Novik N A - Stranovedenie SShA geografia istoria ekonomika kultura Country Studies USA geography history economy

УДК 811.111(075.8)
ББК 81.2Англ-923
Н73
Р е ц е н з е н т ы: кандидат филологических наук, доцент, декан факультета иностранных языков для руководящих работников и специалистов ИПК и ПК учреждений
образования «Минский государственный лингвистический университет» Л.В. Шимчук;
кафедра английского языка экономических специальностей факультета международных
отношений учреждения образования «Белорусский государственный экономический
университет» (кандидат филологических наук, доцент С.А. Дубинко)
Все права на данное издание защищены. Воспроизведение всей книги или любой ее
части не может быть осуществлено без разрешения издательства.
ISBN 978-985-06-2664-6 (отд. изд.)
ISBN 978-985-06-2663-9
© Новик Н.А., 2015
© Оформление. УП «Издательство “Вышэйшая
школа”», 2015
CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Unit 1. Geography and cultural regions of the U.S.A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Unit 2. History of the United States. From colonization to the American
Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Unit 3. History of the United States. From the 18th to the beginning
of the 20th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Unit 4. History of the United States. The U.S. in the 20th and 21st
centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Unit 5. Federal government of the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Unit 6. U.S. economy and demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Unit 7. The United States – nation of immigrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Unit 8. U.S. culture and American identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Unit 9. American cultural traits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Unit 10. American English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Unit 11. U.S. education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Unit 12. Tourist attractions in the United States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
R e f e r e n c e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
PREFACE
This textbook is designed to introduce the students majoring in intercultural communication and cross cultural studies to
the world of U.S.A. It incorporates the study of geography,
economy, history, politics, literature, art, culture, education,
American stereotype, population growth and structure, and
American English.
Within modern memory people all over the planet have become remarkably conscious of the U.S.A. No wonder, the U.S.
dollar is still one of the most convertible currencies. Even remote villagers know about this land “from sea to shining sea,”
about California and the White House. “When America sneezes, the world gets a cold,” they say.
So, the subject of this textbook is the U.S.A. or America. A
key goal is to stimulate the students’ curiosity about the U.S.A.
While reading it the students will become better informed and
more experienced in understanding American culture and people. Furthermore, understanding of cultural difference leads to
an ability to communicate across difference, even if we don’t
share the same beliefs, values, and objectives, etc.
This course entails studying a complex and balanced picture of the U.S.A., identifying good and bad in the country’s
social, political, and cultural life. It shows that the U.S. is more
diverse than Hollywood westerns, Fourth-of-July bravado, and
MTV would lead foreigners to believe.
The book brings together ideas, concepts and facts from a
wide variety of sources. Structurally, it is divided into twelve
units; each unit offers the following four tools:
First, a statement of the major themes to be found in it;
Second, a list of key words and proper names;
Third, a structured text complemented by additional information under the heading Interesting to know;
Fourth, a summary of key points with a series of discussion
questions.
A set of tests to better comprehend the material contained
in each unit is placed at the end of the textbook followed by the
keys to each test and a list of references or sources.
4
Moreover, the textbook is supplied with a disc containing
the basic information mentioned in the book.
Hopefully, with the knowledge improved and expanded by
this course, University graduates will have the expertise necessary to gain employment in the field of their major.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Mr. Mark K. Crawley for the valuable
advice he has given me in the writing of this book.
I am also grateful to Mr. Richard Grafstein for his helpful
recommendations about American cultural traits.
Unit
1
GEOGRAPHICAL
AND CULTURAL REGIONS
OF THE U.S.A.
This unit will describe the land, physical features, and climate of
the United States of America, and cover the following items:
the U. S. political geography and political divisions;
origin of states’ names;
the capital and largest cities of the U.S.;
U.S. politics;
U.S. physical geography: major lakes and river systems,
mountains, and deserts;
climate and environment;
American regional diversity and Americanization;
cultural regions in detail: the Northeast, the South, the West,
the Midwest, the Southwest.
Key Words and Proper Names: adjacent, arid (semi-arid), as of
2013 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, contiguous, converge, county,
6
cultural identity, drainage, drawl, extant political entities, extraction,
fossil fuel, freight, gorge, homogenizing influence, intermixing of
cultures, level off regional differences, metro area, offshore rig,
parish, precipitation, pronounced peculiarities, resentment, reverence for the past, startling, statehood, thrift, tolerance, township,
tribe, tributary, urban sprawl;
the Appalachian Mountains, the Adirondacks, the Cordilleran system, the Great Plains, the Interior Highlands, the Interior Plains, the
Ozark Plateau, the Intermontane Plateaus, the Laurentian Highlands,
the Rocky Mountains; the Great Lakes (the Superior, Huron, Michigan,
Ontario, and Erie), the St. Lawrence River, the Mississippi-Missouri
rivers; the Chihuahuan Desert, the Colorado Desert, the Great Basin,
the Mojave Desert, the Sonoran Desert, Sunbelt and Frostbelt;
Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner, Katherine Anne Porter,
Amerigo Vespucci, Martin Waldseemüller, Robert Penn Warren,
Tennessee Williams, Thomas Wolfe.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is a constitutional federal republic, which comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several
territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
To call the country America is not absolutely correct. It is called the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the U. S. of A., America, the States, or (poetically) Columbia depending on a degree of formality.
In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller made a world map
on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere as “America” after
Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer and cartographer.
The country’s modern name was first used in the Declaration of Independence, as the “unanimous Declaration of the 13 united States of America” adopted by the “Representatives of the United States of America” on
July 4, 1776. The current name was finalized on November 15, 1777, when
the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation,
which state, “The Stile (name) of this Confederacy shall be ‘The United
States of America’ ” [25].
The United States of America is the third largest country in the world after Russia and Canada with an area of 9,826,675 sq km [33].
The estimated U.S. population as of August 29, 2015 was 321,628,000
people including an approximate 11.2 million illegal immigrants. So, in size
of population it is also the third in the world behind China and India.
The US political geography: The U.S. has the longest undefended
ground border in the world with Canada and also shares a long ground border with Mexico.
7
The country is divided into three distinct sections: a) the continental
United States also known as the lower 48; b) Alaska, which is physically
connected only to Canada, c) and the archipelago of Hawaii in the central
Pacific Ocean. 49 states (all except Hawaii) lie on the North American continent; and 48 of them (all except Alaska) are contiguous and form the continental United States.
The state’s names are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North
Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
As said above, the U.S. also holds several other territories, districts and
possessions, first of all, the federal district called the District of Columbia,
which is the nation’s capital, and several overseas areas. The most significant of them are Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana
Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. The U.S. Navy has held one
military base called Guantanamo at an occupied portion of Guantanamo Bay
on Cuba since 1898.
The 50 U.S. states vary widely in size and population. The largest states
in area are Alaska with an area of 1.7 million sq km, followed by Texas, and
California. The smallest state is Rhode Island, with an area of 4,002 sq km.
The state with the largest population is California (35.8 million people), followed by Texas, and New York. A little more than 500,000 people live in
Wyoming, which is also the least populous state. New Jersey, on the other
hand, is the most densely populated state.
Interesting to know: State names speak to the circumstances of their creation. We may find:
British names. Southern states on the Atlantic coast originated as British
colonies named after British monarchs: Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia,
and Maryland. Some northeastern states, also former British colonies, take
their names from places in the British Isles: New Hampshire, New Jersey,
and New York.
Native American names. Many states’ names are those of Native American tribes or are from Native American languages: Nebraska, Kansas, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, Missouri, Idaho, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois,
Minnesota, the Dakotas, Mississippi, Texas, Utah, and others.
Spanish names. Many states in the southeast and southwest have Spanish names, because they are on territories previously controlled by Spain
8
or Mexico. They include Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, California and
Nevada.
French names. Because it was previously a French colony, Louisiana is
named after Louis XIV (King of France at the time).
Thus, some of the names that appeared on the map starting with the 16th
century were those of English and French kings and queens, or some famous people, living and dead. Some names were taken from history and literature. There were names taken from geology, others were connected with
important events in the life of the people. The new places got the names of
places the people had come from. Along the east coast of the United States,
such English names as Plymouth, Cambridge, London, and Boston can be
found. English names often appear with the word “new” as a prefix: New
England, New Britain, New York.
The first people to arrive in America from Holland built a town that they
named New Amsterdam, in honor of the capital of their country in Europe.
But forty years later, when Holland was at war with England, an English
fleet under the command of the Duke of York appeared before New Amsterdam. The town had no army; the English occupied the town and renamed it
New York. And this is the name that has remained to this day. Its correct
name is New York City, whereas just New York is the name of the whole
state. Washington, D.C. also has its namesake state – Washington, named
after the first President which is situated in the northwest of the country, on
its Pacific coast.
The state of New York has Borodino. One of the hottest places in
the Californian desert was called Siberia, which, no doubt, produces a
humoristic effect on those who know the geography of Russia. There
are twenty-two towns in the United States that are called London, or
New London, eighteen towns named Bristol, many named Chester,
Windsor or New Windsor. There are towns named Philadelphia in four
states, besides the Philadelphia that is the largest city in the state of
Pennsylvania. Moscow can be found in eleven American states. In the
mid-19th century there emerged five or six Sevastopols on the map of
the USA. Odessa is met nine times, and only two of these are situated
on the seashore, the rest of them are inland towns. All this explains the
American tradition of writing the name of the state as well as the name
of the city.
Washington, D.C., or the District of Columbia (also known as the Nation’s Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital
city and administrative district of the U.S.A.
Washington, D.C. is a part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan
Area, which includes parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. It
9
should not be confused with the U.S. state of Washington, located in the Pacific Northwest.
The District of Columbia is a federal district. As specified by the U.S.
Constitution, the District is ruled by the U.S. Congress, though it is unrepresented in that body. The population of the District of Columbia is more than
5 million people.
The centers of all three branches of the U.S. federal government are situated in Washington, D.C., as well as the headquarters of most federal
agencies. Washington also serves as the headquarters for the World Bank,
the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, and
other international (and national) institutions. Washington is also the site of
numerous national landmarks, museums, and is a popular destination for
tourists.
Largest cities: The U.S. has dozens of major cities, including several
important global cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
The figures expressed below are for populations within 10 city limits (as of
2014 U.S. Census Bureau estimates) [34].
Rank
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
City
New York City
Los Angeles
Chicago
Dallas
Houston
Philadelphia
Washington, D.C.
Miami
Atlanta
Boston
Population
Region
19, 949,502
13,131,431
9,537,289
6,810,913
6,313,158
6,034,678
5,949,859
5,828,191
5,522,942
4,684,299
Northeast
West
Midwest
South
South
Northeast
Northeast
South
South
Northeast
Extensive areas of urban sprawl exist in larger metropolitan areas such as
Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; and New York City.
U.S. politics: The states are generally divided into smaller administrative
regions, including counties, cities and townships, with the exception of Louisiana, where counties are called parishes. They incorporate cities, villages, towns.
Altogether, there are about 85,000 extant political entities in the U.S. including
counties, municipalities, townships, school districts, and special districts.
U.S. politics is represented by 50 state governments plus the government
of the District of Columbia, and further down the ladder are still smaller
units that govern counties, cities, towns, boroughs and villages.
Like the national government, state governments have three branches:
executive, legislative, and judicial; these are roughly equivalent in function
and scope to their national counterparts. The chief executive of a state is the
10
governor, elected by popular vote typically for a four-year term (although in
a few states the term is two years). Some state judges and cabinet officers are
appointed by the governors of the respective states, while others are elected
by popular vote.
All states have a bicameral legislature, the upper house is usually called
the Senate and the lower house is called the House of Representatives, or the
House of Delegates, or the General Assembly, except for Nebraska, which
has a unicameral legislature.
There are three general types of city government: the mayor-council, the
commission, and the council-manager. These are the pure forms; many cities
have developed a combination of two or three of them. Almost all city governments have some kind of central council, elected by the voters, an executive officer or mayor, assisted by various department heads, to manage the
city’s affairs, a judge as well as a sheriff to provide law enforcement services.
51st state: The phrase 51st state refers to the territories considered candidates for addition to the 50 states of the country. The District of Columbia
is widely recognized to be one of the most likely candidates for statehood.
Currently Puerto Rico claims its statehood.
At the same time the phrase 51st state is often used in a humorous or
even negative context referring to associates, which act based on American
influences, such as Israel, Canada or the United Kingdom. This term also
signifies excessive negative American influence. In Europe, for example,
people who believe their local or national culture has become too Americanized sometimes use the term “51st state” in critical reference to their respective countries and governments.
Physical geography: The geography of the U.S. varies across its immense area from temperate forestland to deserts and rain forests, Alaska’s
tundra and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii.
Within the continental U.S., there are 8 distinct physiographic divisions.
They are:
Laurentian Highlands – is a part of the Canadian Shield that extends
into the northern U.S. Great Lakes area.
Atlantic Plains – are coastal regions of the eastern and southern parts
including the continental shelf, the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf Coast.
Appalachian Highlands – lying on the eastern side of the U.S., include
the Appalachian Mountains, Adirondacks and New England province.
Interior Plains – as a part of the interior continental U.S. include much
of what is called the Great Plains.
Interior Highlands – as a part of the interior continental U.S. include
the Ozark Plateau.
Rocky Mountain System – is one branch of the Cordilleran system lying far inland in the western states.
11
Intermontane Plateaus – is a system of plateaus, basins, ranges and
gorges between the Rocky and Pacific Mountain Systems. It is the setting for
the Grand Canyon, the Great Basin and Death Valley.
Pacific Mountain System – is a system of coastal mountain ranges and
features in the west coast of the U.S.
Interesting to know: Lowest point of the U.S.A. is Death Valley, Inyo
County, California, 282 feet below sea level (-86m); highest point: Mount
McKinley, Denali Borough, Alaska, 20,320 feet above sea level (+6,194m).
Major lakes and river systems: All the waters east of the Rockies finally reach the Atlantic; all the waters to the west of the Rockies finally arrive at the Pacific. For this reason the Rocky Mountains are known as the
Continental Divide.
Two enormous drainage systems dominate the U.S. landscape: the Great
Lakes-St. Lawrence River and the Mississippi-Missouri rivers drainage areas. More than 75% of the freight transported along U.S. inland waterways
moves on these waterways.
A list of the major 10 rivers of the USA and their length in km [33]:
Name
1. Mississippi-Missouri – Red Rock
2. Mississippi
3. Missouri
4. Yukon
5. Rio Grande
6. Arkansas
7. Colorado
8. Columbia
9. Snake
10. Ohio
Length (in km)
5,970,371
3,770,234
3,725,232
3,190,198
3,050,190
2,350,146
2,330,145
2,000,124
1,670,104
1,579,981
The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system serves the northern reaches
of the country, from the Midwest to the eastern seaboard. The St. Lawrence
Seaway, an extensive network of waterways and locks, allows ship traffic to
pass between the Great Lakes (Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and
Erie), and the Atlantic Ocean.
The Mississippi-Missouri River drainage system covers much of the central U.S. This huge system also includes the Ohio River, and the Tennessee
River. The Mississippi is one of the world’s greatest continental rivers. The
waters of the Mississippi are gathered from 2/3ds of the U.S. Together with the
12
Missouri River (its chief western branch), the Mississippi flows from its northern sources in the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico and is one of the
longest water sourses known. The Mississippi has been called “the father of
waters”.
The two great rivers of the Pacific side are the Colorado and the Columbia. In the dry western country, both rivers are important and necessary
sources of life.
The Rio Grande is the foremost river of the Southwest. It forms a natural
boundary between Mexico and the U.S. The two governments have built irrigation and flood control projects of mutual benefits. The Yukon is the largest river in Alaska, and together with its tributaries makes the rugged interior
regions of Alaska accessible.
The Central Valley of California depends on irrigation networks linked to
the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.
U.S. deserts: North America’s arid lands can be divided into four distinct
deserts: the Great Basin, the Sonoran Desert, the Mojave Desert, and the
Chihuahuan Desert.
The Great Basin is an arid area in the western U.S. It includes most of
Nevada and portions of Utah, Oregon, Idaho, and California and forms a
triangle, widest at the north, with an area of 544,000 sq km. The basin is an
area of interior drainage, that is, its waterways drain into desert flats, not
into the sea.
The Mojave Desert is an arid region in southern California, part of the
Great Basin. It has an area of 52,000 sq km. The Colorado Desert is adjacent.
The Sonoran Desert is an arid region lying primarily in southwestern
Arizona, southeastern California, and northwestern Mexico. It covers about
310,799 sq km. The Sonoran Desert accounts for only 20% of Arizona’s
land area, but more than 80% of the state’s population lives there, mainly in
the rapidly growing areas of Phoenix and Tucson. The desert supports numerous Native American reservations and U.S. military bases and air force.
Large portions of the desert are preserved as parkland.
The Chihuahuan Desert occupies deserted southern areas of Arizona,
New Mexico, and Texas and vast territories of Mexico. It is famous for its
cactus vegetation. One of the characteristic plants which define the Chihuahuan Desert is the agave lechuguilla. According to the World Wide Fund for
Nature the Chihuahuan Desert may be the most biologically diverse desert
in the world as measured by species richness or endemism.
Climate: The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in
Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains.
Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the American South
13
experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot,
humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of
the Eastern Great Plains to the semiarid short grass prairies on the High
Plains near the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts extend through the lowlands and valleys of the American Southwest from Texas to California
and throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of the American West, including San Francisco, California, have a Mediterranean climate. Rain
forests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.
Traditionally the 48 contiguous states are divided into 2 broad patterns of
continental climate: the humid East and the arid West. The dividing line is
100 degrees west longitude, extending through the Great Plains from Texas
to North Dakota.
Extreme weather is not uncommon – the states bordering the Gulf of
Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world’s tornadoes occur
mainly in the Midwest’s Tornado Alley.
Different climatic zones create a terrific diversity of the vegetation.
The U.S. has within its borders substantial mineral deposits. America leads the world in the production of phosphate, an important ingredient in fertilizers, and ranks second in gold, silver, copper, lead, natural
gas, and coal. Petroleum production is third in the world, after Russia
and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. huge fields of natural gas and oil are concentrated in the mid-continent fields of Texas and Oklahoma, the Gulf Coast
region of Texas and Louisiana, and the North Slope of Alaska. President
Barack H. Obama promised that by 2015 the U.S. would have taken the
world leadership in the export of oil. Important minerals mined in the
U.S. include gold, copper, iron ore, zinc, magnesium, lead, silver, coal,
molybdenum, uranium, bauxite, mercury, nickel, potash, tungsten, natural gas, timber.
Environment issues: As the U.S. economy developed, the natural environment changed. Nowadays sewage and industrial waste pollute rivers
and coastal waters, particularly in the heavily industrialized Midwest and
Northeast. Acid rain is quite common there. The environmental contamination from American gigantic industrial enterprises contributes to the deterioration of the ozone gas layer in the earth’s atmosphere and global
warming.
Oil spills from offshore oil drilling rigs pollute beaches and wetlands
along the Gulf Coast. The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico that began in April 2010 became the largest peacetime oil disaster in
history. There have also been problems in the nuclear energy industry. An
accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility in Pennsylvania in 1979
released small amounts of radioactive gas into the atmosphere.
14
Big country with many differences: The U.S. is a spacious country of
varying terrains and climates. Roughly it can be divided into 4 main cultural regions – the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, the West, and Southwest
often treated together.
Interesting to know: The Northeast consists of New England: Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont; and MidAtlantic states: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania,
Washington D.C. The South consists of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Virginia, West Virginia. The Midwest consists of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin. The Southwest consists of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The West consists of Alaska, Colorado, California, Hawaii,
Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Each of these regions maintains a certain degree of cultural identity. People within a region generally share common values, economic concerns, and
a certain relationship to the land, and they are usually identified with the history and traditions of their region.
But today, we are witnessing the gradual convergence of these regional
identities as a result of globalization. The mobility of people and the spread
of pop culture through television and other mass media have greatly advanced this convergence.
However, some regional differences are noticeable, e.g., the food Americans eat. Most of it is standard wherever you go. A person can buy packages of frozen peas bearing the same label in Idaho, Missouri, and Virginia.
Cereals, candy bars, and many other items also come in identical packages
from Alaska to Florida. Generally, the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables
does not vary much from state to state. On the other hand, it would be unusual to be served hush puppies (a kind of fried dough) or grits (boiled and
ground corn prepared in a variety of ways) in Massachusetts or Illinois, but
normal to get them in Georgia.
American speech also often differs according to which part of the country you are in. Southerners tend to speak slowly, in what is referred to as a
“Southern drawl.” Midwesterners use “flat” [] (as in bad or cat), and New
York City features a number of Yiddish words (schlep, nosh, nebbish) contributed by the city’s large Jewish population.
Among differences there are also regional attitudes and outlooks, e.g.,
the attention paid to foreign events in newspapers. In the East, where people
look out across the Atlantic Ocean, papers tend to show greatest concern
with what is happening in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Western
15
Asia. On the West Coast, however, news editors give more attention to
events in East Asia and Australia. To understand regional differences, let’s
take a closer look at each cultural region.
The Northeast: The Northeast, comprising the New England and MidAtlantic states, has traditionally been at the cradle of the nation’s economic
and social progress. The Northeast is more urban, more industrial, and more
culturally sophisticated. A sense of cultural superiority sets Northeasterners
apart from others.
During the 19th – 20th centuries and well into this century, the Northeast
produced most of the country’s writers, artists, and scholars. New England’s
colleges and universities are known all over the country for their high academic standards. Harvard is widely considered the best business school in
the U.S. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) surpasses all
others in economics and the practical sciences.
New England does not possess rich farmland or a mild climate. Yet it
played a dominant role in U.S. development. Between the 17th and 19th
centuries, New England was the country’s cultural and economic center.
New Englanders were engaged in shipbuilding, fishing, and trade, in manufacturing such goods as clothing, rifles, and clocks. Most of the money to
run these businesses came from Boston, which was the financial heart of the
nation. New England also supported a vibrant cultural life. New Englanders
often describe themselves as thrifty, reserved, and dedicated to hard work,
qualities they inherited from their Puritan forefathers.
The economic and cultural dominance of New England gradually reduced after WWII. In the 20th century, most of New England’s traditional
industries were relocated to the South and West or to foreign countries where
goods could be made much cheaper. Many factories and mills were closed.
As a result of this outsourcing, in many factory towns skilled workers were
left without jobs.
However, currently some parts of New England are experiencing economic recovery thanks to the development of microelectronics and computer
industries. New high-tech industries are boosting foreign investment and
employment.
If New England provided the brains and dollars for 19th-century American expansion, the Middle Atlantic states provided the muscle. The region’s
largest states, New York and Pennsylvania, became centers of heavy industry (iron, glass, and steel).
Like New England, the Middle Atlantic region has much of its heavy industry relocated elsewhere. Other industries, such as drug manufacturing
and communications, have taken up the slack.
The South: The South is perhaps the most distinctive and colorful American region. Here the regional identity is most pronounced. The peculiarities
16
of Southern history played an important role in shaping the region’s character. The South was originally settled by English Protestants who came for
profitable farming opportunities. Some farmers, capitalizing on tobacco and
cotton crops, became very prosperous. They established large plantations
with African slaves working there. And though the system of slavery was
regarded in the Northeast as unjust, Southern slave owners defended it as an
economic necessity which led to the division of the nation and the Civil War
of 1861–1865 that was the most bloody war in American history. The war
devastated the South socially and economically and at the same time gave
the South its unmistakable identity. The Civil War experience helps explain
why Southerners have developed respect for the past and a resistance to
changes, and why the South is different from the rest of the country.
The South differs from other regions in a number of ways. Southerners
are more conservative, more religious, and more violent than the rest of the
country. Because fewer immigrants were attracted to the less industrialized
Southern states, Southerners are the most “native” of any region. Southerners tend to be more respectful of social rank and have strong ties to hometown and family. Even today, Southerners tend to have less schooling and
higher illiteracy rates than people from other regions, and pockets of poverty
are scattered throughout the Southern states.
Americans of other regions are quick to recognize a Southerner by his/
her dialect. Southern speech tends to be much slower and more musical. The
Southern dialect characteristically uses more diphthongs: a one-syllable
word such as yes is spoken in the South as two syllables, ya-es. In addition,
Southerners say “you all” instead of “you” as the second person plural.
The South is also known for its music. In the time of slavery, black
Americans created a new folk music, the Negro spiritual. Later forms of
black music which began in the South are blues and jazz. Most American
country music has a Southern background.
The South has been one of the most outstanding literary regions in the
20th century. Novelists such as William Faulkner, Robert Penn Warren,
Thomas Wolfe, Katherine Anne Porter, Tennessee Williams, and Flannery
O’Connor addressed themes of the Southern experience such as nostalgia
for the rural Southern past.
Today, the South is a manufacturing region, and high-rise buildings
crowd the skylines of such cities as Atlanta and Little Rock, Arkansas. Owing to its mild weather, Florida has become a Mecca for retirees from other
U.S. regions and from Canada. Local people call it to be a place for “newlyweds and nearly-deads.”
The West: Americans have long regarded the West as the last frontier.
The West is a region of scenic beauty on a grand scale. Mountain ranges
are the sources of startling contrasts. To the west of the peaks, winds from
17
the Pacific Ocean carry enough moisture to keep the land well-watered. To
the east, the land is very dry.
The West is marked by cultural diversity and competing interests. Beginning with the 1980’s, large numbers of Asians settled in California, mainly
around Los Angeles. Los Angeles – and Southern California as a whole –
has a large Mexican-American population. Now the second largest city in
the nation, Los Angeles is best known as the home of the Hollywood film
industry.
Fueled by the growth of Los Angeles and the “Silicon Valley” area near
San Jose, California has become the most populous of all the states. It has
some of the richest farmland in the country, and, along with Oregon and
Washington in the rainy Northwest, does not share the rest of the West’s concern over the scarcity of water. California is densely populated and highly
industrial. By combining the nation’s highest concentration of high-tech industries with the greatest percentage of service industries, California’s progressive economy is a trend-setter for the rest of the U.S.
Mormon-settled Utah has little in common with Mexican-influenced California. Montana ranchers have different needs and different outlooks from
the people of Washington or California. Alaska is a vast land of few, but
hardy people and great stretches of wilderness protected in national parks
and wildlife refuges. Hawaii is the only state in which Asian Americans outnumber residents of European stock.
Western cities are known for their tolerance. Perhaps because so many
Westerners have moved there from other regions to make a new start; as a
rule, interpersonal relations are marked by a live-and-let-live attitude.
The Western economy is varied. Western life is dominated by resources.
Although water is scarce in the Mountain West, the region is rich in uranium,
coal, crude oil, oil shale, and other mineral deposits.
The population of the West rapidly increases, but supplies of water are limited, as a result the West is already experiencing physical limits to growth. While
generalizations about the West are difficult to make, the region shares concerns
that are different from the rest of the country. Westerners are united in their longstanding hostility toward Washington (D.C.) and Eastern federal bureaucrats.
Westerners feel government policies fail to address the vital concerns unique to
their region. Particularly distressing to Westerners is their lack of control over
Western land and resources owned and administered by the federal government.
Western states’ troubles with water scarcity and government-owned land seem
to matter little to the rest of the country. Westerners like to think of themselves as
independent, self-sufficient, and close to the land, but they feel they cannot control their own destiny while Washington controls their land.
The Midwest: While the South and West feel like strangers, the Midwest,
by contrast, has long been regarded as typically American. The fertile farm18
land and abundant resources have allowed agriculture and industry to thrive
and to strengthen the Midwesterners’ conviction that people can make something of themselves if they seize opportunities. Class divisions are felt less
strongly here than in other regions; and the middle class rules.
Midwesterners are seen as commercially-minded, self-sufficient, unsophisticated, and pragmatic.
Midwesterners are also praised as being open, friendly, and straightforward. Their politics tend to be cautious, but the caution is sometimes
mixed with protest. The Midwest gave birth to the Republican Party which
was formed in 1854 to oppose the spread of slavery into new states. The
region also gave birth to the Progressive Movement, aimed at making the
local and federal governments less corrupt and more receptive to the will
of the people.
Because of their geographic location, many Midwesterners have been
strong adherents of isolationism, the belief that Americans should not concern themselves with foreign wars and problems. The Midwest’s position in
the middle of the continent, far removed from the east and west coasts, has
encouraged Midwesterners to direct their concerns to their own domestic affairs, avoiding matters of wider interest.
The Midwest is a cultural crossroads. Starting with the early 1800’s, easterners moved there in search of better farmland, Germans and Dutch – to
eastern Missouri, Swedes and Norwegians – to Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Interesting to know: The Plain People create a very colorful cultural group
and retain many of their traditions, including their language, which is a
blending of several German dialects. The family is still the main social and
economic unit, with the church next in importance. Traditional groups, such
as the Amish and Mennonites, dressed in plain black or brown homespun
clothing. These groups have resisted such modern conveniences as automobiles, televisions, and telephones. They are known for their hard work,
thrift, and orderliness – qualities reflected in their well-tended farms.
The Midwest is known as a region of small towns and huge tracts of farmland where more than half the nation’s wheat and oats are raised. It is the nation’s “breadbasket.” The region’s fertile soil made it possible for farmers to
produce abundant harvests of cereal crops such as wheat, oats, and corn.
Most of the Midwest is flat. The Mississippi River has acted as a regional
lifeline, moving settlers to new homes and foodstuffs to market. The river inspired two classic American books, both written by a native Missourian, Samuel Clemens, who took the pseudonym Mark Twain “Life on the Mississippi”
and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.”
19
Dominating the region’s commerce and industry is Chicago, the nation’s
third largest city. This major Great Lakes port is a connecting point for rail
lines and air traffic to other parts of the U.S. and the world.
The Southwest: The Southwest is often described separately from the
Midwest, the West and the South as it differs from them in weather (drier),
population (less dense), and ethnicity (strong Spanish-American and NativeAmerican components).
Outside the cities, the region is a land of open spaces, much of which is
desert. The magnificent Grand Canyon is located in this region, as is Monument Valley.
Parts of the Southwest once belonged to Mexico. The U.S. obtained this
land following the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. Its Mexican heritage
continues to exert a strong influence on the region, which is a convenient
place to settle for immigrants (legal or illegal) from farther south. A lot of
U.S. retirees prefer to live in Arizona.
The four Southwestern states are the homes of numerous Indian reservations.
Population growth in the hot, arid Southwest has depended on two human artifacts: the dam and the air conditioner. Dams on the Colorado and
other rivers and aqueducts such as those of the Central Arizona Project have
brought water to once-small towns such as Las Vegas, Nevada, Phoenix,
Arizona, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, allowing them to become metropolises. Houston is a center of space research and modern technologies. Las
Vegas is known as one of the world’s centers for gambling, while Santa Fe,
New Mexico, is famous as a center for the arts, especially painting, sculpture, and opera.
Americanization: As it was said above, the distinctiveness of the Northeast, the South, the West, and the Midwest is disappearing. The regions are
becoming ever more alike due to the homogenizing influence of mass media
and regional convergence towards national socio-economic norms. Interstate high-ways and communication lines and television are among the basic
contributors to this regional convergence.
Americans’ mobility has also played an important part in leveling off regional differences. Americans have always been on the move in pursuit of
opportunity. Steady movements from farm to city, from east to west, and
from south to north brought about an intermixing of cultures. This process of
Americanization has been accelerated by new migration trends.
Between the 1950’s and 1970’s poorer, less populous areas in the South
and West experienced tremendous growth as people and businesses moved
out of the historically dominant Northeast and Midwest in search of new opportunities in warmer climates. The new migration brought economic pros20
perity to the warm “Sunbelt” while economic stagnation occurred in the
“Frostbelt” or “Rustbelt.”
The Sunbelt: The attractions of the Sunbelt were numerous. Many older
couples moved to the South in order to enjoy retirement in a warmer environment. Others moved to escape problems of urban crime, overcrowding,
high taxes, and expensive housing. Most people moved for better employment opportunities. Many corporations relocated to the Sunbelt because of
the more favorable business conditions: lower wage scales, weak labor unions, and local governments offered a wide variety of incentives, including
tax reliefs to attract new industries. During the past few decades the population of the South and Southwest has been growing rapidly while that of the
Midwest or Northeast has grown slowly or not at all.
The increase in population moving to the Sunbelt brought an increase
in power. The political and social status of the South and Southwest
grew. At the end of the 20th century the South and Southwest gained
more seats in the House of Representatives at the expense of the North
and Midwest.
A clear rise in per capita income in the South and Southwest is an indication that socio-economic gaps between regions are narrowing. The cultural
dominance of the Northeast and Midwest is diminishing as cities in the
South and West, such as Atlanta, Santa Fe, and Los Angeles, are gaining
reputations as important cultural centers. The great universities of the Northeast are rivaled by Stanford in California and the Universities of Texas and
North Carolina.
The shift in economic strength and status to the Sunbelt does not mean
that the Northeast and Midwest are drained of power and promise. Adapting to the needs of the time, many communities of the Northeast are redirecting their economies to accommodate new service-related and high-tech
industries. The downtown areas of Baltimore, Boston, and Pittsburgh – cities that once specialized in heavy industry – have been rebuilt as cultural
and convention centers. Some cities in the Frostbelt are registering resurgence in population growth as people move back to take advantage of new
opportunities.
So, now we should speak not about the decline of the Frostbelt, but rather
about a steady converging of the regions’ economic status as the formerly
lagging Sunbelt states catch up. In this process, regional differences have not
altogether disappeared, but they are significantly less striking today than
they were many years ago.
The Frontier spirit: One final American region deserves mentioning
here. You will not find it on the map. It is in the hearts and minds of Americans. It is not a fixed place but a moving zone, as well as a state of mind.
21
Traditionally, it was thought to be the border between settlements and wilderness known as the frontier. But in real life terms, it means a challenge,
something that is difficult to attain.
Writing in the 1890’s, historian Frederick Jackson Turner claimed that
the availability of vacant land throughout much of the nation’s history had
shaped American attitudes and institutions. “This perennial rebirth,” he
wrote, “this expansion westward with its new opportunities, its continuous
touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish the forces dominating
American character” [10, 46].
Numerous present-day American values and attitudes can be traced to the
frontier past: self-reliance, resourcefulness, comradeship, and a strong sense
of equality.
SUMMARY
1. The United States of America is a federal republic in North America.
It has an area of 9,826,675 sq km and is the third largest country in the world
after Russia and Canada.
2. The U.S.A. consists of 50 states and is divided into three distinct sections: the continental United States, Alaska, which is physically connected
only to Canada, and the archipelago of Hawaii in the central Pacific Ocean.
3. Washington, D.C. is the capital city and administrative district of the
U.S.A. The population of the District of Columbia is more than 5 million
people.
4. The largest U.S. cities are New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
5. Two enormous drainage systems dominate the U.S. landscape: the
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River and the Mississippi-Missouri rivers drainage
areas.
6. The United States has substantial mineral deposits within its borders.
It leads the world in the production of phosphate, an important ingredient in
fertilizers, and ranks second in gold, silver, copper, lead, natural gas, and coal.
Petroleum production is third in the world, after Russia and Saudi Arabia.
7. The continental U.S. is subdivided into six major cultural regions:
New England, Mid-Atlantic, South, Midwest, Southwest and Western states.
8. The Northeast, comprising New England and the Mid-Atlantic states,
has traditionally been at the helm of the nation’s economic and social progress.
9. The South is the most distinctive, colorful, and ‘native’ American
region.
10. The West is a region of scenic beauty on a grand scale. It is marked
by cultural diversity and competing interests. Westerners are united in their
long-standing hostility toward Washington and Eastern federal bureaucrats.
22
11. The Midwest has long been regarded as typically American. Its rich
farmland and resourses strengthen the Midwesterners’ conviction that people
can make something of themselves if they seize opportunities.
12. The Southwest differs from the Midwest, the West and the South in
weather (drier), population (less dense), and ethnicity (strong Spanish-American and Native-American components).
13. The Northeast, the South, the West, and the Midwest are becoming
more alike due to the homogenizing influence of mass media and regional
convergence towards national socioeconomic norms, the development and
spread of interstate high-ways and mobility of the population.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What other names of the U.S.A. do you know?
2. How can the U.S. area be compared with that of other countries?
3. Why do many people think the U.S.A. consists of 51 states?
4. What is the political division of the U.S.A.?
5. How does the geography of the U.S.A. vary across its immense area?
6. What rivers (deserts) play an important role in the economy of the
U.S.A.?
7. In what way do the major cultural regions of the U.S.A. differ?
8. What were the reasons of serious pollution problems the U.S.A. faced
in the second half of the 20th century?
9. What advances the process of the U.S. regions’ Americanization?
10. What role was played by New England and the Middle Atlantic
states in the 19th-century American expansion?
11.What gives the South its unmistakable identity?
12. What Western states don’t share with the rest the West’s concern
over the scarcity of water?
13. What has encouraged Midwesterners to direct their concerns to their
own domestic affairs, avoiding matters of wider interest?
14. What are the attractions of the Sunbelt?
Unit
2
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
FROM THE 16TH CENTURY
TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Three units featuring the U.S. history tell us how the U.S.A. developed from colonial beginnings in the 16th century, when the
first European explorers arrived, until modern times. For students’
convenience each unit has its own number.
The first unit covers the period between the colonization of
America and ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1789. It describes:
European exploration of North America,
colonial America,
the American Revolution,
the 1st and the 2nd Continental Congresses, the Constitutional Convention,
the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Key Words and Proper Names: acquisition of land, amendment, cannibalism, cash crop, exchange of species, indentured
24
servant, indigenous tribe, indigo, mariner, militia, mob, nobles, the
pursuit of happiness, to plunder the wealth, persecution, redeemer
nation, scarce, self-governance, slave trade, to vest;
the Boston Massacre, the Chesapeake Bay, Colony of Roanoke,
the Battles of Lexington, Concord and Saratoga, the Great Awakening, Jamestown, Federalists and Anti-federalists, the Intolerable
Acts, the London Virginia Company, the Massachusetts Bay Colony,
the Mayflower Compact, Nova Scotia, Pilgrims and Puritans, Plymouth Colony, the Quakers, the Royal Proclamation, the Stamp Act,
the Sugar and Currency Acts, the Tea Act , the Townshend Act;
William Bradford, Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Jacques
Cartier, Francis Drake, Pocahontas, John Rolfe, Squanto and Samoset, Giovanni da Verrazano.
EUROPEAN EXPLORATION: It is well known that America was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. But as history tells us, Columbus was not the first European to reach the continent. Scandinavians traveled
to North America from Greenland in the 11th century and set up a shortlived colony in Nova Scotia. The only Norse site yet discovered in North
America is at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. The Norse colonies were later abandoned.
There is also a speculation that an obscure mariner had traveled to the
Americas before Christopher Columbus and provided him with maps for his
later claims. Some said European fishermen had discovered the fishing waters off eastern Canada by 1480.
However, the first recorded voyage to North America was made by John
Cabot or Giovanni Caboto, an Italian navigator in the service of England, who
sailed from England to Newfoundland in 1497, almost 500 years after the Norse.
Interesting to know: On 5 March 1496 King Henry VII of England gave
J. Cabot letters patent with the following charge: ...free authority, faculty and
power to sail to all parts, regions and coasts of the eastern, western and northern
sea, under our banners, flags and ensigns, with five ships or vessels of whatsoever burden and quality they may be, and with so many and with such mariners
and men as they may wish to take with them in the said ships, at their own
proper costs and charges, to find, discover and investigate whatsoever islands,
countries, regions or provinces of pagans and infidels, in whatsoever part of the
world placed, which before this time were unknown to all Christians.
Giovanni da Verrazano explored the East Coast of North America from
Florida to presumably Newfoundland in 1524. Jacques Cartier made a se25
ries of voyages on behalf of the French crown in 1534 and penetrated the St.
Lawrence River.
What distinguishes Columbus’s first voyage from all other early voyages
of the past is the following: less than two decades later the existence of
America became known in Europe. Columbus’s voyages led to a relatively
quick, general and lasting recognition of the existence of the New World by
the Old World, to the Columbian exchange of species (both those harmful to
humans, such as viruses, bacteria, and diseases, and beneficial ones, such as
tomatoes, potatoes, corn, and horses), and the first large-scale colonization
of the Americas by Europeans.
The voyages also inaugurated ongoing commerce between the Old and
New Worlds.
Before Columbus, several flourishing civilizations had existed in the
Americas for centuries. The earliest inhabitants of America may had arrived
over 25,000 years before Columbus. There were discovered remains from
the first large building projects, dating back to 500 B.C. – 500 A.D., consisting of large ceremonial earthworks or mounds.
These structures proved that by 1492 American civilizations had reached
a level of culture, which included personal wealth, fine buildings, expert
craftsmanship, and religions.
The European colonization of the Americas forever changed the lives
and cultures of the Native inhabitants of America. Up to 80% of indigenous
Americans may have died from epidemics of imported diseases such as
smallpox, and many tribes and cultures were completely eliminated in the
course of European westward expansion.
Colonial America: Starting with the late 16th century, England, Scotland,
France, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands began to colonize eastern North
America. European settlers came from a variety of social and religious groups;
they established small colonies and traded with the indigenous peoples.
But, only the English established colonies of agricultural settlers, who
were interested less in trade and more in the acquisition of land. That fact
was decisive in the long struggle for control of North America.
The first Englishmen also hoped to find gold or a passage through the
Americas to the Indies. Other early English explorers such as Francis Drake
arrived in the Americas to plunder the wealth of the Spanish settlers.
English migrants came to America for two main reasons. The first reason was religious tied to the English Reformation. Groups of colonists came
to America searching for a) either an asylum to practice a religion without
persecution or b) a refuge to begin a new and holier settlement where complete theological agreement could be found.
The second reason for English colonization was economic, because between 1530 and 1680 the population in England doubled and the land be26
came scarce. Many of England’s largest landholders fenced the lands, and
raised sheep for the expanding wool trade. The result was a growing number
of poor, unemployed, and desperate English men and women. They were
recruited by rich Americans and became indentured (contracted) laborers.
American landowners even paid for a laborer’s passage to America if he
signed the contact to serve them for several years.
The main waves of settlers in North America came in the 17th century.
At first, most immigrants to Colonial America arrived as indentured servants. Between the late 1610’s and the American Revolution, the British
shipped about 50,000 convicts to its American colonies. The colonists who
came to the New World were not a homogeneous mix; they belonged to different social and religious groups. The Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Puritans of New England, the gold-hungry settlers of Jamestown, and the convicts of Georgia – each and came to the new continent for different reasons.
And they created colonies with very different social, religious, political, and
economic structures.
Early colonial attempts: The first permanent European settlement in
North America was founded by the Spanish; it was at Saint Augustine, Fla.,
in 1565.
The first English attempt made in 1585, the Colony of Roanoke, resulted
in failure. The “Lost” Colony of Roanoke was established off the coast of
today’s North Carolina by Sir Walter Raleigh. The second resupply ship, delayed for several years by some circumstances in England, found no trace of
the first colonists, discovering only the mysterious word “CROATOAN”
carved on a tree. Over a hundred men, women, and children had disappeared
in the middle of their daily tasks.
England made its first successful efforts only at the start of the 17th century. It was Jamestown, established in 1607 in a region called Virginia, on a
small river near the Chesapeake Bay.
All in all, the British settled Jamestown, Va. (1607); Plymouth, Mass.
(1620); Maryland (1634); and Pennsylvania (1681). The English took New
York, New Jersey, and Delaware from the Dutch in 1664, a year after English noblemen began to colonize the Carolinas.
By 1733, English settlers had founded 13 colonies along the Atlantic
Coast, from New Hampshire in the North to Georgia in the South.
Historians typically recognize four regions in the lands that later became
the eastern United States. They are: New England, the Middle Colonies, the
Chesapeake Bay and the Southern Colonies.
The Thirteen Colonies’ territory ranged from what is now Maine (then
part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay) in the north to Georgia in the
south. They are listed in geographical order, from the north to the south.
New England included New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
27
Connecticut; the Middle Colonies – Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey,
Delaware; the Chesapeake Bay – Virginia, Maryland (some historians consider Virginia as a Southern colony and Maryland as belonging to the Middle
Colonies); and the Southern Colonies – North Carolina, South Carolina and
Georgia.
The Chesapeake Bay region: The first truly successful English colony
was Jamestown or Virginia established in 1607 in a region called Virginia
(named in honor of Queen Elizabeth I, the “Virgin Queen”). It lay on an island in the James River, near its Chesapeake Bay estuary. The venture was
financed and coordinated by the London Virginia Company, a joint stock
company looking for gold. Its first years were extremely difficult, with very
high death rates from disease and starvation, wars with local Indians, and little gold.
Archaeological findings have indicated that the entire region was struck
by the most severe drought in centuries. American Indians were not very
willing to give away their corn, and the colonists, without a harvest, starved;
they named the winter the Starving Times. Only a third of the colonists survived the first winter. In fact, source documents indicate that some even
turned to cannibalism. However, the colony survived, in large part due to the
efforts of an enigmatic figure named John Smith. He behaved like an uncompromising autocrat of the colony. His motto was “No work, no food.” He put
the colonists to work, and befriended Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, who was able to supply the colony with more food. John Smith had
saved the colony, but it had yet to turn a profit.
Gold was nowhere to be found. Finally, in 1612, John Rolfe with the help
of the above mentioned Pocahontas, who became his wife, introduced the
cultivation of tobacco as a cash crop. The new product earned fabulously
high profits in the first year, and substantially lower but still extraordinary
ones in the second year.
By the late 17th century, Virginia’s export economy was largely based on
tobacco. As cash crop producers, Chesapeake plantations were heavily dependent on trade with England. New, richer settlers came in to take up large
portions of land, and build large plantations. Tobacco cultivation was laborintensive. To provide this labor, the colonists first relied on white indentured
servants, but starting with 1619 turned into the slave trade, which was already bringing large numbers of Africans to the sugar-producing islands of
the Caribbean. Starting with 1676, African slaves rapidly replaced indentured servants as Virginia’s main labor force. Tobacco continued to be the
mainstay of the region’s economy for two centuries.
New England: The next successful English colonial venture was founded by two separate religious groups. Both demanded greater church reform
28
and elimination of Catholic elements remaining in the Church of England.
But whereas the Pilgrims sought to leave the Church of England, the Puritans wanted to reform it by setting an example of a holy community.
The first settlers who came to America for religious reasons were the Pilgrims.
The Pilgrims were a small Protestant sect based in England and the Netherlands. One group sailed on the Mayflower to the New World.
The Mayflower Compact, signed by the Pilgrims before disembarking,
established precedents for the pattern of representative self-government and
constitutionalism that would later develop throughout the American colonies. They established a small Plymouth Colony on December 21, 1620;
which then merged with the Massachusetts Bay colony. John Carver was
their first leader and first elected colonial governor in American history. After his death his position was taken by William Bradford.
Like the settlers at Jamestown, the Pilgrims had a difficult first winter,
having had no time to plant crops. Most of the settlers died of starvation, including the leader, John Carver. Later in 1621, the colonists befriended
Squanto and Samoset, two American Indians who had learned to speak some
English. With the help of friendly Indians, the Pilgrims were able to build
houses and raise food crops. That fall brought a bountiful harvest, and the
first Thanksgiving was celebrated. To show how the Pilgrims felt about the
Indians’ help, they invited the Indians to share their first Thanksgiving feast.
The Puritans, a much larger group than the Pilgrims, established the
Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 with 400 settlers. They sought to reform
the Church of England by creating a new, pure church in the New World. By
1640, 20,000 had arrived.
The Puritans created a deeply religious, socially tight-knit, and politically innovative culture that is still present in the modern United States. They
hoped this new land would serve as a “redeemer nation”. In search of religious freedom they fled England and in America attempted to create a “nation of saints” or a “City upon a Hill”: an intensely religious, thoroughly
righteous community designed to be an example for all of Europe.
Economically, Puritan New England fulfilled the expectations of its
founders. Unlike the cash crop-oriented plantations of the Chesapeake region, the Puritan economy was based on the efforts of self-supporting farmsteads, which traded only for goods they could not produce themselves.
There was a generally higher economic standing and standard of living in
New England than in Jamestown. Along with agriculture, fishing, and logging, New England became an important mercantile and shipbuilding center,
serving as the hub for trading between the southern colonies and Europe.
Officials were elected by the community, but only white males who were
members of a Congregationalist church could vote. Officials had no respon29
sibility to “the people,” their function was to serve God by best overseeing
the moral and physical improvement of the community. However, it was not
a theocracy either – Congregationalist ministers had no special powers in the
government. Thus, in the political structure of Puritan society one could see
both the democratic form and the emphasis on civic virtue that was to characterize post-Revolutionary American society. Although some characterize
the strength of Puritan society as repressively communal, others point to it as
the basis of the later American value on civic virtue, important for the development of democracy.
Socially, the Puritan society was tightly knit. No one was allowed to live
alone for fear that their temptation would lead to the moral corruption of all
Puritan society. Because marriage took place within the geographic location
of the family, during several generations many towns were more like clans,
composed of several large, intermarried families. The strength of Puritan society was reflected through its institutions, specifically, its churches, town
halls, and militia. All members of the Puritan community were expected to
be active in all three of these organizations, ensuring the moral, political,
and military safety of their community.
Two other colonies were founded in 1636 in New England. The Connecticut Colony was an English colony originally known as the River Colony; it was organized as a haven for those Puritans who were not happy with
the strict morals and dominating religious hypocrisy in Massachusetts.
The Providence Plantation or the Rhode Island Colony was founded by
Roger Williams, who preached religious toleration, separation of Church
and State, and a complete break with the Church of England. Roger Williams agreed with his fellow settlers on an egalitarian constitution providing
for majority rule “in civil things” and “liberty of conscience”.
Both colonies became a home for many refugees from the Puritan community.
The Middle Colonies: The Middle Colonies were characterized by a
large degree of diversity: religious, political, economic, and ethnic. They
were called the Middle Colonies because they lay between New England
and other colonies to the south.
The Middle Colonies consisted of the present-day states of New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Maryland belonged both to the
Middle Colonies and the Chesapeake. The Dutch colony of New Netherland
was taken over by the British and renamed New Amsterdam into New York
but large numbers of Dutch remained in the colony. Many German and Irish
immigrants settled in these areas, as well as in Connecticut.
Pennsylvania, one of the most successful colonies, began when the Duke
of York gave a large area to William Penn. In 1682, Penn started planning a
colony called Pennsylvania. Penn belonged to a small religious group called
30
the Friends, or Quakers. In Pennsylvania Quakers found freedom. Settlers
came from all over Europe, many were from Germany. Penn also tried to be
friendly with the Indians. He signed many peace agreements with his Indian
neighbors. Pennsylvania soon became the largest and wealthiest colony. One
part of the colony was later separated from Pennsylvania and became the
colony of Delaware in 1701. Swedish people had earlier settled in Delaware
and had brought a new idea to America – to build cabins made of logs.
The first group of Catholic settlers landed in America in 1634. They
called their colony Maryland after Queen Mary, England’s last Catholic ruler. One of the settlements was named after Lord Baltimore, the founder of
the colony. Maryland became a prosperous colony of small farms and tobacco plantations where crops were tended by workers who lived on the
property. Later, more settlers came to live in the colony, and most of them
were Protestants. So quarrels often broke out between Protestants and Catholics, and Lord Baltimore had a law passed that allowed all people to worship as they pleased.
The South: The Southern Colonies are Georgia, the two Carolinas and
Virginia, which is sometimes grouped with the Middle Colonies.
Life in the Southern Colonies centered around plantations which were
cultivating rice, tobacco, and indigo (used for making a blue dye). There
were few cities. Southern plantations depended on slavery. By 1750, there
were more slaves than free people in the South.
Carolinas: Carolina was not settled until 1670, and even then the first
attempt failed because there was no incentive for emigration to the south.
The cultivation of rice was introduced during the 1690’s by Africans from
the rice-growing regions of West Africa and Carolinas became rich.
Georgia: James Oglethorpe, an 18th-century British Member of Parliament, established Georgia Colony as a common solution of two problems. At that time, tension between Spain and Great Britain was high, and
the British feared that Spanish Florida was threatening the British Carolinas. Oglethorpe decided to establish a colony in the contested border region of Georgia and populate it with debtors who were imprisoned in
Great Britain. This plan helped both rid Great Britain of its undesirable
elements and provide her 13 American colonies with a base from which to
attack Florida. Georgia initially failed to prosper, but eventually the moralistic restrictions (like alcohol and other forms of supposed immorality)
were lifted, slavery was allowed, and it became as prosperous as the Carolinas.
British colonial government: The three forms of colonial government
were provincial, proprietary, and charter. Under the feudal system of Great
Britain, these were all subordinate to the monarch, with no explicit relationship with the British Parliament.
31
The colonies’ systems of governance was modeled after the British constitution of the time – with the king corresponding to the governor, the
House of Commons to the colonial assembly, and the House of Lords to the
Governor’s council. The codes of law of the colonies were often drawn directly from British law; which survives even in the modern U.S.
By the 1720’s, most colonies had an elected assembly and an appointed
governor. Governors technically had a great power. They were appointed by
the king and represented him in the colonial government. Governors also
had the power to make appointments. But the assemblies had the “power of
the purse”. Only they could pass revenue bills. They often used their influence over finances to gain power in relation to governors and control over
appointments. Colonists viewed their elected assemblies as defenders
against the king, against Parliament, and against colonial governors.
In 1770, the 13 colonies had a population of 2.6 million, about one-third
that of Britain; and nearly one in five Americans was a black slave. Though
‘subject to British taxation, the colonies had no representation in the Parliament of Great Britain’.
Although each of the colonies was different from the others, throughout the
17th and 18th centuries several events and trends took place that brought them
together in various ways and to various degrees and led to the Revolution.
