The North – economy based on industry – larger population, wealthier – slavery was forbidden in the

North

Abraham Lincoln• elected the president in

1860

• was against slavery

• the North won in 1865• the South became part of

the US • slavery was made illegal

everywhere

Great Depression• period of severe economic failure

• from 1929 – 2nd WW• it began in the US when the New York Stock

Exchange fell on October 29th 1929 = Black Tuesday

• many businesses and banks failed and millions of people lost their jobs

Martin Luther King• the most important leader of the US Civil right

movement (famous speech beginning: ‘I have a dream…’)

• led a series of peaceful campaigns against segregation in the southern states

• awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 1964

• murdered in 1968

Bridge September 2013

The USA and the terrorism11th September 2001

• series of suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the

US

• 4 commercial passenger jet planes hijacked

• 2 crashed into the Twin Tower in New York

City (WTC) – both towers collapsed within 2

hours

• 1 crashed into the Pentagon

• 1 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania

(however the target was probably the Capitol

or the White House)

• nearly 3000 victims

The USA and the terrorism• the USA responded to the attacks by

launching the War on Terror• invaded Afghanistan to depose the Taliban,

who had harboured al-Qaeda terrorists