Transcript History of the United States

History of the United States
Pre-Colonial America
• The US was first populated by people
migrating from Asia between 50.000 and
11.000 years ago
• These people were Native Americans and
they came before European explorers
The First Europeans
• The first European contact was with the
……………… in the year 1.000
• Leif Ericson established a settlement in
present day Newfoundland
• There was no European contact for the
following 500 years
answer: VIKINGS
European exploration
• In 1492 a navigation error brought Christopher
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Columbus to the Caribbean Sea instead to Asia
He was sailing on behalf of the Spanish crown
After that there was a period of exploration by
various European countries
Dutch, Spanish, English, French, Swedish,
Potuguese settlements were established
English Colonial America
• The first English colony was founded in Virginia
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at Jamestown
In 1620 the ship named Mayflower brought 102
Englishmen to northeast and they founded the
cololny called PLYMOUTH
They called themselves the …………………………
answer: PILGRIM FATHERS
Pilgrim Fathers
• The Mayflower, which
transported Pilgrims
to the New World
arrived in 1620
• Pilgrims wanted to reform
•
(purify) the Church of
England
They wanted to build a
colony on their religious
ideals
Thanksgiving
• The winter was cold and about half of
Pilgrims died
• In spring they planted corn and other
plants with the help of ……………..
• then they celebrated their first harvest in
spring
• They held a feast with much food and
called this day Thanksgiving
17th century
• Many colonists settled in the country
(mostly British, French, German, Dutch
and Irish)
• They settled down in the east
• They seeked for land, wealth, religious
and personal freedom
• These settlements became the first 13
colonies under the British rule
Formation of the US
• The US declared its
independence in 1776
and defeated Great
Britain in the
American
Revolutionary War
• The Boston Tea Party in
1773, often seen as the
event which started the
War
The US was declared in
Philadelphia on 4the July 1776
• Washington´s success –
crossing of the Delaware
• The presentation of the
Declaration of
Independence
The Declaration of Independence
• All men are created equal.
• Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
• Written by Thomas Jefferson
The end of the War of Independence
• It lasted till 1783 when Britain signed the
peace treaty an recognized the USA
• The new Constitution was adopted in
1788 with the help of G. Washington, B.
Franklin and J. Madison
Westward Expansion (18th- 19th
century)
• The US was expanded through purchase of
land (Alaska from Russia, central parts of Am.
from France)
• Wars with Mexico lead to expansion in
California, Arizona, Nevada
• Social reforms were needed, especially the
abolition of slavery
US territorial growth 1810-1920
Civil War (1861-1865)
• The North
• The South
• Blue the Union
• Brown the Confederacy
Match these with either the North
or the South
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The Union
General Lee
The Confederacy
black people
General Grant and
Sherman
Abraham Lincoln
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23 states
Slave system
22 million people
Developed system
9 million people
Battle at Gettysburg
Wanted to abolish slavery
Emancipation Proclamtion
1863
Issued by Lincoln, granted
freedom to all slaves
The war had two main results:
• It put an end to slavery
• Decided that America was a single
and indivisible nation
BUT: it was the worst episode in
Am. history
• It took more American lives than any
other war conflict
• 635.000 dead
The end of the 19th century
• Industrial growth ( esp. in the north)
• Mining, new railways, manufacturing of
steel
• A strong wave of immigration (Ellis Isl.)
World War I
• The US entered it in 1917 to help
France and England
„The Roaring Twenties“
• A period of prosperity which was followed
by the stock market crash in 1929
Great Depression
• High unemployment
• Widespread poverty
• high inflation rate
• It lasted until the beginning of WWII
World War II
• In 1941 after the attack on PEARL
HARBOR
• Truman ordered the atomic bomb dropped
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The Cold War
• Increasing mistrust between the US and
the Soviet Union
• Civil rights movement
• Economic expansion
• US- leader in scientific, medical and
technological achievements
• Neil Armstrong
The first man to step on the
Moon
• „That´s one step for a man, one giant
leap for mankind.“
Tremendous social unrest
American blacks faced racial
discrimination
Martin Luther King
• „I have a dream speech“
• Assassinated in 1968
• Nobel Peace Prize winner
• Demanded and end to racial discrimination
• Struggled for equality
• Baptist priest persecuted by the whites
John F. Kennedy
• Assassinated in 1963
• His death shocked the world
The Vietnam War
• Brought further internal unrest
• US troops were finally withdrawn from
Vietnam in 1975
The End of the Cold War
Ronald Reagan tells Gorbachev to tear
down the Berlin Wall in 1987
Communism ended in 1989
1989-present
• The world´s superpower
• 1991 Gulf War
• September 11, 2001 – Islamist terrrorist attack
• The War on Terrorism started by President BUSH
New York under attack