The Great Awakening: This event was very important for the unification of the religious background of the colonies; it was a Protestant revival
movement that took place between the 1730’s and 1740’s. The movement
fueled interest in both religion and religious liberty. It began with Jonathan
Edwards, a Massachusetts preacher who sought to return to the Pilgrims’
strict Calvinist roots and to reawaken the “Fear of God”. Preachers traveled
across the colonies and preached in a dramatic and emotional style, they
shared with colonists their religious beliefs and views and even their every
day concerns which were quite common for all colonists and in this way
united the interests of scattered settlements across the colonies. This exchange of ideas was a small civic and democratic step towards the unification of the colonies.
The preachers called themselves the “New Lights”, as contrasted with
the “Old Lights”, who disapproved of their movement. To promote their
viewpoints, the two sides established academies and colleges, including
Princeton and William and Mary College. The Great Awakening has been
called the first truly American event. Methodism became the prevalent religion among colonial citizens after the First Great Awakening.
Another event in the long process of unification was the French and Indian War or the Seven Years’ War (1754–1763). This war was the American extension of the general European conflict known as the Seven Years’
War. Increasing competition between Britain and France, especially in the
32
Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, was one of the primary origins of the war. As
the French were supported by Indians, the American colonists called the war
the French and Indian War.
This war was an important event in the political development of the colonies. The influence of the main rivals of the British Crown in the colonies
and Canada – the French and North American Indians – was significantly
reduced. Moreover, the war effort resulted in greater political integration of
the colonies, as symbolized by Benjamin Franklin’s call for the colonies to
“Join or Die”.
During the war the colonies identified themselves as a part of the British
Empire and British military and civilian officials increased their presence in
the lives of Americans. The British soldiers sent by the British government
were joined by men from Virginia.
But the war also increased a sense of American unity. It caused American
men to travel across the continent and fight alongside men from different,
yet still American backgrounds. Throughout the war British officers trained
American ones for battle (e.g., young Virginian colonel named George
Washington), that fact would later benefit the Revolution to come.
The victory over France resulted in vast territorial acquisitions. In the
Treaty of Paris (1763), France surrendered its vast North American empire
to Britain. Before the war, Britain held the 13 American colonies, most of
present-day Nova Scotia, and most of the Hudson Bay watershed. After the
war, Britain gained all French territory east of the Mississippi River, including Quebec, the Great Lakes, and the Ohio valley. Britain also gained the
Spanish colonies of East and West Florida. The British victory over the
French in 1763 guaranteed Britain political control over its 13 colonies. But
in removing a major foreign threat to the 13 colonies, this war also largely
removed the colonists’ need for the British protection.
From unity to revolution: What really united the colonies in their negative attitude to Britain was the booming import of British goods. Using the
colonies of North America as a market for British goods, Britain increased
exports to that region by 360% between 1740 and 1770. At the same time
American rich manufacturers experienced difficulties in selling their American produce.
The general sentiment of inequity that arose soon after the Treaty of Paris
was intensified by the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The Proclamation prohibited colonists’ settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains on the land
which had been recently captured from France. The colonists resented the
measure and regarded it as unnecessary and draconian. And the Proclamation was never enforced.
At the end of the 18th century, a number of Parliament Acts aggravated
the situation in the colonies to the extreme. In fact, the cost of the Seven
33
Years’ War for the British was a bad need of money, and consequently Parliament introduced new taxes in America. Parliament passed the Sugar and
Currency Acts in 1764. The Sugar Act strengthened the customs service. The
Currency Act forbade colonies to issue paper money. The Stamp Act of 1765
required all legal documents, licenses, commercial contracts, newspapers,
pamphlets, and playing cards to carry a tax stamp.
In 1767, Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend drew up new
taxes on imports (tea, lead, paper, glass, etc.) that Americans could receive
only from Britain; the document was called the Townshend Act. The revenue
from these taxes went on the salaries of colonial governors and judges, making them independent of the colonial assemblies. Townshend moved many
units of the British army to the centers of white population and dissolved the
assemblies (First Quartering Act of 1765, Second Quartering Act of 1774).
Americans challenged the right of the British parliament to force taxes
on them, using the slogan “No taxation without representation.” They were
angry that the British prevented them from trading with other nations and
taking land in the western part of America. Soon they started to protest openly and attack men who accepted appointments as Act commissioners, usually forcing them to resign. They boycotted all imported British goods – particularly tea. The British responded by landing troops at Boston in October
1768. Tensions between townspeople and soldiers were constant for the next
year and a half.
On March 5, 1770, tensions exploded into the Boston Massacre, when
British soldiers fired into a mob of Americans, killing 5 men.
In Boston, on December 16, 1773, some patriots dressed as Native Americans went on board ships used to transport tea. They threw the tea into the
water, an incident that became known as the Boston Tea Party.
Britain responded to this Boston Tea Party with the Intolerable Acts of
1774, which closed the port of Boston until Bostonians paid for the tea. The
Acts also permitted the British army to quarter its troops in civilian households.
Tensions between American colonists and the British during the period
of the 1760’s and early 1770’s led to the American Revolutionary War,
fought from 1775 through 1781.
Continental congresses: In September 1774, the First Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Each colony sent its delegates
(aka Founding Fathers). The Congress refused to recognize the authority of
the British Parliament, it decided to stop all trade with Britain, and to start
collecting guns and practice using them. On June 14, 1775, the Congress
established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington
and dispatched it to Boston, where there were clashes between local militia
and a British Army.
34
The Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775 marked the beginning of
the American Revolution.
On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, began to organize a federal government for the 13 colonies; taking
over governmental functions previously exercised by the King and Parliament, and prepare state constitutions for their own governance.
Proclaiming that “all men are created equal” and endowed with “certain
unalienable Rights,” the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence [36], drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776. The drafting of the Declaration was the responsibility of a committee of five, which
included John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, but the style of the document
is attributed primarily to Thomas Jefferson. That date is now celebrated annually as America’s Independence Day.
The Declaration said that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought
to be, free and independent states” [36]. In the Declaration, Jefferson explained why the colonies had decided to fight against British rule. The Declaration of Independence gave Americans an even stronger belief in their cause.
In August 1776, King George III proclaimed the colonies to be in rebellion. That year, the prospects for American victory seemed small. Britain
had a population more than 3 times that of the colonies, and the British army
was large, well-trained, and experienced. The Americans had undisciplined
militia and only the beginnings of a regular army or even a government. But
they fought on their own territory, and in order to win they did not have to
defeat the British but only to convince the British that the colonists could not
be defeated.
The turning point in the war came in 1777 when American soldiers defeated the British Army at Saratoga, New York. France had secretly been
aiding the Americans. After the victory at Saratoga, France and America
signed treaties of alliance, and France provided the Americans with troops
and warships. Spain and Holland sent supplies and money. Polish soldiers
also came to America to fight for the American cause.
The last major battle of the American Revolution took place at Yorktown,
Virginia, in 1781. A combined force of American and French troops surrounded the British and forced their surrender.
Fighting continued in some areas for two more years, and the war officially ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, by which England recognized
American independence and abandoned the territory from the Atlantic to the
Mississippi.
Interesting to know: Yankee Doodle is the song, which told the story of a
poorly dressed Yankee simpleton, or doodle who “went to town riding on a
pony, stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni.” It was popular with
35
British troops; they played it as they marched to battle on the first days of the
Revolutionary War. The rebels quickly claimed the song as their own and created dozens of new verses that mocked the British, praised the new Continental
Army, and hailed its commander, George Washington.
By 1781, when the British surrendered at Yorktown, being called a
“Yankee Doodle” had gone from being an insult to a point of pride, and the
song had become the new republic’s unofficial national anthem.
During the war years, the Second Continental Congress acted as a central
government, but it wasn’t a proper government after the war. In 1777, the
members of Congress worked out a plan for a union of the states. The plan
was called the Articles of Confederation. In 1781, the new national government started. The purpose of the government, as Thomas Jefferson said,
was to protect the rights of the people. Those rights included “life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness” [25].
The Confederation was not a strong government as none of the states wanted to give up much of their own power – there were too many things the government of the Confederation could not do. For example, the Confederation
Congress could not raise money by taxes; it could only ask the states to raise
money for the national government. In fact, the Articles of Confederation
called the new nation a “league of friendship,” which showed that the states
thought of themselves as friendly allies rather than as part of a strong single
nation. Many Americans became worried about the future: “How could they
win the trust of other nations if they refused to pay their debts? How could the
country prosper if the states continued to quarrel among themselves?”
The Constitutional Convention: The need for a more powerful and
complete federal government led, in 1787, to the calling of the Constitutional Convention. It met in Philadelphia through the summer of 1787 and
wrote a Constitution. After much discussion and compromise, the convention approved a new constitution on September 17, 1787 and, by June of
1788 the Constitution had been ratified by 9 states and became official.
In 1789, the Constitution of the United States was put into operation,
and George Washington was elected the first President of the United States.
The Constitution called for a federal government, limited in scope, but
independent of and superior to the states. It was able to tax, and was equipped
with a two house Legislature and Executive and Judicial branches.
The U.S. Constitution [36] established the separation of powers between
three different branches of government. The legislative branch or Congress
consists of 2 parts: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Its function
is to write laws. The executive branch led by a President and Vice-President
enforces laws. The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court and a
number of lower courts created by Congress which interpret and decide
36
questions of federal and state law. So, each branch of government has its
own responsibilities and cannot take action in areas assigned to the other
branches.
Together with this separation of powers, the Constitution introduced a
system of checks and balances so that each branch had some power over the
other two in order to stop them from becoming too powerful. In this way the
Constitution prevents tyrannical abuses of authority through the separation
of powers [36].
The national legislature, or Congress, embodied the key compromise of
the Convention, between the small states, which wanted to retain the power
they had under the one state/one vote (i.e., equal representation of all
states), and the large states, which wanted the weight of their larger populations and wealth to have a proportionate share of power (i.e., equal representation of all population of the states). So, the upper House, the Senate,
represents the states equally, while the lower House, House of Representatives, is elected from districts called constituencies of approximately equal
population. As a result states with bigger population have a bigger representation in it.
Thus, the Constitution went into effect in 1789 and has not changed ever
since.
The Constitution spells out in its seven articles (sections) the powers of
the federal government and the states. Later amendments expanded some of
these powers and limited others.
Article I vests the legislative power of the federal government in Congress. Only Congress can enact general laws applicable to all the people.
Article II vests the executive power in the president, including the authority to appoint federal officials and to prosecute and pardon federal crimes.
Article III vests the federal judicial power, including the power to conduct trials, in the Supreme Court and in other federal courts that Congress
creates. Neither Congress nor the president or executive branch officials can
declare a person guilty. Only a judge or jury can make these decisions.
Article IV defines and delineates the rights of the states and of the federal
government. States must accept most laws and legal decisions made in other
states. The states must offer most fundamental legal rights to both residents
and nonresidents of the state. People accused of serious crimes cannot take
refuge in other states.
Congress controls the admission of new states. Congress and the legislatures of the states involved must approve the merger of two states or the
creation of a new state within the boundaries of an existing state.
The government has the right to use federal buildings, lands, and property in almost any way it sees fit. The federal government has an obligation to
protect the political and physical integrity of the states. The federal govern37
ment must take responsibility for stopping invasions and, if the states ask, to
suppress domestic unrest.
Article V defines the ways to amend the Constitution. Both the states and
Congress can propose amendments to the Constitution.
Article VI binds all government officials, including those at the state level, to support the Constitution and federal laws. All laws in the U.S. – federal, state, and local – must be consistent with the Constitution. All judges
must hold the U.S. Constitution above all other law. Members of Congress,
the state legislatures, state and federal judges, and state and federal executive officials must agree to support the Constitution.
Article VI leaves other powers to the states to exercise at their discretion,
with two exceptions. First, the Constitution is the “supreme law,” so the
states cannot make laws that conflict with federal laws. Second, the Constitution guarantees to the people certain civil liberties (the right to be free of
government interference) and civil rights (the right to be treated as a free and
equal member of the country).
Article VII defines the number of states needed for its ratification.
Only 9 of the original 13 states were needed to approve the Constitution.
This Article is obsolete now.
Ways to amend the Constitution: 1) Congress can propose an amendment, provided that 2/3ds of the members of both the House and the Senate
were in favor of it. 2) Or the legislatures of two of the states can call a convention to propose amendments. After the Conventional Congress proposes
an amendment, it then requires approval by 2/3ds of the state legislatures, or
2/3ds of special state conventions, whichever Congress specifies. By the
way, the second method, which allows states to propose an amendment, has
never been used so far.
The Constitution took away many of the states’ powers and specified the
powers held by the states and the people. This division of powers between
the states and the national government was called federalism. Those, who
advocated the Constitution, took the name Federalists, and quickly gained
supporters throughout the nation. Opponents of the plan for a stronger government took the name Anti-federalists. They feared that a government with
the power to tax would soon become as despotic and corrupt as Great Britain
had been only decades earlier. Thomas Jefferson, who was serving as Ambassador to France at that time, was neither a Federalist nor an Anti-federalist, but decided to remain neutral.
The original Constitution did not include a bill of rights because the delegates to the Constitutional Convention did not think it necessary to set
down a list of rights.
When the Constitution went before the states for ratification, members of
the Federalist Party, who favored the ratification, found out that the failure to
38
include a bill of rights had been a strategic error and refused to ratify the
Constitution until it was changed to give citizens more protection against the
wrong use of power by the government. So, the Federalists were for a bill of
rights, but the anti-Federalists were against. Even Jefferson sided with the
advocates of a bill of rights. Human rights, he argued, were something “no
just government should refuse, or rest on inference (here implication)” [36].
The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms
and guaranteeing a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791. It consisted of 10 amendments out of 12 proposed by Congress. One was not ratified, and one was ratified later as the 27th Amendment.
The First Amendment protected the freedoms of speech, the press, assembly, and religion from federal legislation. The Second and Third Amendments guaranteed the right to bear arms and made it difficult for the government to house soldiers in private homes – provisions favoring a citizen militia over a professional army. The Fourth through Eighth Amendments defined a citizen’s rights in court and when under arrest. The Ninth Amendment
stated that the enumeration of these rights did not endanger other rights, and
the Tenth Amendment said that powers not granted the national government
by the Constitution remained with the states and citizens.
Thus, the Bill of Rights guarantees Americans freedom speech, religion,
and the press. Americans have the right to assemble in public places, to protest government actions, and to demand change. There is a right to own firearms. Because of the Bill of Rights, neither police officers nor soldiers can
stop and search a person without a good reason. Nor can they search a person’s home without permission from a court to do so. The Bill of Rights
guarantees a speedy trial to anyone accused of a crime. The trial must be by
jury if requested, and the accused person must be allowed representation by
a lawyer and to call witnesses to speak for him or her. Cruel and unusual
punishment is forbidden.
Since 1791, 17 other amendments have been added to the Constitution.
Perhaps most important of these are the Thirteenth and Fourteenth, which
outlaw slavery and guarantee all citizens equal protection of the laws, and
the Nineteenth, which gives women the right to vote.
Federalists and Anti-federalists, the emerging Party system: The
Constitution makes no mention of political parties, and the Founding Fathers
regularly ridiculed political “factionalism.” As mentioned before, the struggle over the ratification of the Constitution, however, suggested the first outlines of the system of political parties, which was to later emerge.
The Federalists, who had advocated the Constitution, enjoyed the opportunity to put the new government into operation, while after the adoption of
the Constitution, the Anti-federalists, never well-organized, effectively
ceased to exist.
39
However, the ideals of states’ rights and a weaker federal government
were in many ways absorbed by the growth of a new party, the Republican,
later Democratic-Republican Party or Democratic Party, which eventually
assumed the role of loyal opposition to the Federalists, and finally took control of the federal government in 1800, with the election of Thomas Jefferson as President.
Winners and losers of the American Revolution: Colonial elites, i.e.,
large landholders and plantation masters and property-holding white men
benefited most from American independence. They continued to rule at home
without outside interference. They became full citizens of the American republic and enjoyed the “life, liberty, and property” for which they had fought.
White women remained excluded from public life, as did most white
men without property. For Native Americans and African American slaves
the legacy of revolution proved disastrous or at best ambiguous.
Though the American Revolution created an independent nation in which
slaveholders had real power, the ideology of natural rights that was fundamental to the Revolution was difficult to contain. Many whites, particularly
in the North, came to see emancipation as a logical outcome of the Revolution. Thus, American independence was a short–term disaster for the slaves,
but at the same time, it set in motion a chain of events that finally destroyed
American slavery.
SUMMARY
1. In the struggle for control of North America, the decisive factor was
that only the English established colonies of agricultural settlers, their interests lay mainly in the acquisition of land.
2. English migrants came to America for two main reasons: religious
and economic.
3. The colonists who came to the New World were not a homogeneous
mix, but rather a variety of different social and religious groups, and they
created colonies with very different social, religious, political, and economic
structures.
4. By 1733, English settlers had founded 13 colonies along the Atlantic
Coast, from New Hampshire in the North to Georgia in the South.
5. The 13 colonies were tied to the British Empire socially, politically
and economically. Although each of them was different from the others,
throughout the 17th and 18th centuries several events and trends took place
and brought them together. The Royal Proclamation and a number of British
Parliament Acts aggravated the situation in the colonies to the extreme and
ignited the American Revolution.
40
6. The Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775 marked the beginning
of the American Revolution. The last major battle of the American Revolution took place at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. The war officially ended with
the Treaty of Paris in 1783, by which England recognized American independence and relinquished its territory from the Atlantic to the Mississippi.
7. On July 4, 1776, the members of the Continental Congress agreed to
issue the paper that is now called the Declaration of Independence.
8. During the war years, the Continental Congress acted as a central government, but few people thought of it as a government that would continue
after the war. In 1777, the members of Congress worked out a plan for a union of the states. The plan was called the Articles of Confederation and it was
approved by the state legislatures.
9. In 1781, the new national government started. In 1787, the Constitutional Convention, met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles but instead decided to write a Constitution, which was ratified in 1788. In 1789, the Constitution of the United States was put into operation, and George Washington
was elected the first President of the United States.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. By whom was the first recorded voyage to North America made?
2. What sets off Columbus’s first voyage from all early voyages to
America?
3. In what way did English colonists differ from other European settlers?
4. What were two main reasons why the English migrants came to
America?
5. What English colony is called “Lost” and why?
6. How was Virginia (New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, etc.) colonized?
7. What was the difference between Pilgrims and Puritans?
8. What events were remarkable for the unification of the British colonies?
9. Why did Americans dump tea into the Boston Harbor?
10. Where were the first battles of the Revolution fought and what battle
ended the fighting in the Revolutionary War?
11. Why is the Declaration of Independence important?
12. What did the Americans win as a result of the treaty that ended the war?
13. Why was the Constitutional Convention held?
14. How many branches does the national government have? What are
those branches?
15. What is the Bill of Rights?
16. How did the political parties begin in the U.S.A.?
41
Unit
3
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
FROM THE 18th TO THE BEGINNING
OF THE 20th CENTURY
The second unit devoted to the U.S. history covers the period
after gaining independence from Great Britain in 1783 to WWI at
the onset of the 20th century. It describes:
the U.S. territorial acquisitions and westward expansion,
Native Americans’ relocation to the West,
slavery and Civil War,
reconstruction,
industrialization and immigration in the 19th century,
the “progressive” era,
the rise of U.S. imperialism and the U.S. in the early 1900’s.
Key Words and Proper Names: annihilation, to assassinate,
barren, breadbasket, to confine to reservations, to defeat, gold
rush, to foster, grazing land, to impose taxes and literacy requirements, influx, legacy, mounted warfare, overseas, progressivism,
42
reconstruction, to secede, segregation, sharecropping, sod, unprecedented and diverse stream of immigrants; voter rights, trustbuster, westward expansion;
The American federation of Labor, the Confederate States of
America, the Emancipation Proclamation, Fort McHenry, Gettysburg,
Ku Klux Klan, the Little Bighorn River battle; Hull House, the Louisiana Purchase, the Monroe Doctrine, the Noble Order of the Knights
of Labor, Prohibition, the Star-Spangled Banner, the Trail of Tears;
Apache, Arapaho, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Comanche, Hopis, Kiowa, Navajo, Nez Perce, Pueblo, Sioux;
Theodore Dreiser, Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Mackenzie and
George Vancouver, Crazy Horse; Geronimo, Red Cloud, George
Custer, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Upton Sinclair, Theodore
Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson.
U.S. TERRITORIAL ACQUISITIONS AND WESTWARD EXPANSION: After the revolution the independent American republic was now expanding westwards without any opposition from either France or Britain.
The U.S. westward expansion is often called frontier expansion or movement. Many pioneers were drawn westward by economic opportunity and a
chance to escape or purify an earlier way of life.
Again the U.S. found itself in bloody conflicts with rivals, such as Mexico and Native American tribes. The mix of people and exchange of cultures
with an even richer mix of influences continued.
In 1803, Jefferson, the third U.S. president, purchased the vast Louisiana
Territory from France almost doubling the size of the country. The Louisiana
Purchase added more than one million square kilometers of territory and extended the country’s borders to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
The last obstacle on the way to conquering the West’s riches was the
war of 1812. In fact, the war broke out again between France and Great
Britain in 1803, and each of them wanted to stop American ships from trading with its enemy. The U.S. declared war on Great Britain in the spring of
1812. The war dragged on for two years. Neither side was able to win. In
January 1815, at New Orleans, came the greatest triumph for American
forces.
Interesting to know: This victory in the war is connected in the minds of
Americans with one more significant event – the writing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” This poem conveyed the patriotic feeling of its author, an
American lawyer named Francis Scott Key, who watched the attack from a
ship in the Baltimore harbor. When he saw the American flag still flying
43
over Fort McHenry in Baltimore after the long night of bombardment, the
following lines came to him:
О say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we
hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright
stars, through the perilous fight, О ’er the ramparts we watched were
so gallantly streaming! And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting
in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; О say,
does that star-spangled banner yet wave О ’er the land of the free and
the home of the brave? [38]
The poem was printed in newspapers all over the country. It became
very popular and was soon set to music. Years later, in 1931, Congress
passed a law to make the song the American national anthem.
The Star-Spangled Banner (30 feet hoist by 42 feet fly) was sewn by
Mary Pickersgill, an experienced Baltimore City flag maker. There were
15 stars and 15 stripes on the flag (to represent the 13 original colonies
and Vermont and Kentucky – the next two states to enter the union). This
flag, came to be known as the Star-Spangled Banner Flag or National glory, it is today on display among the most treasured artifacts in the collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in
Washington, D.C.
The war increased Americans’ feeling of patriotism; they had pride in
their country, their army and navy. No wonder, for many years, the British
navy had ruled the seas, and in 1815, the British lost battles to the American
ships. The war also strengthened U.S. nationalism.
In 1819, a series of U.S. military invasions into Florida led Spain to give
up all of Florida and other Gulf Coast territories to the U.S.
Now, nobody and nothing could stop the U.S. westward expansion. The
frontier moved westward by the forces other than the search for farmland.
These forces were as follows:
1) the West was a vast storehouse of resources – gold, silver, coal,
iron, copper, timber, rich soil, and immense grazing lands;
2) at the same time the rise of industry created an almost limitless
market for many of the West’s riches.
Many resources of the West were discovered and developed by brave pioneers from the East like Lewis and Clark, Mackenzie and Vancouver as
well as by thousands of unknown trappers, settlers, farmers. Many local Indian tribes willingly or unwillingly provided them with important geographic facts and data. This geographic knowledge opened the way for ordinary
citizens to move across the country to the Far West.
In January 1848, traces of gold were found in the American River, California. Their discovery sparked the gold rush of 1849. Later on, there were
44
gold rushes in Colorado in 1859, Idaho and Montana in the 1860’s, and Arizona and Nevada in the 1870’s. In 1859, silver was discovered in far western
Nevada, then in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Arizona. The West proved to
be one of the world’s greatest reservoirs of valuable metals. As gold, silver,
copper, and lead mines were established, towns sprung up around them.
Many of these towns were later abandoned when the mines around them
were closed. The California Gold Rush of 1848–1849 further hastened western migration.
The U.S. grew rapidly. The order in which states were admitted to the
Union reflects the uneven frontier’s movement across the American West.
By 1820, ten new states had been formed. By the 1840’s, the line of settlement had moved only a few hundred miles past the Mississippi River. By
1850, Arkansas, Michigan, Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin had been admitted as
states. Then the frontier jumped across the middle of the country to Oregon
and California on the Pacific Coast. California became the first American
state on the Pacific in 1850. The frontier then moved both westward and
eastward, as white settlers gradually pushed into the huge interior area of the
Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, and the far South-west.
Oregon, Minnesota, Kansas, Nevada, Nebraska, and Colorado were admitted to the Union between 1850 and 1876, but parts of the Rocky Mountains
and the Great Plains were settled slowly. Alaska was bought from Russia in
1867 for $7.2 million. Then in 1889 and 1890, six states were added: North
Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming. Hawaii
was annexed in 1898. Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines were annexed
from Spain after the Spanish-American War in 1898 for $20 million. Utah,
Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona had joined the Union by 1912.
Between 1841 and the late 1860’s, more than a third of a million persons
moved from the Missouri valley to the Pacific Coast.
Most followed overland trails, including the Oregon and California trails.
Railroads: As the size of the population on the Pacific Coast exploded,
there was a need to connect these distant communities with the eastern states
by a railroad, linking the two parts of the continent. With the help of thousands of Irish immigrant laborers, the Union Pacific Railroad was built
westward from Omaha, Nebraska. At the same time, the Central Pacific was
built eastward from northern California by the efforts of Chinese workers
imported for the job.
By the 1890’s, a web of steel rails covered much of the West. The role of
the railroad linking the two parts of the continent for the U.S. was enormous.
Railroads encouraged westward expansion more than any other single development.
They also helped industry develop in the West. They carried equipment
and materials. Western companies used railroads to export the rich resources
45
they found in the West. Railroads made it easier to transport troops and war
materials, and thereby ended Native American independence. Railroads provided the means of linking supply with demand – the Texas cattle with the
Northern cities. They played a crucial role in the development of the Great
Plains states.
Westward migration: In 1862, the U.S. Congress passed the Homestead
Act, which provided land, originally 160 acres, at no cost if a settler agreed to
cultivate it for at least five years. Many settlers moved west to establish farms.
And agricultural production in the U.S. doubled between 1870 and 1900.
Interesting to know: The first homesteaders often quarreled with cattlemen
who used to drive Texan half-wild cattle north through good grazing lands
of the Plains to the railroads because their crops were eaten and tramped
upon by the cattle. In some places people were even killed in “range wars”.
It took years for the 2 groups to learn to live peacefully side by side.
New methods of farming on the Plains were introduced. To produce
crops with less rainfall, farmers on the Great Plains used methods of dry
farming. They learned to build sod houses cheaply out of bricks made of soil
and held together by grassroots. By the 1870’s, the wheat grown by the pioneer farmers was turning the Great Plains into the nation’s “breadbasket.”
Before the end of the 19th century, wheat grown on the Great Plains was
feeding millions of people not only in the U.S. but thousands of miles away
in Europe, and more than 110 million pounds of American beef was shipped
across the Atlantic Ocean. The grass and wheat of the Great Plains earned
the U.S. more money than the gold mines of California and Dakota.
Native Americans: New railroads made the relocation for settlers easier
and increased conflicts with Native Americans. Dozens of Native American
tribes lived in the West, supporting themselves with many different economies. Most tribes in the Southwest were hunters and farmers. In the Pacific
Northwest, tribes were traders and fishermen. The tribes on the Great Plains
were hunters and gatherers who depended on vast herds of bison. Within
half a century, up to 40 million American bison, or buffalos, were slaughtered for skins and meat, and to ease the railroads’ spread. The loss of the
bison, a primary resource for the Plains Indians, was an existential blow to
many native cultures.
What happened to Native Americans in those years can be called a massive murder or annihilation. Westward expansion depleted resources and
damaged the environment, thus destroying the Native Americans’ ability to
support themselves. In addition, the pioneers carried diseases that killed
thousands of Native Americans.
46
In fact, the conflict between Indians and settlers had started in the east of
the U.S.A. with the removal of Cherokee Indians to Oklahoma and repeated
farther west. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, according to
which almost all eastern tribes were forced to move west and leave their
lands to settlers. In 1834, a special Indian territory was established in what is
now Oklahoma.
The Trail of Tears is a name given to the forced relocation of Native
American nations from southeastern parts of the U.S. The removal included
many members of the following tribes, who did not wish to assimilate:
Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations. Native
Americans suffered from exposure to cold, diseases and starvation on the
route to their destinations. Many died, including 6,000 of 16,542 relocated
Cherokee, one of the strongest and most populous eastern tribes.
But it was not the end of trouble for America’s Indian people. The aim of
white settlers, called by Indians “pale-faced”, was to destroy the Native
American culture of independence and to strip all native peoples of their land.
Some Native Americans resisted the influx of white settlers militarily.
Many tribes fought the whites at one time or another. The most bloody militant conflicts took place on the Great Plains, where Sioux, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, and others fought the U.S. Army in several campaigns between 1855 and 1877.
The Sioux of the Northern Plains led by such resolute, militant leaders as
Red Cloud and Crazy Horse were skilled at high-speed mounted warfare.
Conflicts with the Plains Indians continued through the Civil War. In
1876, the last serious Sioux war erupted, when the Dakota gold rush penetrated the Black Hills.
Native Americans won some dramatic victories, including the defeat of
George Custer on Montana’s Little Bighorn River in 1876, but soon they
were ultimately defeated and confined to reservations.
Southwestern Apache peoples, with their most famous leader, Geronimo,
resisted the occupation of their country till 1886.
However, military conflict was not the force that destroyed the Native
American culture of independence; it was the volume of white settlers taking
over Native American land and the ways in which these settlers transformed
the West.
Under scores of treaties Native Americans were assigned to reservations
and given government support that was rarely adequate. Government policy
tried to assimilate the tribes into the white society by suppressing native culture and converting Native Americans to white customs.
Slavery and Civil War: The ringing words of the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal” [36], were also meaningless for
4 million American black slaves (the 1860 Census).
47
But attitudes toward slavery were shifting in the first half of the 19th
century. The Second Great Awakening, beginning about 1800, favored
abolitionism. The Northern states abolished slavery between 1780 and
1804, leaving the slave states of the South as defenders of the “peculiar
institution.”
On the eve of the Civil War, the U.S. was a nation divided into 4 quite
distinct regions: the Northeast, with a growing industrial and commercial
economy and an increasing density of population; the Northwest, now
known as the Midwest, a rapidly expanding region of free farmers where
slavery had been forever prohibited; the Upper South, with a settled plantation system based on slavers’ labor; and the Southwest, a booming new frontier-like region with expanding cotton economy.
So, in the mid-19th century, the U.S. had two fundamentally different labor systems based on wage labor in the North and on slavery in the South.
Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over the
spread of slavery into new states of the Southwest.
After Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, 11
southern states left the Union between 1860 and 1861 and proclaimed themselves an independent nation establishing a rebel government, the Confederate States of America on February 9, 1861. They were South Carolina and
North Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas,
Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee.
In fact, Lincoln was moderate in his opposition to slavery. He opposed
the expansion of slavery into the new territories of the Southwest; but he also
said the federal government did not have the power to abolish slavery in the
states in which it already existed. However, the southern states did not trust
him; they knew that many other Republicans were intent on the complete
abolition of slavery. Lincoln encouraged abolitionists with his famous 1858
House divided speech, though that speech was about an eventual end of slavery achieved gradually and voluntarily with compensation to slave-owners
and resettlement of former slaves. Abraham Lincoln hoped the South would
rejoin the union without any bloodshed.
But on April 12, 1861, Confederate soldiers fired at Union troops in Fort
Sumter in South Carolina. That was the beginning of the Civil War.
The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until
1865. For both the North (the Union) and the South (the Confederacy), it
was long and hard. More than half a million soldiers lost their lives. Many
died in battle, many died of sickness in the army camps. The North set up a
blockade to prevent the South from getting supplies from foreign ships.
On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed The Emancipation Proclamation which declared that all slaves in states fighting against the Union
were free. As result, about 180,000 blacks joined the Union army.
48
The Confederate Army did well in the early part of the war, and some of
its commanders especially General Robert E. Lee, were brilliant tacticians.
But the Union had superior manpower and resources to draw upon.
In the summer of 1863, General Lee marched his troops north into Pennsylvania. He met the Union army at Gettysburg, and the largest battle ever
fought on the American soil occurred. After three days of desperate fighting,
the Confederate army was forced to retreat, leaving 23,049 Union soldiers
and 28,063 Confederate soldiers dead (KIA*).
Two years later, on April 9, 1865, after a long campaign involving forces
commanded by Lee and Grant, the Confederate army surrendered to General
Grant in Virginia after leaving roughly 650,000 dead. The war was over.
Five days later, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by an actor named
John Wilkes Booth when he went to see a play at the Ford Theater in Washington, D.C. The assassin found his way to the President’s seat, shot Lincoln
and escaped. Lincoln was carried to a house across the street. He died the
next morning. Booth was killed by soldiers a few days later. The nation had
gained реaсе but had lost its Great President.
The Civil War was the most traumatic episode in American history. But it
resolved two matters that hadn’t been decided since 1776:
1) it put an end to slavery, and
2) it decided that the country was not a collection of semi-independent
states but an indivisible whole.
Reasons for the outcome: Why the Union prevailed (or why the Confederacy was defeated) in the Civil War has been a subject of extensive analysis and debate. Advantages widely believed to have contributed to the
Union’s success include:
The more industrialized economy of the North, which aided in the
production of arms and munitions.
Strong compatible railroad links between Union cities, which allowed
for the relatively quick movement of troops.
The Union’s larger population and greater immigration during the war,
allowing for a larger pool of potential conscripts.
The Union’s possession of the U.S. merchant marine fleet and naval
ships, which led to its successful blockade of Confederate ports.
The Union’s more established government, which may have resulted in
less argument and a more streamlined conduct of the war.
The moral cause assigned to the war by the Emancipation Proclamation,
which may have given the Union additional incentive to continue the war
effort, and also may have encouraged international support.
The recruitment of African-Americans, including many freed slaves,
into the Union Army after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, thus
*
KIA – killed in action
49
allowing the Union to tap a population source their enemy ideologically
refused to use. In the final weeks of the war, the Confederacy began to allow
African-Americans to enlist in the army, but this was only a token effort.
The Confederacy’s possible squandering of resources on early
conventional offensives and its failure to fully use its advantages in guerilla
warfare against Union communication and transportation infrastructure.
The Confederacy’s failure to win military support from any foreign
powers, and a well-timed release of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The years after the American Civil War are called Reconstruction (1865–
1877). It was the period when the southern states of the defeated Confederacy were reintegrated into the Union and the attempt was made to decide the
fate of roughly 4 million former African American slaves, to make them citizens, and give them voting rights.
The Emancipation Proclamation made a start toward freeing the slaves.
Then, in 1865, Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
This law abolished slavery everywhere in the U.S.A. The 14th Amendment
proclaimed that all Americans had equal rights as citizens. The 15th Amendment said that no one could be kept from voting because of race.
These constitutional amendments, that laid the foundation for the most
radical phase of Reconstruction, were adopted between 1866 and 1871. Republican legislatures, coalitions of whites and blacks, established the first
public school systems in the South.
Until 1877, parts of the South were controlled by the U.S. army. Former
four million black slaves called now freedmen could not make a living in the
war-torn South. There was no real land reform, and most blacks still owned
no property. The farmers had no money to pay black workers. And the exslaves had no money to buy farms. Finally, the system of sharecropping began to be used, when a farmer let a worker live on some of his land and farm
it in return for a part of grown crops. But the system was not good enough.
Very often, after sharing the crop, there was nothing, or almost nothing, left.
Many southern whites were angry about the new freedom for the black
population. Beginning with 1874, there was a rise in white paramilitary organizations, such as the White League, Red Shirts, whose political aim was
to drive out the Republicans. They also disrupted public life and terrorized
blacks to bar them from the polls. They formed groups called Ku Klux Klan.
They caught black people, dragged them through the streets, and hanged
them. Lynching, or hangings committed by mobs, became common.
The end of Reconstruction in 1877 marked the end of the brief period of
civil rights for African Americans. Later, racism became more powerful;
southern states passed laws to keep blacks from voting by imposing taxes
and literacy requirements. By the early 20th century, every southern state
had adopted laws enforcing segregation – blacks and whites were separated
in schools, parks, trains, hospitals, and other public places.
50
But Reconstruction was not for nothing. It was the boldest attempt so far
to achieve racial justice in the U.S. The 14th Amendment was especially important. It was the foundation for the Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s
and 1960’s and made it possible for Martin Luther King to cry out eventually on behalf of all black Americans: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God
Almighty we are free at last!” [29].
Till the 1960’s, every southern state had laws enforcing segregation. The
shock of the Afro-American social movements of the mid-20th century
made the Federal government formally stop segregation in all public facilities; the Civil Rights Act of 1964 along with the Voting Rights Act of 1965,
finally ended officially-sanctioned racial segregation in the U.S.
Reconstruction was a time of bitterness and sorrow, but it was also a time
of growth and change. Gradually, many of the large plantations were sold,
and the land was divided to make smaller farms. Some northerners came to
buy land or start businesses. Cities and industries were started – mills for
making cloth; steel, and lumber were other important industries. All over the
South, cities and towns were growing. One of the examples of such a development is Birmingham, Alabama, a new town, founded in 1871. Before the
war, it was a cotton field. But two railroad lines crossed here, and iron and
coal were discovered nearby. In a few years, it became one of the biggest
iron and steel centers in the country.
In the North, urbanization and an unprecedented inflow of immigrants
from Southern and Eastern Europe hastened the country’s industrialization.
The wave of immigration, lasting till 1929, provided cheap labor and transformed American culture. National infrastructure development spurred economic growth.
Industrialization and immigration: Between 1865 and 1900, the U.S.
became the world’s leading industrial nation. The availability of land, the
diversity of climate and economy, the presence of navigable canals, rivers,
and coastal waterways for the transportation needs of the emerging industries, the abundance of natural resources, fast transport, and the availability
of capital powered the Second Industrial Revolution.
The Second Industrial Revolution resulted in the U.S. pioneering in organization, management and coordination of work; and industries were
stimulated by technology and transportation.
The “Gilded Age” was a term that Mark Twain used to describe that period of the late 19th century when there was a dramatic expansion of American wealth and prosperity.
The petroleum industry prospered, and John D. Rockefeller became one
of the richest men in America. Andrew Carnegie, who started out as a poor
Scottish immigrant, built a vast empire of steel mills. Textile mills multiplied in the South, and meat-packing plants sprang up in Chicago, Illinois.
51
An electrical industry flourished as Americans made use of a series of inventions: the telephone, the light bulb, the phonograph, the alternating-current
motor and transformer, and motion pictures.
Innovations also occurred in how work was organized: Henry Ford developed the assembly line and Fredrick Taylor formalized ideas of scientific
management. Division of labor was a basic tenet of industrialization.
To finance large-scale enterprises, the corporation emerged as the dominant form of business organization. They combined into trusts. Trusts, in
their turn, tried to establish monopoly control over some industries, notably
oil. Business leaders backed government policies of laissez-faire. High tariffs sheltered U.S. factories and workers from foreign competition (which
hardly existed after 1880).
By the century’s end, American industrial production and per capita income had exceeded those of all other world nations and ranked only behind
Great Britain. Meanwhile, a steady stream of immigrants encouraged the
availability of cheap labor, especially in the mining and manufacturing sectors. An unprecedented wave of immigration served both to provide the labor for American industry and create diverse communities in previously undeveloped areas.
Between 1880 and 1914, peak years of immigration, more than 22 million people migrated to the U.S.A. All in all, from 1840 to 1920, an enormous and diverse stream of immigrants came to the U.S., approximately 37
million in total. They came from a variety of locations and for a variety of
reasons, ranging from economic opportunities and search for harvestable
land to escaping from the Irish Potato Famine. Many fled from religious or
political persecution.
The laissez-faire capitalism of the second half of the 19th century fostered huge concentrations of wealth and power, on the one hand, and severe
exploitation of workers, on the other.
John D. Rockefeller used to say: “the growth of a large business is merely a survival of the fittest” [12, 29]. This “Social Darwinism” had many proponents who argued that any attempt to regulate business was tantamount to
impeding the natural evolution of the species.
The growth of industry and cities created problems. Workers faced long
hours, dangerous conditions, poor pay, and an uncertain future. Periodic
economic crises swept the nation, further producing high levels of unemployment. The situation was worse for women and children, who made up a
high percentage of the work force in some industries and often received but
a fraction of the wages a man could earn.
At the same time, the unskilled labor pool was constantly growing, as
immigrants were entering the country, eager for work.
52
Labor organization: Industrialization and abusive industrial practices
led to the often violent rise of the labor movement in the U.S.
The first major effort to organize workers’ groups on a nationwide basis
came with The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor in 1869. Originally a
secret society, it was open to all workers, including African Americans,
women and farmers.
Soon its place in the labor movement was taken by the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The AFL focused on skilled workers, thus the AFL
helped turn the labor movement away from the socialist views expressed by
earlier labor leaders representing the interests of different groups of workers.
Labor’s goals and the unwillingness of capital to grant them resulted in a
number of most violent labor conflicts in the nation’s history. The first of
them was the Great Railroad Strike in 1877, then a full scale working class
uprising in several cities: Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and San
Francisco. The Haymarket Square incident took place nine years later
(1886), in the battle, nine people were killed and some 60 injured. Next
came the riots of 1892 at Carnegie’s steel works in Homestead, PA. Two
years later (1894), wage cuts at the Pullman Palace Car Company just outside Chicago, led to a strike, which, with the support of the American Railway Union, soon brought the nation’s railway industry to a halt.
But as soon as labor began to exert its immense power over capital, the
federal government stepped in on the side of capital with all its force.
19th-century U.S. farmers experienced recurring periods of hardship.
Several basic factors were involved: soil exhaustion, the vagaries of nature,
a decline in self-sufficiency, and the lack of legislative protection and aid.
But most important of all was over-production.
The first political organizations defending the interests of farmers that
came into existence in the late 19th century were: the Granger movement
and Farmers’ Alliances. The Grangers tried to force railroad companies to
reduce the high prices they charged to transport farmers’ crops. In response
to heavy debts and decreasing farm prices, many wheat and cotton farmers
joined the Populist Party.
The “progressive” era: As the U.S. entered the vulnerable 20th century;
a new political movement called progressivism emerged (in the 1890’s, to be
exact) as a response to the demand to remedy the problems created by industrialization and urbanization and, in the long run, to minimize violent labor
conflicts and clashes. From the 1890’s to the 1910’s, progressive efforts affected local, state, and national politics. National in scope, progressives
included both Democrats and Republicans. They also left a mark on journalism, academic life, cultural life, and social justice movements.
From the progressives’ viewpoint, economic privilege and corrupt politics threatened democracy. Never a cohesive movement, progressivism em53
braced many types of reforms. Progressives strove to curb corporate power,
to end business monopolies, and to wipe out political corruption. They also
wanted to democratize electoral procedures, protect working people, and
bridge the gap between social classes. Progressives turned to government to
achieve their goals.
Crusading journalists helped shape a climate favorable to reform, they
revealed to middle class readers the evils of economic privilege, political
corruption, and social injustice. Their articles appeared in McClure’s Magazine and other reform periodicals. I. Tarbell, e.g., exposed the activities of
the Standard Oil Company. In The Shame of the Cities (1904), L. Steffens
dissected corruption in city government. In Following the Color Line (1908),
Ray S. Baker criticized race relations.
Novelists revealed corporate injustices too. Theodore Dreiser drew
harsh portraits of a type of ruthless businessman in The Financier (1912)
and The Titan (1914). In The Jungle (1906) socialist Upton Sinclair horrified readers with descriptions of Chicago’s meatpacking plants, and his
work led to support for remedial legislation. Leading intellectuals also
shaped the progressive mentality. In The Theory of the Leisure Class
(1899), T. Veblen attacked the “conspicuous consumption” of the wealthy.
Educator John Dewey emphasized a child-centered philosophy of pedagogy, also known as progressive education, which affected schoolrooms for
three generations.
The social settlement movement, which originated in cities in the 1890’s,
became a force for progressive reforms at the local level, such as Hull
House, the first settlement or community house, founded by Jane Addams
and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889. Hull House was a center for welfare work in
Chicago. It championed the causes of labor reform, public education, and
immigrants’ rights. Similar settlement houses offered social services to the
urban poor, especially immigrants, provided nurseries, adult education classes, and recreational opportunities for children and adults. Settlement houses
spread rapidly. There were 100 settlement houses in 1900, 200 in 1905, and
400 in 1910.
Settlement leaders joined the battle against political machines and endorsed many other progressive reforms. In 1931, Jane Addams became the
first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and is recognized as the founder of the social work profession in the United States.
At the state level, progressives campaigned for electoral reforms to allow
the people to play a more direct role in the political process. Some Western
states adopted practices that expanded voter rights. Progressives supported
the 17th Amendment, ratified in 1913, which provides for election of U.S.
senators directly by vote of the people, rather than indirectly by state legislatures. In the early 20th century, progressive reformers fought to reform
54
working conditions. One of their battles was against child labor and against
their long work hours.
Progressive reformers used the states as laboratories of reform. For instance, Wisconsin governor Robert La Follett supervised railroad practices
and raised state taxes on corporations. Following his example, one state after
another passed laws to regulate railroads and businesses.
Some progressive reformers initiated and persuaded the government to
introduce Prohibition (the 18th Amendment), a law to prevent the manufacture, sale, or use of alcohol. The amendment was ratified in 1919 and remained law until 1933.
To regulate business, however, progressives had to get influence on the
national level. Seeking antitrust laws to eliminate monopolies, they also
supported lower tariffs, a graduated income tax, and a system to control currency. They found a spokesperson in President Theodore Roosevelt.
Theodore Roosevelt became President in 1901 and was one of the most
popular Presidents in American history. People called him Teddy or TR. A
popular toy, the Teddy Bear, was named after him.
One of his beliefs was that it was the duty of the President to improve the
conditions of life for the people, to see that the ordinary man and woman got
what he called – “a Square Deal (1904)” also called “New Nationalism.” –
Theodore Roosevelt said, “Somehow or other we shall have to work out
methods of controlling the big corporations without paralyzing the energies
of the business community...“ [9, 57].
The Square Deal was part of the progressive movement responding to the
detrimental effects of industrialization. It was formed on 3 basic ideas: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection. Under President Roosevelt, the U.S. government took many of the
giant companies to court.
Here is a list of some of the new laws initiated by President Roosevelt
and passed by the national government in the early 1900’s: laws about ways
of financing water supply to dry farmland, about government loans to help
farmers, about making illegal selling dangerous foods and medicines, about
making working conditions at factories and in mines safer, about setting up
national forests and parks and conservation of natural resources, about starting an income tax, etc. Regulation, T. Roosevelt believed, was the only way
to solve the problems caused by big business. He became known as a trustbuster. He tried to break up large trusts that reduced competition and controlled prices.
In fact, T. Roosevelt was a very controversial personality. Progressive at
home, he was quite aggressive in international affairs. He made an addition
(a corollary) to the original Monroe Doctrine stating that the U.S. would intervene in Latin America whenever it thought necessary.
55
Progressivism reached its peak during Woodrow Wilson’s first term in
office. Wilson carried out significant reforms to introduce laws governing
tariffs, trusts, labor, agriculture, and banking. In 1913, Wilson signed the
Underwood Tariff, which reduced taxes on imported goods. He introduced
an income tax and supported the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which created
a centralized banking system called the Federal Reserve Bank and its 12
subsidiaries to stabilize the existing private banks and serve as a source of
credit for them, etc.
The rise of U.S. imperialism: By the end of the 19th century, Americans
had taken a greater interest in distant lands looking for new places as markets for their goods and new sources of raw materials. In fact, several motives were behind the U.S. expansion overseas. First, business leaders wanted overseas markets. Products basic to the American economy already depended heavily on foreign sales. Business leaders feared that if the U.S. had
failed to gain new markets abroad, other nations would have claimed them,
and these markets would have been lost to U.S. enterprises. Second, national
prestige required the U.S. to join the great European nations and Japan as
imperial powers. Third, American religious leaders supported efforts to
spread Christianity to foreign peoples. Finally, the U.S. seemed to be falling
behind in the race for an empire; it had not acquired noncontiguous territory
since Alaska was bought from Russia in 1867.
At the end of the 19th and the start of the 20th centuries, the U.S. began
to acquire territories overseas. Once the U.S. acquired a territory, it often
imposed its will on the people. Imperial designs sometimes evoked criticism. Some Americans opposed U.S. expansion and challenged the drive for
an overseas empire.
The imperial acquisitions of the U.S.A. in those days can be summed up
in the following lines. At the century’s end, the U.S. began to send American
forces to Hawaii, Cuba, the Philippines, and East Asia. The quest for an
overseas empire in the late 1890’s thus led to substantial American gains.
The U.S. annexed Hawaii in 1898, conquered the Philippines and Guam
from Spain in 1899, turned Cuba into an American protectorate in 1901, and
kept China opened to American traders and missionaries.
Yet Americans were not good administrators. In 1902, American troops
left Cuba, although the new republic was required to grant naval bases to the
U.S. The Philippines got limited self-government in 1907 and complete independence in 1946. Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth
within the U.S., Hawaii and Alaska became states in 1959.
Our brief description of American imperialism won’t be complete without mentioning the Monroe Doctrine and its provisions, which justified the
56
U.S. imperialistic policy of turning almost all Latin America into its obedient vassal states.
The Monroe Doctrine: The Monroe Doctrine was announced by President Monroe in 1823 as a warning to Europe not to start any new colonies in
Latin America. He proclaimed the Americas should be free from future European colonization and free from European interference in sovereign countries’ affairs. The Monroe Doctrine further stated the U.S. intention to stay
neutral in wars between European powers and their colonies, but to consider
any new colonies or interference with independent countries in the Americas
as hostile acts towards the U.S.
The Monroe Doctrine included two paragraphs that stated explicitly
the basic tenets of the U.S. foreign policy. The first declared that the U. S.
would oppose any further colonization by European powers in the western hemisphere. The second warned that the U.S. would “view any interposition in the affairs of western hemisphere nations for the purpose of
oppressing them or controlling ... in any other manner their destiny ...
as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United
States” [37].
It was Theodore Roosevelt who first manifested America’s naval power
and American imperial interests by sending warships and marines to small
countries in Latin America to protect American property and to keep European countries from interfering in Latin America.
In an effort to expand American power in Latin America and in the world,
Roosevelt decided to build a canal through the Isthmus of Panama. But
Panama belonged to Colombia, which turned down Roosevelt’s offer to
build it. In 1903, threatened by American warships, Columbia had to accept
Panama’s independence, and the new nation agreed to lease the Canal Zone
to the U.S.
Later U.S. presidents also used the Monroe Doctrine as a reason for sending troops into other Latin American countries.
SUMMARY
1. After the revolution and the defeat of the British army in the war of
1812, the independent American republic began to expand westwards
without any opposition from either France or Britain.
2. The size of the country almost doubled after purchasing the vast
Louisiana Territory from France. The frontier did not uniformly expand
westward from the Mississippi River. The growth of railroads encouraged
westward expansion more than any other single development.
57
3. Though Native Americans resisted the influx of white settlers, the
volume of white settlers taking over Native American land and the ways in
which these settlers transformed the West destroyed the Native American
culture of independence.
4. By the mid-19th century, two fundamentally different labor systems
had emerged in the North and in the South of the U.S.A., one based on wage
labor, the other on slavery. After Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected
president in 1860, 11 Southern states left the Union and proclaimed
themselves an independent nation, the Confederate States of America.
5. The American Civil War of 1861–1865 was fought between the U.S.
forces coming from the 23 northern states of the Union and the newly-formed
Confederate States of America. More than half a million soldiers lost their
lives. The war put an end to slavery, and made the country an indivisible
whole.
6. Reconstruction was the period after the American Civil War when
the 11 seceded states of the defeated Confederacy, were reintegrated into
the Union. The end of Reconstruction marked the end of the brief period
of civil rights for African Americans; it was also a time of growth and
change.
7. Between 1865 and 1900, the U.S. became the second world’s leading
industrial nation, witnessing meteoric expansion in the pace and scale of
production. Between 1840 and 1920, about 37 million of immigrants came to
America.
8. The laissez-faire capitalism dominated in the USA, it fostered huge
concentrations of wealth and power, on the one hand, and severe exploitation
of workers, on the other.
9. As the United States entered the 20th century, a new political
movement called progressivism emerged as a response to the demand to
remedy the problems created by industrialization and urbanization and
minimize violent labor conflicts and clashes.
10. The early 20th century witnessed the imperial acquisitions of the
U.S.A as Uncle Sam began to acquire territories overseas.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What forces stood behind the United States territorial acquisitions
and U.S. westward expansion?
2. What was the victory in the course of the war of 1812 connected in the
minds of Americans with?
3. How were first explorers of the West called? What role did they play?
Do you know any names?
58
4. Who took part in the construction of railroads linking the two parts of
the American continent?
5. What is the Trail of Tears?
6. What were the reasons of the American Civil war and why did the
North win?
7. When did the system of sharecropping come in use?
8. What do you know about segregation?
9. What was the Second Industrial Revolution about?
10. From the 1890’s to the 1910’s, progressive efforts affected local,
state, and national politics, didn’t they?
11.What were the imperial acquisitions of the U.S.A. in the early 20th
century?
12. What is the Monroe Doctrine about?
Unit
4
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
THE U.S. IN THE 20th
AND 21st CENTURIES
The third unit devoted to the U.S. history covers major events
of the 20th century and the first 15 years of the 21st century. It describes the following events and time periods:
the U.S. in the 1920’s,
the U.S. in the 1930’s,
World War II and the end of the Great Depression,
the U.S. in post-war years,
the U.S. in the 21st century.
Key Words and Proper Names: allowance, assault, brinksmanship, to be sworn in, bootlegging, cash-and-carry program, casualty, ceasefire, counterinsurgency, deflation, deployment of nuclear
missiles, depository, détente, disabilities incurred at work, “dotcom” industries, downsizing, to electrocute, federal expenditures,
60
hostility, impeachment, internee, the installment plan, on margin,
military draft, moonshiner, nonviolent protest sit-ins, overdue, perjury, the pillars of economic growth, policy of containment of communism behind the iron curtain, the policy of massive retaliation,
ragtag army, relief program, relocation center, social security system, stance, surplus, unilaterism, welfare state;
the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Great Depression, the Holocaust,
the League of Nations, Marshall Plan, McCarthyism, the Midas
touch, the NATO, the Roaring Twenties, the Iron Curtain, Strategic
Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT), the Truman Doctrine, United Nations Charter, the Watergate scandal.
WORLD WAR I: When World War I began in 1914, the U.S. firmly maintained neutrality. Though the pretext to enter the war was found when the
RMS Lusitania (a British ship carrying many American passengers in May
1915) was sunk by a German submarine, the U.S. Congress did not hurry; it
declared war on Germany only on April 6, 1917.
The U.S. casualties in WWI were 112,000 people and mainly to diseases
including influenza. The war ended in October 1918 when Germany asked
for peace.
Interesting to know: During WWI a very famous recruitment poster depicted America’s national symbol of Uncle Sam pointing at the viewer with
the words “I WANT YOU” appearing below.
Uncle Sam is a national personification of the U.S. Its origin can be
traced back to soldiers stationed in New York state during the War of 1812,
they used to receive barrels of meat stamped with the initials U.S. The soldiers jokingly referred to U.S. as the initials of their meat supplier, Uncle
Samuel Wilson, of city Troy, New York. The 87th U.S. Congress adopted
the following resolution on September 15, 1961: “Resolved by the Senate
and the House of Representatives that the Congress salutes Uncle Sam Wilson of Troy, New York, as the progenitor (originator) of America’s National
symbol of Uncle Sam” [41].
In 1918, a peace conference was held in France. President Wilson helped
draft the peace treaty and offered a plan for a world organization to help prevent another war. The organization was called the League of Nations. But
Congress refused to let the U.S. join the League as it supported the idea of
not getting involved in new European quarrels. In other words, the U.S.
chose to pursue unilateralism, non-involvement and isolationism.
In fact, Woodrow Wilson was a tragic wartime president who led his
country to victory but could not hold the support of his people for the peace
61
that followed. His fate was later shared by British Prime Minister W. Churchill in 1945.
The war changed American mentality; the U.S. withdrew from European
affairs. The American people chose isolationism: they turned their attention
away from international relations and solely toward domestic affairs.
Disillusioned by the war, soldiers returned home. A popular song of 1919
asked, concerning the U.S. troops returning from World War I, “How Ya
Gonna Keep ‘Em Down On the Farm After They’ve Seen Paree?” Many of
these retirees did not remain “down on the farm,” because there was a great
migration of formerly rural population to the cities.
The aftershock of the October Revolution resulted in real fears of communism in the U.S. Americans became hostile to foreigners. In 1919, a series of terrorist bombings produced a three-year “Red Scare.” Under the
government authority, political meetings were raided and several hundred
foreign-born political radicals were deported, even though most of them
were innocent of any crime. In 1921, two Italian-born anarchists, Nicola
Sacco and Bartolommeo Vanzetti, were convicted of a murder on the basis of
shaky evidence. Many people, mostly intellectuals protested, but in 1927 the
two men were electrocuted.
Congress enacted immigration limits in 1921 and tightened them further
in 1924 and 1929.
The Ku Klux Klan, a racist organization, attracted new followers and terrorized blacks, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants.
The Roaring Twenties: The 1920’s or the Roaring Twenties were an extraordinary and confusing time, when hedonism coexisted with puritanical
conservatism. It was the age of Prohibition: as in 1920 the 18th Constitutional Amendment outlawed the sale of alcoholic beverages. Gangsters carried machine guns; they organized bootlegging (illegal supply of alcohol)
from Canada and elsewhere. Moonshiners prospered.
It was the age of jazz and spectacular silent movies, the age of girls dancing the Charleston, Charlie Chaplin playing comical tricks.
For big business, the 1920’s were golden years. The U.S. was now a consumer society, with booming markets for radios, home appliances, synthetic
textiles, and plastics. Between 1919 and 1929, mass-production factories
doubled their output.
In the 1920’s, America became a nation on wheels. It seemed as if every family were buying a car. One of the most admired men of the decade
was Henry Ford, who had introduced the assembly line into automobile
factories. Ford could pay high wages and still earn enormous profits by
mass-producing the Model T, a car that millions of buyers could afford.
Buying durable goods on an installment plan was a new idea in American business. The installment plan made it possible for people to “own” cars
before they really owned them.
62
It had a good effect on business because more people were able to buy
expensive things. Suburbs, towns and neighborhoods lying around bid cities,
began to grow fast. In the 1920’s, the nation became increasingly urban, and
everyday life was transformed as the “consumer revolution” brought the ever
growing use of automobiles, telephones, radios, and other appliances. The
pace of living quickened, and morals became less restrained. At this time,
fortunes were rapidly accumulated on the skyrocketing stock market, in real
estate speculation, and elsewhere. For a moment, it seemed that Americans
had the Midas touch. To some it seemed a golden age. But agriculture was
not prosperous, and industry and finance became dangerously over-extended.
The superficial prosperity masked deep problems. With profits soaring
and interest rates low, plenty of money was available for investment. Much of
it, however, went into reckless speculation on the stock market. Stock shares’
prices were far above their real value. Investors bought stocks “on margin”,
borrowing up to 90% of the purchase price. The inflated stock market led to
the crash of Thursday, October 29, 1929. The bubble burst. And the stock
market crashed and the Roaring Twenties ended in deadly convulsions.
U.S. in the 1930’s: The Great Depression was a period of American history that followed “Black Thursday”, October 29, 1929.
The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, collapsing farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement. Unlike unemployed workers in Germany and France, Americans received no government
unemployment pay. Millions spent hours and days in “breadlines”. The net
effect of the Great Depression was a sudden and general loss of confidence
in the economic future.
The usual explanations of the Great Depression include numerous factors: especially high consumer debt, ill-regulated markets that permitted
overoptimistic loans by banks and investors, the lack of high-growth in new
industries, and growing wealth inequality – all interacting to create a downward economic spiral of reduced spending, falling confidence, and lowered
production.
In the U.S. between 1929 and 1933, unemployment soared from 3% of
the workforce to 25%. It means that one out of every four workers was unemployed.
By 1932, thousands of American banks and over 100,000 businesses had
failed. Industrial production was cut in half, wages decreased 60%. With
millions unemployed, the political ferment and discontent increased greatly
among the working class.
And an unsympathetic, improper or repressive response from the U.S.
government might well have sparked a socialist uprising. By March 1933,
there had been 13 million unemployed, and almost every bank closed.
63
In November 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President on the
platform of “a New Deal for the American people,” a phrase that served as a
label for his administration and its many domestic achievements.
His main idea was that the federal government should take the lead in the
fight against the Depression. Roosevelt entered office with no single ideology or plan for dealing with the depression. This New Deal was often contradicting, pragmatic, and experimental.
But Roosevelt’s self-confidence galvanized the nation. “The only thing
we have to fear is fear itself” [27], he said at his inauguration smiling. He
followed up these words with decisive actions. Within 3 months – the historic “Hundred Days” – Roosevelt rushed through Congress a great number
of laws to help the economy rebound.
The New Deal consisted of three types of programs (3 R’s programs) designed to produce “Relief, Recovery and Reform”. He proposed and
Congress enacted a sweeping program called the New Deal to bring relief to
the unemployed and those in danger of losing farms and homes, reform especially through policies of greater government action and recovery to business and agriculture.
Roosevelt implemented a number of programs to aid the poor and unemployed. He contributed to the future stability of the economy by instituting
new regulations in business, particularly banking.
Recover and relief measures: Many of the new laws set up government
agencies called “alphabet agencies” to help the nation to recover from the
depression. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) found work for many
thousands of young unemployed people, they lived in camps and built roads,
bridges, airports, parks, and public buildings, planted trees, strengthened
river banks for food and $1 a day. The Works Progress Administration set
people to work on jobs useful to the community. These alphabet agencies
put millions of people to work. Between 1935 and 1940, the WPA alone provided 8 million jobs. The Federal Emergency Relief Organization (FERA)
gave individual states government money to help their unemployed and
homeless. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) paid farmers
to produce less; the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) built a network of
dams to make electricity and stop floods in a poor southeastern region of the
U.S. And the National Recovery Administration (NRA) worked to make sure
that businesses paid fair wages and charged fair prices.
Reform measures included the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) –
regulating industry, the Securities Exchange Act (SEA) – regulating Wall
Street activity, the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) – implementing farm
programs, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) – devoted to
insurance for bank deposits, and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) –
dealing with labor-management relations. In 1935, the Social Security Act
64
set up contributory old-age and survivors’ pensions and first American system of unemployment insurance.
FDR’s critics accused him of turning America into a socialist state. It was
not true, for Roosevelt opposed socialism in the sense of state ownership of
the means of production, his only one major program, the Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA), involved government ownership of the means of production.
The New Deal reflected the ideas and was influenced by the programs,
that Franklin D. Roosevelt and most of his original associates had absorbed
in their political youths early in the progressive era, while serving in the
Woodrow Wilson administration or holding other offices in the 1920’s. From
the progressive era, the New Dealers borrowed the opposition to monopoly,
move toward government regulation of the economy, and put an end to agelong notions that poverty was a personal moral failure rather than a product
of impersonal social and economic forces. From the Wilson administration,
the ideas about government mobilization which helped mobilize the economy for WWII. And from the policy experiments of the 1920’s, New Dealers
picked up the ideas to harmonize the economy by creating cooperative relationships among its constituent elements.
But, perhaps the strongest legacy of the New Deal was to make the federal government a protector of interest groups and a supervisor of competition among them.
As a result of the New Deal, American political and economic life became much more competitive than before, now workers, farmers, consumers, and others were able to press their demands upon the government in
ways that in the past had been available only to the corporate world.
The New Deal created the rudiments of the American welfare state,
through its many relief programs and above all through the Social Security
system. Roosevelt’s boiling public personality, and his “fireside chats” on
the radio did a great deal alone to help restore the nation’s confidence.
The New Deal did not transform American capitalism in any genuinely
radical way. Corporate power remained nearly as free from government regulation or control in 1945 as it was in 1933.
To his credit, Roosevelt appointed an unprecedented number of African
Americans to second-level positions in his administration, perhaps due to
the influence of his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, a vocal advocate of easing discrimination. And African Americans did benefit in significant though limited
ways from New Deal relief programs. The New Deal established a political
alliance between African Americans and the Democratic Party that survives
to this day.
New Deal programs stimulated demand and provided work and relief for
the impoverished through increased government spending. In 1929, federal
65
expenditures were only 3% of the GDP. Between 1933 and 1939, federal
expenditure tripled. However, spending on the New Deal was far smaller
than on the war effort. During the war, federal expenditure went from 3% of
the GDP in 1929 to about 30% in 1946 and amounted to $62 billion. In
short, spending and government regulation cured the depression. Between
1939 and 1944 (the peak of wartime production), the nation’s output almost
doubled.
Consequently, unemployment fell by two-thirds in Roosevelt’s first term
(from 25% to 9%, from 1933 to 1937), then from 14% in 1940 to less than
2% in 1943 as the labor force grew by ten million. As you see, unemployment remained high throughout the New Deal years; consumption, investment, and net exports – the pillars of economic growth – remained low.
It was World War II, not the New Deal that finally ended the crisis. In
1941, FDR said in one of his “fireside chats” on the radio that old Dr. New
Deal had to be replaced by Dr. Win-the-War. His New Deal was over.
30 years later one old American man expressed in his simple words how
many Americans felt about FDR in those years. “Roosevelt?” he said in his
television interview. “He was God in this country.” Even so, it was not
FDR’s New Deal that ended unemployment in the U.S. It was the German
dictator, Adolf Hitler, who did that by unleashing WWII.
Roosevelt and U.S. foreign policy: In the 1920’s and 1930’s, isolationist
sentiment in America was very strong. But as the war spread abroad, Americans increasingly doubted if the U.S. could avoid becoming involved.
In September 1939, Roosevelt called Congress to revise the neutrality acts
and legitimize a cash-and-carry program that allowed Britain and France to
buy American arms. In June 1940, the U.S. started supplying Britain with
military aid in order to help the British defend themselves against Germany.
After the 1940 election, Roosevelt urged that the U.S. become “the great
arsenal of democracy.” In 1941, he and British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill announced the Atlantic Charter, which set forth Allied goals for
WWII and the postwar period.
War economy: WWII brought the U.S. economy to life. Industry quickly shifted to war production, automakers began turning out tanks and planes,
and the U.S. became the world’s largest weapons manufacturer. New industries emerged. The war economy brought full employment, longer work
weeks, and (despite wage controls) higher earnings.
Farmers prospered, too. Farm income tripled. Labor scarcity drew women into the war economy. More than 6 million women entered the work force
in wartime; women’s share of the labor force leaped from 25% in 1940 to
35% in 1945.
Members of minorities, who were out of jobs in the 1930’s, also found
work in the war economy. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans mi66
grated from the South to Northern industrial cities to work in war industries.
More than one million black people served in the armed forces.
The war economy was not so much a triumph of free enterprise as the result
of government/business sectionalism and government’s financing business.
WWII greatly increased the power of the federal government, which
grew both in size and power. The federal budget skyrocketed, and the number of federal civilian employees tripled. The war made the U.S. a military
and economic world power. For all Americans, war changed the quality of
life. WWII inspired hard work, cooperation, and patriotism.
In the U.S., civil liberties, however, were casualties of the war. In February 1942, FDR authorized the evacuation of all Japanese from the West
Coast. The U.S. government interned around 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of them native-born U.S. citizens, in relocation centers.
Forced to sell their land and homes, the West Coast internees ended up
behind barbed wire in remote western areas. In 1988, Congress apologized and voted to pay $20,000 compensation to each of 60,000 surviving
internees.
On December 7, 1941, Japanese airplanes attacked an American naval
base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor killed
2,388 people, sank 8 ships, and damaged nearly 350 airplanes. This was the
largest single-day loss in U.S. Navy history.
This attack brought the U.S. into WWII, and Congress declared war on
Japan, Germany, and Italy. Although the main theatre of the war was in Europe, where the U.S. provided help to Great Britain and the allies, the American Navy obtained several victories against the Japanese in 1942–1945
gradually reconquering one island after another in the Pacific.
The cost of the war worldwide was immense. Approximately 57 million
people died as a result of the war, including acts of genocide such as the
Holocaust. Allied military and civilian losses were 44 million; those of the
Axis – 11 million. The U.S.S.R. alone lost more than 20 million people. The
U.S. lost almost 300,000 people in battle deaths, which was far less than the
toll in Europe and Asia; furthermore, there had been no fighting or bombing
in North America. So, the U.S. was in much better shape than the war-torn
countries.
The United Nations (U.N.) was formed at the end of WWII. Most of the
world nations joined it. The U.S. Senate, on December 4, 1945, approved
the U.S. participation in the U.N., which marked a turn away from the traditional isolationism of the U.S. and toward more international involvement.
Cold War: The post-war era was marked by the beginning of the Cold
War, in which the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. attempted to expand their influence
at the expense of the others. They bitterly disagreed over the further world
67
order and post war spheres of influence and control. The contest in new
types of weapons and new forms of using them known as the arms race
alongside with persistent hostility between the Western and Communist nations defined the life of the post-war world from 1946 till 1991.
The start of the cold war policy is attributed to British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill who in his 1946 speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri first mentioned the term “iron curtain”. This term described
the line separating eastern European nations under the Soviet control
from the western countries controlled by the U.S. and its allies after
WWII.
The cold war landmarks were the policy of the iron curtain, or the Truman Doctrine (U.S. President in 1945 – 1953) aimed at helping Europe resist Communist influence and contain communism; the Marshall Plan, devised by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947, in which the U.S.
gave or loaned billions of dollars to various European countries, particularly
Germany, to assist in postwar reconstruction of their industries.
The widespread fear of Communism was one of the reasons behind the
creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in April 1949.
The same fear, during the 1950’s, brought to life the political phenomenon
of McCarthyism; discrediting people without proof. Those accused of being
pro-Communists usually lost their jobs and found it very difficult or impossible to get new ones.
The F.B.I. (Federal Bureau of Investigation) was the axis of the political
and war strategies machine of the U.S.A. In the 1950’s, Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles (former CIA chief) was the dominant figure in the U.S.
foreign policy. He denounced the policy of “containment of communism
behind the iron curtain” pursued by the Truman administration and introduced an active program of “liberation,” which would lead to a “rollback”
of communism. Another name of this doctrine was the policy of “massive
retaliation” (here revenge), which Dulles announced early in 1954 in view
of the U.S. vast superiority in nuclear arsenal and covert intelligence. Dulles
defined this approach as “brinksmanship” or confrontation.
Numerous political and armed incidents and war actions throughout the
post-war world for spheres of influence increased international tension and
the possibility of another global conflict. They were the wars in North Korea (1950 – 1953) and Vietnam (1960 – 1973), the support of France in
their Indochina War (1946 – 1954), the Soviet-American conflict in Cuba
(1962).
In fact, the Cold War reached its height during the Cuban Missile Crisis,
a tense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the U.S. over the Soviet
deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis began on October 16,
68
1962 and lasted for 14 days. It is regarded by many as the moment when the
cold war was closest to becoming a nuclear war.
By 1965, the U.S. had been spending huge amounts of money on the war,
with large numbers of American soldiers fighting in Vietnam. The Vietnam
War became the subject of heated argument among the American people.
Many people held big demonstrations to protest against the war. Young
Americans used to cross the Canadian border and stay in Canada in their attempts to evade the draft. Finally, in 1973, the U.S. withdrew from the Vietnam War. Around 1.5 million Vietnamese were killed in the war and around
58,000 U.S. soldiers died.
End of the Cold War: With Reagan’s promises to restore the nation’s
military strength, the 1980’s saw massive increases in U.S. military spending, amounting to about $1.6 trillion over five years. The Reagan administration was very active in the Third World arena of superpower competition.
The administration backed the relatively cheap strategy of specially trained
counter insurgencies or “low-intensity conflicts” rather than large-scale
ground wars like those in Vietnam and Korea. The administration financed
training of mujahedeens and other insurgent groups under Osama bin Laden’s control.
The U.S. participated in the war in Lebanon, invaded Grenada, attacked
Libya, supplied funds and weapons to governments and ragtag armies in El
Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, etc.
The Reagan administration also adopted a hawkish approach toward the
U.S.S.R. In his first term, Reagan called the Soviet superpower as the “evil
empire.” In the early 1980’s, East-West tensions reached the levels not seen
since the Cuban Missile Crisis. A new arms race developed as the SovietAmerican relations deteriorated. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or
Star War initiative was born at that time.
However, East-West tensions eased rapidly thanks to Mikhail Gorbachev.
He understood that the U.S. made the arms race a huge burden for the
U.S.S.R. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, ending the U.S. – Soviet Cold
War.
Political scandals: In the post-war period, Americans’ belief in the nation’s political institutions was shaken by a series of scandals. The most serious of these became known as the Watergate scandal, when prominent
members of the Republican Party were found guilty of ‘bugging’ the Democratic Party’s campaign headquarters at the Watergate Hotel building. The
scandal completely overshadowed President Nixon’s policy of détente
achievements while in office, such as the normalization of relations with
China and the signing of the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT)
with the Soviet Union in 1972.
69
Facing sure impeachment for reasons of perjury, misuse of federal funds,
and politicization of federal agencies, Nixon was forced to resign the Presidency in 1974.
The Iran-Contra scandal (1985) was as deeply disturbing as Watergate.
The reason of it was the following: the Reagan administration, in its desire
to overthrow the socialist Sandinista government in Nicaragua, illegally sold
arms to Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iran. The received money was then used to
fund the Contras in Nicaragua. The deal became public, but President
Reagan was not impeached as all the blame was attributed to Colonel Oliver
North.
In 1998, Clinton was impeached for charges of perjury and obstruction of
justice that arose from his lies about his sexual relationship with White
House intern Monica Lewinsky. He was the second president after Richard
Nixon to have been impeached. The House of Representatives voted 228 to
206 on December 19 to impeach Clinton, but on February 12, 1999, the Senate voted 55 to 45 to acquit Clinton of the charges.
This sex scandal shook the foundations of American Puritanism and broke
the myth of the U.S. President’s supremacy, high morality and honesty.
Civil rights: The issue that dominated American local politics in the
1950’s and 1960’s was civil rights. Numerous Presidents (Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson) attempted to improve the situation of black
people and other minorities in American society. The civil rights movement
gained strength in the 1950’s. In the mid-1960’s, non-violent civil rights
mass demonstrations often turned into violent clashes, as the militant Black
Panther movements replaced the non-violent organizations.
The civil rights movement suffered a great loss in 1968, when Martin
Luther King, Jr., who had done much for outlawing segregation and who had
called for the observance of principles of nonviolence was assassinated.
Martin Luther King is buried in Atlanta, Georgia. Carved on his tombstone
are famous words from one of his speeches: “Free at last, free at last, thank
God Almighty, I’m free at last” [29].
The situation improved when in the 1960’s Congress passed laws making segregation and job discrimination illegal, and strengthening voting
rights.
Martin Luther King’s dream of true equality for all came true. Now to
judge people by the color of their skin became truly illegal. In his famous
speech “I have a Dream” Martin Luther King said: “I have a dream that my
four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged
by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” [28].
Economic achievements: Between 1945 and 1970, the U.S. enjoyed a
long period of economic growth, interrupted only by mild and brief reces70
sions. This period was called by many historians as “a chicken in every
pot” time. A majority of Americans enjoyed a comfortable standard of living. At the center of middle-class culture in the 1950’s was a growing obsession with consumer goods. In 1960, 55% of all households owned washing machines, 77% owned cars, 90% had television sets, and nearly all had
refrigerators.
The suburbs grew. William Levitt began a national project using massproduction techniques to construct a large “Levittown” housing development on Long Island. The suburban population grew due to the baby boom
and constituted one third of all population in the 1960’s; U.S. auto-manufacturers in Detroit responded to the boom with new car models. Though most
suburbs were restricted to whites, a few affluent African Americans could
afford to live in them.
During President Lyndon Johnson’s (1963-1969) “War on Poverty,”
many assistance programs for individuals and families were implemented:
including Medicare, which pays for many medical costs of the elderly, the
Medicaid program, which finances medical care for low-income families,
Food Stamps help poor families obtain food. President Johnson wanted to
turn the U.S. into “the great society” where everyone received fair and decent treatment. But he himself caused his plans to fail by involving the country more and more deeply in the Vietnam war.
Stagflation: The 1970’s were ridiculed as the period of stagflation. The
world oil shock of 1973 resulted in the energy crisis, unemployment, and
inflation, and led to the U.S. steadily declining supremacy in international
trade because of the growing competition from European and Third World
countries. Inflation continued to climb skyward. The U.S. developed a trade
deficit. Productivity growth was pitiful, when not negative. Interest rates remained high reaching 20% in January 1981.
Art Buchwald, a world famous caricaturist, wrote that 1980 would go
down in history as the year when it was cheaper to borrow money from the
Mafia than the local bank.
Reaganomics: In the 1980’s, Ronald Reagan began with a series of
cuts in taxes and spending. Reagan downsized government regulation. The
unemployment rate decreased from 10.8% in December 1982 to 7.5% in
November 1984, and the economic growth rate increased from 4.5 to
7.2%.
Reagan’s policies of spending on weapons helped more people find
jobs. Businessmen made bigger profits. Most Americans became better
off. This made Reagan popular. He was popular for another reason, too.
After the shame of Vietnam and Watergate his simple stance “stand on
your feet and act tough” made many Americans feel proud of their country again.
71
But during the Reagan Administration the federal debt tripled (from $930
billion on December 31, 1981 to $2.6 trillion on September 30, 1988), reaching record levels. In addition to the fiscal deficits, the U.S. started to have
large trade deficits. The U.S. went from being the world’s largest creditor
nation to becoming the world’s largest debtor nation.
Reagan’s successor and his Vice President for 8 years, George H.W.
Bush, easily won election in 1988. His early economic policies were a continuation of Reagan’s foreign and home policies. When Iraq invaded oil-rich
Kuwait in 1990, Bush put together a multinational coalition that liberated
Kuwait early in 1991. However, later on, Bush lost many of Reagan supporters and ended his presidency on a moderate note, signing regulatory bills
like the Americans with Disabilities Act and a law mandating that toilets use
low amounts of water.
“Globalization and the new economy of the Tech Bubble”: The federal budget was balanced for the first time since the 1960’s under the Clinton
Administration, mainly due to massive investment in the stock market in the
1990’s. It was further accelerated by the dot-com boom. The 1990’s saw a
significant boost in the software and “dot-com” industries. The Internet project was opened up for commercial traffic in 1994.
During this period, government statistical formulas were changed to produce happier results; therefore government statistics should be studied carefully before being accepted.
Two phenomena troubled many Americans and many name them as the
root reasons of the 2008 – 2009 recession. Corporations resorted more and
more to processes known as downsizing: trimming the work force to cut
costs despite the hardships it inflicted on workers and outsourcing. And in
many industries the gap between the annual compensations of corporate executives and common laborers became enormous.
George W. Bush administration was marked by dreadful attacks of Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001, the invasion in Afghanistan and later
in Iraq. Many American allies including France, Germany, and Canada, the
U.N. Security Council as well as millions of people within the U.S. and
around the world, did not support the invasion in Iraq.
Later that year, President Bush announced his Doctrine or his War on
Terror and stated that the U.S. would “make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them”. His political
Doctrine can be summed up as, “Every nation, in every region, now has a
decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” [35].
The Bush Doctrine contains the following ideas which may have farreaching and dangerous consequences as:
a policy of pre-emptive war, if the U.S. or its allies are threatened by
terrorists or by rogue states engaged in the production of weapons of mass
72
destruction. So, the right of self-defense can authorize pre-emptive attacks against
potential aggressors before they are able to launch strikes against the U.S.
unilateralism. The right of the U.S. to pursue a unilateral military
action when acceptable multi-lateral solutions cannot be found.
strength beyond challenge. The policy that “U.S. has, and intends to
keep, military strengths beyond challenge” [35], indicated the U.S. desire to
continue maintaining its status as the world’s sole military superpower. This
resembles a British Empire policy before WWI that the Royal Navy must be
larger than the world’s next two largest navies put together.
American invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq ignited Muslim “anti-Americanism” and inspired insurgency movements and a real civil war between
the 3 main population groups belonging to different branches of Islam: Sunni, Shiites and Curds who are fighting against each other and Western instructors still left in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A vast majority in Muslim nations believe that the U.S. is arrogant, hostile and hateful to Islam. In fact, the U.S. got trapped in Afghanistan, Iraq
and Pakistan, this Taliban-bound triangle.
In 2013, Sunni jihadist groups united and created the Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. In its selfproclaimed status as a caliphate, it claims religious authority over all Muslims across the world and aspires to bring most of the Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its political control beginning with Iraq, Syria and
other territories in the Levant region which include Jordan, Israel, Palestine,
Lebanon, Cyprus and part of southern Turkey. It has been designated as a
foreign terrorist organization by the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia,
Canada, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.The U.N. and Amnesty International have accused the group of grave human rights abuses.
On June 29, 2014, the establishment of a new caliphate was announced,
and the group formally changed its name to the “Islamic State”. In late August 2014, a leading Islamic authority Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah in Egypt advised Muslims to stop calling the group “Islamic State” and instead refer to
it as “Al-Qaeda Separatists in Iraq and Syria” or “QSIS” due to the militant
group’s un-Islamic character.
Barack Hussein Obama administration: The incumbent U.S. President Barack H. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were sworn in on January 20, 2009.
Barack Obama came to office in such difficult circumstances as no one of
U.S. presidents since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He started, as did FDR,
with an enormous stock of political capital. U.S. people understood that the
challenges President Obama faced were not of his own making.
73
People all over the world believed in Obama that he would be able to
improve the image of the U.S., release the country from the failures of the
Bush administration and retain the respect of the country, on the one hand,
and pacify the whole world, on the other hand.
However, the beginning of his presidency was marked by a severe economic recession of 2008 called the ‘credit crunch’ resulting from a housing
market bubble, a subprime mortgage crisis, soaring oil prices, and military
spending. It was the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. In November 2008, over 500,000 jobs were lost, which marked the largest loss of
jobs in the U.S. in 34 years. The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 10% in
2009 against the unemployment rate of 5.1% in August 2015.
Like FDR, President Obama started with his 3 R’s program called
Change, also including Relief, Recovery and Reform, aimed at helping the
economy recover from the worldwide recession. The program included increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, automobile industry,
education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals, distributed over the course of several years. The Obama administration also enacted economic programs designed to stimulate the economy.
In 2014, the economic situation in the U.S. normalized.
Early in his presidency, Obama promised to change the U.S. war strategy
in Iraq and Afghanistan. The combat troops had been withdrawn from Iraq
by September 1, 2010. Americans are also planning to withdraw its troops
from Afghanistan. But nowadays the threat coming from the Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) makes the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria
unpredictable.
In foreign policy, the U.S. maintained talks over a two-state solution to
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as a result the relations with Israel temporarily worsened.
Another much spoken about achievement was the assassination of Osama bin Laden.
During his first term in office Obama relaunched or reset bilateral relations with Russia. The hallmarks of this reset policy were the general improvement of the atmosphere, the 2010 New START treaty, cooperation
on sanctions against the Iranian nuclear program, the supply route through
Russia for NATO forces in Afghanistan, Russian abstention during the
UN Security Council vote on Libya. Unfortunately, the reset failed to
generate a sustained cooperation. The current military crisis in southeastern Ukraine and the U.S. policy of financial and economic sanctions
against Russia have thrown the bilateral relations back almost to cold war
times.
74
In December 2009, a year after the election, President Obama was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It could be viewed as a rejection of the unpopular legacy of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Though the Nobel Prize
is normally presented for accomplishment, this prize was based only on
good intentions.
In his lecture in Stockholm before the Norwegian Nobel Committee
President Obama said, that he would “accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century”
[31].
And the whole world was full of hope for a better and safer future. But
our expectations ended on March 20, 2011 with the U.S. and West-European
bombs falling on Libya. 2011 brought conflicts in Yemen, Egypt, 2012 and
2013 in Syria, 2013 and 2014 in Syria and North Iraq.
These are “Obama’s extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples [31],” aren’t they?
SUMMARY
1. World War I changed American mentality. The American people
chose isolationism to international cooperation.
2. The U.S. enjoyed a period of great prosperity. It was the time of the
Roaring Twenties, the age of jazz, spectacular silent movies, and the age of
Prohibition.
3. The inflated stock market led to the crash of Thursday, October 29,
1929 and brought about the notorious Great Depression.
4. President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal. As a result,
the American political and economic life became much more competitive
than before.
5. In September 1939, the U.S. Congress revised the neutrality acts; it
enabled Roosevelt to start a plan known as cash-and-carry. As the U.S. moved to
a wartime economy, the depression ended, and the U.S. economy came to life.
6. In WWII the U.S.A. lost almost 300,000 people in battle deaths; there
was no fighting or bombing in North America. The war made the United
States a military and economic world power.
7. A cold war started between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. as soon as WWII
ended. This persistent hostility defined the life of the whole post-war world.
Numerous political and armed incidents and war actions for spheres of
influence increased international tension and the possibility of another global
conflict: the wars in North Korea (1950–1953) and Vietnam (1960–1973),
the support of France in the Indochina War (1946–1954), the Soviet-American
75
conflict in Cuba (1962). Soviet perestroika brought an end to the policy of the
Cold War.
8. Americans’ belief in the nation’s political institutions and its Presidents
was shaken by a series of scandals: the Watergate scandal, the Iran-Contra
scandal, the scandal between President Clinton and a young White House
trainee Monica Lewinsky.
9. The issue of civil rights dominated American politics in the 1950’s
and 1960’s.
10. Between 1945 and 1970, the U.S. enjoyed a long period of economic
growth, interrupted only by mild and brief recessions.
11. In the early 1970’s, stagflation gripped the nation. In the 1980’s,
President Ronald Reagan cut taxes and reduced regulations, and the
economy recovered. Unemployment and inflation dropped back to normal
levels.
12. In the 1990’s under the Clinton Administration, the federal budget
was balanced, mainly due to massive investment in the stock market further
accelerated by the dot-com boom. A recession began during the transition to
the Bush Administration with the end of the dot-com boom, and was
aggravated by the September 11, 2001 attacks.
13. The military responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks such as an
invasion of Afghanistan and the war in Iraq didn’t bring the desired results.
The invasions have ignited anti-Americanism all over the world.
14. Barack Obama came to office in such difficult circumstances as no
one of U.S. presidents since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The beginning of
his presidency was marked by a severe economic recession of 2008
resulting from a housing market bubble, a subprime mortgage crisis,
soaring oil prices, and military spending. In 2014, the economic situation
normalized. But on the international arena the situation worsened.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What role did Woodrow Wilson play in American history?
2. What caused the stock market crash on Thursday 29, October 1929?
3. Why was the New Deal introduced, and what was it about?
4. What was the U.S. foreign policy before WWII?
5. What was the origin of the Cold War policy and how did the world
balance on the brink of war for about 50 years?
6. Why is the issue of the U.S. civil rights connected with the name
Martin L. King, Jr.?
76
7. How did the U.S. economy develop between 1946 and 2015?
8. When were most important social programs introduced and by
whom?
9. What is Reaganomics (the New Economy of the Tech Bubble) about?
10. What do you know about the Bush Doctrine and the consequences
of its implementation?
11.What was done by the Obama Administration to overcome the
economic difficulties of the 2008 – 2010 credit crunch?
12. How did the U.S. – Russia bilateral relations develop between 2009
and 2015?
Unit
5
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
OF THE UNITED STATES
This unit will give us a thorough study of how the United States
of America is governed. It describes:
the U.S. legislative branch,
the U.S. executive branch,
the U.S. judicial branch,
the U.S. separation of powers and system of checks and
balances.
Key Words and Proper Names: to adjourn, to allot, to alternate
in power, to authorize, bicameral legislature, to cast ballots, caucus, chamber, congressional, designated, standing (or permanent)
committee, to coin money, consent, constituency, conviction, co-
78
rollary; to delineate; eligibility, to enforce federal laws, framework,
fundraiser, to gather revenue, judiciary, jurisdiction, idiosyncratic,
tie, impeachment, legislative, to levy and collect taxes, misdemeanor, nominee, to override a veto, oversight powers over the executive branch, punishment of counterfeiters, resignation, statutory
law, to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, swear, treason, to wield
executive authority;
Electoral College, English common law, the Inauguration Day,
the House of Representatives, the Napoleonic Code, the Senate,
the Spanish law, the Supreme Court, the U.S. Code.
THE U.S. CONSTITUTION OF 1789 sets down the basic framework of
American government. The U.S. government’s type is defined as the Constitution-based federal republic with strong democratic traditions.
The American Constitution [36] is based on the doctrine of separation of
powers between the Executive (the Presidency), Legislative (Congress) and
Judiciary (the Courts).
Government power was further limited by means of a dual system of
government: the federal government and the state governments. This system
gives the federal government the powers and responsibilities to deal with
problems facing the nation as a whole (foreign affairs, trade, control of the
army and navy, etc.). The remaining responsibilities and duties of government (by the way, not mentioned in the Constitution) were reserved to the
individual state governments.
The basic laws of the U.S. are set down in major federal legislation, such
as the U.S. Code. The federal legal system is based on statutory law, while
most state and territorial law is based on English common law, with the exception of Louisiana (based on the Napoleonic Code due to its time as a
French colony) and Puerto Rico (based on Spanish law).
Legislative branch
Article I of the Constitution grants all legislative powers of the federal
government to Congress. It also defines its structure and powers. So, Congress is a bicameral legislature, consisting of two chambers: the House of
Representatives (the “Lower House”) and the Senate (the “Upper House”).
Both Houses of Congress meet in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. The
Senate is the conservative counterweight to the more populist and dynamic
House of Representatives.
79
Interesting to know: During the American Revolutionary War and under the
Articles of Confederation, the United States Congress was named the Continental Congress. The first Congress under the current Constitution started its
term in Federal Hall in New York City on March 4, 1789 and their first action
was to declare that the new Constitution of the United States was in effect.
The United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. hosted its first session of Congress on November 17, 1800.
Congress of the United States: The House of Representatives consists
of 435 members, each of whom is elected by a congressional district or constituency of roughly equal size (around 520,000 people) and serves a twoyear term. Seats in the House are divided between the states on the basis of
population, with each state entitled to at least one seat.
In the Senate, on the other hand, each state is represented by two members, regardless of population. As there are 50 states in the Union, the Senate
consists of 100 members. Each Senator, who is elected by the whole state
rather than by a district, serves a six-year term. Senatorial terms are scheduled so that approximately one-third of the terms expire every two years.
The Constitution vests in Congress all the legislative powers of the federal government. Congress, however, only possesses those powers enumerated in the Constitution; other powers are reserved to the states, except
where the Constitution provides otherwise.
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress a direct jurisdiction for Washington, D.C. While Congress has delegated various amounts of this authority to
the local government of Washington, D.C., from time to time it still intervenes in local affairs relating to schools, gun control policy, etc. Citizens of
the District lack voting representation in Congress, though they do have
three electoral votes in the Presidential elections. They are represented in the
House of Representatives by a non-voting delegate who sits on committees
and participates in debate but cannot vote. D.C. does not have representation
in the Senate. So, citizens of Washington, D.C. are unique in the world. Attempts to change this situation, including the proposed District of Columbia
Voting Rights Amendment, have been unsuccessful.
As far as passing legislation is concerned, the Senate is fully equal to the
House of Representatives. The Senate is not a mere “chamber of review,” as
is the case with the upper houses of the bicameral legislatures of most other
nations.
Interesting to know: The U.S. Congress has fewer women in it than legislatures in other countries, but many more lawyers. The percentage of lawyers
in Congress fluctuates around 45%. In contrast, in the Canadian House of
80
Commons, the British House of Commons, and the German Bundestag, approximately 15% of members have law degrees.
Legislation: Each house of Congress has the power to introduce legislation on any subject dealing with the powers of Congress, except for the legislation dealing with gathering revenue (generally through taxes), which
must originate in the House of Representatives (specifically the U.S. House
Committee on Ways and Means).
Congress has sole jurisdiction over impeachment of federal officials including presidents. The House has the sole right to bring the charges of misconduct which would be considered at an impeachment trial, and the Senate
has the sole power to try impeachment cases and find officials guilty or not
guilty. A guilty verdict requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate and results in the removal of the federal official from public office.
The Senate has oversight powers over the executive branch. The House
also lacks two specific powers granted to the Senate.
1. Only the Senate can approve treaties negotiated and submitted by the
president. However, the House has the power to withhold funding the implementation of such agreements, and thus has a leverage over many treaties.
2. The Senate also has the sole power to confirm cabinet members and
other key government officers. Because these officials work on policies such
as housing and agriculture that fall under the House control, however, they
must work with committees in both chambers once in office.
The broad powers of the whole Congress are spelled out in Article I of
the Constitution, they include: to levy and collect taxes, to borrow money for
the public treasury, to make rules and regulations governing commerce
among the states and with foreign countries, to make uniform rules for the
naturalization of foreign citizens, to coin money, state its value, and provide
for the punishment of counterfeiters, to set the standards for weights and
measures, to establish bankruptcy laws for the country as a whole, to establish post offices and post roads, to issue patents and copyrights, to punish
piracy, to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide for a navy, to
call out the militia to enforce federal laws, suppress lawlessness, or repel
invasions, to make all laws for the seat of government (Washington, D.C.),
to make all laws necessary to enforce the Constitution [37].
Some powers are added in other parts of the Constitution: to set up a system of federal courts (set out in Article III), to prohibit slavery (set out in the
13th Amendment), to enforce the right of citizens to vote, irrespective of race
(set out in the 15th Amendment).
The 10th Amendment sets definite limits on congressional authority, by
providing that powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved
to the states or to the people.
81
Officers of Congress: The Constitution provides that the vice president
shall be President of the Senate. The vice president has no right to vote, except in case of a tie. The Senate chooses a President pro tempore to preside
when the vice president is absent. The most powerful person in the Senate is
not the president pro tempore, but the Senate Majority Leader (though quite
often it is the same person).
The House of Representatives has its own presiding officer – the Speaker
of the House. The Speaker is elected by the House and has important
responsibilities, giving him a considerable influence over the President.
Moreover, if the President and Vice-President die before the end of their
term it is the Speaker who becomes President.
The Speaker and President pro tempore are always members of the political party with the largest representation in each house, aka the majority.
The committee process: One of the major characteristics of Congress is
the dominant role that Congressional committees play in its proceedings.
The Constitution does not specifically call for the establishment of U.S.
Congressional committees. However, as the nation grew, so did the need for
investigating pending legislation more thoroughly.
At present, the Senate has 16 standing (or permanent) committees; the House
of Representatives has 20 standing committees. Each specializes in specific areas of legislation: foreign affairs, defense, banking, agriculture, commerce, appropriations, etc. Almost every bill introduced in either house is referred to a
committee for study and recommendation. The committee may approve, revise,
kill or ignore any measure referred to it. It is nearly impossible for a bill to reach
the House or Senate floor without first winning committee approval.
In the House, a petition to release a bill from a committee to the floor requires the signatures of 218 members; in the Senate, a majority of all members is required.
In addition, each house can name special, or select, committees to study
specific problems. Because of an increase in workload, the standing committees have some 150 subcommittees.
The majority party in each house controls the committee process. Committee chairpersons are selected by a caucus of party members or specially
designated groups of members. Minority parties are proportionally represented on the committees according to their strength in each house. Bills are
introduced by a variety of methods: a) some are drawn up by standing committees; b) some by special committees created to deal with specific legislative issues; с) some may be suggested by the president or other executive
officers; d) citizens and organizations outside Congress may suggest legislation to members, e) individual members themselves may initiate bills.
After the introduction, the bills are sent to the designated committees that,
in most cases, schedule a series of public hearings to permit presentation of
views by persons who support or oppose the legislation. The hearing process,
82
which can last several weeks or months, theoretically opens the legislative
process to public participation. When a committee has acted favorably on a
bill, the proposed legislation is then sent to the floor for an open debate.
In the Senate, the rules permit virtually an unlimited debate. In the
House, because of the large number of members, the Rules Committee usually sets limits.
When the debate is ended, members vote either to approve the bill, defeat
it, table it (which means setting it aside and is tantamount to defeat) or return
it to the committee. A bill passed by one house is sent to the other for action.
If the bill is amended by the second house, a conference committee composed of members of both houses attempts to reconcile the differences.
Once passed by both houses, the bill is sent to the president, for constitutionally the President must act on a bill for it to become law.
The President has the option of signing the bill – at which point it becomes national law – or vetoing it. A bill vetoed by the President must be
reapproved by a two-thirds vote of both houses to become law, this is called
overriding a veto.
The President may also refuse either to sign or veto a bill. In that case,
the bill becomes law without his signature 10 days after it reaches him (not
counting Sundays). The single exception to this rule is when Congress adjourns after sending a bill to the President and before the 10-day period has
expired; his refusal to take any action then negates the bill – a process known
as the “pocket veto.”
Congressional powers of investigation: One of the most important nonlegislative functions of Congress is the power to investigate. This power is
usually delegated to committees – either to the standing committees, to special committees set up for a specific purpose, or to joint committees composed of members of both houses.
Investigations are conducted to gather information on the need for future
legislation, to test the effectiveness of laws already passed, to inquire into
the qualifications and performance of members and officials of the other
branches, and, on rare occasions, to lay the groundwork for impeachment
proceedings. Frequently, committees call on outside experts to assist in conducting investigative hearings and to make detailed studies of the issues.
Two important matters are attached to the investigative power: 1) to publicize investigations and their results, 2) to arouse public interest in the results of the investigation. Most committee hearings are open to the public
and are widely reported in the mass media. Congressional investigations
thus represent one important tool available to lawmakers to inform the citizens and arouse public interest in national issues.
Informal practices of Congress: In contrast to European parliamentary
systems, the selection and behavior of U.S. legislators has little to do with
83
central party discipline. Traditionally members of Congress owe their positions to their district-wide or state-wide electorate, neither to the national
party leadership nor to their congressional colleagues. As a result, the legislative behavior of representatives and senators tends to be individualistic
and idiosyncratic, reflecting the great variety of electorates they represent,
and the freedom that comes from having built a loyal personal constituency.
Congress is thus a collegial and not a hierarchical body. Power does not
flow from top down, as in a corporation, but practically in every direction.
There is comparatively minimal centralized authority, since the power to
punish or reward is slight. Congressional policies are made by shifting coalitions that may vary from issue to issue.
The traditional independence of members of Congress has both positive
and negative aspects. One benefit is that legislators are allowed to vote their
consciences or, better to say, their constituencies’ wishes that is inherently
more democratic. The independence of Congressmen and Senators also allows much greater diversity of opinion than wouldn’t exist if Congressmen
had to obey their leaders. Thus, although there are only two parties represented in Congress, America’s Congress represents virtually every shade of
opinion that exists in the country.
A newly emerged Congressional practice is the practice of the Speaker of
the House only supporting legislation that is supported by his party, no matter whether or not he personally supports it or the majority of the House supports it.
Lobbyists: Congressional freedom of action also gives more power to
lobbyists than in Europe or elsewhere. Lobbying is called the fourth branch
of the American government. Many observers of Congress consider lobbying to be a corrupting practice, but others appreciate the fact that lobbyists
provide information. Lobbyists also help write complicated legislation. Congressional lobbyists must be registered in a central database and only sometimes actually work in lobbies. Virtually every group – from corporations to
foreign governments, to states, or to grass-roots organizations – employs
lobbyists. There are about 35,000 registered Congressional lobbyists. Many
lobbyists are former Congressmen and Senators, or relatives of sitting Congressmen. Former Congressmen are advantaged because they retain special
access to the Capital, office buildings, and even the Congressional gym.
Executive branch
U.S. President: Article II of the Constitution establishes the Executive
branch of Government. The head of it is the U.S. President, who is both the
head of state and head of government. Under him or possibly her is the Vice
President and 14 heads of the federal executive departments calles secretaries.
84
They are appointed by the President and confirmed with the “advice and
consent” of the U.S. Senate. They form the Cabinet.
The President is the executive and Commander-in-Chief, responsible for
controlling the U.S. armed forces and nuclear arsenal.
The President, the Constitution says, must “take care that the laws be
faithfully executed” [36]. To carry out this responsibility, he presides over
the executive branch of the federal government, a vast organization numbering about 4 million people, including 1 million active-duty military personnel. Within the executive branch itself, the President has broad powers to
manage national affairs and the workings of the federal government.
The President may veto legislation passed by Congress. Under Article II,
Section 4 of the Constitution, the president, vice president and federal judges can be removed from office through the process of impeachment. The
Constitution stipulates that “Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high
Crimes and Misdemeanors” represent justification for impeachment [37].
The President may not dissolve Congress or call special elections, but does
have the power to pardon convicted criminals, give executive orders, and
(with the consent of the Senate) appoint Supreme Court justices and federal
judges. The incumbent President and Vice President are Barack H. Obama
and Joe Biden, inaugurated on January 20, 2009.
Requirements to hold office: Section One of Article II of the U.S. Constitution [36] establishes the requirements one must meet in order to become
President. The President must be a natural-born citizen of the U.S. (or a citizen of the U.S. at the time the U.S. Constitution was adopted), be at least 35
years of age, and have been a resident of the United States for 14 years.
Under the Constitution, the President serves a four-year term. The 22d
Amendment (which took effect in 1951 and was first applied to Dwight D.
Eisenhower starting in 1953) limits the President to either two four-year
terms or a maximum of ten years in office should he have succeeded to the
Presidency previously and served less than two years completing his predecessor’s term. Since then, four Presidents have served two full terms: Dwight
Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
Succession: The U.S. presidential line of succession is a detailed list of
government officials to serve or act as President upon a vacancy in the office
due to death, resignation, or removal from office (by impeachment and conviction). It begins with the Vice President and ends with the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs. To date, no officer other than the Vice President has been
called upon to act as President.
Presidential elections: U.S. presidential elections are held every 4 years
on the first November Tuesday of a leap year. The President and the Vice
President are the only two nationally elected officials in the U.S. They are
elected indirectly, through the Electoral College. Legislators are elected on a
state-by-state basis; other executive officers and judges are appointed.
85
Many American voters are unaware of the Electoral College’s role, because they mistakenly believe that they directly elect their President and Vice
President. In fact, when they cast their ballots for President and Vice President,
they are voting for officials called electors who are assigned to each presidential candidate. But each state is entitled to a different number of electors which
corresponds to the number of Senators and Congressmen from that state in
Congress. All in all, there are 538 electors; their number is equal to the number
of legislators in the U.S. Congress plus 3 electors from Washington, D.C.
Current populous states with the most electors include California, Texas,
Florida, New York, and Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio; they almost give
half of the electors needed. When a candidate wins in these states, he wins
the election.
In most U.S. states, the presidential candidate who wins a majority of the
popular votes in a state also earns all the votes of the state’s Electoral College members. However, in this method of electing President, a candidate
can win the most Electoral College votes, and thus the presidency, even
without winning the most popular votes in the country.
The modern presidential election process begins with the primary elections, during which the major parties (the Democrats and the Republicans)
each select a nominee to unite behind; the nominee, in turn, selects a running
mate to join him on the ticket as the vice presidential candidate. The two
major candidates then face off in the general election; they participate in nationally televised debates before the Election Day and campaign across the
country to explain their views and plans to the voters. Much of the modern
electoral process is concerned with winning swing populous states, through
frequent visits and mass media advertising drives.
In accordance with Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 8 of the Constitution,
upon entering office, the President must take the following oath or affirmation: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office
of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve,
protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States”[36].
Only Presidents Franklin Pierce and Herbert Hoover have chosen to affirm
rather than swear. The oath is traditionally ended with, “So help me God,” although for religious reasons some Presidents have said, “So help me.”
On Inauguration Day, usually January, 20th, following the oath of office,
the President customarily delivers an inaugural address which sets the tone
for his administration.
The executive departments: The day-to-day enforcement and administration of federal laws is in the hands of 14 executive departments, created
by Congress to deal with specific areas of national and international affairs.
The Department of Defense, e.g., runs the military services. The Department
of Health and Human Services runs programs such as Social Security, Medi86
care and Medicaid. The State Department advises the President on relations
with foreign countries and runs the embassies. In addition, there are a number of independent agencies within the executive branch, e.g., the Central
Intelligence Agency.
The heads of the departments, chosen by the President and approved by
the Senate, form a council of advisers generally known as the President’s
“Cabinet.” The Cabinet is thought to be a part of the executive branch of the
U.S. federal government. However, the term “Cabinet” does not appear in the
U.S. Constitution, where reference is made only to the heads of departments.
As a governmental institution, the Cabinet developed as an advisory
body out of the President’s need to consult the heads of the executive departments on matters of federal policy and on problems of administration. Apart
from its role as a consultative and advisory body, the Cabinet has no function and wields no executive authority. The President may or may not consult the Cabinet and is not bound by the advice of the Cabinet. Furthermore,
the President may seek advice outside the Cabinet; a group of such informal
advisers is known in American history as a “kitchen cabinet.” The formal
Cabinet meets at times set by the President, usually once a week.
Because the executive departments of the federal government are equally
subordinate to the President, Cabinet officers are of equal rank, but ever
since the administration of George Washington, the Secretary of State, who
administers foreign policy, has been regarded as the chief Cabinet officer.
Interesting to know: The first President of the United States, George Washington, quickly realized the importance of having a cabinet. Amongst his first acts
he persuaded Congress to recognize the departments of Foreign Affairs (of
State), Treasury, and War. Unlike contemporary European advisors who were
given the title “minister,” the heads of these executive departments were given
the title of “secretary” followed by the name of their department. George Washington’s first Cabinet consisted of Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Knox as Secretary of War,
and Edmund Randolph as Attorney General.
Secretary selection process: The 14 Cabinet secretaries are often selected from past and current American governors, senators, representatives, and
other political office holders. Private citizens such as businessmen or former
military officials are also common Cabinet choices. Because of the strong
system of separation of powers, no Cabinet member can simultaneously hold
an office in the legislative or judicial branches of government while serving
in the Cabinet, nor can they hold office in a state government. Unlike the parliamentary system of government, Cabinet members are rarely “shuffled”,
and it is rare for a Secretary to be moved from one department to another.
87
The officials in the U.S. Cabinet are strongly subordinate to the President. The main interactions that Cabinet members have with the legislative
branch are regular testimonials before Congressional committees to justify
their actions, and coordinate executive and legislative policy in their respective fields of jurisdiction.
Cabinet members can be fired by the President or impeached and removed from office by Congress. Commonly, a few Cabinet members may
resign before the beginning of a second Presidential term. Usually, all Cabinet members resign shortly after the inauguration of a new President. Rarely,
a popular or especially dedicated Cabinet member may be asked to stay,
sometimes even serving under a new President of another party.
Judicial branch
Article III of the Constitution vests the judicial power in “one Supreme
Court, and in such inferior courts as Congress may from time to time establish.” This means that apart from the Supreme Court, the organization of the
judicial branch is left in the hands of Congress. Beginning with 1789, Congress created several types of courts and other judicial organizations, which
now include federal courts, specialized courts, and administrative offices to
help run the judicial system.
Federal courts – which include 94 district courts, 13 courts of appeals,
and special courts such as the Court of International Trade and the Supreme
Court – handle only a small part of the legal cases in the U.S. Most cases
involve state and local laws, so they are tried in state or local courts rather
than federal courts.
District Courts: Most federal cases start out in the district courts, which
are trial courts that hear testimony about the facts of a case. There are 94
district courts, including one or more in each state, one in the District of Columbia, one in Puerto Rico, and three territorial courts with jurisdiction over
Guam, the Virgin Islands of the U.S., and other U.S. territories.
Courts of Appeals: The decision of a district court can be appealed to the
second tier in the judicial branch, the court of appeals. The appeals courts
can consider only questions of law and legal interpretation, and in nearly all
cases must accept the lower court’s factual findings. An appeals court cannot, for example, consider whether the physical evidence in a case was
enough to prove a person was guilty. Instead, the appeals court might consider whether the district court followed appropriate rules in accepting evidence during the trial.
For appeals purposes, the U.S. is divided into 12 judicial areas called
circuits. An additional appeals court, the Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit, has nationwide jurisdiction over major federal questions.
88
Decisions of the appeals courts are final, unless the U.S. Supreme Court
agrees to hear a further appeal. In district courts, most cases are heard by a
single judge. In the appeals courts, cases are usually heard by a panel of
three or more judges.
The differences between Federal Courts and State/Local Courts are represented in Table 1 [10, 39].
Table 1. The difference between Federal Courts and State/Local Courts
Federal Courts
State/Local Courts
Some types of cases heard:
• Cases concerning federal law (laws passed
by Congress) and treaties.
• Cases that deal with the constitutionality
of a law.
• Disputes between states.
• Bankruptcy cases, which are heard in a
special court.
Some types of cases heard:
• Cases concerning state laws (laws passed
by state legislatures or other local bodies).
• Most family law cases (divorce, custody), personal injury cases, and contract
disputes.
• Most criminal cases.
Affect on federal civil rights law:
Rulings issued by federal courts are more
authoritative interpretations of federal
laws than state courts, and the Supreme
Court has the final definitive say on issues
regarding federal civil rights law.
Affect on federal civil rights law:
While state courts sometimes address federal laws, the federal courts’ interpretations of federal law generally carries more
persuasive weight.
As you see, federal courts have a leading role in judging cases and interpreting laws, rules, and other government actions, and determining whether
they conform to the Constitution.
The two-tier judicial systems, federal and state, form layers of courts that
check each other and are checked, in turn, by the law profession and the law
schools that study the decisions and create an informed opinion.
The U.S. President appoints federal judges, but these appointments are
subject to approval by the Senate. Once confirmed by the Senate, federal judges have appointments for life or until they choose to retire. Federal judges can
be removed from their positions only if they are convicted of impeachable offenses by the Senate. The life-long appointments of federal judges make it
easier for the judiciary to stay removed from political pressure. Similarly, the
governors, the state legislatures, and the people select the state judges.
Supreme Court: The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court of the
country; it has ultimate judicial authority within the U.S. to interpret and
89
decide questions of federal law, including the Constitution of the U.S. The
Supreme Court is sometimes known by the acronyms SCOTUS and USSC
(for U.S. Supreme Court).
It consists of 9 judges called justices, including a chief justice and 8 associate justices. As with all other federal judges, they are nominated by the
President and confirmed by the Senate. They also receive appointments for
life, subject only to impeachment for serious crimes or improprieties.
Most of the Supreme Court cases are appeals from lower federal courts
or from state courts, and a handful come from other parts of the Court’s jurisdiction. The Court typically issues written decisions in fewer than a hundred cases a year. All cases are heard and decided by the entire Court, except
in rare cases when a justice chooses not to participate because of a conflict
of interest or other potential prejudicial interest in a case.
Interesting to know: The Supreme Court didn’t have a building of its own till
1935. The U.S. Supreme Court building was designed by architect Cass Gilbert and built between 1932 and 1935. Marble for the court building was
brought from Italy with personal assistance of Benito Mussolini.
Special courts: Congress has established several courts to decide cases
arising within its legislative powers. These are called legislative courts because they lie outside of Article III of the Constitution. For example, the
Court of Federal Claims hears cases of people who file claims against the
government and seek money as a result. The Court of Appeals for the Armed
Forces is the final appeals court for court-martial convictions in the armed
forces. There is also a separate appeals court that deals with cases involving
veterans’ benefits. The Tax Court tries and decides cases involving federal
taxes, tax exemptions for charities, and other tax-related matters.
Administration: The judicial branch employs about 30,000 people, including judges, clerks, and other staff. The management and organization of
the judicial workload is shared by the Administrative Office of the U.S.
Courts and the Federal Judicial Center. In addition, standards for sentencing
criminal offenders are established by the U.S. Sentencing Commission,
which is an independent agency.
Separation of powers and system of checks and balances: The division of government power among three separate but equal branches provides
for a system of checks and balances. Each branch checks or limits the power
of the other branches. For example, although Congress makes laws, the president can veto them. Even if the president vetoes a law, Congress may check
the president by overriding his veto with a two-thirds vote. The Supreme
Court can overturn laws passed by Congress and signed by the president.
90
The selection of federal and Supreme Court judges is made by the other two
branches. The president appoints judges, but the Senate reviews his candidates and has the power to reject his choices. With this system of checks and
balances, no branch of government has a superior power.
Thus, by dividing power among the three branches of government, the
Constitution effectively ensures that government power will not be usurped
by a small powerful group or a few leaders.
However, there are other features of the political system, not mentioned in
the Constitution, which directly and indirectly influence American politics.
Party system: Historically, 3 features have characterized the party system in the U.S.: 1) two major parties alternating in power; 2) lack of ideology; and 3) lack of unity and party discipline.
The U.S. has had only 2 major parties throughout its history. When the
U.S. was founded, 2 strong political groupings emerged – the Federalists
and Anti-Federalists.
Since then, the practice of two major parties alternating each other in
power has existed. And for over one hundred years, America’s two-party
system has been dominated by the Democratic and Republican Parties.
The Democratic Party was started in the 1820’s growing from an offshoot
of the country’s first party, the Federalist Party. The Republican Party began
as an anti-slavery party in 1854 with members from the Democratic Party and
the Whigs. It was formed to oppose the spread of slavery into new states.
Neither party, however, has ever completely dominated American politics. On the national level, the majority party in Congress has not always
been the same as the party of the president. Even in the years when one party
dominated national politics, the other party retained much support at state or
local levels.
Thus, the balance between the Democrats and Republicans has shifted
back and forth. In general, the parties tend to be similar. Democrats and Republicans support the same overall political and economic goals. Neither
party seeks to shake the foundation of the U.S. economy or social structure.
SUMMARY
1. The American Constitution is based on the doctrine of the separation
of powers between the Executive (the Presidency), Legislative (Congress)
and Judiciary (the Courts) branches.
2. All legislative powers of the federal government are granted to
Congress. Congress is a bicameral legislature, consisting of two chambers: the
House of Representatives (the Lower House) and the Senate (the Upper House).
3. As far as passing legislation is concerned, the Senate is fully equal to
the House of Representatives. The House lacks two specific powers granted to
the Senate. Only the Senate can approve treaties negotiated and submitted by
91
the President. The Senate also has sole power to confirm cabinet members and
other key government officers. However, the legislation dealing with gathering
revenue (generally through taxes) originates in the House of Representatives
(specifically the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means).
4. Congress has sole jurisdiction over impeachment of federal officials
including presidents. The House has the sole right to bring the charges of
misconduct which would be considered at an impeachment trial, and the
Senate has the sole power to try impeachment cases and to find officials
guilty or not guilty. A guilty verdict requires a two-thirds majority in the
Senate and results in the removal of the federal official from public office.
5. The Constitution provides that the Vice President shall be President of
the Senate. The most powerful person in the Senate is the Senate Majority
Leader. The House of Representatives has its own presiding officer – the
Speaker of the House, who is elected by the House and has important
responsibilities, giving him considerable influence over the President.
6. Congressional committees play a dominant role in Congress
proceedings. At present the Senate has 16 standing committees; the House of
Representatives has 20 standing committees. Each specializes in specific areas
of legislation. Almost every bill introduced in either house is referred to a
committee for study and recommendation. The committee may approve, revise,
kill or ignore any measure referred to it. It is nearly impossible for a bill to
reach the House or Senate floor without first winning committee approval.
7. Bills are introduced by a variety of methods: a) some are drawn up by
standing committees; b) some by special committees created to deal with
specific legislative issues; and с) some may be suggested by the President or
other executive officers; d) citizens and organizations outside the Congress
may suggest legislation to members; and e) individual members themselves
may initiate bills.
8. The President has the option of signing the bill (at this point it becomes
national law) or vetoing it. A bill vetoed by the President must be reapproved by
a two-thirds vote of both houses to become law, this is called overriding a veto.
9. Congress is a collegial and not a hierarchical body. Power does not
flow from the top down, as in a corporation, but in practically every direction,
the legislative behavior of representatives and senators tends to be
individualistic, reflecting the great variety of electorates represented and the
freedom that comes from having built a loyal personal constituency.
10. The head of the executive branch is the U.S. President, who is both
the head of state and head of government. Under him is the Vice President and
heads of the executive committees forming the Cabinet. The President is the
executive and Commander-in-Chief, responsible for controlling the U.S.
armed forces and nuclear arsenal. The President may be impeached by a
majority in the House and removed from office by a two-thirds majority in the
92
Senate for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” The
President may not dissolve Congress or call special elections, but does have
the power to pardon convicted criminals, give executive orders, and (with the
consent of the Senate) appoint Supreme Court justices and federal judges.
11. U.S. Presidential elections are held every four years. The President
and the Vice President are the only two nationally elected officials in the
United States. They are elected indirectly, through the Electoral College.
12. The U.S. judicial branch is represented by the federal courts, which
include district courts, courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court. District
courts are trial courts; courts of appeals as well as the Supreme Court consider
only questions of law and legal interpretation.
13. Each branch of government power checks or limits the power of the
other branches.
14. The U.S. has had only two major parties throughout its history.
Three features have characterized the party system in the United States:
1) two major parties alternating in power; 2) lack of ideology; and 3) lack of
unity and party discipline.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. How can the U.S. government be defined and in what documents are
the U.S. basic laws set down?
2. What is the structure, powers, functions and responsibilities of the
House of Representatives and the Senate?
3. What role do U.S. Congressional committees play?
4. How does the U.S. legislature work?
5. What do you know about the Congressional powers of investigation,
about informal practices of Congress, lobbyism?
6. What are the powers and duties of the U.S. President and his Cabinet?
7. What requirements must one meet in order to become President and
how long can he stay in office?
8. How are the U.S. Presidential elections conducted?
9. Why is much of the modern electoral process concerned with winning
swing populous states?
10. The day-to-day enforcement and administration of federal laws is in
the hands of executive departments, created by Congress to deal with specific
areas of national and international affairs, isn’t it?
11. What are the powers and responsibilities of the U.S. Supreme Court?
12. How many and what courts are there in the U.S.A. and what do they do?
13. What is the system of checks and balances about?
Unit
6
U.S. ECONOMY
AND DEMOGRAPHICS
This unit tells us that the U.S. has the largest and the most
technologically powerful economy in the world, with a per capita
GDP of US$56,421. The U.S.A. is also the foremost debtor nation
in the world. The unit also tells us about the U.S. demographics
and touches upon the following items:
the U.S. economy, its definition and history;
government’s role in the U.S. economy;
analysis of the U.S. economy by sector; U.S. business
pattern;
American labor force; employment; labor unions;
wealth and poverty in the U.S.; social class structure in the U.S.;
94
foreign trade;
public debt and its history;
credit crunch of 2008 and current major economic concerns;
U.S. demographics.
Key Words and Proper Names: antitrust, to balance the budget, benefit, birth and death rates, business ventures, business acumen, collective bargaining, customize products, consumer economy, creditor nation, economic deregulation, debtor nation, declining dollar value, fertility rate, fiscal deficits, global economic downturn, employer subsidized health insurance plan, investment bank
failures, entrepreneur, gross domestic product, per capita GDP, free
enterprise system, job security, housing bubbles, trade imbalance,
household income, insolvency, laissez faire, economic policies,
lay-off, low-cost loans, low-interest loans, market value, overextended, sky-rocketing military spending, stock market, two-tier labor market, merger, mortgage, public opinion poll, poverty line, ratio, revenues, self-employment, stockholder, sub-prime mortgage
crisis, government-sponsored securities, surplus, tax cut, welfare
and unemployment benefits, unemployment rate, venture capital;
NASDAQ, NYSE, AMEX, CME, PHLX, CEO, PPI, Medicare, Medicaid, Boeing, Cessna, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics.
THE U.S. ECONOMY is the world’s largest representing 22% of nominal
global GDP and 17% of global GDP (PPP). The U.S. GDP was estimated to
be US$18.124 trillion as of the second quarter of 2015 with 3.7% GDP
growth in the second quarter of 2015. In 2014, GDP per capita was
US$ 56,421 [42].
Interesting to know: While GDP figures help measure the economy’s
health, they do not gauge every aspect of national well-being. GDP shows
the market value of the goods and services an economy produces, but it
does not weigh a nation’s quality of life. And some important variables –
personal happiness and security, for instance, or a clean environment and
good health – are entirely beyond its scope.
Today, the U.S. is home to 29.6 million small businesses, 30% of the
world’s millionaires, 40% of the world’s billionaires, as well as 128 of the
world’s 500 largest companies. This is twice the total of any other country.
The U.S. has been the birthplace of 161 of Britannica’s 321 Great Inventions, including items such as the airplane, internet, microchip, laser, cell
phone, refrigerator, e-mail, microwave, LCD and LED technology, air conditioning, assembly line, supermarket, bar code, electric motor, and ATM.
95
Apple, Google, IBM, McDonald’s, and Microsoft are the world’s five
most valuable brands. In 2010, 32% of retailers from the world’s top 250
largest retailers by retail sales revenue worked in the U.S., and they accounted for 41% of the total retail sales revenue of the top 250. Amazon.com is
the world’s largest online retailer. Half of the world’s 20 largest semiconductor manufacturers by sales were of American origin in 2011. U.S. tourism
sector welcomes approximately 60 million international visitors every year.
The U.S. is one of the world’s largest and most influential financial markets, home of major stock and commodities exchanges like NASDAQ,
NYSE, AMEX, CME, and PHLX.
The U.S. also boasts of having the world’s largest gold reserves and the
world’s largest gold depository, the New York Federal Reserve Bank. A large
contributor to the country’s success has also been its currency. The U.S. dollar still holds about 60% of world reserves, as compared to its top competitor, the euro, which controls about 25%.
Historically, the U.S. economy has maintained a stable overall GDP
growth rate, a low unemployment rate, and high levels of research and capital investment funded by both national and, because of decreasing saving
rates, by foreign investors. Since the 1960’s, the U.S. economy has absorbed
savings from the rest of the world. The U.S. is by far the most heavily “invested-into” country in the world, with foreign investments measuring almost US$2.6 trillion, which is more than twice that of any other country.
The U.S. is also by far the largest investor in the world, with U.S. investments in foreign countries totaling over US$3.61trillion, which is almost
twice that of any other country.
It should be noted that the American labor market has always attracted
immigrants from all over the world and has one of the world’s highest migration rates.
Almost two-thirds of the nation’s total economic output goes to individuals for personal use, the remaining one-third is bought by the government
and business. In 2014, consumer spending coupled with government health
care spending constituted more than 70% of the American economy. The
consumer role is so great, that the U.S. is characterized as having a “consumer economy.”
History: The U.S. economic history covers a period of more than two
and a half centuries. It has its roots in European settlements of the 17th,
18th and 19th centuries. Over the course of those years, the U.S. grew from
an alliance of 13 British colonies with distinct economies and institutions to
represent over a fifth of the world economy.
The theoretical foundation of the American economic system was provided by Adam Smith, whose economic ideas of “laissez faire” had a strong
influence on the development of capitalism. These ideas were compatible
96
with the high value that America’s Founding Fathers placed on individual
liberty. Freedom from economic control seemed an extension of freedom
from control of religion, speech, and the press.
Historically, the main causes of the U.S. economic growth were:
the number of available workers and, more importantly, their
productivity and mobility, including a stable cheap labor pool of millions of
immigrants from all over the world,
a large unified market,
a supportive political legal system,
vast areas of highly productive farmlands,
vast natural resources (especially timber, coal and oil),
a cultural landscape that valued entrepreneurship,
a commitment to investing in material and human capital,
willingness to exploit labor.
Moreover, the U.S. was able to utilize its resources and God-given advantages due to a unique set of institutions designed to encourage utilization,
extraction and manufacturing.
The U.S. pioneered in scientific management of production and coordination (it is a motherland of the Second Industrial Revolution). The role of
flexible organization structures known as corporations or voluntary associations of owners or stockholders cannot be denied as a contributor to the U.S.
economic growth. They proved to be an effective device for accumulating
the funds needed to launch a new business or to expand an existing one.
Mixed economy: The U.S. has a capitalist mixed market-oriented economy. A central feature of the U.S. economy is the economic freedom afforded
to the private sector. It makes most of economic decisions in determining the
direction and scale of what the U.S. economy produces. This is enhanced by
relatively low levels of regulation and government involvement, as well as
the court system that generally protects property rights and enforces contracts.
In 2014, the private sector constituted 55.3% of the U.S. economy, with
federal government activity accounting for 24.1% and state and local government activity (including federal transfers) the remaining 20.6% [42].
Market forces in America operated with a minimum of government intervention till the end of the 19th century. Strong government regulation in the
U.S. economy started in the early 1900’s with the rise of the Progressive
Movement. Since then government regulation has been introduced more
than once as a measure to stabilize the U.S. economy.
In the U.S. there are certain limits to free enterprise and private ownership. Some services are better performed by public rather than private enterprise. In the U.S., government is primarily responsible for the administration of justice, education (although there are many private schools and
97
training centers), the road system, social statistical reporting, and national
defense. It regulates “natural monopolies,” and it uses antitrust laws to control or break up other business combinations that become so powerful that
they can surmount market forces. Government also addresses issues beyond
the reach of market forces. It provides welfare and unemployment benefits
to people who cannot or will not support themselves, it pays much of the
cost of medical care for the aged and those who live in poverty; it regulates
private industry to limit air and water pollution; it provides low-cost loans
to people who suffer losses as a result of natural disasters; and it has played
the leading role in the exploration of space, which is too expensive for any
private enterprise to handle. All of this is paid for by a system of progressive taxation.
Historically, government’s role in the U.S. economy was exercised
through 1) government regulation and control, and 2) protective tariffs and
subsidies to industry, i.e., direct services and assistance. The government
built infrastructure, and established banking policies, including the gold
standard, to encourage savings and investment in productive enterprises.
Lately, to achieve low inflation, high economic growth, and low unemployment the government has maintained a steady economic growth by using
both: monetary policy (control of the money supply through mechanisms
such as changes in interest rates) and fiscal policy (taxes and spending).
In 2014, the total U.S. budget constituted 15.7% of the GDP and was
made up of revenues: $2.77 trillion (individual income tax – 47.4%; social
insurance – 34.2%; corporate taxes – 9.9%; other – 8.5%) and expenditures:
$3.45 trillion (Social Security – 23.2%; defense – 14.3%; Medicare – 7.3%;
Medicaid – 7.7%; interest – 7.5%; other – 25.7%). Budget deficit in 2014
was US$492 billion [42].
Postindustrial economy: The U.S. has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world. Its economy is postindustrial, with
the service sector of the economy now contributing to the greatest share of
the U.S. GDP. So, the service sector contributes 79.4% of GDP, industry –
19.5%, agriculture – 1.1% (2014) [42].
By occupation, 38% U.S. citizens were employed in managerial and professional and technical spheres, 23% – sales and office, 23% – other services, 12% – in manufacturing, mining, transportation, and crafts, 3.3% – in
installation, maintenance, and repair; 0.7% – in farming, forestry, and fishing in June 2014.
As a shift from production of goods to the delivery of services is a dominant feature of the American economy, so the large majority of service-providing jobs are found in the group of trade, transportation, and utilities occupations. Other key service industries for the U.S. include finance, tourism
and information technology.
98
The industrial sector is also highly diversified and technologically advanced. The leading business field by gross business receipts is wholesale
and retail trade; by net income it is manufacturing. Around 16% of the population is employed in manufacturing, extraction, transportation, and crafts.
The U.S. produces approximately 18% of the world’s manufacturing output,
a number that has declined as other nations developed competitive manufacturing industries. The industrial production rate was 2.5% in 2014.
The U.S. as a world leading, high-technology innovator is the world’s
second largest manufacturer, with a 2014 industrial output of $2.4 trillion.
Its manufacturing output is greater than that of Germany, France, India, and
Brazil combined. Its main industries include petroleum, steel, automobiles,
construction machinery, aerospace, agricultural machinery, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, and
mining, and defense.
The U.S. leads the world in airplane manufacturing. American companies such as Boeing, Cessna, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics produce
a vast majority of the world’s civilian and military aircraft. Chemical products are also a leading manufacturing field.
The U.S. is the third largest producer of oil in the world, as well as its
largest importer. In 2013, the U.S. imported 2,808 million barrels of
crude oil, compared to 3,377 million barrels in 2010. President B. Obama promises that by 2015 the U.S. will have become the biggest world
exporter of oil.
The U.S. is the world’s number one producer of electrical and nuclear
energy, liquid natural gas, sulfur, phosphates, and salt. It is the world’s leading producer of aluminum, copper, and paper, and one of the top producers
of automobiles. No other nation exports as much high technology as the U.S.
American firms have always been at or near the forefront in technological
advances, especially in computers and in medical research, aerospace and
bio-chemical products, and military equipment.
Agriculture: The U.S. is the third largest agricultural producer in the
world behind China and India. Agriculture is a vital part of the U.S. economy and society. The U.S. is a net exporter of food and controls almost half of
world grain exports. In productive terms, the achievements of this sector of
the economy are extraordinary. U.S. farmers produce enough food for domestic consumption and still supply 15% of the world’s food needs. Meanwhile, agriculture accounts for just 1.1% of GDP; and only 0.7% of the population of the U.S. is employed in the agricultural sector.
The U.S. is the world’s top producer of corn and soybeans. The U.S. controls almost half of the world grain exports. Products include wheat, corn,
other grains, fruits, vegetables, cotton; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products;
forest products; fish.
99
Most people employed in the agricultural sector are proprietors of independent farms. Once the dominant American social class, farmers diminished in overall numbers during the 20th century, when farm holdings grew
more consolidated, and farming operations became more mechanized and
extremely efficient. Large amounts of capital needed to operate a competitive farm require a large-scale organization. In this respect, farming mirrors
big business: like any enterprise, a farm has owners (who may be a family or
a corporation), salaried managers, supervisors, foremen and workers.
U.S. business pattern: The overall pattern in American business is characterized by the trend towards large-scale enterprises. Giant corporations
dominate. Small corporations are being consumed by larger ones and large
corporations become even larger through mergers. Large corporations, once
run by individuals with high public profiles like Henry Ford or Andrew Carnegie, are now often run by nearly anonymous CEO’s who rarely own more
than a fraction of 1% of the corporation’s stock.
At the same time the end of the 20th century saw a trend called deinstitutionalizing. While giant corporations determine much of the nation’s economic behavior, entrepreneurs have a significant impact on the American
economy. Small businesses started by entrepreneurs provided more new employment than larger corporations. The high-tech era has produced a new
generation of entrepreneurs, especially in dot-com business.
And in recent years entrepreneurship has been a major driver of economic growth in the U.S. American society highly emphasizes entrepreneurship and business. An entrepreneur is someone who undertakes innovations,
finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods. This may result in new organizations or may be part of revitalizing mature organizations in response to a perceived opportunity. The most
obvious form of entrepreneurship refers to the process and engagement of
starting new businesses.
It is believed that by the time the working men in the U.S. reach their retirement age, half of them probably have had a period of self-employment of
one or more years; one in four may have engaged in self-employment for six
or more years. Participating in a new business creation is a common activity
among U.S. workers over the course of their careers.
Venture capital (capital invested in a project in which there is a substantial element of risk) as an industry, originated in the U.S. and it is still dominated by the U.S. 11% of private sector jobs comes from venture capital
backed companies and venture capital backed revenue accounts for 21% of
U.S. GDP.
Some new American businesses raise investments from angel investors
(venture capitalists). In 2010, healthcare/medical accounted for the largest
share of angel investments, with 30% of total angel investments (vs. 17% in
100
2009), followed by software (16% vs. 19% in 2007), biotech (15% vs. 8% in
2009), etc.
Americans are “venturesome consumers” who are unusually willing to
try new products of all sorts, and pester manufacturers to improve their
products.
American labor force: The onrush of technology explains the gradual
development of a “two-tier labor market” in which those at the bottom lack
the education and professional/technical skills of those at the top and, they
more and more fail to get proper pay raises, health insurance coverage, and
other benefits.
The World Bank ranks the U.S. first in the ease of hiring and firing workers. The U.S. has the highest labor force participation rate in the world with
156.08 million (includes 8 million unemployed, as of the second quarter of
2015).
Of those employed, around 80% has jobs in the service sector. The private sector employs 91% of Americans. Government accounts for 8% of all
U.S. workers. Over 90% of all employing organizations in the U.S. are small
businesses.
The 30 million small businesses in the U.S. account for 64% of newly
created jobs (those created minus those lost). Jobs in small businesses accounted for 70% of those created in the last decade.
The proportion of Americans employed by small business versus large
business has remained relatively the same year by year as some small businesses become large businesses and just over half of small businesses survive more than 5 years.
American companies are among largest businesses and employers in the
world. A good example is Wal-Mart, the largest company and the largest
private sector employer in the world, which employs 2.1 million people
world-wide and 1.4 million in the U.S. alone.
Employment: The U.S. labor market is huge but currently very volatile.
It was badly affected by the 2008 financial crisis. Unemployment rates in the
U.S. nearly doubled in 2009 from 5.8% to 9.3%, while in 2010 unemployment was around 10%.
In August 2015, unemployment was 5.1%, it was a good sign of the economic recovery.
Between February 2008 and February 2010, the number of people working part time for economic reasons increased by 4 million to 8.8 million, that
is a 83% increase in part time workers during the two-year period.
Education, age, gender, race and location influence the unemployment
rate. Thus in 2009, the unemployment rate among young people between 1524 years of age was total 17.6%, male: 20.1% and female: 14.9%. Female
unemployment in total continues to be significantly lower than male unem101
ployment (7.5% vs. 9.8%). The unemployment among whites is much lower
than African American unemployment (at 8.5% vs. 15.8%). In October
2009, 34.5% of young African American men were unemployed. Officially,
Detroit’s unemployment rate was 27%, but Detroit News suggests that nearly half of the city’s working-age population was unemployed in 2009.
Labor unions: The drive for success is the cornerstone of American ideology as a result there is no focused ideological support for America’s labor
unions. Labor unions in the U.S. do not have the power or political direction
of their counterparts in Europe. About 12% of workers are unionized, compared to over 30% in Western Europe.
Achievements of European labor, such as workers’ participation in corporate strategy in West Germany and nationalization of industries in Great
Britain seem radical compared with the achievements of American workers,
such as increases in overtime pay, paid vacations, premium pay for night
work, and employer subsidized health insurance plans.
American labor unions today are losing members and influence. One
explanation for the difference between labor unions in Europe and the
U.S. is:
American workers have traditionally valued self-reliance and
individualism.
The lack of rigid class distinctions has given many workers the feeling
that they are not permanently destined to a working-class existence.
The lack of class consciousness and the belief that one can rise to a
higher station in life through individual effort help explain why socialism has
not gained mass appeal as a unifying ideology among American workers.
The changing trends in the economy as a whole – the decline in
manufacturing industries, once a stronghold of unionism, and the rise in
service and high-tech industries, which employ fewer blue-collar workers –
have contributed to the decline of America’s labor unions.
The movement of many industries to the South with its right-to-work
laws hinders unionism.
Wealth and poverty in the U.S.: The wealth is varied with relation to
race, education, geographic location and gender. No doubt, households with
greater income feature the highest net worth. In addition, wealth is unequally distributed – the wealthiest 25% of U.S. households owns 87% ($54.2
trillion, in 2009) of the wealth in the U.S.
Household net worth fell between 2007 and 2009 by a total of $17.5 trillion or 25.5%. This was the equivalent loss of one year of GDP.
Between 2000 and 2010, the median household income for working-age
households fell from US$61,574 to US$55,276, a decline of roughly
US$6,300, which is more than 10%. As of 2008, the median household income was US$52,029. It ranged from US$68,080 in Maryland to US$36,338
102
in Mississippi. 284,000 working people out of 156.08 million, working in
the U.S., have two full-time jobs and 7.6 million have a part-time job in addition to their full-time employment. Average gross salary in 2012 was
US$55,048.
Social class structure in the U.S.: Many Americans believe in a simple
three-class model that includes the “rich”, the “middle class”, and the
“poor”. Economists have proposed class systems with 6 distinct social classes. People are grouped into class structures according to wealth, income,
education, type of occupation, and membership in a specific subculture or
social network. These class models feature an upper or capitalist class consisting of the rich and powerful (less than 5% of the population), an upper
middle class consisting of highly-educated and wealthy professionals (approximately 15%), a middle class consisting of college-educated individuals
employed in white collar industries (about 34%), a lower middle class (about
19%), a working class (12%) constituted by clerical and blue collar workers
whose work is highly routinized; and a lower class (13-15%) divided between the working poor and the unemployed underclass.
The lower classes constituting roughly a fifth to a quarter of American
society consist mainly of low-rung retail and service workers as well as the
frequently unemployed and those not able to work. Hunger and food insecurity are present in the lives of 3.9% of American households, while roughly
25 million Americans (about 9%) participate in the food stamp program.
Overall, around 13.66% of the population falls below the poverty threshold
in 2015.
Monetary policy in the United States is determined and implemented by
the U.S. Federal Reserve System, commonly referred to as the Federal Reserve. Established in 1913 to provide central banking for the public, the Federal Reserve is a quasi-public institution; technically a private corporation
and independent in its day-to-day operations, but legislatively accountable to
Congress, and, controlled by the publicly-appointed Board of Governors.
The Chairman of the Board is appointed by the U.S. President and generally considered to have the most important position, followed by the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York’s President. The Federal Reserve System controls the supply of money and therefore the nation’s economy. It is primarily
funded by interest collected on the portfolio of securities from the U.S.
Treasury; nearly all the interest the Federal Reserve collects is rebated to the
government each year.
The Federal Reserve has three main mechanisms for manipulating the
money supply. Firstly, it can buy or sell treasury securities. Selling securities
has the effect of reducing the monetary base (because it accepts money in
return for purchase of securities), taking that money out of circulation. Pur103
chasing treasury securities increases the monetary base (because it pays out
hard currency in exchange for accepting securities). Secondly, the discount
rate can be changed. And finally, the Federal Reserve can adjust the reserve
requirement, which can affect the money multiplier; the reserve requirement
is adjusted only infrequently, and was last adjusted in 1992.
In practice, the Federal Reserve uses open market operations to influence
short term interest rates, which is the primary tool of monetary policy. The
federal funds rate, for which the Federal Open Markets Committee announces a target on a regular basis, reflects one of the key rates for interbank lending. Open market operations change the supply of reserve balances, and the
federal funds rate is sensitive to these operations. In theory, the Federal Reserve has unlimited capacity to influence this rate, and although the federal
funds rate is set by banks borrowing and lending funds to each other, the
federal funds rate generally stays within a limited range above and below the
target (as participants are aware of the Fed’s power to influence this rate).
Foreign trade: The U.S. is the world’s largest trading nation. The U.S. is
the world’s largest importer of goods and third largest exporter. Principal
America’s trade exports ($1.62 trillion (2014) are capital goods – 33.9%, industrial supplies (except oil fuels) – 31.2%, consumer goods (except automotive) – 12.3%; automotive vehicles and components – 9.8%, food, feed,
beverages – 8.9%; other – 3.9%.
The leading U.S. imports ($2.35 trillion (2014) are consumer goods (except
automotive) – 23.8%; capital goods (except automotive) – 19%; industrial supplies (except crude oil) – 17.8%; Crude oil – 10.5%;automotive vehicles and
components – 14%; food, feed, and beverages – 5.4.%; other – 3.3% [42].
The U.S. is a member of several international trade organizations. The
U.S. participates in the activities of such organizations as APEC, ASEAN
(dialogue partner), Australia Group, BIS, FAO, G-5, G-7, G-8, G-10, NAFTA, NATO, OSCE, Paris Club, UN, UN Security Council, UNESCO, WHO,
WMO, WTO, etc.
Main export partners of the U.S.A are: Canada – 19.3%; Mexico –
14.8%; China – 7.6%; Japan – 4.1%; UK -3.3% (2014). Main import partners are China – 19.9%; Canada – 14.8%; Mexico – 12.5%; Japan – 5.7%;
Germany – 5.3% (2014). So, Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, UK and Germany are top trading partners of the U.S.
Despite its huge domestic production, the U.S. economy depends heavily on foreign imports. Before the 1970’s, the U.S. consistently exported
more goods than it imported. However, since 1971, the U.S. has been operating under a trade imbalance importing more goods than it exports. For
example, the value of imports US$2.35 trillion (2014) substantially outweighs the value of exports (US$1.62 trillion). Foreign manufacturers are
now selling more in the U.S. than Americans are exporting abroad. Most of
104
America’s television sets, cameras and shoes and clothes are made by foreign companies.
Current international trade developments in areas such as foreign competitiveness, import-export policies, currency exchange rates and trade imbalance have posed tough problems for the U.S. economy. In 2014, the total
U.S. trade deficit was about US$0.72 trillion, which is US$2.35 trillion in
exports minus US$1.62 trillion in imports.
For example, the U.S. trade deficit with China for 2010 was 27 times
larger than it was back in 1990.
Public debt history: On June 30, 2015, debt held by the public was
US$13.08 trillion or about 74% of the previous 12 months of GDP. Intragovernmental holdings stood at US$5.07 trillion, giving a combined total
public debt of US$18.15 trillion or about 102% of the previous 12 months of
GDP.
In 1980, the U.S. public debt was US$909 billion – or an amount equal to
33.3% of the U.S. GDP. By 1990, that number had more than tripled to
US$3.2 trillion – or 55.9% of GDP. Debt levels rose quickly in the following
decades.
Every man, woman and child in the U.S. currently owes US$55,093 for
his or her share of the U.S. public debt. In order to fund the national debt, the
U.S. relies on selling U.S. treasury bonds to people both inside and outside
the country, and in recent times a growing percent of buyers are from overseas. So, the answer to the question who owns the public debt? is mutual
funds, pension funds, foreign governments, foreign investors, American investors, etc.
As of 2015, US$6.2 trillion or about 47% of the debt held by the public
was owned by foreign investors, the largest of which were China and Japan
about $1.3 trillion and US$1.2 trillion, respectively. The largest holders were
also the central banks of Brazil, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Switzerland and
Russia.
Large foreign economies such as China, Japan, Arab states of the Persian
Gulf and the EU own huge dollar reserves (especially as the U.S. is more in
debt), so there is a fear that they will move away from the dollar. China’s
reserves are more than US$3 trillion, the world’s largest.
To sum up, the profile of the economy shows the U.S. to be a gigantic
economic power and one of the world’s leading producer of goods and services, but you see that the strength of the U.S. economy has decreased lately.
What are the reasons of such a debt? Before the 2008 crash, the U.S.
economy was built on debt and derivatives. Debt said “Eat, drink and be
merry...you don’t have to pay until tomorrow.” Derivatives said “Trust me.
Your investment will increase in value.” This derivative bubble burst in
2008.
105
Current major economic concerns in the U.S. can be summed up as:
government, business and consumer debt, low savings rates, falling house
prices, low consumption rates and sizable trade and budget deficits, inadequate investment in deteriorating infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and
pension costs of the aging population, soaring oil and grain prices and stagnation of family income in the lower economic groups.
No doubt, that one of the main reasons of the U.S. economic problems is
its enormous military expenditures which divert resources from productive
uses such as consumption and investment. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required major shifts in national resources from civilian to military purposes
and contributed to the growth of the budget deficit and public debt. Through
2011, the direct costs of the wars totaled nearly US$900 billion, according to
U.S. government figures. U.S. revenues from taxes and other sources are
lower, as a percentage of GDP, than those of most other countries.
In fact, the main reasons of the credit crunch of 2007-2009 were military
spending by the U.S. government, then came soaring oil prices. Imported oil
accounts for about 60% of the U.S. consumption even today. For example,
in July 2008, oil peaked at US$147.3 a barrel in the U.S., and bio-ethanol
production increased the prices of grains by 3.5 times. These high prices
caused a dramatic drop in demand.
At the same time, the start of the 21st century witnessed an enormous
inflow of capital from China, also considered as one of the root causes of the
financial crisis of 2008: China was buying huge quantities of dollar assets to
keep its currency value low and its export economy working, which caused
U.S. interest rates and saving rates to remain artificially low. These low interest rates, in turn, created the housing bubble of 2008 or the so-called the
sub-prime mortgage crisis (when mortgages were cheap, house prices were
inflated as people could afford to borrow more). This housing bubble collapse was a cause of the crisis in the financial markets worldwide not only in
the U.S.A.
So, the global economic downturn, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, investment bank failures, sky-rocketing military spending and tight credit, high
oil and grain prices had pushed the U.S. into a recession by mid-2008. GDP
contracted until the third quarter of 2009, making the deepest and longest
downturn since the Great Depression.
The U.S. government failed to supervise or even require transparency of
the financial instruments known as derivatives. The leading government officials at that time (Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt) opposed any
regulation of derivatives. As a result housing bubbles in the U.S. were
caused by deregulation and financial liberalization of the U.S. economy,
which is so hell-bent on the pursuit of pleasure and wealth as we may add.
106
At that very time Barack H. Obama was sworn in as U.S. President.
Since Franklin Roosevelt, no U.S. president came to office in such difficult
circumstances. Like FDR President Obama started with his policy of Relief,
Reform and Recovery named Change.
To help stabilize financial markets, in October 2008 the U.S. Congress
established a US$700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The
government used some of these funds to purchase equity in U.S. banks and
industrial corporations, much of which had been returned to the government
by early 2011.
In January 2009, the U.S. Congress passed and President Barack Obama
signed a bill providing an additional US$787 billion fiscal stimulus to be
used over 10 years – two-thirds on additional spending and one-third on tax
cuts to create jobs and help the economy recover.
In 2010 and 2011, the federal budget deficit reached nearly 9% of GDP.
In 2012, the federal government reduced the growth of spending and the
deficit shrank to 7.6% of GDP.
In March 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act, a health insurance reform that was designed to extend coverage to the additional 32 million American citizens by 2016,
through private health insurance for the general population and Medicaid for
the impoverished. Total spending on health care – public plus private – rose
from 9% of GDP in 1980 to 17.9% in 2010.
In July 2010, the President signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform
and Consumer Protection Act, a law designed to promote financial stability
by protecting consumers from financial abuses, ending taxpayer bailouts of
financial firms, dealing with troubled banks that are “too big to fail,” and
improving accountability and transparency in the financial system – in particular, by requiring certain financial derivatives to be traded in markets that
are subject to government regulation and oversight.
In December 2012, the Federal Reserve Board announced plans to purchase US$85 billion per month of mortgage-backed and Treasury securities
in an effort to hold down long-term interest rates, and keep short term rates
near zero until unemployment drops below 6.5% or inflation rises above
2.5%.
The above mentioned programs were aimed at overcoming the consequences of the 2008-2009 crisis but at the same time they meant more government involvement and greater government spending which was expanding
at an exponential rate. Nowadays, federal spending is almost 18 times higher
than it was back in 1970. Long-term economic problems include stagnation
of wages for lower-income families, inadequate investment in deteriorating
infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, energy shortages, and sizable current account and budget deficits.
107
Barack Obama backed the budget that would increase the U.S. government spending to US$5.6 trillion dollars in 2021.
It will, in its turn, lead to the growth of the national debt at a breathtaking
speed. Now many Republican economists say: the sad truth is that it is the
U.S. government – that has a massive debt problem. The Federal Reserve
prints more and more money out of thin air. And all of this new money is
creating a tremendous inflation.
And if the price of oil is high again, then the consequences for the U.S.
economy will be very bitter because the entire American economic system is
based on being able to use massive quantities of very cheap oil.
One more thing should be mentioned, it is outsourcing. The number of
unemployed Americans will not decrease as long as American corporations
are allowed to pay slave labor wages to workers on the other side of the
globe. Outsourcing is very bad for the U.S. middle class. The U.S. economy as it currently exists is unsustainable by definition. It cannot function
without debt.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on August 1, 2011 (Reuters),
that the U.S. spends beyond its means and “lives like a parasite off the global economy,” he also noted that dollar dominance was a threat to the financial markets.
Many economists conclude that the U.S. federal government is massively overextended, most of state and local governments are massively overextended, most of major corporations are massively overextended, and the majority of U.S. consumers are massively overextended.
The only way that the game can continue is for the Federal Reserve to
print increasingly larger amounts of paper money out of thin air and for everyone in the economic food chain to go into increasingly larger amounts of
debt. But no debt spiral can go on forever. At some point this entire house of
cards is going to collapse.
U.S. demographics: On October 17, 2006, the U.S. population clock hit
the 300 million mark. As of August 29, 2015, the U.S. population was
321,628,000 people including an approximate 11.2 million illegal immigrants. In 1900, 76 million lived in the U.S.A., in 1915 – 100 million, in
1967 – 200 million. So, the U.S. population more than tripled during the
20th century.
The U.S. population growth rate (2014 est.) [39] reflects 13.42 births
and 8.15 deaths per 1,000 people. The U.S. population growth rate is
0.77%, significantly higher than those of Western Europe, Japan, and South
Korea.
Total fertility rate in the U.S. is 2.01 children born/woman.
Life expectancy is high
total population: 79.56 years,
108
male: 77.11 years,
female: 81.94 years,
Age structure for 2014 [38] was as follows:
0-14 years: 19.4% (male 31,580,349/female 30,221,106)
15-24 years: 13.7% (male 22,436,057/female 21,321,861)
25-54 years: 39.9% (male 63,452,792/female 63,671,631)
55-64 years: 12.6% (male 19,309,019/female 20,720,284)
65 years and over: 14.5% (male 20,304,644/female 25,874,360)
As you see, women have a longer life expectancy than men. Up to the
age of 30, however, men outnumber women in the U.S. for two reasons:
1) slightly more males are born than females, and 2) slightly more young
men immigrate into the U.S. than women.
The average age of the American population is older than it once was,
and the percentage of the population over 65 will continue to increase
through the first quarter of the 21st century. This aging of the population
poses complex questions how to provide funding for the Social Security
system.
Age differences also vary by ethnicity and race.
In 2014, the median age was in total – 37.6. years, for
male – 36.3 years,
female – 39 years ;
the non-Hispanic white population – 37.7,
the non-Hispanic blacks – 30.2,
Native Americans – 28.0,
Asian and Pacific Islanders – 27.5,
Hispanics – 24.6 [39].
U.S. population distribution: About 5% of the earth’s inhabitants live
in the U. S. Yet, it remains less densely populated than other large countries
or other industrialized nations – in 2015 there were 32.54 persons per sq km.
The mean population center of the U.S. has consistently shifted westward and southward, with California and Texas currently the most populous
states. Almost two-thirds of the U.S. population live in states along the three
major coasts – 38% along the Atlantic Ocean, 16% along the Pacific Ocean,
and 12% along the Gulf of Mexico. About one-third of all Americans at the
beginning of the 21st century lives around the Great Lakes and in Northeastern states; and the corridor stretching from Boston to Washington, D.C., remained the most densely settled part of the U.S.
82.4% of Americans lives in urban areas; about half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000. In 2014, 273 cities had populations over
100,000; nine global cities had over 5 million (New York City, Los Angeles,
Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Washington and Atlanta). There are 52 metropolitan areas with the population greater than 1 million. Of the 50 fastest-grow109
ing metro areas, 47 are in the West or South. The metro areas of Dallas,
Houston, Atlanta, and Phoenix all grew by more than a million people between 2000 and 2010.
The states that attract newcomers, such as Colorado, Georgia, Texas, and
Alaska, tend to have the highest proportion of young people and the smallest
proportion of older people. Of all the states, Utah has the largest portion of
young people, largely because of high birthrates among its predominantly
Mormon population.
The states that experience more people leaving than arriving include
Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and North Dakota. Similarly,
many northeastern cities have large elderly populations, while suburbs in the
Southeast and Southwest have large populations of younger people. Florida
is an exception to these trends, because it attracts many retirees as well as
younger Cubans, Haitians, and other immigrants.
The U.S. has a very diverse population. The ethnical distribution of the
U.S. population on the U.S. territory is as follows:
White
64%,
Hispanics
16%,
African American
12%,
Asian American
5%,
Native American and Alaska Native
1%,
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander
0.2%,
Multiracial
2% (2012 est.) [39].
The population growth of Hispanic or Latino Americans is a major current demographic trend. 46.9 million Americans are of Hispanic descent,
64% of them are of Mexican descent. Between 2000 and 2010, the country’s
Hispanic population increased 32%, while the non-Hispanic population rose
just 4.3%. Much of this growth is from immigration; as of 2007, 12.6% of
the U.S. population was foreign-born, with 54% of that figure born in Latin
America.
Fertility is also a factor; the average Hispanic woman gives birth to 3
children in her lifetime. The comparable fertility rate is 2.2 for non-Hispanic
black women and 1.8 for non-Hispanic white women.
Demographic forecasting: The growing American economy has always
required a lot of workforce which could be replenished both by the increase
of the birth rate and by attracting immigrants. Nowadays, when the birthrate
is decreasing, the only way to help the country offset the aging population is
to supplement it by immigration [Table 2].
The Census Bureau estimates that the U.S. population will grow from
300 million in 2006 to 397 million in 2050 with expected immigration, but
only to 328 million with zero immigration. The American population will
eventually begin to shrink with zero immigration and today’s low birthrates.
110
Table 2. U.S. population projections for the years of 2008 and 2050 [39]
Ethical population group
2008
2050
Ethical population group
Non-Hispanic whites
68%
46% Hispanic
African Americans
12%
15% Asian American
2008
2050
15%
30%
5%
9%
SUMMARY
1. The U.S. economy is the world’s largest representing 22% of nominal
global GDP and 17% of global GDP (PPP). The U.S. GDP was estimated to
be US$18.124 trillion as of the second quarter of 2015 with 3.7% GDP
growth in the second quarter of 2015. In 2014, GDP per capita was US$
56,421.
2. Historically, the U.S. economy has maintained a stable overall GDP
growth rate, a low unemployment rate, and high levels of research and capital
investment funded by both national and, because of decreasing saving rates,
by foreign investors.
3. Almost two-thirds of the nation’s total economic output goes to
individuals for personal use (the remaining one-third is bought by the
government and business). The consumer role is so great, that the U.S. is
characterized as having a “consumer economy”.
4. The U.S. economic history covers a period of more than two and a half
centuries. Historically, the main causes of the U.S. economic growth were:
the number of available workers and, more importantly, their
productivity and mobility, including a stable cheap labor pool of millions of
immigrants from all over the world,
a large unified market,
a supportive political-legal system,
vast areas of highly productive farmlands,
vast natural resources (especially timber, coal and oil),
a cultural landscape that valued entrepreneurship,
a commitment to investing in material and human capital
willingness to exploit labor.
5. The U.S. has a capitalist mixed market-oriented economy. But there
are certain limits to free enterprise and private ownership. Some services are
better performed by public rather than private enterprise.
6. The U.S. has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in
the world. Its economy is postindustrial, with the service sector of the economy
now contributing to the greatest share of the U.S. GDP. So, the service sector
contributes 79.4% of GDP, industry – 19.5%, agriculture – 1.1 %.
111
7. The overall pattern in American business is characterized by the trend
towards large-scale enterprises. At the same time the end of the 20th century
saw a trend called deinstitutionalizing.
8. The U.S. has the highest labor force participation rate in the world
with 156.08 million (includes 8 million unemployed). Of those employed,
around 80% had jobs in the service sector. The private sector employs 91%
of Americans. Government accounts for 8% of all U.S. workers. Over 90%
of all employing organizations in the U.S. are small businesses. The 30
million small businesses in the U.S. account for 64% of newly created jobs
(those created minus those lost). Jobs in small businesses accounted for 70%
of those created in the last decade.
9. Labor unions in the U.S. do not have the power or political direction
of their counterparts in Europe. About 12% of workers are unionized,
compared to over 30% in Western Europe.
10. The wealth is varied with relation to race, education, geographic
location and gender. Wealth is unequally distributed – the wealthiest 25% of
U.S. households own 87% (US$54.2 trillion, in 2013) of the wealth in the
U.S.
11.America’s trade exports (US$1.62 trillion (2014) are capital goods –
33.9%, industrial supplies (except oil fuels) – 31.2%, consumer goods (except
automotive) – 12.3%; automotive vehicles and components – 9.8%, food,
feed, beverages – 8.9%; other – 3.9%.
12. The leading U.S. imports (US$2.35 trillion (2014) are consumer
goods (except automotive) – 23.8%; capital goods (except automotive) –
19%; industrial supplies (except crude oil) – 17.8%; Crude oil –
10.5%;automotive vehicles and components
– 14%; food, feed, and
beverages – 5.4.%; other – 3.3%.
13. Main export partners of the U.S.A are: Canada – 19.3%; Mexico –
14.8%; China – 7.6%; Japan – 4.1%; UK -3.3% (2014). Main import partners
are China – 19.9%; Canada – 14.8%; Mexico – 12.5%; Japan – 5.7%; Germany –
5.3% (2014). So, Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, UK and Germany are top
trading partners of the U.S.
14. On June 30, 2015, debt held by the public was US$13.08 trillion or
about 74% of the previous 12 months of GDP. Intra-governmental holdings
stood at $5.07 trillion, giving a combined total public debt of US$18.15
trillion or about 102% of the previous 12 months of GDP.
15. The main reasons of the credit crunch of 2007-2009 were skyrocketing military spending by the U.S. government, the sub-prime mortgage
crisis, investment bank failures, tight credit, high oil and grain prices.
16. President Obama’s Relief, Reform and Recovery named Change
aimed at overcoming the consequences of the 2008-2009 crisis, led to more
government involvement and greater government spending which was
112
expanding at an exponential rate. Nowadays, federal spending is almost 18
times higher than it was back in 1970.
17. In 2011, Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. of living beyond its means
“like a parasite” on the global economy and noted that dollar dominance was
a threat to the financial markets.
18. The U.S. population growth rate is 0.77% (2014 est). The two
demographic factors prevail: the decrease of the birth rate and the aging of
the population. At the same time, Hispanic or Latino American population is
growing.
19. The growing demands of the U.S. economy for workforce can only
be replenished by attracting immigrants.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Whose ideas provided the theoretical foundation of the American
economic system?
2. What are the the main causes of the U.S. economic growth?
3. How can the U.S. economy be defined?
4. What is meant by the phrase ‘postindustrial’ economy?
5. Why is the U.S.A. referred to as a world’s leading producer?
6. Why aren’t labor unions in America powerful defendants of the rights
of the working people?
7. What are the reasons of such a high total public debt of the U.S.A.?
8. What was done to overcome the consequences of the 2007-2009
credit crunch?
9. What says that the U.S. population is growing and what are the
sources of this growth? What are the latest demographic trends in the U.S.A.?
10. What does the total fertility rate show? What is the U.S. infant
mortality rate (life expectancy)?
11.What is the age (ethnicity and race) structure of the U.S. population?
12. Why do economists look carefully at the proportions of the
population under 15 and over 65 years of age?
13. What states tend to have the highest proportion of young people and
the smallest proportion of older people?
Unit
7
THE UNITED STATES –
NATION OF IMMIGRANTS
This unit tells us that the U.S.A. is a multicultural country;
which received the largest number of immigrants in the course of
its historic development from the most diverse sources. The unit
defines the uniqueness of American culture and touches upon:
ethnic structure of the U.S. population;
American immigration history;
reasons for immigration;
attitudes towards immigration;
economic effects of immigration;
description of most populous ethnic groups: Native
Americans, African Americans, German Americans, Irish
Americans, Italian Americans, Slavic and Jewish Americans,
Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Mexican
Americans, Cuban Americans;
current immigration trends.
114
Key Words and Proper Names: abuse, ancestry, average, brain
drain, craftsmanship, cohesive community, deleterious effects,
disastrous assimilation efforts, disparity, ethnic group, ethnicity,
eugenics, gambling, gaming industry, growth rate, indigenous,
inherent rights, life span, meat-curing plants, net migration rate,
outlawing of native languages, pizza parlor chains, to revitalize,
shamrocks, school dropout rates, syncretism, termination policies,
violence;
Kauffman Foundation’s index of entrepreneurial activity, Irish
brogue, Irish Sweepstake, Jim Crow society, Nativist Know Nothing
movement, New World Syndrome;
Aboriginal Americans, Amerindians, Afro-Americans, First Nations, First Peoples, Hispanics, Indigenous Peoples of America,
Original Americans, Pacific Islanders, Apache, Blackfeet, Cayuga,
Cherokee, Chippewa, Choctaw, Iroquois, Mohawk, Navajo, Oneida,
Onondaga, Pueblo, Seneca, Sioux tribes.
ONLY 7% OF MORE THAN 321 MILLION U.S. PEOPLE reporting
their ancestry identified themselves as Americans. The rest chose one or
more broad racial or linguistic groupings (such as African American or Hispanic) or national heritages (German, English, Irish, and Italian that were
most common) while defining their origins.
The U.S. received the largest number of immigrants over the longest period from the most diverse sources. The Harvard Encyclopedia of American
Ethnic Groups [30] lists 106 major ethnic groups in the U.S. today, including Native Americans, Albanians, Afro-Americans, Arabs, Burmese, Chinese, Eskimo or Inuit, Filipinos, Germans, Greeks, Irish, Italians, Japanese,
Jews, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Swiss, etc.
In the U.S.A., 31 ancestry groups have more than one million members:
German Americans (42.8 million),
Irish Americans (30.5 million)
African Americans (24.9 million)
English Americans (24.5 million)
Mexican Americans (18.5 million) are the largest ethnic groups.
The U.S. census used to collect information about ancestry, but this question was removed from the 2010, 2012, 2013 censuses. The latest data, from
2000 [31], show that the above mentioned largest ancestral groups in the
U.S. constituted:
German
15.2%
Irish
10.8%
African American
8.8%
115
English
8.7%
American
7.2%
Mexican
6.5% of the population.
Geographically German ancestry tends to dominate in the North and
West of the U.S.; those with Mexican ancestry are more commonly found in
the South West.
American immigration history can be viewed in four epochs:
1) the colonial period,
2) the mid-19th century,
3) the turn of the 20th,
4) and the post-1965 period.
Each epoch brought distinct national groups and races and ethnicities to
the U.S. The 17th, 18th and mid-19th centuries saw mainly an influx from
northern Europe; the early 20th century mainly from Southern and Eastern
Europe; post-1965 period – mostly from Latin America and Asia.
1. During the 17th century, approximately 175,000 Englishmen migrated
to Colonial America. Over half of all European immigrants arrived as indentured servants. Less than 1 million immigrants crossed the Atlantic between
the 17th and 18th centuries. In the early years of the U.S., immigration was
fewer than 8,000 people a year.
2. After 1820, immigration gradually increased. From 1836 to 1914, over
30 million Europeans migrated to the U.S. The peak year of European immigration was in 1907 when 1,285,349 persons entered the country.
Census figures indicate that about 6 million Germans, 4.5 million Irish,
4.75 million Italians, 4.2 million people from England, Scotland and Wales,
about the same number from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 2.3 million
Scandinavians, and 3.3 million people from Russia and the Baltic states entered the U.S. during this period.
Between the 1840’s and the 1890’s, Germans and Irish groups predominated.
Beginning with 1896, people from Southern and Eastern Europe, such as
Italians, Jews, and Slavic peoples from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were
the most numerous groups.
3. Almost 10 million immigrants entered the U.S. in the first decade of
the 20th century, close to 6 million in the 1910’s, and about 4 million in the
1920’s. Overall, 500,000 immigrants arrived in the U.S. in the 1930’s, 1 million in the 1940’s, and 2.5 million in the 1950’s.
Until the 1960’s, most immigrants to the U.S. came from Europe. Legal
restrictions blocked substantial immigration from many other regions. Most
of the European refugees fleeing the Nazis and WWII were barred from
coming to the U.S.
116
Eastern European immigration decreased after the 1920’s.
Mexicans, who were allotted a very small quota, came to the U.S. in
growing numbers during the 1950’s and early 1960’s. In the early 1930’s,
during the Great Depression more people emigrated from the U.S. than immigrated to it. The U.S. government sponsored a Mexican Repatriation program which was intended to encourage people to voluntarily return to Mexico. Thousands were deported against their will. Altogether about 400,000
Mexicans were repatriated.
4. Immigration doubled between 1965 and 1970, and doubled again between 1970 and 1990. Nearly 9 million immigrants came to the U.S. from
1991 to 2000, and more than 13 million between 2001 and 2010 – more than
in any other 10-year period in the nation’s history. Almost half entered illegally. The number of immigrants from Eastern Europe increased between
1990 and 2010.
Of those who came legally only 16% are employment based, 10% –
Green lottery winners and 8% – refugees, the rest are family members.
About 80% of these immigrants came from Latin America, the Caribbean,
or Asia. Since the 1970’s, the leading countries of origin for legal immigrants have been Mexico (accounting for more than 30% of all immigrants), China (15%), the Dominican Republic (8%), Puerto Rico (9%),
the Philippines (7%), India (5%), South Korea (4%), Vietnam (6%), and
Haiti (6%), etc.
Of those who came illegally 57% are people from Mexico, 24% from
other Latin American countries and 9% from Asia. Since 1986, Congress has
passed 7 amnesties for illegal immigrants.
Hispanic immigrants were among the first victims of the 2008 – 2009
credit crunch. But funnily enough, although nearly 4 million Americans lost
their jobs in 2009, 1.1 million immigrants were granted legal residence over
the same time period. At the same time about 12 million entered the country
illegally.
Immigration laws: In 1875, the U.S. passed its first immigration law.
This law, dominant in the 19th century, treated immigrants as prospective
citizens. As soon as people declared their intention to become citizens, and
before their 5-year wait was over, they received multiple low cost benefits,
including the right for free homesteads, and in many states the right to vote.
The goal was to make America attractive so that large numbers of farmers
and skilled craftsmen would settle new lands.
In 1921, the Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, followed by the
Immigration Act of 1924 aimed at restricting Southern and Eastern Europeans, especially Jews, Italians and Slavs, who began to enter the country in
large numbers beginning in the 1890’s.
117
The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 (the HartCellar Act) abolished the system of national-origin quotas. By equalizing
immigration policies, the act resulted in new immigration from non-European nations which changed the ethnic make-up of the U.S. In 1970, European-born immigrants accounted for nearly 60% of the total foreign-born population, in 2000, they accounted for only 15%.
In 1990, President Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990, which increased legal immigration to the U.S. by 40%. It emphasizes that family reunification is the main immigration criterion, in addition to employment-related immigration, limiting at the same time the annual number of immigrants to 700,000.
Other important immigration documents include: Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). They name many categories of criminal activity for which immigrants, including green card holders, can be deported or detained.
Reasons for immigration: Why did or why do these people choose
America? An old Italian proverb explains everything: “Chi sta bene, non si
muove” or “He who is well off doesn’t move” [30]. What primarily motivated most immigrants to come to America in the first place was not American
culture, American politics, or even the ideals of American freedom. In fact,
the strongest force driving every great immigration boom in American history – from the colonial times to the present – was an economic force: the
U.S. simply offered better opportunities for economic advancement than the
immigrants could find in their homelands.
The Irish came when the potato crops failed; the Italians came when the
soil they farmed was depleted, the Jews came to escape religious persecution. Wars and revolutions brought to the U.S.A. scores of exiles from Germany, Austria, Poland, Russia, and Mexico.
The history of immigration to the U.S. is the history of the country itself,
and the journey from beyond the sea is an element found in the American
myth, called the American Dream, appearing over and over again in everything from The Godfather to Gangs of New York, etc.
As in many myths, the immigrant story has been exaggerated. Immigrants were often poor and uneducated but the succeeding generations took
in advantage of the opportunities offered.
Is immigration good or bad for America? From a simple American’s
viewpoint it is not good. As more and more people of different races and
cultures enter the U.S., the immigration cannot but become a very intensely
debated issue. Some Americans favor tighter immigration restrictions saying
that immigrants take jobs away from U.S. citizens, drain social services, and
resist learning English.
118
The roots of the ethnic conflicts and misunderstanding are still very strong
and deep. Even Benjamin Franklin opposed German immigration, stating that
they would not assimilate into America’s culture. Irish, Japanese, Chinese
and Jewish immigration was opposed by the Nativist Know Nothing movement (the anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant American Party – better known as the
“Know-Nothings”), which originated in New York. It was caused by popular
fears that the country was being overwhelmed by Irish Catholic immigrants.
Several Italians and Chinese were killed. Systematic bias against Japanese
and German immigrants emerged during and after WWII. Irish and Jewish
immigrants were popular targets early in the 20th century and most recently
immigrants from Latin American countries are often viewed with hostility.
Interesting to know: Early in the 20th century, the pseudoscience called
eugenics originated in Britain and the U.S.A. It was about a crisis of the
gene pool leading to the deterioration of the human race and ways how to
avoid it. According to eugenics, the inferior humans, i.e., foreigners, immigrants, Jews, degenerates, the unfit, and the “feeble minded” were breeding
very rapidly. The eugenicists and the immigrationists had to put a stop to
immigration. Their plan was to identify those who were feeble-minded –
blacks, Jews and many foreigners were thought to be largely feeble-minded –
and stop them from breeding by isolation in mental institutions or by sterilization.
Such views were widely shared. H. G. Wells spoke against “ill-trained
swarms of inferior citizens.” Theodore Roosevelt said that “Society has no
business to permit degenerates to reproduce their kind.” G.B. Shaw said that
only eugenics could save mankind.
This movement was racist, aimed to attain a ‘marvelous’ goal – the improvement of humankind in the future. 29 American states passed laws allowing sterilization. More sterilizations were carried out in California than
anywhere else in America.
Eugenics research was funded by the Carnegie Foundation, and later
by the Rockefeller Foundation. The latter was so enthusiastic that even
after the center of the eugenics effort moved to Germany, and involved in
gassing of individuals from mental institutions, as well as Jews and gypsies, the Rockefeller Foundation continued to finance German researchers
at a very high level. The foundation was quiet about it, but they were still
funding research in 1939, only months before the onset of World War II
[5, 682-683].
Much water has flown under American bridges since those days. But still
some Americans have not completely adjusted to the largely non-European
119
immigration, and racism does occur. You know that after September 11,
2001 many Muslim immigrants and those perceived to be of Muslim origins
have become targets of hate crimes.
Racist thinking among and between minority groups often takes place,
examples of this are conflicts between blacks and Korean immigrants in
L.A. in 1992, or between African Americans and Latino immigrants in California prisons. There have been reports of racially motivated attacks against
African Americans who moved into neighborhoods occupied mostly by people of Mexican origin, and v.v.
There has also been an increase in violence between non-Hispanic Anglo
Americans and Latino immigrants, and between African immigrants and African Americans. There are also tensions between native-born Hispanic
Americans and newly arrived Latino immigrants.
At the same time, no doubt, there are a lot of Americans who support
America’s historic commitment to immigration and believe that immigrants
keep the nation strong, economically competitive, and culturally rich and
stress the economic effects of immigration.
Economic effects of immigration: According to James Smith, a senior
economist and lead author of the U.S. National Research Council “The New
Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration”
(NRC) [16, 42], immigrants contribute as much as $10 billion to the U.S.
economy each year. Overall immigration is a net economic gain due to an
increase in pay for high skilled workers, lower prices for goods and services
produced by immigrant labor, and more efficiency and lower wages for owners of capital. And although immigrant workers compete with domestic
workers for some low skilled jobs, some immigrants specialize in the activities and perform services that otherwise would not exist in an area, and thus
can be beneficial to all domestic residents. Some immigrants mostly do jobs
Americans don’t want to do.
The Kauffman Foundation’s index of entrepreneurial activity is nearly
40% higher for immigrants than for the U.S.-born. Immigrants were involved in the founding of such prominent American high-tech companies as
Google, Yahoo, Sun Microsystems, and eBay [16, 74].
Brain drain: We should not forget that the U.S. attracts the best professionals and intellectuals from different walks of life from developing countries offering them better salaries, better working and living conditions and
better chances to pursue their carriers and ambitions.
There’s no available information about the cost of brain drain for Belarus, so we can only guess. But, e.g., brain drain has cost Africa over $4 billion in the employment of 150,000 expatriate professionals annually which
harms the ability of African nations to get out of poverty. Ethiopia lost 75%
120
of its skilled workforce between 1980 and 1991. There are more Ethiopian
doctors in Chicago than in Ethiopia. India loses US$2 billion a year because
of the emigration of computer experts to the U.S. Over 80% of Jamaicans
with higher education live abroad. For example, the brain drain from Europe to the U.S. means that some 400,000 European science and technology
graduates now live in the U.S.
President Bill Clinton said, “new immigrants are good for America. They
are revitalizing our cities, building our new economy, strengthening our ties to
the global economy, just as earlier waves of immigrants settled on the new
frontier and powered the Industrial Revolution. They are energizing our culture
and broadening our vision of the world. They are renewing our most basic values and reminding us all of what it truly means to be an American” [4, 149].
So, we may conclude that the U.S.A. was built by immigrants. And immigration is good and is vitally important for the U.S. economy.
The U.S. Census Bureau [39] estimates the U.S. population will grow
from 300 million in 2006 to 397 million in 2050 with expected immigration, but only to 328 million with zero immigration. The American population will eventually begin to shrink with zero immigration and today’s low
birthrates.
Description of most populous ethnic groups: Further on, contributions of some of most populous ethnic groups to the development of the
American economy and culture will be discussed. Let’s start with Native
Americans.
They are the only indigenous peoples of America. By the time Columbus
discovered the American continent in 1492, about 18 million people had inhabited North America north of present-day Mexico. As you know, for them
American history began in disaster. The conquest and enslavement of Native
Americans led to a terrible decrease and even annihilation of whole tribes,
peoples and cultures. By 1910, Native Americans had constituted only 0.3 %
of the population of the U.S.A., their smallest proportions ever (note: about
2.8% in 2000).
By the time of the European conquest, the Native American civilizations
had reached a level of culture which included personal wealth, fine buildings, expert craftsmanship, and religions which structured the daily lives of
the people. Traditional name “Indians” comprised many groups of people
who spoke over 300 languages (some 50 to 100 of these languages are still
spoken today). They lived scattered across the continent in tribes. They
were fine crafts workers, made pottery, baskets, and carvings and wove cotton and plant-fiber cloth. The largest tribes in the U.S. by population were
Cherokee, Navajo, Choctaw, Sioux, Chippewa, Apache, Blackfeet, Iroquois,
and Pueblo.
121
Different as they were, all tribes became affected by the white man,
who changed their lives forever. Nowadays, it is not politically correct to
calls Native Americans Indians. The formal names applied to Native
Americans are Original Americans, Aboriginal Peoples, Aboriginal Americans, American Indians, Amerindians, First Nations, First Peoples, Native Canadians, or Indigenous Peoples of America. All these names refer
to those peoples indigenous to the Americas, living there prior to the European colonization.
The Indians worshipped the earth and believed that it was to be shared by
all men. In 1620, their generosity saved the Massachusetts Bay Colony established at Plymouth from starvation.
The principles embodied in the U.S. Constitution were modeled after the
Five Iroquois Nations constitution drawn up by the Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida and Cayuga tribes around the year of 1500. Their agreement
guaranteed freedom for all individuals and provided each tribe with equal
representation at a grand council which decided on general policy for the
Five Nations.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau estimates [39], a little over one
third of the 2.8 million of Native Americans live in three states: California,
Arizona and Oklahoma. In 2003, eight of ten Americans with Native American ancestry were of mixed blood. It is estimated that by 2100 the figure will
rise to nine of ten.
No doubt, military defeat, cultural pressure, confinement in reservations,
forced cultural assimilation, outlawing of native languages and culture,
forced sterilizations, termination policies of the 1950’s, and 1960’s, and
slavery have had deleterious effects on Native Americans’ mental and physical health. Many U.S. indigenous peoples live in poverty.
Contemporary health problems include alcoholism, heart disease, diabetes, and New World Syndrome. Unemployment and school dropout rates are
high as well as rates of alcoholism and suicide of Native Americans are far
above those for the general population.
Native Indian communities in both the U.S. and Canada survived disastrous assimilation efforts. And instead of disappearing, they revitalized tribal
governments, created modern economies, attained legal rights, and revived
cultural traditions and ceremonies that had nearly died out. They combined
aspects of their traditional cultures with contemporary life without sacrificing the core of their identity.
Gambling has become a leading industry for Native Americans. Casinos
operated by many Native American governments in the U.S. are creating a
stream of gambling revenue that some communities are beginning to use as
a leverage to build diversified economies. But some tribes refuse to participate in the gaming industry. There is one more tendency: as a testament to
122
their cultural and economic renewal taking place, many indigenous peoples
are leaving cities and returning to their homelands.
Cultural aspects: Though cultural features, including language, dress,
and customs vary enormously from one tribe to another, there are certain elements which are encountered frequently and shared by many tribes. Native
American art comprises a major category in the world art collection. Native
American contributions include pottery, paintings, jewelry, weavings, sculptures, basketry, and carvings.
Religion: The most widespread religion at the present time is known as
the Native American Church. It is a syncretistic church incorporating elements of native spiritual practice from a number of different tribes as well as
symbolic elements from Christianity. Its main rite is the peyote ceremony.
The religious drums, chants, and dances of the Pueblo people are regularly a
part of Masses at Santa Fe’s Saint Francis Cathedral. The church has had
significant success in combating many of the ills brought by colonization,
such as alcoholism and crime.
Music and art: Native American music is almost entirely monophonic.
Traditional Native American music often includes drumming but little other
instrumentation, although flutes are played by individuals.
Interesting to know: The most widely practiced public musical form among
Native Americans is pow-wow. At pow-wows, such as the annual Gathering
of Nations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, members of drum groups sit in a
circle around a large drum. Drum groups play in unison while they sing in a
native language and dancers in colorful regalia dance clockwise around the
drum groups in the center. Familiar pow-wow songs include honor songs,
intertribal songs, crow-hops, sneak-up songs, grass-dances, two-steps, welcome songs, going-home songs, and war songs.
The aboriginal contribution to American heritage is undeniable. The
most meaningful gift was a partially humanized land and much valuable information about its contents. The territory entered by the American explorers was not covered by the primeval forest but had already been modified by
aboriginal hunting, burning and planting. Much practical geographical
knowledge was passed on to the new settlers; it is now reflected in the survival of many thousands of place names of Indian origin on the contemporary map. Many specifically American plants, animals and land forms retain
their Indian names. There are several minor but striking aboriginal items in
modern American culture, like the canoe, moccasins and forms of basketry.
And finally, when it comes to art, there exists the image of an Indian with the
mythic beauty in American literature and folklore.
123
African Americans: To start with, Africans came to America unwillingly. Between 1619 and 1808, about 500,000 Africans were brought to the
colonies as slaves. On the eve of the Civil war, in the U.S. there were 4 million black slaves. They could be found in all parts of the country, and put
their hands to virtually every type of labor in the U.S. In 2000, African
Americans constituted 8.8% of the U.S. population.
The African American contribution: Africans brought the skills and
trades of their homeland to North America, and their expertise shaped the
industry and agriculture of the continent. West Africans with their experience in navigating the waterways of their homeland helped open the rivers
and canals of the Northwest frontier to boat traffic, and African cattle drivers
were able to apply their skills to ox teams and livestock. Many Africans
were deeply familiar with large-scale rice and indigo cultivation, which were
completely unknown to European Americans. Without the skills of Africans
and their descendants, the rice, cotton and tobacco fields of Virginia, Carolinas, Georgia and Louisiana might never have existed.
The early decades of the 20th century saw an explosion of artistic expression in the African American community. The move to the cities, as well as
the greater confidence that came with leaving behind Jim Crow society (i.e.,
Southern racially segregated society), contributed to an unparalleled surge
of creative enterprise, as artists, writers, composers, and musicians explored
the nature of modern African American identity through their work.
The poets Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes, the
prose artists Jean Toomer and Jesse Fauset, the actor and singer Paul Robeson, and, later, the painters Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden all became
known as members of the Harlem Renaissance. African American musicians
were among the first artists to make commercial recordings. As the century
began, blues and gospel musicians were already celebrities in the African
American community.
Jazz quickly became the popular music of the U.S. Such pioneers as Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton combined elements of gospel and the
blues with rhythmic innovations and virtuoso instrumental performances to
create an entirely new musical style. Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and
Mary Lou Williams created new works and performances that placed American music, and African American musicians, solidly in the forefront of the
international avant-garde.
The three of the U.S. most prominent African American citizens are the
diplomat Ralph Bunche, the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and
the novelist Toni Morrison; they were awarded the Nobel Prize.
Another group of immigrants have recently arrived from the Caribbean, and
they have also made their mark on U.S. life, including Shirley Chisholm, the first
African American woman elected to Congress, and General Colin Powell, who
served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as U.S. Secretary of State.
124
Interesting to know: Some of the names of famous Afro-American personalities have long become idiomatic and are used in everyday speech. For
example, when people ask for the “real McCoy” they want to be sure they
are getting the item they bargained for, and not a cheap substitute. The man
who gave his name to that phrase was Elija McCoy, a Black American inventor born to fugitive slave parents. His first invention was a self-lubricating device that continuously fed oil into heavy industrial machinery. Whenever a businessman bought a new piece of equipment he wanted to be
sure it was the “ real McCoy” so he could himself save a great deal of
time, money and energy in manufacturing.
Or there is another name – “Uncle Tom”. It is used by blacks as a term for
members of their race who act in a subservient or humiliating fashion. “Uncle Tom” was also a fictional character of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. The real “Uncle Tom” was Josiah Henson, a slave
who escaped with his family via the Underground railroad and later attained
economic success, he used part of the profits to open a manual training
school; helped 118 other slaves escape to freedom.
Now other waves of immigrants that poured into the “land of promise”
will be discussed. Some of these people acquired dazzling riches, but many
others suffered in a competitive and unregulated economic age.
German Americans: The Germans were the largest 19th century immigrant group. The failed German revolution in 1848 stimulated immigration
to America. They were the intellectual leaders of this rebellion, and impoverished Germans who had lost confidence in its government’s ability to solve
the country’s economic problems. As a result, more than 5 million people
left Germany for the U.S. during the 19th century.
German Americans were employed in many urban craft trades, especially baking, carpentry, and the needle trades. Many German Americans
worked in factories founded by the new generation of German American industrialists, such as John Bausch and Henry Lomb, who created the first
American optical company; Rockefeller (petroleum); Studebaker and
Chrysler (cars); H.J. Heinz (food); and Frederick Weyerhaeuser (lumber).
Germans had a powerful influence over the development of American
culture: institutions, traditions, and daily habits. For example, the U.S. education system, from the lowest grades to the highest, would be unrecognizable without the ideas championed by German immigrants. With a strong
commitment to education, Germans brought this dedication to their new
home. In 1855, German immigrants in Wisconsin launched the first kindergarten in America, based on the kindergartens of Germany. Germans introduced physical education and vocational education into American public
125
schools, and were responsible for the inclusion of gymnasiums in school
buildings. More important, they were leaders in the call for universal education, a notion not common in the U.S. at the time.
German immigrants also brought their reforming zeal to America’s recreational life – Germans invented the American weekend. After the arrival of
German immigrants, new large-scale recreational facilities began to appear
in U.S. towns – picnic grounds, bandstands, sports clubs, concert halls,
bowling alleys, and playgrounds – all suitable for a week-end excursion with
the family. Some German contributions to U.S. life are easy to pinpoint –
sauerkraut, or the tuba, or the national fondness for light beer.
However, the German influence on life in the U.S. runs much deeper, influencing many of the institutions, traditions, and daily habits that many today
think of as being quintessentially American. Several of the most familiar elements of the American Christmas celebration, from the Christmas tree to the
gift-giving Santa Claus, were gifts from the Germans, as was the Easter bunny.
Irish Americans: In colonial times, the number of the Irish population in
America was also enormous. Between 1820 and 1860, the Irish constituted
over one third of all immigrants to the U.S. Irish Americans have had a significant impact on American politics over the years.
No less than twelve presidents have had the Irish blood coursing through
their veins. The first Irish American President of the U.S. was Andrew Jackson (the 7th U.S. President), who was Presbyterian, and John F. Kennedy
was the first Irish Catholic president. Eight of the fifty-six men who signed
the Declaration of Independence were Irish Americans. Two Irish Americans
served as members on the first U.S. Senate and two served in the first U.S.
House of Representatives.
Many Irish immigrants supported and became leaders of labor union efforts, perhaps because they so well understood the power of organizing to
meet needs. For example, Mary Harris, later known as Mother Jones, committed more than fifty years of her life to unionizing workers in various occupations throughout the country.
Irish Catholics played a significant role in building the private Catholic
school system that exists in the U.S. today. In 1790, there were no Catholic
schools in the nation, and by 1960, there were over 12,000 Catholic schools educating 5 million children. Irish Catholics have also made significant advancements at higher academic levels. Approximately 16% of faculty at top universities and colleges are Irish Americans. Irish Americans also helped to establish
several prominent universities in the U.S., including Princeton University.
Although many of the Irish immigrants of the 1800’s were Catholics, the
Irish were also responsible for establishing the first American Presbyterian
and the first Methodist Church in America.
126
The Irish have also left their mark on American letters (Eugene O’Neill,
F. Scott Fitzgerald), and in such diverse business ventures as international
shipping lines, meat-curing plants and pizza parlor chains. From the other
side, the Irish gave America Donegal tweeds, Waterford crystal, shamrocks,
the Irish brogue; they gave America the Irish Sweepstake, so that Americans
could gamble before there were legal state lotteries, and they gave Irish linen, Irish whiskey, Irish stew, Irish wolfhounds and Irish terriers – but not
the Irish potato (that tuber is sorely misnamed). Potato is an original American product.
Italian Americans: In the 1880’s, Italian immigrants numbered 300,000;
in the 1890’s – 600,000; in the decade after that, more than 2 million.
A substantial number of southern Italian immigrants had only worked as
farmers, and were thus qualified only for unskilled, and more dangerous, urban labor – digging canals, laying paving and gas lines, building bridges,
and tunneling out the New York subway system. Some members of the Mafia also immigrated to the U.S. They soon became entrenched in American
organized crime, especially in the 1920’s during Prohibition, and contributed
a lot to the formation of the American Mafia.
After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 which ended most bootlegging,
the American Mafia moved into other areas, such as gambling, labor racketeering, prostitution, and, in recent years, – narcotics. Links with the Italian
Mafia were also maintained.
Since the 1950’s, Italian Americans have served in several important political positions. John Pastore became the first governor of Italian decent in
1946 and later went on to serve as Senator. In 1984, Geraldine Ferrara became the first women in the U.S. to be nominated as vice presidential candidate. The first Italian American to serve in a presidential cabinet was Anthony Calabrezze in 1962. Italian Americans were able to move into a wider
range of careers, and became business owners and managers in greater numbers. Works by Italian-American authors began appearing in bookstores, and
the Neapolitan tenor Enrico Caruso became a best-selling singer.
With the explosion of mass media after the war, every aspect of show
business, politics, science, and art seemed to have at least one prominent
Italian American in its vanguard. Marlon Brando became the face of a new
school of naturalistic acting. Rocky Marciano revolutionized the sport of
boxing. Joe DiMaggio led the New York Yankees to nine World Series
championships, and Frank Sinatra was the most popular entertainer in the
U.S.; Enrico Fermi continued his Nobel Prize-winning work on the mysteries of the atom.
Slavic and Jewish Americans: In the 1880’s, the Russian countryside
was strained by severe land shortages. Facing poverty and starvation, farmers and peasants from across the Empire sought a brighter future overseas,
127
and millions set sail for the U.S. Over 200,000 Russians entered America
between 1881 and 1890, and over 1.5 million between 1901 and 1910.
More than 2 million fled the country after the October revolution. These
new Russian immigrants had mostly been prominent citizens of the Empire –
aristocrats, professionals, and former imperial officials. The revolution gave
America Vladimir Nabokov, the author of Lolita, who helped create a “revolution” of his own in the publishing world. Belarus is to be thanked for Igor
Sikorsky and his helicopters and Russia for Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy).
To the above mentioned names we can also add the “Fathers of American
Television” – David Sarnoff (1891–1971), born in Minsk, Belarus; and
Vladimir Zworykin from Russia, and the “Father of Wonder Drugs” Selman
Abraham Walksman (born in Russia), who earned his title as well as the
1952 Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery of the antibiotic called streptomycin, the first drug successful in treating tuberculosis.
In the 1880’s, the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe were overwhelmed by a wave of state-sponsored murder and destruction known as
pogroms. Hundreds of thousands of Yiddish speakers settled into the U.S.
and realized the extent of their linguistic freedom. The turn of the 20th century saw an explosion of new literary ventures in Yiddish. Sholem Aleichem,
I.L. Peretz, and Mendele Mocher Sforim created a new, distinctively American Yiddish literature.
Yiddish theater had long survived underground in Europe, but it burst into
public view in the U.S.A. Jewish immigrants, including Samuel Goldwyn,
Louis B. Mayer, the Warner brothers, and William Fox, soon became involved
in movie production as well as distribution and went on to found several of
the major Hollywood studios. The research of scientists such as Jonas Salk
and J. Robert Oppenheimer dramatically reshaped the postwar world.
The musicians Jascha Heifetz and Arthur Rubinstein, along with the pianist Vladimir Horowitz and the conductor Leonard Bernstein brought classical music to new audiences.
The brothers George and Ira Gershwin were bestselling song writers,
and Henry and Joseph Mankiewicz became Oscar-winning screenwriters.
Among the latest most significant immigrant contributions known to every Internet-user is the creation of the world famous web-search page –
Google Inc. The Father of Google is Sergei Brin, who with his family was
among the first to leave the U.S.S.R. in the 1970’s, and who today – already
an American citizen – is a computer genius and a multi-millionaire.
The Jews gave America some of its most outstanding scientific and medical minds. And we all know Albert Einstein – “Father of Atomic Age” and
Abraham Flexner – “Father of Modern Medical School.”
Chinese Americans: The Chinese experience in America began with the
dreams of wealth [26]. By 1851, 25,000 Chinese immigrants had left their
128
homes and moved to California, a land some came to call gam saan, or
“Gold Mountain”. But in California they found that the gold mountain was
an illusion. They soon discovered that they were cut off from their families
and with no source of money.
In the middle of the 19th century, the expanding U.S. railroad companies
gave a chance for Chinese laborers to enter the workforce. Chinese immigrants also found work in a variety of industries, from making shoes and
sewing clothes to rolling cigars. They often created opportunities for themselves and launched new businesses. Many of the shops, restaurants, and
laundries in the growing mining towns of California were operated by Chinese immigrants.
At the same time the Chinese endured an epidemic of violent racist attacks. They were forced out of business, run out of town, beaten, tortured,
lynched, and massacred. In response to hard times and legal exclusion, Chinese immigrants began to build communities of their own called Chinatowns, which soon became a source of fascination to many tourists and nonChinese Americans.
Chinese immigrants and their descendants have had an increasingly great
impact on the U.S. culture. From the film director Ang Lee and the novels of
Amy Tan to the architecture of I.M. Pei and the hip-hop turntable skills of
Kid Koala. Among the celebrities are Bruce Lee – the star of martial arts
movies, and Chang & Eng – the well-known Siamese twins.
Japanese Americans: As far as Japanese immigration goes, it was not
numerous. Japanese two most popular destinations were the archipelago of
Hawaii and America’s Pacific coast. Between 1886 and 1911, more than
400,000 men and women left Japan for the U.S. In those days, the Japanese
were often portrayed as the enemies of the American worker, as a menace to
American womanhood, and as corrupting agents in American society. The
Immigration Act of 1924 imposed severe restrictions on all immigration
from non-European countries, and effectively ended Japanese immigration.
Mexican Americans: Millions of poor Mexicans have entered the country in recent years, along with more than one million Puerto Ricans.
Throughout the history in addition to giving the U.S. their land, the Mexicans contributed much to the culture of America. They showed gold-hungry
Californians how to pan for gold, and introduced the technique of using mercury to separate silver from worthless ores. They gave Americans poinsettias, the Mexican hat dance, Mexican jumping beans, tacos, tortillas and all
the fiery hot food.
Today, Mexican immigrants and their descendants occupy a more significant place in American cultural life than ever before. Mexican Americans often serve as high government officials, as well as local mayors, sheriffs, and
school board members. The Mexicans have managed to distinguish them129
selves as actors (Anthony Quinn, Jennifer Lopez), musicians (Trini Lopez,
Joan Baez), dancers-choreographers (Jose Limon), judges (Harold Medina),
politicians (Joseph Montoya) and sportsmen (Jip Plunkett, Lee Trevino).
They’ve joined the ranks of successful businessmen and millionaires, too,
despite the stereotyped image of a race of lazy banditos and revolutionaries.
Nowadays, 46.9 million Americans of Hispanic descent are identified as
sharing a distinct “ethnicity” by the Census Bureau; 64% of them are of
Mexican descent.
Cuban Americans: After Fidel Castro took control of Cuba in 1959, the
U.S. accepted 700,000 Cuban refugees. Many of the first Cubans to arrive
were from wealthy families and well educated. Another group of Cuban immigrants, Marielitos, that arrived later in 1980 were mostly unskilled workers, criminals, and mentally ill people.
Soon after 1965, the U.S. first began to witness the transformation from
predominantly European immigration to Latin American and Asian inflows
that continue to characterize today’s immigration patterns. Immigration is
changing the U.S. racial landscape and also increasing cultural diversity as
90% of immigrants are from non-European countries, mostly from Latin
America and Asia. The U.S. is shifting from an Anglo-white society to a society with three large racial minorities: African American, Latino and Asian.
Thus, the top 12 migrant-sending countries in 2010, by country of birth,
were Mexico (11,711,103), People’s Republic of China (2,1666,526), India
(1,780,320), Philippines (1,777,588), El Salvador (1,214,049), Vietnam
(1,240,542), Cuba (1,104,679), South Korea (1,100,422), Guatemala
(830,824), Dominican Republic (879,187), Jamaica (659,771), Colombia
(636,555), etc. [30].
Muslim immigration to the U.S. is rising. And in 2005 alone, more people from Muslim countries became legal permanent U.S. residents – nearly
96,000 – than in any year in the previous two decades.
To sum up, today, two challenges are seen on the U.S. immigration horizon:
security concerns resulting from the events of September 11, 2001, and
a comprehensive U.S. immigration reform.
Moreover, the administration and some members of the Congress have
become increasingly concerned about the growing undocumented immigrant
population, which is estimated to be between 9 and 12 million.
However, illegal immigrants play an important and useful role in the
U.S. economy, particularly in the agricultural and construction sectors,
which rely heavily upon low-cost labor to keep consumer prices low and remain competitive on global markets.
In November 2014, President Obama signed an amendment to the immigration law giving a chance for many illegal immigrants and their children
born and educated in the U.S. to a get American citizenship.
130
SUMMARY
1. The vast majority of Americans trace their ancestry to one or more of
immigrant groups.
2. Native Americans are the only indigenous peoples of America. By 1492,
about 18 million people inhabited North America. According to 2000 U.S. Census
Bureau estimates, Native Americans constitute 2.8% of the U.S. population.
3. Between 1619 and 1808, about 500,000 Africans were brought to the
colonies as slaves. On the eve of the Civil war, there were four million black
slaves. Now Afro-Americans make 8.8% of the U.S. population.
4. The Germans were the largest 19th century immigrant group, more
than 5 million people left Germany for the U.S. Between 1820 and 1860, the
Irish constituted over one third of all immigrants to the U.S.
5. In the 1880’s, Italian immigrants numbered 300,000; in the 1890’s –
600,000; in the decade after that, more than 2 million.
6. Over 200,000 Russians entered America between 1881 and 1890, and
over 1.5 million between 1901 and 1910. More than 2 million fled the country
after the October revolution.
7. Soon after 1965, the U.S. first began to witness the transformation
from predominantly European immigration to Latin American and Asian
inflows that continue to characterize today’s immigration patterns.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What says that the U.S. population is growing and what are the
sources of this growth?
2. What are the largest ancestry groups in the U.S.A.?
3. In how many epochs can American immigration history be viewed?
4. When did European immigration dominate?
5. How is immigration to the U.S.A. regulated?
6. Why do and did people immigrate to the U.S.A.?
7. Is immigration good or bad for America?
8. What reactionary organizations and movements tried to curb
immigration to the U.S.A.?
9. What are the economic effects of immigration?
10. What is the aboriginal contribution to the American heritage?
11.Did Native Americans assimilate into the mainstream society and
disappear as unique peoples?
12. What was the Afro-American contribution to the industry (agriculture,
culture) of the U.S.A.?
13. Did Germans have a powerful influence over the development of
American culture: institutions, traditions, and daily habits? Give examples.
14. What role did the Irish play in American history (Italians, Slavs,
Jews, Chinese, etc.)?
131
Unit
8
U.S. CULTURE AND AMERICAN
IDENTITY
The unit will define American culture and describe American
identity; it will touch upon the following:
diversification of American culture;
American pluralism: cultural assimilation, multiculturalism;
hyphenated Americanism;
American mass culture, globalization and Americanization;
American English as a tool of globalization;
American founding beliefs and values.
Key Words and Proper Names: allegiance, assimilation, conscience, commitment, contentment, cultural imperialism, cultural
pattern, determination, dissemination, exhibit ethnocentric or insular outlooks, globalization, harmonious, homogenous, individualism, liberty, equality and fraternity, loyalty, melting pot, multicultu-
132
ralism, person’s basic inalienable rights, pluralism, prosperity, psychology of abundance, rags-to-riches stories, rugged individualism, sacred, “salad bowl,” self-identity, self-reliance, self-sufficiency,
trend setter, tolerance, uniform, unify, values and belief; virtues of
thrift, hard work, and faith in the free enterprise system; American
Dream, Americanization, hyphenated Americans, Rotarian.
THE U.S. DOES NOT HAVE A HOMOGENOUS POPULATION compared with many Old World nations. American culture dates back to the first
permanent English settlement of Jamestown in 1607; and since then American history has been regarded as a record of progress and achievement: from
wilderness to jet planes and moon rovers.
America’s formative years were in the late 18th century. The words from
the Declaration of Independence about securing life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness; French revolution’s ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity;
and the national motto of E pluribus Unum (“From many, one”) found their
reflection in what is now known as American culture.
To define American culture as a common set of customs, traditions, behavior and ways of life, e.g. French culture or German culture, is difficult. It
possesses an unusual mixture of patterns and forms. Its development has
been marked by a tension between two strong sources of inspiration: European ideals, especially British; and domestic originality.
American culture is rich, complex, and unique. It is largely based on
Western culture and English culture in particular, with cultural influences
from the Native American peoples and Africans brought to the U.S. as
slaves, and to a lesser extent cultural influences from other more recent
immigrants from Asia and elsewhere; immigrants many of whom had fled
persecution or oppression in their home countries, and were seeking freedom (including religious freedom) and economic opportunity, leading
them to reject totalitarian practices.
At first, during the 19th century American culture was a unique American
voice. Later American cultural self-identity became more complex and more
diverse as immigrants streamed into the country. American writers of German, Irish, Jewish, and Scandinavian ancestry began to find their audience.
Many of these writers focused on the 19th – 20th century city life and themes
such as poverty, efforts to assimilate into the U.S., and family life in a new
country. These ethnically diverse writers included Theodore Dreiser, of German ancestry; Sholem Aleichem, a Jewish writer; and Eugene O’Neill and
James Farrell, of Irish background.
Thus, European influence changed the core of American experience by
incorporating various immigrant origins into its cultural vision.
133
In popular music, the songs of many nations became American songs. In
the 1920’s, the blues and jazz began to dominate the rhythms of American
popular music. Black musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington,
and Ella Fitzgerald, became the instruments of a classic American sound.
White composers such as George Gershwin and performers such as Bix Beiderbecke incorporated jazz rhythms into their music, while instrumentalists
such as Benny Goodman adopted jazz improvisational style to forge a racially blended American form called swing music.
Cultural assimilation: American pluralism permitted the existence in
the American culture of two major trends both playing a very significant role
called assimilation and multiculturalism.
Cultural assimilation is an intense process of consistent integration when
members of an ethno-cultural group, typically immigrants, or other minority
groups, are “absorbed” into an established, generally larger community. This
presumes a loss of all or many characteristics which make the newcomers
different.
America is widely known as a “melting pot” in which immigrant groups
used to assimilate. The term “melting pot” referred to the idea that immigrants were expected and encouraged to integrate themselves into the general American culture; and the societies formed by immigrant cultures, religions, and ethnic groups were to produce new hybrid social and cultural
forms.
The melting-pot metaphor was derived from Israel Zangwill’s play “The
Melting Pot,” which was first performed in Washington, D.C. in 1908, in
which one character declares: “America is God’s Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming! Here you
stand in your 50 groups with your 50 languages and histories, but you won’t
be like that for long, brothers. For these are the fires of God you’ve come to –
these are the fires of God… A fig for your feuds (deadly enemies) and vendettas! Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians – into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American…He will
be the fusion of all races, the coming superman” [31].
But Zangwill’s sentiments were not new ones. As far back as the end of
the 18th century one French immigrant and a keen observer of American life,
described his new compatriots as: “…a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish,
French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes. What, then, is the American, this new
man? He is neither a European nor the descendant of a European; hence that
strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could
point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife
was a Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four
sons have now four wives of different nations. He is an American… leaving
behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners” [31].
134
Traditionally, the phenomenon of assimilation has been seen as a relentless economic progression. Hard working new-arrivals struggled along with
a new language and at underpaid jobs in order for their sons and daughters to
climb the economic ladder, each generation advancing a rung.
But, in the current immigration wave something markedly different is
happening in the middle of the great American “melting pot.” The U.S. demographics are changing in profound and unprecedented ways, and as immigrant populations reach a critical mass in many communities, it is no
longer the melting pot that is transforming them, but they (the immigrant
populations) are transforming the American society.
So, the melting pot is no longer an article of faith in the American selfimage.
Multiculturalism: The idea of multiculturalism is now put forward as an
alternative to assimilation. Walt Whitman, the national poet, wrote of his nation. “I am large, I contain multitudes” [31]. In 1918, the public intellectual
Randolph Bourne called for a “transnational America.” The original English
colonists, Bourne argued, “did not come to be assimilated in an American
melting pot. They came to get freedom to live as they wanted to make their
fortune in a new land. Later immigrants, he continued, did not melt down
into some kind of “tasteless, colorless” homogeneous Americanism but rather added their distinct contributions to the greater whole” [30].
Today’s ideologies of multiculturalism and diversity deny the existence
of a common culture in the U.S.; they denounce the assimilation, and promote the primacy of racial, ethnic, and other sub-national cultural identities
and groupings.
That’s why the old “melting pot” metaphor is giving way to new metaphors such as “salad bowl” or, as it is known in Canada, “cultural mosaic” or
“diversity salad,” i.e. mixtures of various ingredients that keep their individual characteristics. The idea is that bits of lettuce, celery, carrot, and other
ingredients retain all their individual flavor and color, yet are combined into
an appetizing dish. This notion is attractive and simplistic. It implies that all
the ethnicities that make up the U.S.A. should retain their national features
and originality.
Whichever theory is right, the democracy of the U.S. lets both the multicultural and melting-pot approaches to be equally represented and exercised
in immigrant communities.
The balance between the melting pot and transnational ideals varies with
time and circumstance, with neither model achieving a complete dominance.
Americans have internationalized an American self-portrait that spans a
spectrum of races, creeds, and colors. Let’s consider popular motion pictures
depicting American troops in action during the Second World War. It became a Hollywood cliché that every platoon included a farm boy from Iowa,
135
a Brooklyn Jew, a Polish millworker from Chicago, an Appalachian woodsman, and other diverse examples of mid-20th century American manhood.
They strain at first to overcome their differences, but by the film’s end all
have bonded – as Americans.
Real life can be more complicated, because, say, the African-American
soldier could serve in a segregated unit. Regardless such facts, however,
these films depicted that American identity in which Americans believed in –
or wanted to.
Hyphenated Americanism: The term hyphenated American is an epithet
from the late 19th century to refer to Americans who consider themselves of a
distinct cultural origin other than the U.S., and who claim to hold loyalty to
both. The first term typically indicates a region of origin or ancestry, which is
generally (but not always) paired with “American” by a hyphen, such as African-American, Chinese-American, Irish-American, German-American, and
Japanese-American. The linguistic construction functionally indicates ancestry, but also may connote a sense that these individuals straddle two worlds –
one experience is specific to their unique ethnic identity, while the other is the
broader multicultural amalgam that is Americana.
Most usage experts recommend dropping the hyphen because it implies to
some people dual nationalism and inability to be accepted as truly American.
By contrast, some groups have embraced the hyphen arguing that the
American identity is compatible with alternative identities; and that the mixture of identities within the U.S. strengthens the nation rather than weakens it.
In 1915, President T. Roosevelt opposed the idea of “hyphenated Americanism”, saying, “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism.” He continued: “When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not
refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever
known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. ... The one absolutely certain way
of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing
to be a nation at all, would be – to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling
nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or ItalianAmericans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling
more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic. .. He concluded: There is no such thing as a
hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man, who is a good
American, is the man who is an American and nothing else” [39].
President W. Wilson also regarded those whom he termed “hyphenated
Americans” with suspicion, he went further saying, “Any man who carries a
hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the
vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready” [39].
136
Even nowadays the problem persists. Currently, while some “hyphenated Americans” hold to other countries’ loyalties and draw criticism from
some Americans, there are many “hyphenated Americans” who do not define or desire to define themselves as such, but rather are defined as such by
other people. The result is that even if these Americans are, in Roosevelt’s
words, “American and nothing else” [28], they still may end up having a
different experience, and for that reason may develop shared understandings with others of their type, whether they want that or not. This in itself
becomes, ironically, a reason for them to be interested in their “hyphenated” identity. There are nowadays many American immigrants or children
of immigrants who claim dual citizenship because they cannot sacrifice half
of who they are.
Lastly, some Americans do not view “hyphenated Americans” as having
conflicting loyalties. Such people agree with the “global citizen” concept of
caring about all people regardless of nationality, a concept that more people
are following in the light of increasing globalization.
To sum up, the U.S. is a pluralistic multicultural society with a unique
culture having far more in common than apart. The U.S. is composed of
many nationalities, races, religions, and creeds. Through assimilation and
transformation into the American society these people, in their turn, are
transforming and changing their country and culture.
Some of those who had immigrated to America embraced the opportunity to leave old cultures behind and free themselves from past traditions and
loyalties. Others found that the liberties promised under the Bill of Rights
allowed for distinctiveness rather than uniformity, and they have taken pride
in preserving and celebrating their origins. So, American pluralism adds to
the richness and strength of the nation’s culture.
Mass culture: American culture is primarily known as mass culture.
Nowadays, when the U.S. population is mainly centered in large cities, it is
exposed to a relatively uniform commercial or mass culture which may be
defined as a set of cultural values and ideas that arise from common exposure of a population to the same cultural activities, communications media,
music and art, etc. Mass culture becomes possible only with modern communications and electronic media. It is transmitted to individuals, rather
than arising from people’s daily interactions, and therefore lacks the distinctive content of cultures rooted in community and region.
Mass culture produces a homogeneous commercial atmosphere throughout the country. It homogenizes tastes, styles, and points of view among different groups in the U.S. Class and ethnic distinctions in American culture
begin to fade; culture becomes more democratic, more uniform and profitoriented as mass media transmit movies and music to people throughout the
country. No wonder, the growing uniformity of mass culture evokes criti137
cism, as it lowers the general standard of taste, because the mass media seek
to please the largest number of people by appealing to simpler rather than
more complex tastes.
During the 20th century, mass entertainment extended the reach of American culture, reversing the direction of influence as Europe and the world
became consumers of American popular culture. U.S. music is heard all over
the world. U.S. movies and television shows can be seen almost anywhere.
People all over the world view American television programs.
The U.S. has become a trend setter in many spheres of life. It has become the dominant cultural source for entertainment and popular fashion,
from the jeans and T-shirts young people wear to the music groups and rock
stars they listen to and the movies they see.
So, American entertainment is one of the strongest means by which
America influences the world. This influence is often criticized and called
cultural imperialism or Americanization.
The Americanization of popular taste and habits is not restricted only to
entertainment. The growing popularity of hamburgers, fried chicken and
other easily prepared “fast food” spread American eating habits all over the
world. Blue jeans and T-shirts Americanized the dress of people on every
continent. Supermarkets Americanized the everyday experience of shopping
for millions, and skyscrapers became the solution for many overpopulated
cities over the world where a need for more working and living space as well
as the cost of land was high.
Currently, American values are often portrayed as global or universal
ones. This trend is not only cultural but also a political one. By spreading
and dissemination its culture all over the world the U.S. is shaping the perception of the country overseas. So, American culture has become a means
of brainwashing and indoctrination.
Certainly this process of Americanization evokes counterforce. Some
countries resent the American cultural juggernaut; they see it as a threat to
their unique national culture. For example, the French periodically campaign
to rid their language of invading English terms, and the Canadians have
placed limits on American publications in Canada.
And yet the American talent for making entertainment that appeals to
virtually all of humanity is no small gift. In his book The Hollywood Eye,
writer and producer Jon Boorstin defends the movies’ orientation to massmarket tastes in words that can be applied to other branches of American
pop culture: “In their simple-minded, greedy, democratic way Hollywood
filmmakers know deep in their guts that they can have it both ways – they
can make a film they are terrifically proud of that masses of people will want
to see, too. That means tuning out their more rarefied sensibilities and using
that part of themselves they share with their parents and their siblings, with
Wall Street lawyers and small-town Rotarians and waiters and engineering
138
students, with cops and pacifists and the guys at the car wash and perhaps
even second graders and junkies and bigots (fanatics),... and producing the
common human currency of joy and sorrow and anger and excitement and
loss and pain and love” [3, 49].
Alongside with the trend of spreading American culture all over the
world, a reverse tendency may be observed in the U.S.: many Americans
exhibit ethnocentric or insular outlooks, with little interest in the culture or
political developments of other countries. Americans tend to travel abroad
less than citizens of European countries or Japan.
Furthermore, comparatively few books from European countries or Japan are translated for sale in the U.S.; and sales of those that are translated
tend to be slow. Imported television shows are also rare, except on PBS, although remakes of foreign shows are increasingly common. Imported films
are generally less successful than domestic productions. Popular foreign
shows are often rewritten and localized with American actors cast in the
place of their foreign counterparts and filmed in American places.
Interesting to know: In Hollywood, many foreign film productions (mainly
from Europe and Far East) were remade into U.S. – produced versions for
American viewers. Most of the Americanized versions were filmed in
American places, and with English speaking actors. Examples include
“Godzilla”, “The Assassin” (aka “Nikita”) and “The Ring”. In some cases, a
foreign original story is Americanized by recasting its lead characters as
American; an example of this was the first adaptation of the James Bond
novel, “Casino Royale”, which was produced for CBS Television in 1954.
In this version, the character of Bond – a British agent 007 – is changed into
an American agent for the TV version.
This process of readapting foreign movies and shows is also called
Americanization.
Finally, the term “Americanization” can also refer to the process of
adapting immigrants to the U.S. way of life in order to become American
citizens. The process involves learning American English and adjusting to
American culture, customs, and garb or dress.
American English as a tool of globalization: American English (AE) is
the strongest American cultural export which is conquering the globe.
Around 321 million people speak it as their first language and another 250
million or so as their second. A billion people are learning it, about a third of
the world’s population is exposed to it, and by 2050, it is reckoned, half the
world will be more or less proficient in it.
Today, English is adopting a predominantly American touch, not only
because of the prestige of the American lifestyle and pop culture, but because the U.S. is a dominant world power, a globalization leader.
139
The U.S. dominance is cultural, diplomatic and political. It also dictates a
model for the English language, thus making American English the dominant language variety. AE is becoming a code of international linguistic
transaction, a medium of worldwide linguistic interaction, its intra- and international functions keep increasing with every coming day. In a foreseeable future, the so-called World Englishes will gradually disappear in the
sweeping current of the American variety of English. The presence of the
American tongue and voice in many situations of daily life creates a farreaching in depth and extent cultural presence that is difficult to resist.
What does it mean to “speak American”? To many, the most obvious answer is that speaking American means speaking English. However, the answer is much more complex. Not all Americans speak English, and those who
do speak English do not all speak the same version. The English used in the
United States differs from region to region, among ethnic and other social
groups. Many people shift from one version of English to another depending
on the person they are speaking to and where they are. In addition, there are
more than 2 million people in the U.S. who do not speak English at all.
But English as a center of culture is naturally far more likely to exert an
appreciable influence on other languages spoken in a vicinity than to be influenced by them. And even though the United States is founded on diversity
and difference, when it comes to the language, diversity tends to give way to
one common language.
Globalization and its concerns are to a certain degree related to the
spread of English as a medium of worldwide linguistic interaction, its role
keeps increasing.
In his survey of the role and vitality of English in the 20th century, Prof.
Hendrickson states that “the world of large scale commerce, industry, technology, and banking, like the world of certain human sciences and professions, is an international world and it is linguistically dominated by English
almost everywhere, irrespective of how well-established and well-protected
local cultures, languages and identities may otherwise be” [13, 21].
The Second World War was a determinant factor in passing the power to
the U.S., it brought the U.S. to the limelight as a dominant world power, and
it also annihilated prospects of German becoming the lingua franca of the
world. Prof. Hendrickson concludes “Had Hitler won WWII and had the
U.S.A. been reduced to a confederation of banana republics, we would probably today use German as a universal language and Japanese electronic firms
would advertise their products in Hong Kong airport duty free shops in German” [13, 85].
America’s ingenuity and human resource facilities paved the way for its
technological and economic dominance but above all laid a foundation to
dictate a model for the English language. Aware of this turning point, Prof.
140
Archdeacon affirms that “in the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. became
a global economic and cultural presence, making American English the
dominant world variety” [2, 39].
Having since then expanded its role as the world’s policeman and keeper
of the United Nations, the U.S. presence is not simply cultural but also diplomatic and political. This presence is far-reaching in depth and extent, and it
relies on English as a tool for dominating, assimilating or attracting those
who do not have it as a first language and to some extent those who have it
as a first language.
To sum up, the U.S. culture encompasses traditions, ideals, customs, beliefs, values, arts, folklore and innovations developed both domestically and
imported via colonization and immigration. Through modern mass media
and by means of American English, many American cultural elements, especially popular culture, have been exported across the globe where American
culture is both accepted and resented.
The American value system or American founding principles: Princeton Professor of politics Robert P. George once pointed out that “it is possible
to become a citizen of France…but it’s very difficult, if you’re not already
one, to become a Frenchman.” On the other hand, by virtue of committing
oneself “to America and to its founding principles,” one can legitimately become “an American in the fullest and most robust sense” [11, 1380].
Even though the American society can be broken down into different ethnicities, as a whole Americans are a culture of their own. A set of their own
values, dedication, hard work, and perseverance, love for freedom, and determination to better their lives, makes them American. And even though
they all come from something different they all share the pursuit of happiness. Americans define themselves not by their racial, religious or ethnic
identities but rather by their common values or the founding principles in
which American identity is grounded.
At the core of the American value system there are some selected values
and beliefs; they unite all Americans and shape their culture.
In fact, they are not new, not original; but nowhere in the world they
could have reached such heights and sizes and become so overwhelming, attractive and dear to all American hearts. The ideals of individual liberty, individualism, self-sufficiency, equality, free market, a republican form of
government, democracy, pluralism, and patriotism and that kind of thing are
dear to all Americans.
And the most driving and thrilling concept in the system of Americans’
values and national goals which seems to have penetrated every layer and
aspect of American life and culture is the American Dream.
The American Dream is the faith held by many in the United States of
America that through hard work, courage, and determination one can
141
achieve financial prosperity. These were the values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to subsequent generations.
The phrase “American Dream” came into the American vocabulary in
1867 when writer, Horatio Alger came out with his book “Ragged Dick”. It
was a rags-to-riches tale of a poor orphan boy in New York City who saved
his money, worked hard and eventually became rich. It became the model
that through honesty, hard work and strong determination, the American
Dream was available to anyone willing to make the journey.
The term “American Dream” was also used by American historian James
Truslow Adams in his book “The Epic of America” [1] published in 1931 at
the time of the Great Depression. Adams used the term to describe complex
beliefs, religious promises and political and social expectations. A lot of
American historians say that “The American Dream” has its beginnings in
the Declaration of Independence and beliefs of the first European settlers.
The term American Dream, used in widely different contexts from political speeches to Broadway musicals, is difficult to be defined precisely. J.T.
Adams in The Epic of America expressed it as “the dream of a land in which
life should be better, richer, and fuller for every man with opportunities for
each according to his abilities and achievement” [1, 33].
Today, it generally refers to the idea that one’s prosperity depends upon
one’s own abilities and hard work, not on a rigid class structure, though the
meaning of the phrase has changed over America’s history. For some, it is the
opportunity to achieve more prosperity than they could in their countries of
origin; for others, it is the opportunity for their children to grow up with an
education and career opportunities; for others, it is the opportunity to be an
individual without the constraints imposed by class, caste, race, or ethnicity.
The definition of the American Dream is under constant discussion and
debate. The package of beliefs, assumptions, and action patterns that social
scientists have labeled the American Dream has always been a fragile agglomeration of (1) individual freedom of choice in life styles, (2) equal access to economic abundance, and (3) the pursuit of shared objectives mutually advantageous to the individual and society. Some people believe that the
American Dream has led to an emphasis on material wealth as a measure of
success and/or happiness.
The American Dream is popularized in countless rags-to-riches stories
and in the portrayal of the good life in advertising and on TV shows. It
teaches Americans to believe that contentment can be reached through the
virtues of thrift, hard work, family loyalty, and faith in the free enterprise
system.
The origin of the American Dream stems from the departure from the
Old World models. This allowed unprecedented freedom, especially the possibility of dramatic upward social mobility and the possibility of achieving
wealth.
142
The American Dream was a driving factor not only in the gold rushes of the
mid to late 1800’s, but also in the subsequent waves of immigration. Alongside
with escape from persecution or war in one’s home country, the American
Dream was always the primary reason for immigrants wanting to come to
America. They wanted to embrace the promise of financial security and constitutional freedom they had heard existed so widely in the United States.
Throughout its history, America has been seen as a place with good opportunities for entrepreneurs from other regions of the world. Major industrialist personalities became the new models of the American Dream, many beginning life
in the humblest of conditions but later controlling enormous corporations and
fortunes. Perhaps most notable here were the great American capitalists Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Their acquisition of great wealth demonstrated to many Americans that if you had talent, intelligence, and willingness to work extremely hard, you were likely to be a success in your life.
Settlement in the New World also provided hope for equality. Martin Luther King invoked the American Dream in what is perhaps his most famous
speech: “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my
friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I
still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream” [29].
In modern times, the American Dream is seen as a possible accomplishment, when all children can go to school and get an education, families live
in relative comfort and stability in the suburbs built up around major cities.
This led to the rise of the relatively conservative 1950’s, when many pursued
the “perfect family” as a part or consequence of the American Dream.
In the 1990’s, the pursuit of the American Dream could be seen in the
dot-com boom. People in the U.S., as well as in the world poured their energy into the new Gold Rush – the Internet. It was again driven by the same
faith that by one’s ingenuity and hard work, anyone can become successful
in America. Ordinary people started new companies from their garages, and
became millionaires. This new chapter of the American Dream again became the beacon to the world and attracted many entrepreneurial people
from China, India and Russia to Silicon Valley to form start-ups, and seek
fortune in America.
Interesting to know: Another recent example of the American Dream being
realized is the case of Amir Sapir. An immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Sapir arrived in America in 1973 and started as a taxicab
driver in New York City. Saving up to buy an electronics store, he catered
primarily to Russian clientele. Eventually he made contacts with the Soviet
contingent to the United Nations in New York, and traded electronics for oil
contracts, which he then sold to American companies. Investing the profits in
143
Manhattan real estate, he had become a billionaire by 2002, less than thirty
years after arriving penniless in America. Today Sapir is known as America’s
“billionaire cabbie.”
However, throughout America’s history, reality has also taught her citizens, particularly minorities, that the American Dream is not open to all and
it has its challenges.
Many events in the 20th century shook the country with doubts and insecurities and created fundamental divisions among Americans about their
country’s goals. The Great Depression caused widespread hardship during
the 1930’s. Racial instability did not disappear, and in some parts of the
country racial violence was almost commonplace in the 1960’s. Even now
segregation and discrimination are effective tools which have barred minorities from equal opportunities in all spheres. The Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and the War in Iraq added a touch of bitterness to the sweet
concept of the American Dream. A new generation of young people of the
1960’s embraced the hippie values and denied traditional values such as the
American Dream.
The concept of the American Dream has been the subject of much criticism. The main criticism is that the American Dream is misleading. These
critics say that, for various reasons, simply it is not possible for everyone to
become prosperous only through determination and hard work alone. The
consequences of this belief can include that the poor are feeling it is their
fault that they are not successful. It can also result in less effort towards
helping the poor since their poverty is seen as a “proof” of their laziness.
The concept of the American Dream also ignores other factors of success
such as luck, family, language, and wealth one is born into. It also fails to
take into account inheritable traits such as intelligence and physical attributes including height, shape, and beauty. But political leaders defend the
concept of the American Dream by all possible means.
Freedom and equality: In the center of all that Americans value is freedom intermingled with the ideas of democracy/equality. The notion that
America offers freedom for all is an ideal that unifies Americans and links
present to past. Whereas most European, Asian or even African peoples were
and are unified by race, language, culture, traditions, and history, America’s
immigrant population had little in common other than the initiative to get to
America. In the first years of the U.S.A. when communication was slow, and
the country was too big for a centralized government, American colonists
could hardly be called the American nation. Freedom and democracy became their faith, the unifying theme which united them and made them the
new nation.
144
America may be the only country in the world founded on a creed. During the first half of the 19th century, the doctrine of equal rights was developed to mythical proportions. A.A. Bennet wrote in 1827, “We may look
forward to the period when the spark kindled in America shall spread and
spread, till the whole earth is illumined by its light” [10, 25].
Americans consider themselves the world’s freest people. And they regard their society as the freest and best in the world. They like to think of
their country as a welcoming haven for those longing for freedom and
opportunity.
Americans’ understanding of freedom is shaped by the Founding Fathers’
belief that all people are equal and that the role of government is to protect
each person’s basic integral rights prescribed in the Bill of Rights.
But some people weren’t so equal. In reality, Constitutional rights have
been unevenly distributed throughout the U.S. history. Each immigrant
group has been subjected to some sort of discrimination; the Chinese, for
example, suffered from the laws that once prohibited Chinese land ownership, school attendance, marriage with whites, and other rights. Blacks had a
long and unique history of discrimination. Women were not allowed to vote
until 1920. Today, all discrimination according to race, color, sex, or creed is
illegal, but it may continue in subtle forms. Furthermore, no one could seriously think that anyone who grows up poor, lives in a bad neighborhood,
and attends an inferior school has an opportunity equal to that of someone
more favored.
But at least philosophically Americans are against prejudice. They do not
accept the idea that some people are born inferior to others, and it is not socially acceptable to make impolite contemptuous statements about people on
the basis of their race. Americans historically have despised efforts to trade
on “accidents of birth,” such as great inherited wealth or social status. Article I of the U.S. Constitution bars the government from granting any title of
nobility, and those who cultivate an air of superiority toward their fellow
Americans are commonly dishonored for “putting on airs,” or worse.
However, common people in their private conversations are not always as
delicate about references to nationality, and jokes about the Polish, the Irish,
the Chinese, the Scottish, etc., are widespread. But to dislike people because
of their color is considered ignorant and stupid, and in public no responsible
speaker makes outright racist statements. We may conclude here though
Americans may not have achieved equality, but at least they aspire to it,
which is more than many nations can claim. And the doctrine that all people
should have an equal chance of success remains a sacred American belief.
We should keep in mind that American equality is the equality of opportunity. Everybody might not win, but everybody had and has a chance. Family and connections are not required. Effort and brains and imagination are.
Frankly speaking, opportunity rather than democracy gave America its name
145
as the Land of the Free. In America, all kinds of people have a vast menu of
opportunities to make and remake themselves. Americans respect the “selfmade” man or woman, especially if he or she has overcome great obstacles
to success.
Progress: This idea is directly associated with the value of freedom. The
nation’s progress has been measured by the taming of the frontier and industrial expansion. The desire to progress by making use of opportunities is important to Americans.
In this immigrant society, progress is personally measured as family
progress over generations. Many Americans can boast that with each
succeeding generation, since their first ancestors arrived, the family’s
status has improved. The classic American family saga is all about progress. The great-grandparents, arriving from the Old World with nothing
but the clothes on their backs, worked hard and suffered poverty and alienation so that they could provide a good education for their children.
The second generation, motivated by the same vision of the future and
willingness to work hard and make sacrifices, passed these values to
their children. The attainment of the vision of one’s grandparents is a
part of the American Dream.
Individual freedom and individualism: Since the 18th century, Americans have defined themselves not by their racial, religious, and ethnic identity but primarily by their common belief in individual freedom. Nearly every American would agree upon individual freedom as the cornerstone of
American values. It saturates every aspect of the society. Americans’ notion
of freedom focuses on the individual; and Americans believe the country has
achieved its heights because of dynamic individuals who never stopped
seeking a better way.
Individualism has strong philosophical roots in America. Thomas Jefferson believed that a free individual’s identity should be held sacred and that
his or her dignity and integrity should not be violated.
America’s 19th-century philosophers wrote about individual self-reliance. They encouraged individuals to trust in themselves and their own consciences and to revolt against routine and habitual paths of conduct. The
19th-century poet Walt Whitman celebrated the individual in his poetry. In
By Blue Ontario’s Shore he writes, “I swear nothing is good to me now that
ignores individuals, the American Compact is altogether with individuals”
[10, 26].
Early 20th-century pragmatists such as William James and John Dewey
insisted upon the individual’s ability to control his or her fate.
Individualism, understood not only as self-reliance but also as economic
self-sufficiency, has been a central theme in American history. In the early
146
days, most Americans were farmers whose success depended not on cooperation with others but on their ability to confront the hardships of land and
climate on their own. Both success and virtue were measured by individual
resourcefulness.
Interesting to know: The concept of rugged (i.e., strong) individualism is
commonly identified with frontier heroes, men who braved the wilderness
alone. Self-reliant, strong-willed, confident individuals preferred action to
words and always tried to treat others fairly. Many of these characteristics are
represented by the myth of the American cowboy, and the more modern versions personified in movies by John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Sylvester
Stallone. We can even look to “future” centuries and admire similar qualities in
the heroes of the Star Trek and Star Wars movie series.
Cowboys were never a large part of the population, and they’re very
scarce now, but in many ways they characterize the American ideal – selfreliant, self-sufficient, and tough, risk-taking, and masculine. The cowboy
stands alone, opposing his enemies. His strongest tie is only to his horse.
In many countries, people cannot think of themselves apart from the
family or group they belong to; their loyalty is to the group and their achievements are for the group. In the U.S.A., instead, self-reliance is the fundamental virtue. Each person is a solo operation, and independence is considered the birthright of every child. American highest aspiration is self-fulfillment. Many decisions that would be made by the group in other cultures are
made by the individual in the U.S.A. Newcomers in the U.S., especially
those from tightly knit families, are frequently aghast to discover that American children quite regularly leave home – with their parents’ blessings – at
the age of 18. From then on, they will make most of their own decisions
without their parents help, having already been quite independent during
their teenage years. If they linger too long under the parental roof, they will
cause anxiety. The child’s job is to go out into the world and succeed. The
job of the parents is to give the children every opportunity while they are
growing up and then get out of their way.
Many of the aspects of American life, that seem most bewildering to foreigners, make sense in the light of the individual freedom principle. Aged parents as well as children remain independent. If you want to be a salmon fisherman in Alaska, you go. You don’t have to stay at home to take care of your elders. In fact, sticking around your home town could suggest a lack of backbone, a failure of imagination and courage. American psychiatrists are quick
to conclude that their patients’ problems stem from “inadequate separation”
from parents.
147
The individual comes first. Americans do not consider this selfish. A person serves society by living up to his potential. The classic American hero is
someone who succeeded on his own, pulling himself up by his own bootstraps. The finest American literature praises the rebel (Tom Sawyer and
Huckleberry Finn; Walden from Life in the Woods; Gatsby from Great Gatsby) his independence and self reliance. Frank Sinatra sang about individualism in a classic popular song “I Did It My Way”.
In the U.S.A., accomplishments or success are likely attributed to hard
work, perseverance, and innate abilities of the individual. Americans respect
self achievements rather than the achievements based on rights of birth. This
positive spirit of individual resourcefulness enables Americans today to take
risks in areas where others might only dream, resulting in tremendous advances in technology, health and science.
In the industrial age, the idealization of the self-reliant individual translated itself into the celebration of the small businessman who became a financial success on his own. It is a part of the American Dream to “be your own
boss,” and being an entrepreneur is one of the most appealing ways to improve one’s economic future. Individual proprietorship in business is still
thought as the ideal. Government regulation is often resisted in the spirit of
individualism. “Right to work” laws, which discourage labor union activity,
are defended on the grounds that they protect the independence of the individual worker.
Interesting to know: Individualism has made the U.S. a No-Status Society.
In a status society, people learn their places and gain some dignity and security from having a place in the social order. Americans, however, are taught
not to recognize their places but to constantly assert or defend themselves.
This can manifest itself in positive ways – hard work, clever ideas – but also
in ongoing dissatisfaction.
As an American is always striving to change his lot, he never fully
identifies himself with any group. Americans have no expressions such as
in China where “the fat pig gets slaughtered,” or in Japan, where “the
nail that sticks out gets hammered down” or in Russia “Не высовывайся!”
or in Belarus “Што людзі скажуць?” In the U.S.A., everybody is trying
to stick out, which limits closeness between people. Americans say, “It’s
the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.”
Americans praise those who take initiative and do what they want. If you
want to put on your jogging shoes and run non-stop across the country from
South Carolina to California and back, like Forest Gump. that’s great! Quit
your job as an executive and sail around the world with your family. Why
148
not? That doesn’t mean that all Americans live such daring lives, but they
admire those who do, and highly value individual differences.
Because American society is so competitive, Americans feel in the end
that they can only rely on themselves. This freedom from the group has enabled the Americans to become “Economic Men” – the ones directed almost
purely by the profit motives, mobile and free from family or community obligations.
Patriotism: Americans develop relatively little attachment to place. In
the U.S.A., national pride has become generally stronger than regional pride.
Foreign visitors to America are quick to observe the prevalence of patriotic
symbols: flags fly in suburban neighborhoods, bumper stickers announce
“I’m proud to be American,” the national anthem is played at every sporting
event, at schools and in churches. National holidays such as Thanksgiving
and Independence Day intensify the sense of national identity.
Patriotism in America is in some ways distinct from patriotism in other
countries. American patriotism is expressed in its national icons: the U.S.
flag, American family, apple pie, the Statue of Liberty, etc.
In many nations, patriotism is essentially the love of the land. Songs celebrate the scenery of certain rivers, valleys, and forests. In America, however, this specific sense of place, this identification with a particular geographical region as the homeland, is generally not developed to this extent. American patriotism has a sort of abstraction about it: it is a devotion not to a specific physical place, gene pool, cuisine, or cultural tradition, but to a political
and social vision, a promise and the idea of freedom.
American identity is, as B. Franklin understood, grounded in actions and
attitudes rather than racial, religious, or ethnic identity; Americans differ
from many other peoples both in how they define themselves and in the kinds
of lives they choose to lead.
And what distinguishes America and Americans is a shared set of political and philosophical commitments–those commitments which animated the
founding of the United States.
SUMMARY
1. American culture can be interpreted as being largely based on
Western culture and English culture, with cultural influences from the
Native American peoples and Africans brought to the U.S. as slaves, and
other more recent immigrants. In the course of its history, American culture
has been enriched by the values and belief systems of virtually every part
of the world; simultaneously it forged and developed its own values and
beliefs.
149
2. American culture developed and matured in the course of the 19th–
20th centuries, the ideas of assimilation are opposed today to multiculturalism.
Whichever theory is right, the democracy of the United States lets both the
multicultural and the melting-pot approaches to be equally represented and
exercised in immigrant communities.
3. American mass culture is democratic, uniform and profit-oriented.
The U.S. becomes a trend setter in many spheres of life, especially the
cultural aspect. At the same time many Americans exhibit ethnocentric or
insular outlooks, with little interest in the culture or political developments of
other countries.
4. English as another American cultural export is conquering the globe.
Globalization is to a certain degree related to the spread of English as a
medium of worldwide linguistic interaction, whose intra and international
functions keep increasing.
5. The U.S. culture encompasses traditions, ideals, customs, beliefs,
values, arts, folklore and innovations developed both domestically and
imported via colonization and immigration. Through modern mass media
and by means of American English, many American cultural elements,
especially popular culture, have been exported across the globe where
American culture is both accepted and resented.
6. The American Dream is the faith held by many in the U.S.A. and by
all new-comers that through hard work, courage, and determination one can
achieve financial prosperity.
7. Most of all Americans value freedom. The notion that America offers
freedom for all is an ideal that unifies Americans and links present to past.
Americans regard their society as the freest and best in the world.
8. Individual freedom is the cornerstone of American values.
Individualism, understood as self-reliance and economic self-sufficiency, has
been a central theme in American history.
9. Directly associated with the value of freedom is the idea of progress.
The nation’s progress has been measured by the taming of the frontier and
industrial expansion. In the immigrant society, progress is personally
measured as a family progress over generations.
10. American patriotism is concentrated upon the particular historic
event of the nation’s creation as a new start and upon the idea of freedom
which inspired the nation’s beginnings.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. How was American culture formed and enriched in the course of its
history?
2. What role does the concept American Dream play in the system of
American values and national goals and what is it about?
150
3. What do Americans value most of all?
4. How does American patriotism differ from nationalism?
5. What does the term Americanization imply?
6. Why is American English said to be a tool of globalization?
7. What do the terms melting pot and salad bowl refer to?
8. What do you know about the phenomenon of hyphenated
Americanism?
9. What are the founding principles on which the U.S. culture is
grounded?
10. Why is the idea of freedom so dear to American hearts?
11. Are American people patriotic?
12. Why is a cowboy the American national symbol?
Unit
9
AMERICAN
CULTURAL TRAITS
In this unit an attempt is made to show what Americans do in
the areas of life in which you are most likely to meet them. If you
know what their customs and traits are like, you will find your encounters with Americans both more fruitful and more pleasant.
This unit touches on the following American cultural traits:
American practicality and volunteerism;
mobility;
future outlook, self-improvement;
choice in education;
privacy;
directness and openness, friendliness and friends;
emotions and talking;
etiquette and politeness;
152
the casual and well-planned life;
efficiency;
Puritan values;
family and friends as family;
most litigious people;
food and eating habits;
the attitude to religion;
American contradictions.
Key Words and Proper Names: abundance of resources, “be
your own boss,” “can-do” spirit, casual personal style, contentment,
cultural pattern, do-it-yourselfer, harmonious, homogenous, individualism, litigeous, mediocrity, mobility, mystifying, nuclear family,
privacy, profit-oriented, prosperity, self-sacrificing, small talk, suing,
transient society, volunteerism;
Protestantism, Puritan, Samaritan, Spanglish, the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
SURVIVAL EXPERIENCES EXPLAIN why Americans idealize whatever
is practical. In America, what works is what counts. Most pioneers who went
west had not trained themselves in prairie farming or sod house construction,
but they trusted they would be able to devise workable solutions to the daily
problems and dangers they faced. Inventiveness was necessary for survival.
American practicality is usually the most important consideration when
decisions are to be made. As a result, Americans place less emphasis on the
subjective, aesthetic, emotional or consensual decisions. Material goods are
seen as the just rewards of hard-work, the evidence of “God’s favor.” Americans are seen as caring more for things than people or relationships.
The “can-do” spirit is something that Americans are proud of today. They
like to think they are natural-born do-it-yourselfers. Only in the U.S.A. you
find such a variety of “how-to” books and self-service opportunities. There
are do-it-yourself books on everything from how to build and repair your
own engine or to how to be your own best friend. Americans prefer whatever
is quick and practical.
Volunteerism: The do-it-yourself spirit is also known as volunteerism in
the American community and political life. Volunteerism means people helping people through privately-initiated, rather than government-sponsored,
agencies. Volunteers, usually unpaid, are highly motivated workers who organize themselves and others to solve a particular community problem or
meet an immediate social need, rather than waiting for someone else – usually the government – to do it. Volunteerism reflects Americans’ optimistic
pride in their ability to work out practical solutions themselves.
153
Mobility: The pragmatism of Americans and their trust in an abundance
of resources relates to the American habit of mobility. As a nation of immigrants, Americans have always shared the assumption that the practical solution to a problem is to move elsewhere and make a fresh start. After all, this
is the attitude that settled the West. Change is seen as positive and good. It
means progress, improvement and growth. Americans are an established
transient society geographically, economically and socially.
Mobility in America is a sign of optimism. Pioneers made their arduous
journey westward because they believed they could establish a better life for
themselves and their children. Now, Americans move from place to place
with the same sense of optimism, hoping to secure a better job or enjoy a
warmer climate.
Moving about from place to place is a common and accepted practice.
Most Americans take it for granted that they may live in four or five cities
during their lifetime, perhaps buying a house and then reselling it each time
they move. When Americans go house-hunting, their foremost concern is
usually how profitably they will be able to resell the house. A comfortable,
well-designed house is desirable if it has a good resale value. Americans
hate to feel that buying a house might immobilize them forever, thereby inhibiting their chances of bettering their lives.
Future outlook: Americans are profoundly future-oriented. Whereas other societies look to the past for guidance, Americans cast their nets forward.
They have a nearly exclusive respect for the future and what it will bring. It’s
the belief in a brighter future that gives them optimism. Whereas most peoples see their histories as cycles of good times and bad times, Americans see
theirs as ones of constant improvement. Americans believe that they have the
power to affect the course of events. Even these days, when not all progress
seems positive (nuclear weapons, terrorism, air pollution, unemployment,
wars in the Middle East, etc.), the belief remains that for every problem there
is a rational solution. If it’s themselves they must change, they do so.
The notion that their present can always be improved accounts for Americans being in such a hurry. The contemplative man accepts the world as it
is; the active man changes it. It is the change that Americans believe in. Consequently, to say that somebody is “very energetic” (no matter in what field)
is one of American highest compliments.
Self-improvement: It is doubtful whether anywhere else in the world
there are people so intent on improving themselves. Americans’ nearly
unique belief in progress includes the proposition that individuals can
change their natures – or failing that, at least their bodies.
Foreigners tend to be skeptical of these American efforts. Russian or other
Slavic people may think of the kinds of self-improvement, which Americans go
in for, as just superficial. Russians understand the idea of self-improve154
ment as moral. But in the U.S.A., it is true that not many people are intent
on becoming better (i.e., more loving, self-sacrificing). Few Americans want
to live for others. Psychologists have made sainthood unfashionable by determining that it’s the maladjusted or badly adjusted person who wants to be
a saint. Americans say that they must love themselves before they can love
other people. Actually, the competitive atmosphere in which Americans live
makes people very critical of themselves. Depression is a major problem,
particularly among women.
Furthermore, the belief in progress suggests that life ought to be constantly getting better and better. As it usually isn’t, Americans believe that
they must find what’s wrong, and fix it. Many foreigners claim, that Americans simply make problems for themselves. With plenty to eat and a good
job, what could be wrong? But even abundance brings problems of its own,
when one realizes that money isn’t everything. We may suspect that there is
some grave problem in American culture that large numbers of people are
searching with some desperation for self-fulfillment. It is likely that in the
single-minded pursuit of achievement, some very important aspects of life
are neglected.
Choice in education: Freedom determines freedom of choices. Education is regarded as the key to many choices and opportunities, including financial security.
Americans take a pragmatic approach to learning, so what one learns
outside the classroom through internships, extracurricular activities and the
like is often considered as important as what is learned in the classroom.
Consequently, lifelong learning is valued; it results in many adult and continuing education programs.
Americans have many choices. In school they decide their major field of
study, perhaps with or without their parents’ influence, and students select
some of their courses.
The belief that Americans should “be all that you can be” arises from
their Protestant heritage. Since the majority of the early settlers were Protestants, they believed that they had a responsibility to improve themselves, to
be the best they could be, to develop their talents, and to help their neighbors. These convictions have not only influenced the U.S. educational system, but are often reflected in the U.S. foreign policy. What some might consider meddling in other people’s or countries’ affairs, many Americans believe is fulfilling a moral obligation.
Privacy: Privacy is associated with the value of freedom. It includes
freedom from outer world interference in private or family matters. On the
other hand, the notion of individual privacy makes it difficult for Americans
to make friends and adapt to other cultures’ customs and habits. Because
Americans respect privacy, they may not go much beyond a friendly “hello.”
155
The right to privacy is a notion that runs deep in American culture. Americans carry this right like a shield; while they are often very warm and welcoming hosts, their homes are considered quiet places where they can think
and recharge their energy.
In the U.S., it is inappropriate to visit even close friends without calling
ahead. Even though Americans often tell guests to make themselves at home,
this invitation should not be interpreted literally.
Some Americans have difficulty understanding those who always want to
be with others or who dislike being alone. Because U.S. culture is rather informal, it is sometimes difficult to know where privacy boundaries lie. Three
questions that you should not ask Americans are: How old are you? How
much money do you make? and How much do you weigh? Generally, Americans will only ask these questions in private or among bosom friends and,
and even then, they might be considered too forward.
Americans are what is known as “non-contact people”. Outside of hugs
given while greeting and parting, touching among adults is generally limited
to occasions when its sexual connotations are acceptable. If in a moment of
warmth, a Russian man rests his hand on an American man’s thigh, the
American is stricken. Could this be an improper advance? Likewise, two
American men would never hold hands. Nor would two American women
although they would not be as put off by the whole idea as men are. Many
Americans are envious of people who can reach out freely and affectionately, but their strong sense of private space around each person inhibits them.
In conversation, Americans usually stand at least an arm’s length apart and
are made uncomfortable by people who press closer. They are careful not to
breathe into people’s faces.
Directness and openness: Americans value their privacy, but they are
also taught to be open and direct. If they think you aren’t being open and honest with them, then they may believe you are hiding something. They may be
quite uncomfortable dealing with individuals who are reserved and less direct. Many Americans equate directness with trustworthiness. Newcomers
may be relieved to know that in the U.S., unlike in other cultures where what
is said can be quite different from what is meant, no usually means no and yes
usually means yes. Americans will often speak openly about things they dislike. However, they will try to do so in a respectful manner.
One can only trust people who “look you in your eyes” and “tell it like it
is”. Truth is a function of reality not of circumstances. People tend to tell the
truth and not worry about saving the other person’s “face” or “honor”.
Criticism should be delivered constructively – in a manner the other person will not find it offensive or unacceptable. If Americans do not speak
openly about what is on their minds, they will often convey their reactions in
nonverbal ways, like facial expressions, body position, and gestures. Ameri156
cans are often reluctant to speak openly about sexual functioning and personal inadequacies. Americans might not speak freely when they are not
well acquainted with someone and they are not confident that the discussion
will be understood in the way intended. Despite these limitations, Americans
are generally direct and open. To them, being honest is usually more important than preserving harmony in interpersonal relationships. Americans are
not taught, as in some other countries, to mask their emotional responses. It
is considered proper to display their feelings, at least within limits. If they
are tired or unhappy, you will hear it in their voices, or see it in their faces.
Even in a highly public and professional context, speakers take the honest
direct approach and are not afraid to appear shaken by tragedies or disasters.
Friendliness: One distinguishing characteristic of Americans is openness to strangers. Practically everyone agrees that Americans are friendly.
Very few Americans care to put on snobbish airs, even if they secretly regard
themselves as far above the crowd. The President of the U.S.A. permanently
emphasizes what a regular guy he is. A college professor who goes fishing
with plumbers will boast about it; he too is one of the boys, not an intellectual in an ivory tower.
Thus, the friendly “Hi” to whom-so-ever is a demonstration that Americans subscribe to the code of democracy and the creed of equality. It’s an
acknowledgement that whoever you are, you have rights. Foreigners find it
striking that on city streets, people will nod and smile to them. Not to say
hello to a neighbor is a breach of etiquette.
But saying hello doesn’t commit you to anything. Friendliness should not
be confused with friendship. Many foreigners slip up here, and mistakenly
think that boundless cordiality means they’re going to have lots of friends.
Then they become disillusioned and think Americans are terribly superficial
in their friendships. But most of the people Americans refer to as “friends”
are really acquaintances.
Emotions: Americans do not consider it necessary to hide their emotions. On the contrary, they often seem to be exaggerating them. For a girl, it
is desirable to have what is called a “bubbly” personality.
Enthusiasm, for example, rises to the levels of seeming unbelievability
(“It’s great to see you. You look fabulous. Let’s have lunch soon”). These
happy sentiments do not mean much more than, “It is agreeable to be having
this exchange on the street corner, and I may or may not be serious about
lunch.” The pleasantries are not phony as they leave both parties with a nice
glow. Americans will even verbalize their warmth in statements such as
“I like you.”
Happiness can be loudly proclaimed in big smiles, gestures, and statements: “This is marvelous, best news I’ve ever heard.” But unlike, say, many
Asians, Americans smile only around good news or happy feelings. An
157
American often smiles, but not when embarrassed or confused, nor would an
American deliver bad news with a smile. Expressing sadness does not come
easily to Americans. Sorrow interferes with their upbeat, optimistic view of
life, and people who are sad do not find ready acceptance.
Talking: Americans can be very exuberant, warm people. They often
speak fairly loudly compared to speakers from other cultures, because they
believe it is important to be assertive. To international visitors, it may seem
as if they were angry. They may be simply expressing their opinion as clearly and directly as possible. Anger is more acceptable in the U.S. culture than
in some other cultures. If Americans believe they have been wronged, they
think it necessary to show their feelings. Stand your ground is common advice in an unfair situation. An out-of-control temper tantrum is never looked
upon favorably, but is it expected that an individual will not be afraid to
strongly stand by a point.
Americans are taught to look into the eyes of a person with whom they are
speaking. Looking down or elsewhere is considered a sign of dishonesty or
untrustworthiness. Still, American speakers do not stare continuously into
each other’s eyes – they look away from time to time. When they are being
reprimanded by a superior such as a parent, boss or teacher, they learn to look
down or away from the speaker. To do otherwise is considered disrespectful.
Americans are not comfortable with pauses in conversation. Research
has shown that they are uncomfortable with silence pauses that last longer
than three seconds. In other cultures, conversational pauses can last seven
seconds or longer. Americans learn to fill in these pauses. If they ask a question and an answer is not immediately forthcoming, they will begin speaking
again. As a newcomer, if you may have a difficulty responding to a question
right away, you should feel free to say Hmmmm or let me think in order to
hold your place in the conversation. You can also rephrase the question.
When Americans first encounter another person, they often engage in
small talk. They may discuss the weather or their physical surroundings such
as the room or building they are in. The conversation often proceeds to common experiences such as television programs, travel to other places, or eating
in local restaurants. Personal finances, religion, and politics are topics that are
generally avoided in polite conversations. Listening to American small talk
could lead you to conclude that Americans are intellectually incapable of discussing topics more complex than weather, sports or their social lives. It is
important to understand that, in America, small talk is often used to break the
ice; in other words, it is a way to allow people to become acquainted.
Etiquette: As a low-context culture, Americans don’t have many set routines for particular situations. Elaborate protocol cannot survive in a free-floating
society. Formality seems undemocratic to Americans. They believe that formal158
ity is “un-American” and a show of arrogance and superiority. Americans dislike
the rituals of etiquette. Easy manners contribute to the fluidity of American society. A casual, egalitarian attitude between people is more accepted.
On the whole, the lack of formality makes integrating easier for a foreigner. You don’t have to walk around in fear of offending people. Informal,
of course, does not mean mannerless. Americans would not have any sort of
culture if they did not have agreement as to what constitutes nice behavior.
But most of the time, Americans will be very forgiving of awkward manners. Americans do not have the religious prohibitions that make innocent
foreign behavior so shocking in some countries. Nothing but the flag is sacred in American public life.
Politeness: Visitors usually find Americans, for all their informality, very
polite. This reputation seems to rest largely on a great number of “pleases”
and “thank you’s” Americans deliver. One should be considerate of waiters,
garage attendants, and household help as well as of doctors and senators.
Americans are shocked to see the authoritative manner in which servants are
treated in other countries.
Please, thank you, and you’re welcome are used during almost every
transaction, even in cases where the service rendered is expected such as
giving a customer change following a purchase.
A person who doesn‘t say please or thank you appears rude to an American. You’re welcome, is an expected response to Thank you, even when the
action you are being thanked for doesn’t seem worthy of thanks. Sending
Thank-you cards is a must in America.
English is a polite language. Words such as would, could, can, may, and
might are used to soften requests and ask for permission. Open the door, or
even Open the door, please, which may be perfectly polite in other languages, sounds harsh in English. Americans will soften requests with would, as
in, Would you open the door, please? When asking for permission, it is better
to soften it by asking, May I have one of these? rather than using a direct
form such as, I want one of these.
Of course, whether you consider Americans polite depends on where you
come from. Some Japanese find Americans so rude that they think they are
being discriminated against. Politeness also depends on from what region of
the U.S. the speaker is. New Yorkers have a far-reaching reputation for rudeness, although they can also be surprisingly helpful.
One might fairly say that Americans are often more polite in their public
discourse than in private. It’s when you get inside American homes that you
sometimes find that civility collapses. In fact, a lot of American young people have such awful manners that they are not able to behave themselves in
public or in private.
159
Social protocols are quite relaxed in the U.S., so there are very few taboos.
The casual life: Informality penetrates American culture. The forms of
the language do not change when Americans address a superior, as they do
in many languages. People dress casually as much as possible. Americans
use slang in nearly all circumstances. Americans slouch in chairs, lean
against walls, and put their feet on desks.
There are, however, boundaries, e.g., you do not use slang when before a
judge or in church. If your boss comes into your office and puts his feet up
on your desk, you are flattered; he regards you as an equal. But to put your
feet up on your boss’s desk is out of the question.
American degree of casualness leaves a lot of room for confusion. Teachers, who are informal (“Call me Liza”), friendly and open with their students, want to be liked; but they do not wish to be treated as anybody’s
friend. Should their students respond by becoming too personal or forward
with the teacher, they will discover a frosty barrier.
It is believed that the Japanese are difficult to penetrate on the outside
and very open on the inside. Americans are the opposite. The top layer is
very open and anyone can penetrate it. It is the inner layers that are hard to
crack. Some Americans remain forever impenetrable.
Attitude to relaxing: Most of Americans will be eager to assure you that
they live in a very casual, relaxed manner. This may be far from true. They
may keep their houses spotlessly clean, dine every night at the stroke of six,
and never open their doors to strangers, but it is an article of faith that the
good life is the relaxed one. Relaxing is a synonym for having a good time, as
seen in many advertisements which picture people lying around in the sun.
In fact, relaxing is precisely what Americans are not very good at. It just
doesn’t fit in with their belief in progress. Americans take the utilitarian philosophy seriously, which is that only useful activities are valuable, meaningful, and
moral. Unproductive activity is therefore useless, meaningless, and immoral.
It’s hard to take it easy when time represents opportunity. The conviction
that you succeed or fail by your own efforts – rather than by the whims of
fate – is the one that adds a degree of tension to life. And without a family
and a community to fall back on, success of some sort becomes critical.
The well-planned life: The Latin American attitude of Que sera sera
(What will be will be) gets no trust in the U.S.A. Americans feel the prizes
are awarded to the go-getters, the energetic, the fore thinking. Many people
plan their whole lives with care: career, children, retirement.
The little things are planned too, that is why foreigners often find it problematic to make social engagements even with American housewives. Their
date books are full of rigid plans, and the plans for self-improvement often
take precedence over the social ones.
Because of the emphasis on the individual, Americans can be quite competitive. There is a more fluid class system in the U.S. than in traditional
160
cultures. Hard work, when coupled with greater earnings, is rewarded with a
rise in social class. It is possible to work your way to the top in America.
Americans value action and will generally keep very busy schedules. As
the saying goes, work is a virtue, and idleness is a sin.
Even routine social or recreational activities are likely to be scheduled.
As a result, Americans may seem hurried, running from one thing to the
next, unable to relax and enjoy themselves. To newcomers, American pace
of life may seem very rushed. Achievement is a dominant motivation in
American life. To be called a high achiever is quite a compliment, but this
emphasis on achievement can lead to not so friendly competition.
Efficiency (Time is Money): If there is anything that warms the American
heart, it is efficiency. Efficiency is a virtue in the U.S. Americans become impatient with slow-moving lines in supermarkets and banks, especially if the
teller or checkout person is slowing down the line by chatting with the customers. Even customers may be looked upon impatiently if they don‘t have
their bank deposit slip filled out or the money doesn‘t come out of their wallet
quickly enough. Americans believe that work is morally right; that it is immoral to waste time. There is more emphasis on “doing” rather than “being”.
To Americans, time is money and it should be valued, saved, and used wisely. Americans also place considerable value on punctuality. You should arrive at
the exact time specified for meals or appointments with teachers, doctors, and
other professionals. You should plan to arrive a few minutes before the specified
time for public meetings, plays, concerts, movies, sports events, classes, church
services, and weddings. If you are unable to keep an appointment, you should
call the person to advise him or her that you will be late or unable to arrive.
The whole concept of achievement, whether in career or hobby, makes
passing the hours in an idle conversation seem like a waste of time. Benjamin Franklin once said that time lost was never found again.
Too much sitting around, and the American gets nervous and wants to be
up doing something. Even on vacation, Americans want to “improve each
shining Hour.” An Indian married to an American once said, “we went to see
the Grand Canyon and as soon as we got there my wife wanted to go rushing
down to the bottom. These Americans never relax” [20, 211].
It’s not just that Americans work hard, their leisure activities are equally
demanding. Besides the pursuit of health and fitness, a lot of adult Americans
are taking night classes, attending lectures, involving themselves in children’s
schools, leading scout troops, running church groups, bird watching, and redecorating. Weekends are full of camping, sports, and home improvement.
Then, when they get “all stressed out,” they take another course – in yoga,
meditation, or stress management.
Americans are a monochromic culture, they operate according to their
schedules, doing one thing at a time. Sticking to the schedule is more impor161
tant than the human interruptions to it. When the bell rings, the class is over,
no matter how interesting the discussion at that moment.
Germans and Japanese are at least as efficient as Americans, but vast
parts of the world cannot conceive of American concept of time. Time is all
important to them. Americans think of themselves as people who always aim
to succeed. Tomorrow is not going to be like today. Tomorrow they’d like to
be “ways” down the road, and the speed is going to get them there, not standing around and chatting.
Consequently, Americans have come to see only practical and profitable activity as truly valuable. Americans often lack the capacity to enjoy their
achievements. They find more satisfaction in acquiring the trappings of the leisure life than in leisure itself. Activity rather than family or community gives
Americans their identities, and very few people are able to rest on their honors.
And it is the society where the Puritan values still dominate.
Work ethic: Protestantism stressed the work ethic and the responsibility
of the individual for his own success or failure in life. Although not a rural
society any longer, many American values remain the traditional ones established by the European settlers in the 17th century.
The Puritans, a stern Christian sect, were among the first and most lasting
settlers. Their values were well-suited to survival in a strange new world: selfreliance, hard work, frugal living, and the guidance of individual conscience.
Furthermore, the Puritans considered earthly success as a sign of God’s
favor and saw no conflict between making money and entering the kingdom
of heaven. Now few Americans continue to have ideas about the holiness of
poverty. On the contrary, there is an undercurrent of feelings that people get
what they deserve.
The Puritans would not have smiled at the conspicuous consumption of
today, but they would have admired the unrelenting effort that goes into the
acquisition of goods. Americans have much greater respect for businessmen
than most other peoples do. An Englishman who has made enough money
may well be happy to retire to his country home. The American only wants
to go on making more money, driven as much by the Puritan work ethic (often called “the Protestant work ethic”) as by the desire for more money.
Today the “Puritan values” have acquired one more meaning, they usually refer to prudishness towards sex and enjoyment. Although the Puritans
were not actually against good times, they did feel that man was basically
sinful, and spontaneity revealed the inner wickedness. Today, to call someone “Puritanical” is generally not meant as a compliment, as it suggests that
he or she is strait-laced and no fun.
The family: Nearly all Americans have a family somewhere, but the lack
of strong family ties is one thing that strikes nearly all visitors to America
(with the exception of those from Sweden, where apparently the family is
even less demanding).
162
When an American speaks of “my family,” he probably means his immediate, nuclear family: the group that lives together in one household – father,
mother, and children. The larger (or extended) family – the grandparents,
aunts, uncles, and cousins – are often far away. Or even if nearby, they can
be a small presence in each other’s lives, visiting back and forth very little.
To a much greater degree than in many countries, individual members
of the family carry on a social life apart from the others. If you make American friends, you may know them for a long time before meeting their
families. Various members of the family with different interests expect to
have different friends. Perhaps two couples socialize together, but instead
the wives may lunch together or the husbands play golf, and the children
never meet.
There are numerous people who claim, “My friends are my family.”
These people very likely have, somewhere, a real family, but they feel much
closer to their friends. American life changes greatly between generations.
Despite the appeal of replacing an inconvenient family with carefully selected friends, there is a drawback: friends cannot be expected to proffer as
much aid as family. Those who claim to rely on their friends usually are
highly independent, with good health and sound finances.
You know, even the best of friends are keeping track of favors. Your sorrows are not their sorrows. In a catastrophe, you are on your own and will
probably turn to your real family. So, no matter how distant the family in
America has become, it has not been replaced.
Most litigious people: The practice of dragging one’s neighbor, doctor,
spouse, host, and employer into court surprises newcomers to the U.S.A.
Americans are a most litigious people, and they prefer to believe that there is
always a responsible party for every event in life.
People have sued for: injuries attained while breaking into houses, losing
a spelling test, being fired, loss of pleasure when injured, emotional distress,
and choking in restaurants. The list of such seemingly ridiculous suits provides great fun and sometimes large awards.
To some degree, the pattern of suing has led to safer places and practices,
but to a greater extent it has created high insurance rates and the sacrifice of
services. Towns have gone bankrupt when held responsible for accidents on
public property. Schools have lost play yards because they can’t afford liability insurance. Some churches won’t shelter the homeless because they
lack the necessary insurance.
The situation is truly bad, but some foreigners have even exaggerated it.
It is not true that no doctor will ever stop if there’s an accident. Though in
many states, a good Samaritan law forbids suing a doctor under such circumstances.
If an American decides to do a little suing himself, he must bear in mind
that it’s one thing to sue and win, another to collect. It’s not worth the bother
163
of going to court unless you have a realistic chance of seeing the money.
Much of the proceeds of a case often end up in the lawyers’ hands. Cases
drag on for years, and your time will be unpleasantly spent.
Food and eating habits: American cuisine in general is not bad. American cooks have an abundance of fresh ingredients and a heritage of marvelous regional dishes: apple pie, clam chowder, Louisiana gumbo, barbecued
oysters, com fritters, and countless other delectable dishes. As many guidebooks say, it is possible to eat very well in America.
It is also possible to eat very badly, and many Americans do – by choice
rather than necessity. A lot of supermarket food, while cheap and plentiful, is
produced to provide the most calories with the longest shelf life and the
shortest preparation time. The result is frozen dinners, packaged sweets, instant puddings, bottled salad dressings, and canned sauces. Manufacturers
are working night and day to invent new products that will captivate the
public. Almost any conceivable meal is available ready-made.
The problem is that none of this stuff is very good. It supplies calories,
and it is not fresh and home cooked. Even fruits and vegetables are raised to
survive long shipping or storage periods, rather than for taste. Meats are tender and good, but very fatty and distressingly laden with hormones and antibiotics. Also, most supermarket food is wrapped, canned, frozen, jarred, or
packaged in such a way that you can’t examine it until you get it home.
No doubt, if you come from a country with severe food shortages, you
won’t complain.
The first two meals of the day eaten by an American are generally quick.
The classic American breakfast of bacon and eggs is seen more on weekends
than when the whole family is rushing to school and work. Cereal with milk
and a cup of coffee is probably the usual morning sustenance of the average
American. Lunch consists of a sandwich, soup or salad. Dinner is the largest
meal of the day. The American dinner has fallen under medical disapproval
due to its high cholesterol content. The meal typically consists of a large
piece of meat, ketchup, vegetables with butter, potatoes (fried with oil or
butter), and a sweet dessert. It might also be an equally fatty frozen meal,
heated in the microwave oven, or a high-calorie pizza.
A large proportion of Americans report that they would like to change
their diets, but habits are hard to break. The beans, vegetables, and whole
grains that doctors keep urging them to eat require time to cook, which
Americans haven’t got. Take-out Chinese food may be the best option for
many Americans.
In God We Trust: Any U.S. politician who hopes to be re-elected must
take these three sacred icons seriously. While most foreigners easily comprehend the tributes paid to motherhood, the attitude to religion remains
confusing to many and that towards the flag mystifying.
164
The American viewpoint on religion is paradoxical. Americans honor the
separation of the Church and State (and the freedom to worship at the church
of one’s choice), but in public life few people dare admit to having no religious beliefs at all. The Supreme Court keeps watch over freedom of religion: prayer is not allowed in schools, or at the beginning of football games.
Religion is supposed to be a private matter, between the individual, his conscience, and his church.
There is a widespread feeling that decent people believe in God and that
ethical standards spring from religion. Politicians frequently assure the electorate of their faith in God. The President may begin his State of the Union
address with a prayer to God, and when asked what he would do in a crisis.
American coins and banknotes all have “In God We Trust” cast or printed on them; the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag calls Americans “one nation, under God.”
Presumably, some of this religiosity is left over from the religious orientation of early America. Religious cults have been prominent through American history. Religious belief agrees with American optimism and the faith
that justice will prevail, if not in this world, then in the next.
The Christian majority: In the U.S., about 80% of the population describe
themselves as Christians; 2% are Jewish, 4% are other: Buddhist, various Eastern religions, Muslims, etc.; unaffiliated 12.1%, and 4% claim no religion.
The only national religious holidays are Christian holidays. However,
employers must respect the demands of anyone’s religion and grant absences when religion requires it. Three out of four Americans claim to believe in
God, and four out of ten go to church regularly. On the other hand, foreigners shouldn’t imagine that the average American is deeply involved with his
religion. Americans only expect their leaders to have some faith in God, not
to take their religion more seriously than their golf games.
A majority (51.7%) of Americans are Protestants. As Protestants have no
central authority, there are hundreds of denominations. All adhere to one
God and the Bible, differently interpreted. Some churches have very dignified services, whereas others involve a lot of emotional display. As a general
rule, it’s the dignified ones (Episcopalian, Congregational, Presbyterian) that
are the more upper class, and there are many cases when a rising salesman
switched from the Baptist to the Episcopalian Church when he moved to a
better neighborhood.
The remaining Christians are Catholics (23.9%), a group reflecting Irish,
Italian, Polish and South American immigration. The Catholics have known
discrimination and even have been suspected of dividing their allegiances between the Pope of Rome and their country. Until the election of John F. Kennedy, many people thought that no Catholic could ever win the presidency.
Besides the established religions, there are numerous religious cults.
Most cults are dependent on the charisma of the leader and don’t outlast him
165
or her. One American once said, “the way to get rich in America is to start a
religion” [20, 216]. Cults demand a wholehearted commitment from the followers, and scandals erupt among them frequently.
Various Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim leaders have attracted significant
followings in recent years.
“Born Agains”: The “Born Again Christians” are the most surprising
among today’s religious groups. Not long ago, intellectuals assumed that
now when science had explained most phenomena, belief in God could not
last much longer. They were wrong. Instead, millions of people have joined
a variety of fundamentalist groups. These people are collectively called
“Born Agains” because they believe that their lives started anew when they
committed themselves to Jesus Christ.
Languages: Though American English is becoming a global tongue, the
U.S. has no official language at the federal level. Only 30 states have passed
legislation making English the official language, and it is widely considered to
be the de facto national language. Spanish has the official status in the commonwealth of Puerto Rico and there are several enclaves throughout the country in which Spanish is the primary spoken language. Bilingual speakers may
use both English and Spanish reasonably well but code-switch according to
their dialog partner or context. Some refer to this phenomenon as Spanglish.
Indigenous languages of the U.S. include the Native American languages, which are spoken in the country’s numerous Indian reservations and at
Native American cultural events such as pow wows.
Hawaiian, which has official status in the state of Hawaii; Chamorro,
which has the official status in the commonwealths of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands; Carolinian, which has the official status in the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; and Samoan, which has the official status in the commonwealth of American Samoa.
According to the CIA [39], the following is the percentage of total population’s native languages in the U.S.: English (82.1%), Spanish (10.7%),
other Indo-European languages (3.8%), other Asian or Pacific Islander languages (2.7%), other languages (0.7%).
American contradictions: The alert visitor to the U.S. will quickly note
much that seems contradictory in American life. Freedom of the press has
not produced a well-informed public. Despite American wealth, there are
people sleeping in the streets. Americans are friendly, but neighbors don’t
stop to chat. Supplied by the world’s richest farmlands, America’s cuisine
leaves much to be desired.
In the book Culture shock! U.S.A. Esther Warning quotes the words of the
social commentator Paul Goodman, “America has a high standard of living of
low average quality” [20, 50]. Despite the luxuries and conveniences Americans
enjoy, their lives are not very elegant. Equality has a way of leading to mediocrity. When half the population goes to college, one cannot expect the colleges to
166
maintain the same standards. Television shows are expected to appeal to the
lowest common denominator. Mass produced goods are not finely crafted.
Americans are anti-royalist but fascinated by royalty. Americans are suspicious of government but re-elect incumbents over and over. Americans are
a religious people (compared to other westernized societies) but many of
their much-revered Founding Fathers were not.
There are innumerable exceptions to any of the above mentioned American traits. It’s difficult to make generalizations. Just as not every Japanese is
hardworking and deferential to superiors, nor every Chinese devoted to his
family, not every American is ambitious or patriotic or even unsophisticated.
The purpose of this unit devoted to American cultural traits was to acquaint you with the specific customs and habits of the American people. As
the saying goes, it is in the small differences that most misunderstandings
occur. For instance, if you offer a limp handshake to an American while
looking downwards, the American will never guess that you are behaving
very politely by your own rules; instead he will assume that you are a lackluster kind of person.
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do” is a useful proverb for both immigrants and short-term visitors to the United States, but to follow it you
must know what they do.
SUMMARY
1. Survival experiences explain the American tendency to idealize whatever
is practical. The “can-do” spirit is something Americans are proud of today.
2. The pragmatism of Americans and their trust in an abundance of
resources relates to the American habit of mobility. Mobility in America is a
sign of optimism.
3. Americans are profoundly future-oriented. They have a nearly
exclusive respect for the future and what it will bring. It’s the belief in a
brighter future that gives them optimism.
4. Americans’ nearly unique belief in progress includes the proposition
that individuals can change or improve themselves.
5. Education is regarded as the key to many choices and opportunities in
the U.S.A., including financial security. The belief that Americans should “be
all that you can be” arises from their Protestant heritage. These convictions
have not only influenced the U.S. educational system, but are often reflected
in the U.S. foreign policy.
6. The right to privacy is a notion that runs deep in American culture, the
notion of individual privacy makes it difficult for Americans to make friends
and adapt to other cultures’ customs and habits.
167
7. Americans are taught to be open and direct. If they think you aren’t
being open and honest with them, then they may believe you are hiding
something. They may be quite uncomfortable dealing with individuals who are
reserved and less direct. Many Americans equate directness with trustworthiness.
8. Everyone agrees that Americans are friendly. Friendliness should not
be confused with friendship. Many foreigners mistakenly think that boundless
cordiality means they’re going to have lots of friends in the U.S.A.
9. Americans often speak fairly loudly compared to speakers from other
cultures, because they believe it is important to be assertive. If Americans
believe they have been wronged, they show their feelings. Stand your ground
is common advice in an unfair situation.
10. As a low-context culture, Americans don’t have many set routines
for particular situations. Formality seems undemocratic to them. Americans
believe that formality is “un-American” and a show of arrogance and
superiority. Americans dislike the rituals of etiquette. Easy manners contribute
to the fluidity of American society. A casual, egalitarian attitude between
people is more accepted.
11. Informality penetrates American culture. The forms of the language
do not change when Americans address a superior, as they do in many
languages. People dress casually as much as possible. Americans use slang in
nearly all circumstances. Americans slouch in chairs, lean against walls, and
put their feet on desks. American degree of casualness leaves a lot of room
for confusion. Americans are very open on the outside but remain forever
impenetrable on the inside.
12. Relaxing is precisely what Americans are not very good at. It doesn’t
fit in with their belief in progress. Americans take the utilitarian philosophy
seriously, which is that only useful activities are valuable, meaningful, and
moral. Unproductive activity is therefore useless, meaningless, and immoral.
13. Because of the emphasis on the individual, Americans can be quite
competitive. There is a more fluid class system in the U.S. than in traditional
cultures. Hard work, when coupled with greater earnings, is rewarded with a
rise in social class. It is possible to work your way to the top in America.
Americans value action and will generally keep very busy schedules. As the
saying goes, work is a virtue, and idleness is a sin.
14. If there is anything that warms the American heart, it is efficiency.
Efficiency is a virtue in the U.S. Americans believe that work is morally
right; that it is immoral to waste time. There is more emphasis on “doing”
rather than “being”. Americans are a monochromic culture; they operate
according to schedules, doing one thing at a time. Sticking to the schedule is
more important than the human interruptions to it.
15. There are numerous people who claim, “My friends are my family.”
But those who claim to rely on their friends usually are highly independent,
168
with good health and sound finances. You know, even the best of friends are
keeping track of favors. Your sorrows are not their sorrows.
16. Americans are a most litigious people, and they prefer to believe that
there is always a responsible party for every event in life.
17. American cuisine is not bad. American cooks have an abundance of
fresh ingredients and a heritage of marvelous regional dishes. But all dishes
are available ready made.
18. The American viewpoint on religion is paradoxical. In public life few
people dare admit to having no religious belief at all. In the U.S., about 80%
of the population describe themselves as Christians; 2% are Jewish, 4% are
“other” – Buddhist, various Eastern religions, Muslims, etc.; unaffiliated
12.1%, and 4% claim no religion.
19.The U.S. has no official language at the federal level. Only 30 states have
passed legislation making English the official language. Spanish has the official
status in the commonwealth of Puerto Rico and there are several enclaves
throughout the country in which Spanish is the primary spoken language.
20. Much seems contradictory in American life. Freedom of the press
has not produced a well-informed public. Despite American wealth, there are
people sleeping in the streets. Americans are friendly, but neighbors don’t
stop to chat. Supplied by the world’s richest farmlands, America’s cuisine
leaves much to be desired. The social commentator Paul Goodman wrote,
“America has a high standard of living of low average quality” [20, 24].
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Why do Americans idealize what is practical?
2. How can you explain the words: Americans take a pragmatic approach
to learning?
3. Who does an American nuclear family consist of?
4. What is an American foremost concern when they go house-hunting?
5. Why don’t Americans look to the past for guidance?
6. What makes Americans a “non-contact people”?
7. What stands behind the American friendly “Hi” to whom-so-ever?
8. Do Americans have manners?
9. Why are Americans not very good at relaxing?
10. To be called a high achiever is quite a compliment in the U.S.A. But
what are the consequences of this emphasis on achievement?
11. American leisure activities are equally demanding, aren’t they?
12. What is wrong with American food and eating habits?
13. What are the three icons which any U.S. politician who hopes to be
re-elected must take seriously?
169
Unit
AMERICAN ENGLISH
10
This unit tells us about the development of American English
and about its peculiarities. It describes:
American English vs. British English, their differences in
vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar;
linguistic peculiarities introduced by various ethnic groups
in the course of American history
a) American Indian languages and their influence,
b) German influence,
c) Pennsylvania Dutch,
d) Spanish influence,
e) French contributions,
f) Italian contributions,
g) English of American Blacks,
h) Yiddish borrowings,
k) Slavic / Russian borrowings.
170
Key Words and Proper Names: allophone, archaic, borrowing,
conformity, consonant, daring, deviate, designate, disparity, drawling manner of speech, duration, impatience of forms, divergence,
glide, intrinsic, miscellaneous, morphology, mother-tongue speakers, nasalization, neologism, parent stem, pidgin, purist, replenishment, resourcefulness, restlessness, rhotacism, run amok, schwa,
self-consciousness, slang, set expression, stress pattern, subjunctive mood, tongue-tip, transitive verb, speech habits, vowel, wigwam words;
Creole, Dzhudezmo, Hebrew, Noah Webster, Slavic, Standard
American English (SAE) and Received Pronunciation (RP), Yiddish;
David Crystal, R. Hendrickson, Roger W. Shuy, Noah Webster,
Ian Morris-Wilson, John Witherspoon.
American English vs. British English
FROM THE LANGUAGE OF A SMALL COUNTRY ON THE EDGE
OF EUROPE English has grown into a word language. About 400 million
people speak English as their first language; of them more than 321 million
people live in the U.S. and some 60 million in the United Kingdom. In over
70 countries English is used as a second language. Estimates for the number
of English speakers range from 400 million to 2 billion. There are also millions of learners of English as a foreign language.
The two best-known variants of English are American English (AE) and
British English (BE). Once it was even suggested that American English
should be called American language with the argument that “the American
form of the English language was plainly departing from the parent stem,
and it seemed likely that the differences between American and English
would go on increasing” [8, 7].
Historically, the roots of the differences that separate AE from BE lie in
the disparity of the environment and traditions of the American and British
people starting with the 17th century.
The British lived under a relatively stable social order and in a mild climate with a characteristic respect for what was customary and of good report. The Americans, though partly of the same blood, in order to survive in
a wild and unfriendly environment had to be on the move. They did not acquire the habit of conformity. The conditions of life in their new country
placed a high value upon the qualities of curiosity and courage, and so the
language they spoke acquired the character of restlessness and the impatience of forms.
Everything that differed English spoken in America from the language
the British spoke used to be called and is called now Americanism. The term
171
“Americanism” was first used by John Witherspoon, President of Princeton
University, in 1781 [8]. It denotes (a) any word or combination of words
which, taken into the English language in the U.S., has not gained acceptance in England, or, if accepted, has retained its sense of foreignness; and
(b) any word оr combination of words which, becoming archaic in England,
has continued to be in good usage in the U.S.
The first class is the larger and has the longer history. These words are
called neologisms. The neologisms of 17th – 18th centuries reflect different
aspects of the new life of American colonists in America: moccasin –
мокасин, anorak – куртка с капюшоном, squaw – индианка, totem –
тотем, medicine-man – шаман индейского племени, warpath – поход
североамериканских индейцев; gap – горный проход, backwoods –
лесная глушь, lot – участок земли, caucus – закрытое собрание членов
политической партии или фракции.
The archaisms showed themselves more slowly. They had to go out of use in
England before their survival in America was noticeable. But by the beginning
of the 18th century there had been a considerable body of them, and all through
that century the number increased. BE was changing rapidly, but in America the
language was holding to its old forms. There was very little fresh emigration to
the colonies, and their own people seldom visited England. Thus, by the end of
the 18th century the word, say, guess already became an Americanism, though it
had been in almost universal use in England in Shakespeare’s days.
During the two decades before the Civil War of 1861 – 1865, everyday AE
became almost unintelligible to an Englishman. It was bold and lawless in its
vocabulary, careless of grammatical niceties, and further disfigured by a drawling manner of speech. After the Civil War, there was an increase of national selfconsciousness, and efforts were made to police (i.e. to clean up) the language.
But the spirit of the language and that of the American people was against such
reforms. Moreover, under the very noses of the purists a new and vigorous
American slang came into being, and simultaneously the common speech began
to run amok. The visiting Englishman found AE very difficult. The slang puzzled him even more than did American peculiarities of pronunciation.
Of late, the increase of travel and other inter-communications between
England and America tended to halt the differentiation of the two variants.
AE was more marked, perhaps, before the World Wars than since. Today,
urbanization, quick transport, and television have leveled out some dialectal
differences in the U.S.
So, the history of AE counts more than four centuries. The first (early)
period (beginning of the 17th – end of the 18th centuries) is characterized by
the formation of American dialects of the English language. The second period (19th – 20th centuries) is characterized by the creation of American
variant of the English language. These two periods are almost equal in their
duration, but are different in importance. Here, we may add one more period
172
(the second half of the 20th century – present time) characterized by some
kind of convergence of two great variants of the same language. But is it
true? Do they really tend to converge?
Differences in vocabulary: The replenishment of the vocabulary of AE
went in two ways: 1) by appearance of new words or by change of a word
meaning; 2) by borrowing from other languages.
The noun frontier, for instance, has acquired in America an additional
meaning – a newly settled, scarcely populated territory bordering on deserted and uninhabited zones. You will not find it on the map. It is in the
hearts and minds of Americans. It is not a fixed place but a moving zone, as
well as a state of mind: the border between settlements and wilderness
known as the frontier. As a result many new set expressions became widely
used: frontier man, frontier country, frontier town.
Probably the most “difficult” category of differences between AE and BE
includes the words which are found in both variants, but which have different meaning in each. Some familiar examples are store, rock, lumber
and corn. What Englishmen call a shop was called a store by Americans as
early as 1770, and long before that time corn in AE had come to signify not
grains in general, but only maize. The use of rock to designate any stone,
however small, goes back still further, and so does the use of lumber for timber. Many of these differences were produced by changes in English usage.
Thus cracker, in England, once meant precisely what it now means in the
U.S. When the English abandoned it for biscuit, the Americans stuck to
cracker, and used biscuit to designate a soft puffy cookie. Also, shoe came
to be substituted in America for the English boot. To designate the English
shoe American used the word slipper. Pavement in AE means any paved
road whereas in BE it means the same as sidewalk in AE.
Differences in clothing vocabulary can be quite tricky, too: what are
called pants in AE are called trousers in BE; pants in BE mean the same as
underwear in AE; shorts in AE mean the same as men’s underwear in BE, a
certain type of a shirt that in AE is called turtle neck is polo neck in BE, etc.
Most easily BE accepted the word groups indicating: 1) notions not
having any strict definition in BE, e.g., commuter – житель пригородного
района, который работает в городе, trailer – прицеп, know-how –
производственный опыт, технологии; baby-sit – присматривать за
ребенком за плату; 2) cultural borrowings, e.g., milk shake – молочный
коктейль, sundae – мороженое с фруктовым сиропом; 3) names of American realia, e.g., rodeo – соревнования ковбоев, sheriff – шериф, Secretary
of State – государственный секретарь, министр иностранных дел, congressman – член палаты представителей, administration – управление,
правительство, министерство; 4) emotionally colored equivalents of
stylistically neutral words in BE, e.g., graft = corruption, gimmick = trick,
brainwashing = indoctrination.
173
There are, however, a lot of concepts for which there are different words
or expressions in AE and BE. The words connected with cars and driving
are often cited as examples of such differences, probably because so many
differences are found in them, e.g., AE windshield – BE windscreen, AE
hood – BE bonnet, AE parking light – BE sidelight, AE license plate – BE
number plate, AE trunk – BE boot, AE driver’s license – BE driving licence,
AE gas – BE petrol, AE truck – BE lorry, AE rent a car – BE hire a car.
Miscellaneous differences from other fields include: AE duplex – BE
semi-detached, AE apartment building – BE block of flats, AE row houses –
BE terraced houses, AE baggage – BE luggage, AE elevator – BE lift, AE to
mail a letter – BE to post a letter, AE cellular phone – BE mobile phone, AE
a polka-dot shirt – BE a spotted/dotted shirt.
When speaking about lexico-semantic differences one should pay attention to structural variants of words in BE and AE. They differ in affixes
while lexical meaning remains the same: e.g.,
BE
AE
acclimatize
Word meaning
centre
acclimate
center
акклиматизировать
центр
metre
meter
метр
up to the time
anticlockwise
on time
counterclockwise
вовремя
против часовой стрелки
Certain words and set expressions do not have equivalents both in
British and American variants: e.g.,
BE
AE
Word Meaning
–
junior high school
неполная средняя школа, включающая 7-й и
8-й или 8-й и 9-й классы
аптека, магазин, где наряду с патентованными медицинскими средствами продаются
бутерброды, прохладительные напитки
chemist’s
drugstore or
pharmacy
American set expressions
be from Missouri – быть скептиком
do a land-office business – иметь много клиентов
feel like two cents – плохо себя чувствовать
Johnny-on-the-spot – мальчик на побегушках
live high off the hog – жить в роскоши
Differences in pronunciation: There are clear distinctions in how Americans and the British use their language. So there exist two established forms
174
of English pronunciation: Standard American English (SAE) and Received
Pronunciation (RP).
Standard American English in the simplest terms is said to be “the
English language as used in the U.S.” Received Pronunciation is difficult to
define, but in his book Ian Morris-Wilson defines RP as “the standard pronunciation of the educated Englishman” [15, 45].
The most notable differences in pronunciation between SAE and RP include differences in both word stress patterns and the articulation of
single phonemes within words. For example, words with different stress
pattern in SAE and RP:
RP
SAE
ciga rette
a ddress
mous tache
garage
brochure
harassment
cigarette
address,
mustache
garage
brochure
harassment
One characteristic of SAE which clearly deviates from RP is the rhotacism of some vowels to make a post-vocalic [r]. According to Morris-Wilson, “where RP disregards spelling and uses a simple vowel sound (it is rless), American English uses a vowel sound (sometimes of a different quality) which is either itself rhotacized or else followed by a lesser or greater
amount of [r] flavoring or coloring (it is r–full“) [15, 88], for example:
RP
card [k:d]
normal [n:ml]
SAE
[k:rd]
[n:rml]
Another characteristic very common in SAE is nasalization, which Morris-Wilson explains as a nasal quality given to vowel sounds preceding a
nasal consonant. This is often referred to as ‘nasal twang’, which is “one of
the features of American English which many English people find disagreeable: they consider it to be indicative of laziness, untidiness, slovenliness,
etc.” [15, 119], e.g., can’t, dance.
AE has more allophones for [t] and [d] than RP. One of these often
occurs in SAE when a single alveolar stop becomes a voiced tap of the
tongue-tip between two vowels, of which the second vowel is unstressed.
175
RP
SAE
better []
city []
ladder []
[]
[]
[]
One characteristic of RP which differs from SAE is the tendency to lose
or completely omit the schwa vowel in certain suffixes, i.e. to ‘clip’ the ends,
while SAE may give such words two stresses and omit nothing. E.g.,
dictionary, cemetery, category and ceremony.
There are also differences between RP and SAE in the use of [j]. The
speakers of SAE may use the [j] glide or may not in certain words. RP generally does use it, which can be seen in the following examples:
RP
SAE
tune [tju:n]
new [nju:]
[tju:n, tu:n]
[nju:, nu:]
It is next to impossible to dwell here upon all divergences of both variants in phonetics – sounds, stress, accent, intonation. Examples are numerous, here are only some more, to illustrate the fact: clerk is pronounced in
BE as [:], and in AE as [:k]; advertisement in BE is [d:],
and in AE – []. We may also mention the difference in pronouncing such words as grass, path, task, etc. (RP – [:], SAE – semi-long
front []). Those differences mentioned above are the most evident ones and
perhaps those which can be considered the most important as well.
Differences in grammar: One of the grammar aspects that should be
paid attention to is singular and plural forms of nouns. In BE, singular
nouns that describe multiple people are often treated as plural. The singular
form is usually used in AE. For example, BE the team are worried; AE the
team is worried. Americans use the plural when the individual membership
is clear, for example, the team take their seats (not the team takes its seat(s)),
although it is often rephrased to avoid the singular/plural decision, as in the
team members take their seats. The difference occurs in proper nouns as
well: BE New England are the champions. AE New England is the champion. But both The Patriots are the champions.
Another aspect is the use of tenses. BE uses the Present Perfect tense to
talk about an event in the recent past and with the words already, just and
yet. In American usage, these meanings can be expressed with the Past Sim176
ple (to express a fact) or the Present Perfect (to imply an expectation), e.g.,
I’ve just got home. / I just got home. – I’ve already eaten. / I already ate.
The subjunctive mood is more common in AE in expressions such as:
They suggested that he apply for the job. BE would have They suggested
that he should apply for the job or even “They suggested that he applied for
the job.
One can notice differences in verb morphology as well, e.g. verb past
tenses with -ed: Americans tend to use dreamed, leaped, learned, spelled;
the British more commonly use dreamt, leapt, learnt, spelt.
Intransitive verbs often become transitive in AE, e.g., BE: The workers protested against the decision. AE: The workers protested the decision.
There are numerous cases of different phrases with verb-adverb combinations, e.g., AE look out the window – BE look out of the window; AE to
fill out a blank – BE to fill in a form; AE to be filled up (about a hotel) – BE
to be full up; AE wash up – BE wash your hands, as well as of divergences
in phrase structures, e.g., AE go get it – BE go and get it.
Another example is the use of prepositions before days. Where British
people would say: She resigned on Thursday, Americans often say: She resigned Thursday, but both forms are common in American usage. The preposition is also absent when referring to months: I’ll be here December. Besides there are many more differences connected with the use of prepositions
in different contexts.
AE could more easily than BE form noun ending with -ette (-et) with
the diminutive meaning, e.g., luncheonette, dinette, dinerette – небольшое
кафе, or to show gender, such as conductorette. Similarly, AE more extensively uses the suffix – wise in the meaning of ‘with regard to’ or ‘in terms
of’, e.g., instruction wise, tax wise, and price wise, weather-wise. Also popular among Americanisms is the prefix super-, e.g., superhighway, superfilm, superweapon, to supersize and also the verb suffix -ize-, e.g., organize.
Equally registered tendency of AE is to use the morphological forms of
the type get-got- gotten. Worth of mentioning is the usage of expressive compound words: trigger-happy – агрессивно нaстроенный, mastermind –
гений, gangland – преступный мир, tinny-tiny – крошечный, saggy-baggy –
мешковатый as well as forming verbs from nouns: to politic – вести
кампанию, to deed – передавать по акту, or forming nouns with the help of
verbs followed by adverbs: walk-up – дом без лифта, shut-out – победа с
сухим счетом. Such examples are numerous, they are widely used in BE and
other variants of English, which meets the needs of communication.
Spelling: AE spelling differs from BE spelling largely because of one
man, American lexicographer Noah Webster. In addition to his well-known
“An American Dictionary of the English Language” (1828), Webster published “The American Spelling Book” (1783), with many subsequent edi177
tions, which became most widely used schoolbooks in American history.
Webster’s books sought to standardize spelling in the U.S. by promoting the
use of the American language intentionally different from BE. The development of a specifically American variety of English mirrored the new country’s separate political development.
Webster’s most successful changes were spellings with -or instead of
-our (honor, labor for the BE honour, labour); with -er instead of -re (center,
theater for the British centre, theatre); with an -s instead of a -c (defense, license for the British defence, licence); with a final -ck instead of -que
(check, mask for the British cheque, masque); and without a final -k (traffic,
public, now also used in BE, for the older traffick, publick). Later spelling
reform created a few other differences, such as program for British programme.
Linguistic peculiarities introduced by various ethnic
groups in the course of American history
a) American Indian languages and their influence: One of the strongest forces to shape the language in the New World were Native American
languages. It is definitely known that less than 200 distinct Indian tongues
are spoken in North America today. At the time of the arrival of the British
immigrants in America, the number of these tongues is said to have been
twice as large.
In his book Discovering American Dialects Roger W. Shuy wrote:
“American English has borrowed less actively from other languages. When
a word is borrowed, it is usually a term for which there is no English equivalent” [18, 5].
Words from American Indian languages became parts of English mostly
because in the New World the colonialists encountered things and entities
that were unfamiliar to them.
There were many plants and animals in the Americas that were not found
in Europe, many of the names for native species were derived from Native
American languages. So, for example, the names for such common American animals and foods are derived from various languages in the Algonquian
group as moose- лось, skunk – скунс, chipmunk – бурундук, raccoon –
енот, opossum (or ‘possum) – опоссум, persimmon – хурма, squash –
тыква, and hominy – мамалыга, as is terrapin, the name of a fresh-water
turtle.
Native American groups, living in a variety of climates, each developed
their own forms of housing appropriate to their physical environments.
Among these were wigwam, tepee (tipi, or teepee), hogan, wikiup, kiva, and
178
igloo all of them denoting ‘hut’, ‘house’, ‘home’. Other words describing
native practices include (from Massachusset) wampum, a type of beads used
as currency; powwow (from Narraganset powwow or Massachuset pauwau)
now generally used for a wide variety of Native American social gatherings;
and potlatch (Chinook Jargon patlac), a celebration held among several
northwestern nations at which prominent persons would give away, or perhaps even destroy, some of their wealth.
And, of course, place names across America are derived from the
languages of those who knew those places first. Massachusetts and
Kansas are derived from the names of native peoples, as are Dakota and
Omaha, and many other state, city and place names. Oklahoma means
“red people” in Choctaw, Minnesota means “sky-blue waters” in Dakota, and the mighty Mississippi River’s name means “great river” in
Ojibwa.
Early observers of language use, who were mostly British men concerned
about the state of English, found the Indian influence to be rather strong.
These commentators criticized “the impure English” of the Americans and
tried to discourage people from using “wigwam words.” There are, however,
some phrasal compounds that would not have developed if it weren’t for the
Indian influence. Examples of these are bury the hatchet and take up the
hatchet.
Here are some more of the words derived from the four American Indian
languages:
hickory
kayak
tomato
puma
tomahawk
igloo
coyote
condor
moccasin
umiak (a boat)
chocolate
pampa
(Algonquian)
(Inuit)
(Nahuatl)
(Quechua)
b) German influence: Most German borrowings came into English during the 19th century. Although both noodle, first cited by the Dictionary of
American English in 1812 and sauerkraut in 1813, seem to have been used
in England considerably earlier, there is every reason to believe that the
American use of these words represents an independent borrowing. These
words, along with Kris Kringle in 1830, loafer (lazybones) in 1835, poker in
1836 and ouch in 1839, must have come from Pennsylvania or its derivative
settlements.
The list of German borrowings gives us an idea of the cultural contact
between German immigrants and their English-speaking hosts centered
mainly at the dining room table and the bar. There is a decided persistence
of food terms and words reflecting pleasant but commonplace social contacts.
179
In contrast, the educational terms reflect not so much the German migration to America as the 19th-century practice of American educators and professional men to travel to Germany for advanced university studies.
Terms related to food and drink: beer soup, blutwurst, bock beer (a
variety of dark lager beer), delicatessen (prepared foods, such as cooked
meats, cakes, etc.), dunk (to dip something into a liquid), frankfurter (a
smoked sausage made of beef and pork put into a casing), hamburger, lager
beer, liverwurst, noodle (a thin strip of dough, of varying widths), pretzel (a
kind of salted bread or biscuit, often made in the form of knot or ring), pumpernickel (a dark, heavy bread made of rye), sauerbraten (a kind of roast),
sauerkraut (cabbage, which has been cut into small pieces and pickled),
schnitzel, smearcase (cottage cheese), stollen (a kind of bread for Christmas), switzer cheese, wienerwurst (sausage stuffed in long, slender links),
zwieback (a kind of dry biscuit).
Educational terms: diener (laboratory assistant), festschrift (commemorative publication), semester, seminar.
Social terms: beer garden (an open-air spot furnished with tables and
chairs, where beer is retailed), bower (jack or knave), Kris Kringle (St.
Nicholas), pinochle (a card game), poker, rathskeller (a beer restaurant below the street level or in a basement), saengerfest (a singing festival), stein
(beer mug), turnverein (a club or society of turners).
Miscellaneous words: bub (a playful form used to boys and young men),
bum (bottom), hausfrau (used either as a compliment or as a criticism of the
woman, whose main interests are cleaning, cooking, washing, etc.), hex (to
bewitch, a witch), katzenjammer (mess, disorder; hangover), loafer (one too
lazy to work), nix (no, nothing), ouch, phooey (a term of content distaste or
disbelief), spiel (well-prepared speech to persuade or convince the listener to
do something), wunderkind (child prodigy).
Such compounds as rain worm, cookbook and back country could be
translations of Regenwurm, Kochbuch, and Hinterland, respectively.
c) The Pennsylvania dialect: The German settlers in Pennsylvania developed a language consisting of a compromise of their own various dialects
with a strong admixture of English words and constructions. This has come
to be known as “Pennsylvania Dutch.” Though dying out more rapidly now
than in former times, in the 1970’s it was still spoken by about 25% of the
inhabitants of Lehigh, Lebanon, and Berks counties in Pennsylvania, and
understood by 60 to 65%. The English of these Pennsylvania Germans has
its own very distinctive flavor.
The pronunciation of [v] like [w] is distinctive for the Pennsylvania
Dutch, e.g., valley is pronounced like walley. These consonant changes include, among others, the heavy pronunciation of [b] so that a weak [p] seems
to be added to it, as in [kri:bp] (crib); [f] with a [v] coloring as in [vfi:vf]
180
(five); [] with a weak [k] flavor to it, as in [hawk] (hog); [r] pronounced as
the German guttural [r], [th] pronounced as [d] or [dt], as in [:hs] (doors),
and [z] pronounced as [s].
The following chart translating Pennsylvania Dutch pronunciation into
standard American ones shows consonant changes in the dialect better than
any technical explanations.
RP
SAE
[boghie]
[bortsch]
[britches]
buggy
porch
bridges
RP
[ice]
[ret]
[sank you]
SAE
eyes
red
thank you
Common Pennsylvanian Dutch peculiarities include using the word
make for go (Make down the road) or close (Make the window shut); ain’t
for won’t (Ain’t she will?) and it wonders me for I wonder (It wonders me
where he went). Ain’t is often used as an oral question mark like the German
nicht wahr. Frequently heard are constructions such as Nice day, ain’t?
meaning It’s a nice day, isn’t it? and You’re coming, ain’t? meaning You’re
coming, aren’t you?
Pennsylvania Dutch is widely regarded as a humorous dialect because of
the extraordinary lengths it goes to force English words into German word order or syntactical constructions, e.g., Go out and tie the dog loose. (Untie the
dog); You look good in the face (You look healthy and happy); His eating went
away (He lost his appetite); What does it give for dinner? (What’s for dinner?).
d) Spanish influence: The contacts between America and the Spanish
began before America was called America, but the Indies. In the course of
years the number of British settlers increased and they began to move towards the West in order to find better places to live. The newcomers learnt
words which were connected with everyday life.
Subjects important at that time were plants, animals, ranch life, food and
drink, people, building, mining, clothing and toponymy. There are some examples of these:
Plants
Animals
marijuana
yucca
alfalfa
mesquite
pickaninny
armadillo
burro
pinto
burro
corral
Ranch life
chaparral
hacienda
ranch
stampede
rodeo
Food and drink
chile con carne
tequila
tamale
tortilla
pinion nuts
People
dago
creole
mulatto
vinegarroon
vigilante
181
Building
Mining
Clothing
adobe
patio
plaza
bonanza
placer
tengallo
poncho
chaps
hat
Toponymy
sierra
mesa
canyon
The words wrangler from caballerangero, mustang [] from
mesteño and lariat = lasso from la reata represent borrowings which have
undergone considerable phonological alterations. Later borrowings have
been adopted without phonological changes. Examples of these are bronco,
burro, rodeo, palomino, sombrero and they seem to represent a period of
genuine bilingualism. In some cases it is hard to trace the origin of the word.
Portuguese was a widely used language not only in South America but also
in North America. The adoptions like pickaninny, savvy=intelligence and
lasso might be of Portuguese origin.
Some Spanish borrowings are well known only in a certain area. For example, frijole is known along the Mexican border. Reata is common in the
Far West and alcalde and cuartel are only used in New Mexico and Texas in
the Hispanic regions. The fish name pompano is known mainly on the Gulf
Coast.
Since the Mexican food has become popular all over the U.S. and in other parts of the world, too, the words like taco, enchilada and tortilla have
become widely known. These words as well have a strong Spanish background.
In Spanish the words ending with -eria like cafeteria are very common.
They also became popular in AE, although they have a slightly different
meaning in AE and Spanish. A cafeteria in Spain is a café where you have
table service whereas cafeteria in America means a self-service restaurant.
Similarly the words like groceteria, bookateria, snacketeria, smoketeria all
have this idea of some kind of self-service.
Many western movies have frequently used Spanish words like amigo
and hombre, although their pronunciation is not that of Spanish. Some o f
the most fashionable loan words of the 1970’s are the combinations of words
that have something to do with macho culture. Examples of these are macho
man, macho burger and machismo. Macho is very easily used as a part of a
compound word. One of the most common recent borrowings from Spanish
into English is the word chicano meaning an American citizen originally
coming from Mexico.
Place names of Spanish origin can mainly be found in Florida and the
Southwest. About a fifth of those in California are somehow connected with
182
saints’ names. Examples of these are San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Monica, and Santa Barbara. There are also cases where the original Spanish
names have been translated either totally or partly into English like Rio de los
Santos Reyes into Kings River, Rio de las Plumas into Feather River. The following state names remind us of the Spanish influence: California – earthly
paradise, Colorado – red color of the earth, Nevada – snowy, Texas – allies,
Montana – mountainous, New Mexico named after Mexico and Florida –
land of flowers.
American English has borrowed more words from Spanish than from any
other modern language. The Spanish influence on American life and language will continue. Many of America’s nearest neighbors like Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico are Spanish-speaking and immigration is continuously a
current topic. It seems that Spanish will play an important role in American
English in the future.
e) French contributions: There are thousands of words that have a
French origin, but most of them came into the English language after the
Norman Conquest of England (1066). The more recent influences on American English have sprung from southwestern Louisiana.
It is important to note that, of all languages which contributed to American English in its early days, French was the only one that had a generally
acknowledged prestige value. It was important in New England because it
was the language that Calvin had used. And it was highly regarded there as a
necessary part of any aristocratic family’s social – if not intellectual – attributes. Here are some French borrowings into AE that seem to be bona fide
Americanisms.
Flora and fauna: A gopher is a striped squirrel that lives in the ground
and is found on the prairies of North America. The word gopher is probably
from the French word gaufre meaning honeycomb; the small ground squirrel
was called a gopher because of its habit of making a very complicated underground burrow. The word gopher should not be confused with the slang
term, also an Americanism, gofer or go-fer, meaning an employee who performs minor tasks such as running errands. He is sent out for or “goes for”
whatever is needed: coffee, cigarettes, pizza, etc.
Exploration and travel: A cache began as a hiding place for an explorer’s supply of things, like fur or ammunitions. It can now mean either the
hiding place for illegal goods or the goods themselves: weapons or drugs,
for instance.
A carryall (French carriole) first meant a light one-horse wagon, but by
1811 had come to designate a large, heavy utility wagon which could carry
any and everything. A carryall may now be also a large basket or bag that,
like a big wagon, will carry any thing and everything.
183
Food: A la mode, meaning “with ice cream on top”, and spelled with or
without the accent, as in apple pie а la mode or chocolate cake а la mode,
may or may not be a true Americanism.
Chowder is definitely an American expression. The type that immediately comes to my mind is “Boston clam chowder,” a thick soup made of clams.
The word is definitely from the French word chaudiere or chaudron, meaning a large pot.
The dish served mainly in Louisiana and called jambalaya is similar to
paella but spicier. Specifically, Webster’s defines it as a Creole stew made of
rice and shrimp, ham, chicken, etc., with spices and often vegetables.
Way of life: Lagniappe, a term used almost exclusively in the South, particularly in Louisiana. A lagniappe is a small present given to a customer with
a purchase, something added, something extra, like the small samples you are
given at a perfumery when you purchase something. It may also be a tip.
In French, un bureau is the equivalent of a desk in English. It is also a
room, mon bureau or my office in which my desk is kept. When used in AE
it may denote a piece of furniture, but gained the extended meaning of an
agency for collecting and giving news or information or performing other
services (a credit bureau, a travel bureau). It may also be a government department, or a subdivision of a government department, – like, for example,
the F.B.I. – the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Land toponymy: A butte is a conspicuous hill, especially one with steep
sides and a flat top. It has given its name to a city in Montana, Butte.
The Americanism chute may variously mean a) a waterfall b) rapids in a
river, c) an inclined or vertical passage down which something may be slid
or dropped, like a slide for garbage or laundry: a garbage chute or a laundry
chute. It is obviously from the French word for fall. A chute-the-chute is an
amusement-park ride with a steep slide, often into a pool of water. The
American word prairie was borrowed directly from French.
French place names are found predominantly in three states, those of
Maine, Vermont and Louisiana. They have been given to countless rivers
and towns. Baton Rouge is on the Mississippi River. It is the French translation of the Choctaw word, itu-uma, red pole, in other words, a baton rouge.
The name of Detroit was first applied to the river flowing south from Lake
St. Clair into Lake Erie: in other words, a strait or narrow passage of water
connecting two lakes. Then it gave its name to the city of Detroit, Michigan.
Little Rock, Arkansas, is a loan translation of the name of the cliff above
the river at the location of the town: La Petite Roche, where the French established a trading post in 1722.
Next we have a list of true American expressions formed with the word
French:
French dressing as accepted in Europe is a salad dressing made of vinegar, oil, and various seasonings; vinaigrette; but in America it also denotes
184
an orange-colour, creamy salad dressing made commercially and served in
most American restaurants.
French fries are strips of potato that have been fried in deep fat.
French toast is sliced bread dipped in a batter of egg and milk and then fried.
Other terms with the word French once created by the English were used
by American colonists, or later by American soldiers who fought beside the
British during WWI:
The French pox or French disease was syphilis, which the French called
the English disease.
To take a French leave means a leave without polite goodbyes. Militarily,
it means to be absent without leave.
A French postcard was the name for a pornographic picture.
f) Italian influence: Some Italian contributions retained their original
form (pizza, spaghetti, ghetto), while others were anglicized (sonnet, gazette, balcony) when they crossed the ocean.
The Italians gave Americans and the whole world a lot of musical words
(concert, opera, serenade, sonata, aria, finale); musical directions (adagio,
allegro, crescendo); musical performers (tenor, diva, soprano); the musical scale (do, re, mi) and musical instruments (piano, piccolo, viola, mandolin, and Stradivarius, the famous violin maker), and artistic words such
as fresco, profile, impasto, model, studio, torso and bust.
Thanks to the Italian language Americans can attend gala balls, throw
confetti, and wear costumes. They hope that their evening won’t be ruined
by vagabonds, charlatans, ruffians, or bandits brandishing stilettos.
The Italians contributed to English catacombs, limbo, Madonnas, monsignors, cardinals and the cassocks they wear. And in the military field, they
made it possible for corporals to fire cannons, carbines and muskets when
attacked by squadrons, regiments, battalions or the cavalry.
Italy gave Americans laundries, cafeterias, and saloons, as well as banks,
cashiers, credit and debt, but the best Italian contributions are found on a
menu list – zucchini, ravioli, pasta, macaroni, and vermicelli (even if it does
mean “little worms”).
The early Christians scribbled messages and slogans on the walls of the
catacombs. This writing came to be known as graffito, or little scratch. We
still use the term graffiti for modern-day scratches on subway cars, buildings, etc.
g) English of American Blacks: In his book The English Language, David Crystal [6] writes that it was common that the slave-traders brought people of different language backgrounds together in their ships on purpose:
when the slaves spoke different languages and could not communicate efficiently, they were less likely to start planning rebellions. The result of this
was that several pidgin forms (mixtures of two or more languages) deve185
loped. When the slaves arrived in the Caribbean or somewhere along the
coast of North America, they continued to use the pidgin language among
themselves and communicate with the landowners.
R. Hendrickson wrote: “Pidgin Portuguese was the first of these lingua
francas, but Pidgin English replaced it by the 17th century, when the slave
trade to America began. The small vocabulary and simple syntax of Pidgin
English was ideal for ordering the polyglot slaves about, and since when the
long voyage ended, most slaves had a rudimentary knowledge of it, its use
was reinforced among many of the slaveholders to whom they were sold”
[13, 115].
According to David Crystal [6], Black English Vernacular is the variety
spoken by some 80% of present-day black Americans. Nowadays, Black
English Vernacular has become widely accepted as a rule-governed linguistic system.
Some of the most striking grammatical differences are, for example, the
use of double negation (e.g., I ain’t afraid of nothin’ or I ain’t see nothin’ like
dat no place) and the omission of the -s in the third person singular form of
the present tense (e.g., he walk). Moreover, the verb to be can be used in a
quite different way than in other forms of English. Cases in point are the use
of be done in the sense of will have and the use of been to express that something happened in the past, as in I been know your name.
The use of negative words to express positive ideas (e.g., You ugly! which
means just the opposite), which is common especially among young black
Americans.
Black English has several specific features when used in a social context.
A device called sweet talk also appears in Black English. This means that
new forms are often created to fit a particular setting or situation. In the rules
of Standard English grammar sweet talk would be considered bad English
because of its ignorance of grammatical rules.
Another device is known as eye dialect, e.g., “Where r u?” This refers to
changing the spelling of words without changing their sound.
Black English also often simplifies or weakens consonant clusters at the
ends of words. This tendency is quite strong; some words are regularly pronounced without the final consonant, such as jus’ and roun’. Nouns that end
in a cluster such as -s, -p, -t or -k in Standard English will change in Black
English so that those clusters are dropped and an -es is added in the plural.
Thus, desk becomes des’ and the plural form becomes desses; test becomes
tes’ and the plural becomes tesses.
The most common is the loss of the schwa in word-initial position, as in
’bout (about), ’gree (agree), ’low (allow). The unstressed word-initial syllables themselves may be lost, as in ’bacco (tobacco), ’cept (accept) and
’member (remember).
186
The use of invariant ‘be’ refers to repeated actions over a considerable
extent of time, and the distinction between he walk, he walkin’, he be walkin’
has no exact parallel in Standard English. These three verb forms have different negatives: He don’t walk, he ain’t walkin’, he don’t be walkin’.
The dropping of the inflectional plural suffix is another feature of Black
English (He hab two dog). The number two carries the plural. Speakers of
Black English make mooses (the plural of moose), or fishes (the plural of
fish). Words like childrens, foots or womens are also not unusual in Black
English.
Black slaves had no social status whatsoever in the 18th-century America. Therefore, it is easy to see why the languages used by African Americans
had comparatively little influence on the vocabulary of American English. A
few examples borrowing follow: okra, zombie, goober (peanut), chiggers
(клещ), voodoo, massa, buckra (a white man), jukebox (музыкальный
автомат), sweet talk/sweet mouth, mumbo jumbo (an African God, Mama
Dyumbo, idol).
Perhaps one day the U.S. will officially become a multidialectal nation.
This would finally give a well-deserved recognition to Black English, among
other dialects, so that it would no longer be described as a Non-Standard
language.
h) Yiddish borrowings: Among the three Jewish languages (Yiddish,
Hebrew, Dzhudezmo) that have had any influence in the U.S., Yiddish is the
one with the most native speakers nowadays.
Some words of Yiddish origin adapted into AE include:
kosher
– ritually pure, approved, acceptable
nebish (nebbish)
– a nonentity, a loser
shlemil (schlemiel)
– a fool, a loser
bagel
– a hard, doughnut-shaped roll
chairlady
– a female chairman
mish-mash/mish-mosh – a mix up, a mess; confusion
pastrami
– seasoned, smoked or pickled beef, served as
a cold cut
schlock
– cheaply made, defective (slang)
schnapps
– brandy; intoxicating spirits
Most of the loans from Yiddish into American English are productive
morphemes such as -nik, found in words like beatnik, peacenik, noisenik,
no-goodnik, etc. Another common productive morpheme, shm-, is used to
negate or deride the meaning of a word by repeating the word with shm- prefixed to the repetition, as in “Doctor says she has a serious virus? Virusshmirus, as long as she’s healthy.”
Some loans are syntactical patterns (with an attendant intonation), which
have become part of at least passive repertoire of American expressions.
187
Examples include: I should have such luck. Great art it isn’t! It shouldn’t
happen to a dog! With friends like you, who needs enemies! For this I drove
five miles! I need it like a hole in the head!
Some characteristics peculiar to Yiddish are presented in the use of already for now at the end of a sentence Let’s go, already! in answers to a
question with a question How is it going? How should it go? the declarative
form in questions This is America?, the use of double negatives He don’t
know nothin’.
k) Slavic / Russian borrowings:
Slavs can be found in large settlements in the Pennsylvanian, Colorado, and
New Mexican mining regions. There are also a lot of Slavic immigrants in industrial towns. Slavic immigrant groups living in the U.S. have challenged the
assimilation in the great American melting pot through all times, because they
see themselves as belonging to a distinct group with its own language, culture
and traditions. Because of this restrain to assimilate, not many Slavic and Russian words were borrowed into AE, e.g. babushka, pirogi, Russian roulette.
Russian words (5.5 million Russians live in the U.S. at present) are used
in the U.S. to exemplify terms that have come into the English language because optional terms simply did not exist: sable, samovar, polka, robot, troika, Bolshevik, commissar, sputnik, perestroika.
Conclusion: As the U.S. is the country of immigrants and virtually a
multicultural society, its language (AE), no doubt, has developed under a
strong influence coming from a variety of languages and cultures of various
ethnicities populating the country.
AE today carries in itself many peculiar characteristic features of region,
social and economic class, and level of education. AE is the most powerful
instrument which cements the persistence and the strength of the national
American idea and serves as a powerful tool for globalization.
SUMMARY
1. The history of AE counts more than three centuries. The English
language first came to North America at the beginning of the 17th century.
The first (early) period (beginning of the 17th – end of the 18th centuries) is
characterized by the formation of American dialects of the English language.
The second period (19th – 20th centuries) is characterized by the creation of
American variant of the English language.
2. American English (AE) differs from British English (BE) in
vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and spelling.
3. Native American languages were one of the strongest forces to shape
the language in the New World.
188
4. Hollanders, Germans, Spaniards, Italians and French contributed
many very important words to AE.
5. Black English Vernacular is the variety spoken by some 80% of
present-day black Americans.
6. American English today carries in itself characteristic features of
various ethnicities. It is the most powerful instrument which cements the
persistence and the strength of the national idea.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What influences did the English language in America fall under?
2. What is the general definition of Americanisms?
3. What is the difference between archaisms and neologisms?
4. What characterized the process of word formation in AE?
5. What does the comparative analysis of ranges of meanings of the
same words in AE and BE (e.g., store, cracker, corn, etc.) show?
6. What American word groups are easily accepted by the British?
7. What are most striking pronunciation differences between BE and AE?
8. What are the most noticeable differences in grammar?
9. Who influenced AE spelling?
10. What languages and cultures did AE borrow from?
11. What are the borrowings from Native American languages (French,
German, Italian, etc.)?
Unit
U.S. EDUCATION
11
This unit will describe the U.S. education system, and types of
schools. It portrays:
U.S. education history;
the role of the federal and state governments, and the local
community;
organizational structure;
preschool education;
compulsory education: elementary school, middle school,
high school;
basic curriculum structure, electives, additional options for
gifted students, standardized testing;
higher school education: colleges and universities;
public vs. private schools: primary, secondary and tertiary
education, cost, the status ladder.
190
Key Words and Proper Names: alumni, athletic prowess, civics,
college-bound students, community college, compulsory education, crèche, curriculum, electives, elementary school, freshman,
junior, grade, guidance counseling, middle school, high school,
postgraduate study, proficiency, senior, sophomore, standardized
testing, state commissioner of education, superintendent of public
instruction, tertiary, top tier, transcript, undergraduate study, vocational and technical education;
Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses,
the Ivy League, the No Child Left Behind Act; ACT (American College Testing Program), ETS (Educational Testing Service), GRE
(graduate schools in general), the LSAT (test for law school), SAT
(Scholastic Aptitude Test); the GMAT (test for business school), or
the MCAT (test for medicine school).
STATISTICS [40]: Among the U.S. adult population, over 85% has completed high school, and 30% has received at least a bachelor’s degree. The
average salary for college graduates is US $51,000, exceeding the national
average by more than US $23,000. Literacy in the U.S.A. is estimated at
99%. The 2011 unemployment rate for high school graduates was 9.4%;
the rate for college graduates was 4.9% with weekly earnings more than
US$600.
From the U.S. Census Bureau, the median salary of an individual who
has only a high school diploma is US$27,967. The median salary of an individual who has a bachelor’s degree is US$47,345. Certain degrees, such as
in engineering, typically result in salaries far exceeding high school graduates, whereas degrees in teaching and social work fall below.
In 2011 there were 74.1 million students, of them 35 million – prekindergarten through Grade 8 students; 14.8 million – Grades 9-12 students;
5.8 million – private school students; 18.5 million – college and university
students (10.5 million women, 8 million men). Of them, 10% women are
engineers, 18% women are computer science specialists.
U.S. education history: When colonists from Europe first arrived in
America, they had to decide upon a means which would preserve their cultural heritage. The answer was the town school. 30 years after founding the
first settlement in Massachusetts in 1620, all towns were required to hire a
schoolmaster to teach reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as religion;
larger towns were required to establish grammar schools to prepare children
for the university. At the university level, Harvard (Massachusetts) was
founded in 1636, and William and Mary college (Virginia) in 1693. In 1776,
on the eve of the American Revolution, America had 14 colleges. The whole
191
idea of schooling developed with the passing of time. Schooling meant not
only preserving parts of classical education, but also teaching the skills necessary to build a new North American nation. Americans freely borrowed
from English, French and German schools. The result was that by the mid19th century the same school would offer its students Latin and animal husbandry, arithmetic and home economics.
As Americans moved west, their belief in schooling remained unchanged,
but the new settings on the Midwestern prairies and the Southwestern deserts called for adaptation. Each state, with its own constitutional jurisdiction over schools, determined each school’s own curricula, standards and
purposes. Each community raised funds for school buildings and teachers.
Although these factors led to a considerable diversity, the role of the school
in America was similar in all parts of the country.
The Merrill Act of 1862 passed by Congress revolutionized American
higher education. The Act granted public lands to states for the sites of institutions teaching agriculture and mechanics, to prepare students for “the ordinary pursuits and professions of life” [19, 83]. These colleges legitimized
vocational and technical education and grew much more rapidly than liberal
arts colleges created in imitation of the older private universities of the East
Coast. Today’s great state universities have grown from these pragmatic
roots.
In 1834, Pennsylvania established a completely free, publicly supported,
and publicly controlled state school system. By the end of the Civil War in
1865, education from primary school through university had become available to all, and attracted to its service many of the best-trained members of
society. The public school became the vessel in which a distinctive American
civilization was shaped.
On the 19th-century frontier, the school, along with the church and jail,
was a key public building in the community. It was the settlers’ social center
used outside school hours for community meetings, adult education, farmer
training, youth recreation and social gatherings. School unified rural and village communities. Town pride was associated with the town school’s athletic valor. Attendance at athletic contests brought the whole population into
the school’s life, helping to integrate a diverse population into one community.
Colleges and universities also served the purpose of social integration.
State universities bear the name of their state, and their achievements were
recognized as state achievements. The work of their technical and agricultural faculties was to facilitate the state’s development.
In fact, schools became an Americanizing agent for the massive numbers of new immigrants who arrived in great waves during the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. The schools, which taught exclusively in English, re192
quired students to take courses in grammar and literature, American history,
civics and civilization. Indeed, 21st-century America is the product of a
well-schooled affection for technology.
American education today reflects national and social problems. Because
it is principally supported by public money, it reflects economic stresses.
And because it is one of the vessels in which “America” is molded, it reflects
contradictory theories of how to choose the right pattern for the future. For
example, one of the most important issues in American education during the
past decades has been the curriculum reform.
So, in the late 1960’s, academic curricula were changed to suit student’s
interests and tastes. On high school level, the “3 R’s” – reading, writing and
arithmetic – were badly neglected in favor of experimentation and more
“relevant” elective courses. Resulting national test scores showed an alarming decline in student proficiency. Thus, during the mid-70’s, there was a
marked departure from experimentation and a return to the basics. Many
states began to administer proficiency tests for graduating high school students.
This emphasis on the basics was supplemented in the 80’s by a realization
of the need for training (or at least orientation) in more technologically based
fields like computer science and communications. Traditional courses in science and the humanities were also reemphasized. At the turn of the 21st century, most states increased the number of courses required for graduation.
Authority over education: The U.S. Constitution divided the powers
between the federal government and the states and left the responsibility for
education to the states by keeping silent on the subject. The 10th Amendment to the Constitution provides that “the powers not delegated to the U.S.
by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the
states respectively, or to the people” [36]. So, the authority over education
and the responsibility for organizing and administering it was placed in the
hands of the states, agencies and institutions within the states.
Role of the Federal Government: In the past, the U.S. people were reluctant to have the federal government pay for, and thus possibly control,
education. But when educational costs began to outrun the ability of state
and local governments to pay for them, the people began to turn to the federal government for assistance.
The responsibilities of the federal government toward education today
are to provide encouragement, financial support and leadership. The U.S.
Congress has constitutional powers to allocate funds for education, but it
has no direct control over education. Several departments within the federal government (e.g., the Department of Defense and the Department of
Agriculture) also make large expenditures on specific educational programs.
193
The agency which is primarily responsible for the U.S. education is
called the Department of Education. It provides leadership and cooperates
with institutions and professional associations in efforts to strengthen and
improve public education.
Role of the state government: Since the states are responsible for their
education systems, their practices and policies differ from one another. In
each state, the department of education and its controlling board of education and chief school officer are responsible for the operation of the school
system.
The state board of education determines educational policies in compliance with the state laws. Board members are elected by the people or appointed by the state governor and usually serve from 2 to 6 years. They are
empowered to formulate policies relating to educational affairs such as allocation of school funds, certification of teachers, textbooks and library services, and provision of records and educational statistics. The key education
official and chief executive officer of the state board of education is called
the superintendent of public instruction or state commissioner of education.
He may be elected by the people, or appointed by the governor of the state or
by the board of education. Superintendents or commissioners usually serve
from 1 to 6 years; their term of office usually is determined by the board.
They are responsible for administering the state school system and implementing policies adopted by the board.
Role of the local community: There are approximately 13,900 school
districts in the U.S. The great majority are run by regularly elected boards of
citizens (5 to 7 in number). These boards collect taxes, construct buildings,
determine instructional policies, employ teachers and administrators, and
generally oversee the day-to-day operation of the schools. The superintendent is responsible for the execution of the policies set down by the local
board of education. Together, the superintendent and the board prepare the
school budget, determine the amount of local taxes (usually property taxes)
necessary to finance the school program, employ teachers and other school
personnel, provide and maintain the school buildings, purchase equipment
and supplies, and provide transportation for pupils.
Organizational structure: The U.S. education system comprises three
basic levels: elementary, secondary and higher education (tertiary). It also
includes vocational training, adult education, schools or classes for special
types of children, and kindergartens. Parents may choose whether to send
their children to local free public schools, or to private schools which charge
fees.
The vast majority of students at the first two levels go to public schools.
Most of those who prefer private schools attend church-sponsored parochial
schools.
194
Interesting to know: In the U.S., parochial education refers to the schooling obtained in elementary and high schools that are maintained by Roman Catholic parishes, Protestant churches, or Jewish organizations.
The school year is usually 9 months, from early September to mid-June.
The common pattern of organization, referred to as the 6-3-3 plan, includes
elementary school in grades 1 through 6, junior high school in grades 7
through 9 and senior high school in grades 10 through 12. The older 8-4
plan, in which grades 1 through 8 were the elementary school and 9 through
12 the high school, continues in many localities. There is also a 6-6 plan,
grades 1 through 6 in elementary school and 7 through 12 in high school.
Today, unified systems operating both elementary and high schools most
commonly use a 6-3-3 plan or a 6-2-4 variation.
Preschool education: There are no mandatory public preschool or
crèche programs in the U.S. A child’s introduction to formal education is
usually in kindergarten classes operated in most public school systems.
There are also nursery schools for children between 3 and 5 years. These
preschool education programs prepare children for elementary school. The
programs are flexible and are designed to help the child grow in self-reliance, learn to get along with others, and form good work and play habits. In
large cities, there are upper-class preschools catering to the children of the
wealthy.
As these schools are seen as the first step towards the Ivy League, there
are even counselors who specialize in assisting parents and their toddlers
through the preschool admissions process.
Compulsory education: In the U.S., all students must attend mandatory
schooling starting with 1st grade and following through 12th grade (first
grade is not the same as kindergarten, which is often not compulsory). In
practice, parents may educate their own children at home (although not
widespread), or send their children to either a public or private institution,
though almost all students enter public schools because they are “free” (tax
burdens by school districts vary from area to area).
Most children enter kindergarten at the age of 3, 4 or 5, then elementary
school at the age of 6, and leave compulsory education at the age of 18 when
their senior year (Grade 12) of high school ends. Students attend school for
around 8 hours per day, 185 days per year. Most schools have a summer
break period for about two and half months from mid-June through August.
Originally, “summer vacation,” as it is called, allowed students to participate
in the harvest period during the summer. School begins on the first Monday
in September.
Elementary school: (Kindergarten through Grade 4/5/6): The main purpose of the elementary school is the general intellectual and social develop195
ment of the child from 6 to 12 or 15 years of age. Education is mostly not
standardized at this level. In general, a student learns through extremely rudimentary algebra in mathematics, grammar and spelling in English (or language), and a year of state, national, and world history. Science varies widely from district to district and is one of the most under-taught subjects; most
elementary teachers have a degree in English or education.
Promotion from one grade to the next is based on the pupil’s achievement of specified skills in reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, history, geography, music and art.
Students do not choose a course structure and remain in a single classroom throughout the school day, with the exceptions of physical education
(more commonly known as P.E.) and music, art or crafts classes.
Middle school: (Grades 5/6/7 through 8) or “junior high school” and
“intermediate school” are all interchangeable names for schools. At this
time, students begin to take classes from several teachers, unlike in elementary school where all classes are with the same teacher. The classes are usually a strict set of science, math, English, social science courses, reading
and/or technology class and a mandatory physical education or P.E. class.
Student-chosen courses, known as electives, are generally limited to only 1
or 2 classes.
High school: (Grades 9 through 12) runs from grades 9 through 12. In
high school, students obtain much more control of their education, and may
choose even their core classes.
Students mostly take a broad variety of classes. The curriculum varies
widely in quality and rigidity; e.g. some states consider 70 (on a 100 point
scale) to be a passing grade while others consider it to be 75.
The following are the typical minimum course sequences that one must
take in order to obtain a high school diploma:
Science (biology, chemistry, and physics),
Mathematics (usually 3 years minimum, including algebra, geometry,
and/or trigonometry),
English (4 years),
Social Science (various history, government, and economics courses,
always including American history),
Physical education (at least 1 year).
Many states require a “Health” course in which students learn anatomy,
nutrition, and first aid; the basic concepts of sexuality and birth control; and
why to avoid destructive substances like illegal drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol.
A recent study by the National Commission on Excellence in Education
(A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform) [40] recommended a program of 5 “new basics” for the final four years of secondary school.
The minimum course of study for any student seeking a high school diploma
196
would include: 4 years of English, 3 years of mathematics, 3 years of science, 3 years of social studies and one-half year of computer science. For
the college-bound, the Commission strongly recommended 2 years of foreign language in high school.
Interesting to know: Education terminology in American English is
somewhat different from British English. In informal speech, Americans
usually put the grade number first as an ordinal number (“12th grade”) as
opposed to the Commonwealth usage of putting the grade number after
the word “grade” as a cardinal number (“Grade 12”). It is used in the
U.S. only in formal contexts.
Electives: In general, basic subjects are required in the 10th through
12th grades, but in some high schools students may elect an increasing proportion of their work according to their interests. Larger schools may offer
a selection of courses aimed at three or more levels – academic, vocational
and general.
1. The academic program is designed to prepare students for college.
Among the subjects added to the core are more advanced mathematics and
science courses and foreign languages.
2. The vocational program may give training in 4 fields: agricultural education, which prepares the students for farm management and operation;
business education, which trains students for the commercial field; home
economics, which trains students for home management, child care and care
of the sick; and industrial education, which provides training for jobs in mechanical, manufacturing, building and other trades. This program prepares
students either for employment or further training.
3. The general or comprehensive program provides features of the academic and vocational types. Its introductory courses give an appreciation of
the various trades and industrial arts rather than train students for specific
jobs. Those who do not expect to go to college or enter a particular trade immediately, but who want the benefits of schooling and a high school diploma, often follow the general course.
In fact, the availability of such courses depends upon each particular
school’s financial situation.
Common types of electives include:
Visual arts (drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, film),
Performing arts (drama, band, orchestra, dance),
Shop (woodworking, metalworking, automobile repair),
Computers (word processing, programming, graphic design),
Athletics (football, baseball, basketball, track and field, swimming,
gymnastics, water polo, soccer),
197
Publishing (journalism),
Foreign languages (French, German, and Spanish; Chinese, Latin,
Greek and Japanese are less common).
Additional options for gifted students: Not all high schools contain the
same rigorous coursework as others. Most high and middle schools have
classes known as “honors” classes for motivated and gifted students, where
the quality of education is usually higher and much tougher.
If funds are available, a high school may provide Advanced Placement
(AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses, which are special forms
of honors classes. AP or IB courses are usually taken during the 3rd or 4th
years of high school, either (1) as a replacement for a typical 3rd-year course
(e.g., taking AP U.S. History as a replacement for standard U.S. History), (2)
a refresher of an earlier course (e.g., taking AP Biology in the 4th year even
though one already took Biology as a freshman), or (3) simply as a way to
study something interesting during one’s senior year (e.g., AP Economics).
Most postsecondary institutions take AP or IB exam results into consideration in the admissions process. Because AP and IB courses are supposed
to be the equivalent of freshman year college courses, postsecondary institutions may grant unit credit which enables students to graduate early. Both
public schools and private schools in wealthy neighborhoods are able to provide many more AP and IB course options than impoverished inner-city high
schools, and this difference is seen as a major cause of the differing outcomes for their graduates.
Also, in states with well-developed community college systems, there
are often mechanisms by which gifted students may seek permission from
their school district to attend community college courses full-time during the
summer and weekends and evenings during the school year. The units earned
this way can often be transferred to one’s university, and can facilitate early
graduation.
Standardized testing: Under the No Child Left Behind Act, all American
states must test their students statewide to ensure that they are achieving the
desired level of minimum education. The Act also requires that students and
schools show “adequate yearly progress.” This means they must show some
improvement each year.
Most young Americans graduate from schools with high school diplomas
upon a satisfactory completion of a specified number of courses. Students
are usually graded from A (excellent) to F (fail) in each course, which they
take, on the basis of a) performance in tests given at intervals throughout the
year, b) participation in class discussions and c) completion of written and
oral assignments. Locally developed end-of-the-year examinations are given
in many schools.
198
In some schools, most course credit is earned through mid-term and final
examinations/tests (in the middle and at the end of the semester).
During the 7th, 8th and 9th grades, guidance counseling is important as
the pupils begin to plan their careers and select subjects that will be useful in
their chosen work. Guidance counseling continues throughout the senior
high school years and into college, particularly in the junior college or first
two years of the four-year college.
Students receive “report cards” at least twice a year (in some school districts, up to 6 times) which indicate the grades they have received in each of
the subjects they are studying. High schools maintain a school “transcript”
which summarizes the courses taken and the grades obtained for each student. A copy of the transcript is normally submitted to colleges when a student applies for admission. During high school, students, usually in their
junior year (11th grade), may take one or more standardized tests depending
on their postsecondary education preferences and their local graduation requirements (some students choose not to take the tests at all).
College-bound students generally take college admission tests during
their last two years of high school. These tests are administered by the privately operated Educational Testing Service (ETS) and American College
Testing Program (ACT), and are mostly multiple-choice. The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and ACT are the most common standardized tests that students take when applying to college.
Students may take the SAT, ACT, or both depending upon the college the
student plans to apply to for admission. They are designed primarily to
measure aptitude and verbal and mathematical skills rather than substantive
knowledge. Test scores, added to high school transcripts and recommendations from teachers, form the basis for college acceptance.
Admission decisions are based on a number of academic criteria, including high school coursework, grade point average and class rank, recommendations from high school teachers; the impression applicants make during interviews at the university, and admissions test score, as well as a more flexible
set of nonacademic characteristics, such as demonstrated leadership ability,
creativity, athletic abilities and achievements and community service.
Many students apply to more than one college or university and enroll in
one from among those that offer them admission.
Interesting to know: One innovation in the American secondary school organization includes programs to keep the school buildings in use year round.
“Keep the school doors open” became a popular slogan among American
educators in the mid-70’s. They argued that closing most school buildings
from June to September was a waste of time and talent and, more often than
not, an unnecessary break in the learning process. Many schools now offer
199
summer courses – some of which are remedial in nature – which students
may not have time to pursue during the regular school curriculum. More
often, the schools allow students to take additional courses, some at the advanced level, for which they receive college-level credit.
University education: Postsecondary education in the U.S. is known as
college or university and usually consists of 4 years of study at an institution
of higher learning.
According to UNESCO, the U.S. has the highest number of higher education students in the world. Out of more than three million students who
graduate from high school and compete for admission each year, about one
million go on for “higher education.”
There are 4,495 colleges, universities, and junior colleges in the country.
In 2008, 36% of enrolled students graduated from college in four years. 57%
completed their undergraduate requirements in six years, at the same college
they first enrolled in. The U.S. ranks 10th among industrial countries for
percentage of adults with college degrees.
American higher education includes institutions ranging from open-access two- and four-year institutions that admit all students to highly selective
research universities and liberal arts colleges that admit only a small fraction
of those who apply.
Degree-granting institutions are typically divided into 4 major groups:
1. Two-year colleges (often but not always community colleges) usually
offer the associate’s degree such as an Associate of Arts (A.A.); Associate in
Science (A.S.).
Community colleges are often open admissions, with low tuition. America’s 1,100 public two-year institutions enroll the largest share of undergraduates. They are run by the local municipality, usually the county. These institutions award associate’s degrees in vocational fields, prepare students for
transfer to four-year institutions, and provide a wide array of educational
services. These services range from specialized training for large employers,
to English language instruction for recent immigrants and recreational
courses.
Some community colleges have automatic enrollment agreements with a
local four-year college, where the community college provides the first 2
years of study and the four-year university provides the 3rd and 4th year of
study, all on one campus. For example, the University of Houston has partnered with community colleges in neighboring cities to provide bachelor’s
and master’s degrees in cities that are only served by community colleges.
We should remember that the community college awards the associate’s degree while colleges and universities award the bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
200
2. Four-year colleges (which usually have a larger number of students
and offer a greater range of studies than two-year colleges) offer the bachelor’s degree, such as the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science
(B.S.) or sometimes (but very rarely) another bachelor’s degree such as
Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.). The bachelor’s degree is by far the most
common type of undergraduate degree awarded.
Like in high school, the 4 undergraduate grades are also called freshman,
sophomore, junior, and senior years. In contrast to secondary education,
such grades are not assigned or described by numerical designations.
Four-year institutions in the U.S. which emphasize the liberal arts are
liberal arts colleges. They are known for being residential and for having
smaller enrollment and class size. Most are private. In addition, some offer
experimental curricula.
Interesting to know: Americans capitalize the full name of a postsecondary
degree when written out in full with reference to a specific field – for example, one always writes “Bachelor of Arts” – but not when referring to generic
classes of degrees. Thus, bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctorate
are usually written without capitalization.
3. Universities are research-oriented institutions which provide both undergraduate and graduate education. For historical reasons, some universities – such as Boston College, Dartmouth College, and the College of William & Mary – have retained the term “college,” while some institutions use
the term “university.” A common practice is also to refer to different units
within universities as colleges or schools (what is referred to in other countries as faculties).
Graduate programs grant a variety of master’s degrees–such as the Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Science (M.S.), Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), or Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.). The master’s degree is either itself a terminal degree or prepares graduates for future advanced study
at the doctoral level.
The doctoral degree is the highest academic award and recognizes the
graduate’s ability to conduct independent research. The most common degree of this type is the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). Entrance into postgraduate programs usually depends upon a student’s undergraduate academic performance as well as their score on a standardized entrance exam like
the GRE (graduate schools in general), the LSAT (law), the GMAT (business), or the MCAT (medicine).
Some universities have professional schools, which are attended primarily by those who plan to be practitioners instead of academics (scholars/researchers). Examples include journalism school, business school, medical
201
school, law school, veterinary school, and dental school. Some programs,
such as medicine, have formal apprenticeship-like procedures like residency
and internship which must be completed after graduation, before one is considered to be fully trained. Other professional programs like law and business have no formal apprenticeship requirements after graduation (although
law school graduates must take the bar exam). Business schools often wish
to see several years of real-world work experience.
4. Technical institutions offer courses of from 6 months to 4 years duration and provide a wide variety of technical skills, from hair styling to business accounting or computer programming; but don’t award a degree. Many
technical institutions work with local companies and offer apprenticeship,
internship, which allow students to get real practical experience in their industry (and sometimes a sizeable paycheck) before they graduate.
In U.S. education, a course is a unit of teaching that typically lasts one
academic term, which is led by one or more instructors (teachers or professors), has a fixed roster of students, and gives each student a grade and academic credit. There are different formats of course in universities:
the lecture course, where the instructor gives lectures with minimal
interaction;
the seminar, where students prepare and present their original written
work for discussion and critique;
the colloquium or reading course, where the instructor assigns readings
for each session which are then discussed by the members;
the tutorial course, where one or a small number of students work on a
topic and meet with the instructor weekly for discussion and guidance;
the laboratory course, where most work takes place in a laboratory.
Unlike most European university courses, grades are generally determined by all of these kinds of work, not only the final examination.
Public vs. private schools: In the U.S., students in most areas have a
choice between free taxpayer-funded public schools and private schools.
Private schools charge varying rates depending on geographic location and
religious status. For example, some churches will partially subsidize a private school for its members.
Although free to all students, most public schools are moderately underfunded by their state or city governments, and can only afford to employ
teachers with bachelor’s and associate’s degrees. Class sizes vary widely;
some states achieve average sizes of less than 20 students, but class sizes can
run as high as 40 or 45. It is clear that large class sizes contribute to discipline problems and a poor learning environment. Meanwhile, students in
public schools in wealthier districts are often more advanced and better prepared than students in private schools. In poorer districts, teachers often
must buy materials for their students out of their own salaries.
202
In contrast, private schools usually maintain high quality facilities and a
sufficient number of teachers to keep class sizes lower than in public schools,
generally around 15 and usually capped at 20. This is possible partly because private schools pay their teachers less (often about 80% of the public
school pay scale) and partly because private schools are at liberty to refuse
any more students after they have reached their full capacity, whereas public
schools are required by law to give education to anyone who signs up. As a
result, admission is competitive, often based on university entrance exams
like the SAT.
Some private schools charge high tuition, aggressively recruit teachers
with advanced degrees, provide a challenging and varied curriculum, and
promote themselves as the route to the most prestigious universities. Discipline also tends to be stricter in private schools than in public schools, as
persistently unruly students may be expelled and forced to return to the public school system.
Colleges and universities: Each state in the U.S. maintains its own public university system, which is always nonprofit. A few states (like California and Arizona) have two separate state university systems. The more prestigious one is usually known as “University of [state name]” and its faculty
are expected to conduct advanced cutting-edge research in addition to teaching, while the less prestigious is usually known as “[state name] State University” and is focused on quality of teaching and producing the next generation of teachers. Some states have experimented with the two-tier framework and then returned to a single, unified public university system.
Cost: The vast majority of students lack the financial resources to pay
tuition up-front and must rely on student loans and scholarships from their
university, the federal government, or a private lender. All universities, but a
few charity institutions, charge tuition to all students, although scholarships
(both merit-based and need-based) are widely available.
Students often use scholarships, student loans, or grants, rather than paying all tuition out-of-pocket. Student loans usually carry a lower interest rate
than other loans and are usually issued by the government. Often they are
supplemented by student grants which do not have to be repaid.
A scholarship is an award of access to an institution. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria. The most common scholarships may be classified as:
Merit-based: These awards are based on a student’s athletic, academic,
artistic or other abilities, scores on the ACT and SAT standardized tests;
Need-based: These awards are based on the student and family’s
financial record;
Student-specific: These are scholarships where applicants must initially
qualify by race, gender, religion, family and medical history, or many other
student-specific factors;
203
Career-specific: These are scholarships awarded by a college or
university to students planning to pursue a specific field of study. Often the
most generous awards are given to students pursuing careers in high-need
areas such as education or nursing.
Generally, private universities charge much higher tuition than their public counterparts, which rely on state funds to make up the difference. Because each state supports its own university system with state taxes, most
public universities charge much higher rates for out-of-state students. Private universities are generally considered to be of higher quality than public
universities, because the absence of state funds tends to drive private universities to offer better services to students.
Annual undergraduate tuition varies widely from state to state. In 2009,
average annual tuition at a public university (for residents of the state) was
US$7,020. Private schools are typically much higher, although prices vary
widely from “no-frills” private schools to highly specialized technical institutes. Depending upon the type of school and program, annual graduate program tuition can vary from US$15,000 to as high as US$50,000. Tuition
does not include living expenses (rent, room/board, etc.) or additional fees
that schools add on such as “activities fees” or health insurance.
The annual Total Cost (including all costs associated with a full-time
post-secondary schooling, such as tuition and fees, books and supplies, room
and board), as reported by for 2010, was:
Public University (4 years): US$27,967 (per year)
Private University (4 years): US$40,476 (per year)
Total, four-year schooling cost:
Public University: US$81,356
Private University: US$161,904 [40].
College costs are rising at the same time that state appropriations for aid
are shrinking. This has led to debate over funding at both the state and local
levels. Between 1982 and 2007, college tuition and fees rose three times as
fast as median family income, in constant dollars.
The debt of the average college graduate for student loans in 2010 was
US$23,200.
The status ladder: American colleges and universities are notorious for
being somewhat status-conscious. Their faculty, staff, alumni, students, and
applicants all monitor unofficial “rankings” produced by magazines like
U.S. News and World Report and test preparation services like The Princeton Review.
These rankings are generally sorted by prestige, which in turn is often
based on factors like brand recognition, selectivity in admissions, the generosity of alumni donors, and the volume of faculty research.
204
In terms of brand recognition, the most well-known university in the U.S.
is Harvard University. Harvard alumni are prominent in American business,
education, science, law, government, and media; but more than this, Harvard
has become a “top” school in the public mind. It is featured in numerous
movies as the ultimate example of the academic “ivory tower.”
It is almost universally acknowledged that the most prestigious universities are other members of the Ivy League athletic conference on the East
Coast, but it is not necessarily true that they offer a better education.
Beneath these in status are a small group of elite private universities scattered around the country. After these come the top land-grant public universities, and then the vast majority of universities and colleges (public and
private). At the bottom are community colleges, which by law are usually
required to accept all local residents who seek to attend and rarely offer anything beyond an associate degree.
This “ladder” is not absolute, however. Some non-Ivy League private
universities such as M.I.T. and Stanford University can rival Ivy League
schools in prestige, especially in newer or more specialized fields of study.
Likewise, some elite public universities, such as UC Berkeley, are comparable to their private counterparts (usually in terms of graduate education and
research, but not necessarily in terms of undergraduate education).
There are several small private liberal arts colleges (like Amherst and the
Claremont Colleges) known by their small class sizes and high-quality
teaching; they can often offer an educational experience superior to that at
larger universities.
There is no absolute correlation between prestige and quality of education, and most schools are better in some areas than in others. As with many
issues concerning education in the U.S., the status ladder is controversial.
SUMMARY
1. When colonists from Europe first arrived in America, they chose the
town school as a means which would preserve their cultural heritage. School
became an Americanizing agent for the massive numbers of new immigrants.
2. The U.S. Constitution placed the authority over education and the
responsibility for organizing and administering it in the hands of the states,
agencies and institutions within the states.
3. Education in the United States comprises three basic levels:
elementary, secondary and higher education (tertiary).
4. There are no mandatory public preschool or crèche programs in the
U.S. But all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with 1st grade
and following through 12th grade.
205
5. The elementary school runs from 6 to 12 or 15 years of age, middle
school or junior high school, and intermediate school includes grades 5/6/7
through 8. High school runs from grades 9 through 12.
6. In high school, students obtain much more control of their education,
and may choose their core classes. Larger schools may offer a selection of
courses aimed at three or more levels – academic, vocational and general.
7. Most high and middle schools have classes known as honors classes
for motivated and gifted students, where the quality of education is usually
higher and much tougher.
8. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, all American states must test
their students statewide to ensure that they are achieving the desired level of
minimum education. College-bound students generally take college
admission tests during their last two years of high school. These tests are
administered by the privately operated Educational Testing Service (ETS)
and American College Testing Program (ACT), and are mostly multiplechoice. The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and ACT are the most common
standardized tests that students take when applying to college.
9. Postsecondary education in the U.S. is known as college or university
which consists of achieving a bachelor’s degree (4 years of study) and 4
years later master’s degree. Three or more years after the completion of a
master’s degree, students may earn a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or other
doctoral degree. Entrance into postgraduate programs usually depends upon
a student’s undergraduate academic performance as well as their score on a
standardized entrance exam like the GRE (graduate schools in general), the
LSAT (law), the GMAT (business), or the MCAT (medicine).
10. The U.S. students have a choice between free taxpayer-funded
public schools and private schools. Private schools charge varying rates
depending on geographic location and religious status.
11.American colleges and universities are somewhat status-conscious.
But the status ladder is controversial. There is no absolute correlation between
prestige and quality of education, and most schools are better in some areas
than in others.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. How does education influence Americans’ well-being?
2. What role did school play in the American history?
3. Why do people say that American education system is decentralized?
How is American education financed?
4. How is American education organized? Give examples of various
education patterns.
206
5. What do you know about American school curricula?
6. Why must all American states test their students statewide? What tests
do you know?
7. Do post-secondary education and postgraduate studies differ? If yes,
in what?
8. What scholarships can American students apply for?
9. What are the routes to the most prestigious universities?
10. Why do University faculty, staff, alumni, students, and applicants
monitor unofficial “rankings” produced by magazines like U.S. News and
World Report and test preparation services like The Princeton Review?
11. Is there a direct correlation between prestige and quality of education?
Unit
12
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
IN THE UNITED STATES
This unit tells us about tourist attractions of the U.S.A. focusing
primarily on Washington, D.C. as the home of numerous national
landmarks and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the
country. The readers will go on an outdoor excursion around the
Mall and then visit the most notable museums located on the Mall.
Key Words and Proper Names: under the auspices of, lucrative,
to promote tourism, tourist destinations, natural wonders, gambling venues, historic landmarks, pursue a noble mission, a reflecting pool, the promotion and dissemination of knowledge, by a bequest of, out of wedlock, mammal, curvilinear;
208
Pierre L’Enfant, James Smithson, Duke of Northumberland, Degas, Renoir, Sisley, Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Claude Monet,
Edouard Manet, Toulouse Lautrec, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Rodin,
Moore, Picasso, Modigliani, Perugino, El Greco, Leonardo Da Vinci,
Chagall, Picasso, Matisse, Pollock, Warhol, Calder, Charles Lindbergh;
The U.S. Capitol, the Mall, Supreme Court Building, Union Station, National Archives Building, White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Tidal Basin
(with the Japanese cherry trees), Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution, and FDR Memorial., the Ulysses Grant Memorial, the Pentagon, the Iwo Jima
memorial (or Marine Corps War memorial), Arlington National
Cemetery, the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns,
the National Archives, the Hirshhorn Museum, National Air and
Space Museum, National Museum of American History, National
Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of Natural History, National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery, Yosemite National Park, Newburyport, the Wailing Wall, Basilica of the National
Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Washington National
Cathedral.
THE U.S.A. HAS A LARGE AND LUCRATIVE TOURISM INDUSTRY serving millions of international and domestic tourists. Tourism in
the U.S. is mostly promoted at the state and local level. The federal government in addition to promoting tourism sets visa entry requirements.
As one of the largest and most diverse countries in the world, the U.S.
boasts of having an amazing amount of tourist destinations ranging from the
skyscrapers of New York and Chicago, the natural wonders of Yellowstone
and Alaska to the sunny beaches of California, Florida and Hawaii.
Tourists visit the U.S. to see natural wonders, gambling venues, historic
landmarks, and its cities. Among the most famous are:
Natural Wonders
Death Valley
Grand Canyon
Yellowstone National Park
Yosemite National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National
Park
Gambling Venues
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Detroit, Michigan
Las Vegas, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
209
Historic Landmarks
Liberty Bell
Washington Monument
Statue of Liberty
The Alamo
Mount Rushmore National
Memorial
Cities
Boston, Massachusetts – history and universities
Chicago, Illinois – skyscrapers
Honolulu, Hawaii – beaches and exotic culture and
cuisine
Los Angeles, California – beaches and the movie
industry
Miami, Florida – beaches and the Everglades
Newburyport, Massachusetts- birthplace of the US
Coast Guard
New York City, New York – the Big Apple,
skyscrapers
Orlando, Florida – beaches and Walt Disney World
San Diego, California – tourism connected with
Tijuana, Mexico
San Francisco, California – home of the Golden
Gate
Washington, District of Columbia – the nation’s capital
city
With so many tourist attractions it’s tempting to discuss all of them, so
let’s focus on Washington, D.C., the capital of the nation.
It is the home of numerous national landmarks and is one of the most
popular tourist destinations in the U.S. It is a very beautiful place, especially
in the spring when Japanese cherry trees are in full blossom. The functional
and aesthetic beauty of Washington D.C. remains true to the dreams of its
name-sake and the designs of its architect Pierre L’Enfant.
Atop Jenkins Hill, the highest point in the city stands proudly a domed
Capitol, overlooking the entire city. And the city springs from it in all directions, with its broad avenues, arising like spokes from the focal point.
The U.S. Capitol is the seat of the Legislative Branch of the U.S. Federal
Government. It is an American icon, a symbol of democracy and the most
prominent landmark in Washington, D.C. Its both wings belong to the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The dominant feature of the Capitol is its Dome. Crowned by the 19-foot
tall statue of “Freedom”, a spectacular roof for the Great Rotunda rises from
the middle of the Capitol. The statue of Freedom is often mistaken for Pocahontas. The U.S. Capitol is the tallest building in the city.
The Rotunda serves as the Capitol’s chief ceremonial room, best known
as a place where presidents have lain in state prior to burial.
There is simply an incredible number of famous buildings, memorials and
monuments to visit in Washington, D.C.: the Capitol, Supreme Court Buil210
ding, Union Station, National Archives Building, White House, Washington
Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Tidal Basin
(with the Japanese cherry trees), Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Library of
Congress, Smithsonian Institution, and FDR Memorial. They are all located
downtown on or within a walking distance from the National Mall.
The National Mall is a large, open area in the center of Washington that
features many of the monuments to American leaders and connects the
Washington Monument, the White House and the U.S. Capitol building.
The Washington Monument (the most important monument in Washington, D.C.) is at the western end of the Mall and in the heart of the cross
formed by two imaginary lines, one line going through the Mall from the
West to the East between the Lincoln Memorial and the U.S. Capitol Building, and the other crossing the Mall and going from the North to the South
between the White House and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
The Washington Monument is a large white-colored obelisk surrounded by 50 American flags at the start of the National Mall in Washington,
D.C., built as a memorial to George Washington, the first U.S. President and
the leader of the revolutionary Continental Army.
The monument is made of marble, granite, and sandstone. It was designed by Robert Mills, a prominent American architect of the 1840’s. It was
planned to be of such magnitude and beauty as to be an object of pride to the
American people, and admiration to all who see it. Its material was intended
to be wholly American, and brought from each state. So, each state participated in the glory of contributing materials and funds to its construction.
American Indian tribes, professional organizations, societies, businesses,
and foreign nations donated stones that were 1.2 by 0.6 by 0.3 to 0.5 m.
It officially opened to the public on October 9, 1888. Upon completion, it
became the world’s tallest structure, a title it held until 1889, when the Eiffel
Tower was finished in Paris, France.
The Washington Monument reflection can be seen in the suitably named
Reflecting Pool, an edged rectangular pool extending westward in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial. The fireworks over the reflecting pool between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial are typical of the
4th of July celebrations.
The Washington Monument drew enormous crowds even before it officially opened. During the six months that followed its dedication, 10,041
people climbed the 893 steps to the top. After the elevator that had been used
to raise building materials was altered so that it could carry passengers, the
number of visitors grew rapidly. As early as 1888, an average of 55,000 people a month went to the top, and today the Washington Monument has more
than 800,000 visitors each year.
To the north of the Washington Monument, there is the White House,
the official residence and principal workplace of the U.S. President. The
211
White House is a white-painted, neoclassical sandstone mansion located at
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. As the office of the U.S.
President, the term “White House” is often used as a metonym for the president’s administration.
President George Washington himself helped select the site, along with
city planner Pierre L’Enfant but never lived in it. John Adams became the
first president to take residence in the building on November 1, 1800.
The building was first referred to as the Presidential Palace or Presidential Mansion. Dolley Madison called it the “President’s Castle.” However,
by 1811 the first evidence of the public calling it the “White House” had
emerged, because of its white-painted stone exterior. The name Executive
Mansion was often used in official context until President Theodore
Roosevelt established the formal name by having “The White House” engraved on his stationery in 1901.
The White House was open to the public until the early part of the 20th
century. Now organized and supervised by the President’s body guards excursions are held in the early hours from 6.30 to 8 a.m. on week days.
Very few people realize the size of the White House, since much of it is
below the ground level or otherwise minimized by landscaping. In fact, the
White House has:
6 stories and 5,100 m² of floor space,
132 rooms and 35 bathrooms,
412 doors,
147 windows,
28 fireplaces,
8 staircases,
3 elevators,
5 full-time chefs,
5,000 visitors a day,
a tennis court,
a bowling lane,
a movie theater,
a jogging track,
a swimming pool.
Every presidential family made changes to the decor of the White House,
some subtle, others more profound and controversial.
In the early 20th century, new buildings were added to the wings at either
side of the main White House to accommodate the President’s growing staff,
which had previously used an office located in the U.S. Capitol. Both new
wings were largely concealed from view by being built to a lower height
than the main house.
The West Wing houses the President’s office and offices of his political
staff. It currently holds about 50 employees.
The East Wing, which contains additional office space, was added to the
White House in 1942. It was built during WWII in order to hide the construction of an underground bunker to be used in emergency situations. The
212
bunker is known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. The East
Wing also houses the offices and staff of the First Lady.
The Jefferson Memorial is to the south of the Washington Memorial,
opposite the White House, it combines a low neo-classical saucer dome with
a portico and reflects characteristics of buildings designed by Jefferson such
as Monticello and the Rotunda, which were a result of his fascination with
Roman architecture. It bears some resemblance to the Pantheon of Rome.
The monument was officially dedicated on April 13, 1943, on the 200th anniversary of Jefferson’s birth. This memorial is not as prominent in popular
culture as other Washington, DC buildings and monuments, possibly due to
its location well removed from the National Mall and the Washington Metro.
The interior of the memorial has a 5.8 m tall, 4.5 t bronze statue of Jefferson, and the interior walls are engraved with passages from his writings.
Most prominent are the words inscribed around the monument near the roof:
“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of
tyranny over the mind of man.”
The Lincoln Memorial is to the west of the Washington Memorial, it is
a memorial to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. The building is in the form
of a Greek Doric temple, and contains a large seated sculpture of Lincoln.
The focus of the memorial is the sculpture of Lincoln, seated, looking
worn and thoughtful, gazing eastwards down the Reflecting Pool at the capital’s perfect emblem of the Union, the Washington Monument. On the back
of Lincoln’s head is supposed to be the faint outline of the face of his enemy
during the war: Robert E. Lee. One hand is clenched, the other open. It is
said that Lincoln’s hands were carved to sign the letters “A” and “L” in
American Sign Language. Beneath his hands, the Roman fasces, symbols of
the authority of the Republic, are sculpted in the relief on the seat. The statue
stands 19 foot tall and 19 foot wide, and was carved from 28 blocks of white
Georgia marble.
The memorial has been the site of many speeches, including Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream, delivered on August 28, 1963, during the peace
rally on Washington [29].
Located along the famous Cherry Tree Walk on the Tidal Basin near the
National Mall, there is the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. It is a
memorial not only to President of the U.S. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but
also to the era he represents. The monument traces 12 years of the U.S. history through a sequence of four outdoor rooms, each one devoted to one of
FDR’s terms of office. Sculptures, inspired by photographs, depict the 32nd
President. Some examples include a 10-foot statue showing him in a wheeled
chair and a bas-relief depicting him riding in a car during his first inaugural.
At the very beginning of the memorial is a statue with FDR seated in a
213
wheelchair with his dog Fala. Other sculptures depict scenes from the Great
Depression, such as people listening to his fireside chat on the radio and
waiting in a bread line. Each idea, each phrase pronounced during his fireside chats was full of courage and optimism that inspired the people he
served. For many Americans who lived through the Roosevelt years, the
words inscribed on the walls recall personal struggles and triumphs during
the 12 years that seemed like a lifetime.
The National World War II Memorial is a newly built national memorial to Americans who served and died in World War II. It is located on the
National Mall at the eastern end of the Reflecting Pool, between the Lincoln
Memorial and the Washington Monument. It was opened to the public on
April 29, 2004, by President George W. Bush, two days before the Memorial
Day. Many citizens liked the park-like atmosphere of the memorial. Others
remarked that the plaza symbolized the nation’s commitment to the war because it re-created the sense of community that the war stimulated within the
nation. Critics such as the National Coalition to Save Our Mall opposed the
design and the location of the memorial. The main critique of the location is
that it interrupts the vista (perspective) between the Washington Monument
and the Lincoln Memorial. It was also criticized for taking up the open space
that has historically been used for major demonstrations and protests.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors members of the U.S. armed
forces who served in the Vietnam War. The Memorial consists of three separate parts – the Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, and
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, which is the most recognized part of
the memorial.
The Memorial Wall was completed in 1982 and is located in the Constitution Gardens on the National Mall, just northeast of the Lincoln Memorial.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial receives around 3 million visitors each
year. This is the world’s most visited monument.
The Memorial Wall also called the Wailing Wall is made up of two black
granite walls 75 m long. The walls are sunk into the ground, with the earth
behind them. Inscribed on the walls in chronological order are the names of
servicemen who were either confirmed to be KIA (Killed in Action) or remained classified as MIA (Missing in Action). Information about rank, unit,
and decorations is not given. The wall listed 58,191 names when it was completed in 1983; as of May 2011, there are 58,272 names, including 8 women.
Approximately 1,200 of these are listed as missing, denoted with a cross. If
the missing returns alive, the cross is circumscribed by a circle (although this
has never occurred as of March 2009); if the death is confirmed, a diamond is
superimposed over the cross. There is a pathway along the base of the Wall,
where visitors may walk, read the names, make a pencil rubbing of a particular name, or pray. The first inscription on the wall reads, “In honor of the men
214
and women of the armed forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain
missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us” [43].
Next to the Wall is the Korean War memorial. It commemorates the Korean War of 1950 – 1953. Dedicated on July 26, 1995, this memorial depicts
19 soldiers in full battle dress marching toward an American flag, a reflecting pool and a granite wall inscribed with war scenes. Sadly, this 3-year war
was a bloody passage. It left 45,000 troops dead and 103,000 injured.
The Ulysses Grant Memorial is located in front of the Capitol Building.
The Pentagon is actually located in Virginia, but it is unquestionably a
part of the military history of the U.S. The Iwo Jima memorial (or Marine
Corps War memorial) stands next to Arlington National Cemetery. It is dedicated to all personnel of the Marine Corps, who have died in the defense of
their country since 1775. The concept of the statue is based on a photo, taken
during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
Arlington National Cemetery is also located in Virginia. This military
cemetery was established during the Civil War, on the lands of Arlington
House, which previously belonged to the family of General Robert E. Lee.
An eternal flame marks the location of the single most visited grave in
America – the burial place of President John F. Kennedy. Buried with the
35th president are former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and two of
their children who died in infancy. In a grassy plot nearby, there is a grave of
his assassinated brother Robert F. Kennedy marked by a simple white cross.
A most remarkable ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery is the
Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns which holds the remains of four U.S. servicemen, one each from WWI, WWII, the Korean and
the Vietnam Wars.
The Library of Congress and the National Archives also house thousands of documents, covering every period in American history. Some of the
more notable documents in the National Archives include the Declaration of
Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
Other points of interest in the District include the Supreme Court Building, Union Station, Washington Metro, Basilica of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception, Washington National Cathedral, John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts on the Potomac River, Ford’s Theatre, Blair
House, Old Post Office Building, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site,
and the Museum of George and Martha Washington in Mount Vernon.
Now we return to the Mall. At the beginning of the Mall on the right,
you will see a colorful red sandstone building known as the Castle, it is the
world famous Smithsonian Institution. Created to serve the American people
through “the increase and diffusion of knowledge”, it conducts research in a
multitude of disciplines and has collected more than 142 million objects –
215
historic artifacts, scientific specimens, and works of art. It consists of 19
museums and seven research centers.
The Smithsonian Institution was founded for the promotion and spread
of knowledge by a bequest to the United States by the British scientist named
James Smithson (1765–1829). He was born out of wedlock to Duke of
Northumberland Hugh Percy and Elizabeth Keate Macie and was educated
in Oxford. James Smithson made a number of discoveries in chemistry and
published many scholarly papers. But despite all his scientific reputation and
the fortune he had inherited from his father, his illegitimacy prevented him
from assuming noble status in England. His deeply felt resentment over this
exclusion was responsible for his decision to leave his estate to the U.S. government to found in Washington under the name of the Smithsonian Institution an “Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among
men” [43]. In 1835, President Andrew Jackson informed Congress of the
bequest, which amounted to 100,000 gold sovereigns, or U.S. $500,000 or
9,235,277 (in 2005 U.S. dollars after inflation).
Today the Smithsonian Institution pursues its noble mission to increase
and diffuse knowledge and has become deeply involved in mounting traveling exhibitions, fostering research, conducting educational outreach programs, preserving archives, maintaining music and lecture programs, etc.
The Smithsonian Institution is a collection of museums including the
Anacostia Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Hirshhorn Museum, National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of American History, National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of Natural History,
National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery, National Postal Museum,
Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Zoo. Most of them do
not charge any entrance fee and operate free of charge. Most prominent of
them are located on the Mall.
On the left side of the Mall opposite the Castle, there is the National
Museum of American History. It opened in 1964 as the Museum of History
and Technology and adopted its current name in 1980. The museum has
three exhibition floors, two floors for offices, and one floor (the ground floor)
for retail and dining.
On the first floor, major exhibitions include “America on the Move,” detailing the history of transportation in the U.S. from the Oregon wagon of
the 18th century to the present, including the 1950 Buick Super sedan. It
houses Southern Railway steam locomotive 1401 as well as many famous
automobiles. Also on the first floor is “TV Objects” exhibition which has
various props from famous television shows. Julia Child’s kitchen is also
located on this floor.
The second floor has the inaugural gowns of First Ladies from Martha
Washington to Laura Bush and to Michel Obama.
216
The gigantic 15-star and 15-stripe American flag which flew over Fort
McHenry during the War of 1812 and inspired Francis Scott Key to write
“The Star-Spangled Banner” is located in a conservation lab on the second
floor. It used to hang in the main hall, but was removed due to its deteriorating condition. In its place is a modern 50-star flag which draped the Pentagon after the September 11, 2001 attacks. “Communities in a Changing Nation” exhibits explore the ever-changing world of 19th-century America, revealing the everyday experiences of workers in new factories, of Jewish immigrants, and of enslaved and free African Americans. It also exhibits the
20th-century detention camp with barracks where deported Japanese American citizens were held during WWII.
The main highlight of the third floor is “A Glorious Burden,” an exhibit
on Presidents of the U.S. The portable desk Thomas Jefferson used to write
the Declaration of Independence and the top hat Abraham Lincoln was wearing the night he was assassinated are the highlights of this exhibition featuring 900 objects from the presidential office.
Another major highlight is “American Popular Culture” which shows
popular culture artifacts. It is a changing exhibition, but Dorothy’s ruby slippers are a permanent part of its exhibits.
The “History of Money and Medals,” the museum’s oldest exhibit, was
on this floor but was recently closed. An exhibit entitled “The Price of Freedom” devoted to the U.S. military history opened on November 11, 2004.
This gallery explores the nation’s military history, from the French and Indian War in the 1750’s to recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The exhibition features a restored Vietnam-era Huey helicopter, and a World War II
jeep and many other military objects.
Next to the National Museum of American History you will see the National Museum of Natural History. Established in 1910, the museum’s collections total over 125 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, and human cultural artifacts. The museum is the second most popular of all of the Smithsonian museums.
Notable exhibits on the first floor (mall entrance) include the Hall of
Mammals, which displays preserved pelts of mammals throughout the
world, some of which were collected by former president Theodore
Roosevelt. Also located on the first floor is the Hall of Dinosaurs. Adjacent
to the dinosaur collection are exhibits which detail the evolution of life on
Earth, going as far back as the Pre-Cambrian. The first floor also has many
artifacts from non-western cultures.
The second floor contains the National Gem Collection in the Hall of
Geology, Gems, and Minerals which includes the Hope Diamond. Also on
the second floor there is the Orkin Insect Zoo.
The only notable exhibit on the ground floor is a collection of over 100
bird species which inhabit the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The mu217
seum is also home to about 185 professional natural history scientists, the
largest group of scientists dedicated to the study of the natural and cultural
history in the world.
The National Gallery of Art is located further eastwards. It is comprised
of two buildings, the East Building and the West Building, linked by an underground passage. The NGA was created by Congress in 1937. The original
museum building, now known as the West Building, opened on March 17,
1941. Its design is neo-classical, with a gigantic columned portico and a
massive dome reminiscent of the Pantheon, except for the West Building’s
symmetrically attached, extended wings. The design of the East Building is
also geometrical, but fragmented or faceted (grinded) by comparison to the
West Building’s cool classicism. From above, it appears as if made of interlocking diamonds. The East Building opened in 1978. The NGA also opened
an adjacent sculpture garden in 1999. As a federally-owned museum, entry
to both buildings of the National Gallery is free of charge, though the museum displays thousands of exhibits from privately owned collections.
The West Building has an extensive collection of paintings and sculptures by European masters from the medieval period through the late 19th
century, as well as pre-20th century works by American artists. Highlights of
the collection include paintings and portraits by American artists, by famous
British painters Constable and Turner, by greatest Italian and Dutch artists
Titian and Rubens, as well as many paintings by Degas, Renoir, Sisley, PreRaphaelite Brotherhood, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, the richest collection of Toulouse-Lautrec’s paintings, Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Modigliani,
some paintings of Perugino, El Greco and the only painting by Leonardo Da
Vinci within the Western Hemisphere. On the ground floor and in the sculpture garden, there are most famous sculptures of Rodin, Degas, Gauguin,
Picasso, etc.
The East Building focuses on modern and contemporary art, with a collection including works by Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse,
Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, and Alexander Calder. The East Building
also contains the main offices of the NGA and a large research facility. It is a
place of various temporary exhibitions from most popular world museums.
In the passage between the Buildings there hangs the highlight of the
present Museum’s collection “Last Supper” by Salvador Dali.
The National Air and Space Museum maintains the largest collection
of aircraft and spacecraft in the world and is the most popular museum in
Washington, D.C. and in the U.S.A. It is a vital center for research into the
history, science, and technology of aviation, space flight, planetary science
and terrestrial geology and geophysics. The Museum has a research department, archives, and library.
Originally called the National Air Museum, it was formed on August 12,
1946. The beginning of the conquest of space in the 1950’s and 1960’s
218
helped to turn a small museum into the National Air and Space Museum,
which opened on July 1, 1976 and became one of the most popular tourist
destinations of the city. In addition to the rooms crowded with historic aircraft and state-of-the-art artifacts, there is an IMAX theater and the Albert
Einstein Planetarium. Some of its notable exhibits include:
One of the very few lunar rock samples accessible to the public (visitors
can even touch it).
The original Wright Flyer that made the first controlled powered flight
in 1903.
The Spirit of St. Louis, in which Charles Lindbergh made the first solo
flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
The B-29 Super fortress bomber Enola Gay, the first plane from which
a nuclear weapon was dropped on Hiroshima.
The Mercury-3 (Freedom 7) spaceship of the first manned Mercury
flight; in May 1961, Alan B. Shepard, Jr. became the second person and the
first American to travel into space.
The Mercury-7 re-entry vehicle, the capsule that took John Glenn
safely to space and back in February 1962. It was the first orbital Mercury
flight.
The command module of Apollo 11, the first mission to land astronauts
on the moon.
The Soyuz-Apollo module for the Joint Soviet-American space flight.
Space Ship One, the world’s first privately built and piloted vehicle to
reach space, etc.
The museum’s total collection numbers over 30,000 aviation-related and
9,000 space-related artifacts, and is thus larger than to fit in the main hall.
Many of the aircraft are at the Garber Restoration Facility in Suitland, Maryland.
In addition, the museum has an annex, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center,
located near Dulles Airport, opened on December 15, 2003. It has 200 aircraft and 135 spacecraft on display, some of these aircraft were too large for
NASM’s main hall. Its notable exhibits already include:
The prototype for the Boeing 707 airliner, known as the Boeing 367-80
or “Dash 80”.
A Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird high-altitude, high-speed stealth spy
plane.
An Air France Concorde, the famous model of supersonic airline, etc.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history and arts of the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere; the museum was established in 1989,
through an Act of Congress. Operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of the American Indian has three facili219
ties: the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall in
Washington, D.C., which opened on September 21, 2004; the George Gustav Heye Center, a permanent museum in lower Manhattan; and the Cultural Resources Center, a research and collections facility in Suitland, Maryland.
The National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall is the
first national museum in the country dedicated exclusively to Native Americans. The five-story, 250,000-square-foot, curvilinear building is clad in a
golden-colored Kasota limestone that resembles natural rock formations
shaped by wind and water for thousands of years. The museum is surrounded
by an eastern lowland landscape and a scenic water feature. The museum’s
east-facing entrance, prism window and the 120-foot-high Potomac space devoted to contemporary Native performances are a direct result of extensive
consultations with Native peoples. The landscape flows into the building, and
the environment is who Native Americans are. They are the trees, they are the
rocks, and they are the water. So, they are the museum itself.
The National Museum of the American Indian offers a range of exhibitions, film and video screenings, school group programs, public programs and
living culture presentations throughout the year. Its collection includes more
than 800,000 objects, as well as a photographic archive of 125,000 images.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum stands alone in
Washington, a museum of the horrors inflicted by man on his fellow men.
Opened in an emotional ceremony in 1993, the Holocaust Memorial Museum is a haunting multi-media tribute to the millions of the victims of
Adolph Hitler and the Nazis of WWII, and a somber warning to the world
that to forget the Holocaust is to condemn humanity to repeat a most terrible chapter of history. The Museum has a permanent 3-floor exhibition depicting the story of Holocaust with artifacts, photographs, films and oral
histories.
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum located on the National Mall to the west of the National Air and Space Museum. Its collection focuses on contemporary and modern art. Outside the museum is a sculpture garden, featuring works by artists including Auguste Rodin, Alexander Calder and Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Henri
Daumier.
There are also many art museums in town, in addition to those under the
auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, including the National Museum of
Women in the Arts, and the Corcoran Museum of Art, International Spy Museum, National Building Museum, the News museum, etc.
220
SUMMARY
1. The U.S.A. has a large and lucrative tourism industry serving millions
of international and domestic tourists. Tourists visit the U.S. to see natural
wonders, gambling venues, historic landmarks, and its cities.
2. Washington, D.C. is the home of numerous national landmarks and is
one of the most popular tourist destinations in the U.S.
3. The U.S. Capitol overlooks the entire city. And the city springs from
it in all directions. It is the seat of the Legislative Branch of the U.S. Federal
Government. It stands at the east end of the Mall. The U.S. Capitol is an
American icon, a symbol of democracy and the most prominent landmark in
Washington, D.C.
4. The National Mall is a large, open area in the center of Washington
that features many of the monuments to American leaders and connects the
Washington Monument, the White House and the U.S. Capitol building.
5. The Washington Monument (the most important monument in
Washington, D.C.) is at the western end of the Mall and in the heart of the
cross formed by two imaginary lines, one line going through the Mall from
the West to the East between the Lincoln Memorial and the U.S. Capitol
Building, and the other crossing the Mall and going from the North to the
South between the White House and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.
6. Located near the National Mall, there is the Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Memorial, it is a memorial not only to President of the U.S. Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, but also to the era he represents.
7. The National World War II Memorial is a national memorial to
Americans who served and died in World War II. It is located on the National
Mall at the eastern end of the Reflecting Pool, between the Lincoln Memorial
and the Washington Monument.
8. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors members of the U.S. armed
forces who served in the Vietnam War. It consists of three separate parts – the
Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, and the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial Wall, which is the most recognized part of the memorial.
9. Next to the Memorial Wall is the Korean War Memorial. The Pentagon
is unquestionably a part of the military history of the U.S. The Iwo Jima
memorial stands next to Arlington National Cemetery. It is dedicated to all
personnel of the Marine Corps. The concept of the statue is based on a photo,
taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
10. At the beginning of the Mall on the right, there is a red sandstone
building known as the Castle, it is the world famous Smithsonian Institution.
It was founded for the promotion and dissemination of knowledge by a bequest
to the U.S. by the British scientist named James Smithson (1765–1829).
221
11.On the left side of the Mall opposite the Castle, there is the National
Museum of American History. Next to it stands the National Museum of
Natural History. The National Gallery of Art is located further eastwards.
12. The National Air and Space Museum maintains the largest collection
of aircraft and spacecraft in the world and is the most popular museum in
Washington, D.C. It is a vital center for research into the history, science, and
technology of aviation, space flight, planetary science and terrestrial geology
and geophysics.
13. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian is
dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history and arts of the Native
peoples of the Western Hemisphere; the museum was established in 1989,
through an Act of Congress.
14. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum stands alone in
Washington. It is a tribute to the millions of the victims of Adolph Hitler and
the Nazis of WWII, and a warning to the world that to forget the Holocaust is
to condemn humanity to repeat a most terrible chapter of history.
15. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum
located in on the National Mall to the west of the National Air and Space
Museum. Its collection focuses on contemporary and modern art. Outside the
museum is a famous sculpture garden.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What places of interest (memorials) can you see on the Mall?
2. What museums are located on the Mall?
TESTS
Test 1. Geography and cultural regions of the U.S.A.
1. The United States of America is a constitutional federal republic, it comprises …
a) 51 states and one federal district, and has several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
b) 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories in the Caribbean.
c) 51 states and one federal district, and has several territories in the
Atlantic.
d) 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
2. The United States of America has an area of 9,826,675 sq km and is …
a) the third largest country in the world after Russia and Canada.
b) the second largest country in the world after Russia.
c) the fourth largest country in the world after Russia, China and Canada.
d) the largest country in the world.
3. The estimated U.S. population for the year 2015 is more than 321 million
people ...
a) it is the second in the world behind China.
b) it is the third in the world behind China and India.
c) it is the largest in the world.
d) the smallest in the world.
4. Largest cities of the United States include several important global cities
such as …
a) New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
b) New York City, Los Angeles, and Houston.
c) New York City, Chicago, and Detroit.
d) New York City, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.
5. The Mississippi has been called ...
a) the mother of waters.
b) the Continental Divide.
c) the father of waters.
d) the sister of waters.
6. More than 75% of the freight transported along two U.S. inland waterways moves on these waterways. They are: …
a) the Colorado – Columbia and the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River.
b) the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River and the Mississippi – Missouri
rivers drainage areas.
223
c) the Rio Grande – the Columbia and the Sacramento – San Joaquin rivers.
d) the Sacramento – San Joaquin rivers and the Yukon – McKenzie
rivers.
7. The U.S. climate varies along with the landscape, …
a) from a temperate continental climate to a subtropical humid climate.
b) from tropical to humid forests.
c) from semiarid short grass prairies to arid deserts.
d) from tropical to tundra.
8. The greatest deserts of the U.S.A. are …
a) the Great Basin, the Mojave Desert, and the Sahara.
b) the Mojave Desert, the Sonoran Desert and Utah.
c) the Great Basin, the Mojave Desert, and the Sonoran Desert.
d) the Great Basin, the Mojave Desert, and Idaho.
9. The highest mountain range of the U.S.A. is the …
a) Appalachian Mountain range.
b) Rocky Mountain range.
c) Sierra Nevada mountain range.
d) Cascade mountain range.
10. The United States regions … this process is called Americanization.
a) drift apart
b) converge
c) develop
d) change gradually
Test 2. History of the United States from
colonization to revolution
1. North America was colonized by ...
a) the French.
b) the Spanish.
c) the British.
d) the Italian.
2. Columbus’s voyages to America led to ...
a) a relatively quick, general and lasting recognition of the existence of
the New World by the Chinese.
b) the Columbian exchange of species in Australia.
c) the Columbian exchange of species and colonization of the Americas
by Europeans.
d) the first large-scale colonization of Europe by Americans.
3. Only the English established colonies of agricultural settlers, who were
interested less in trade and more in ...
a) the acquisition of religious freedom.
b) the acquisition of land.
224
c) the acquisition of economic freedom.
d) plundering the wealth of the Spanish settlers.
4. The first truly successful English colony was established in 1607, it was
called …
a) the Roanoke colony.
b) the Victoria colony.
c) the Jamestown colony.
d) the Chesapeake colony or the Victoria colony or the Jamestown colony.
5. The first settlers who came to America for religious reasons were ...
a) the Catholics.
b) the Puritans.
c) the Quakers.
d) the Pilgrims.
6. By 1733, English settlers had founded ... colonies along the Atlantic
Coast, from New Hampshire in the North to Georgia in the South.
a) 14
b) 4
c) 13
d) 11
7. Several events and trends took place in the 18th-century America that led
to the American Revolution. They were ...
a) British Parliament Acts, British taxation policy, and the booming import of British goods.
b) the French and Indian War or the Seven Years’ War.
c) the Great Awakening.
d) the booming import of British goods.
8. The beginning of the American Revolution is attributed to ...
a) the Boston Massacre.
b) the Boston Tea Party with the Intolerable Acts of 1774.
c) the Battle of Lexington and Concord.
d) the First Continental Congress.
9. On July 4, 1776, the members of the Continental Congress agreed to issue
the paper that is now called ...
a) the Articles of Confederation.
b) the Declaration of Independence.
c) the Constitution of the United States.
d) the Bill of Rights.
10. The U.S. Constitution ...
a) interpreted and decided questions of federal and state law.
b) prevented tyrannical abuses of authority through the separation of
powers.
225
c) enforced laws.
d) created the USA.
Test 3. History of the United States from the 18th century
to the beginning of the 20th century
1. At the beginning of the 19th century, the last obstacle on the way to conquering the West’s riches was ...
a) the construction of railroads.
b) the war of 1812.
c) the discovery of gold in California.
d) “Pony Express” traffic.
2. New methods of farming on the Plains were introduced. To produce crops
with less rainfall, farmers on the Great Plains used methods of ...
a) dry farming.
b) building canals and aqueducts.
c) turning the water from the Mississippi to the north.
d) turning militant Indians into agricultural workers.
3. The Native American culture of independence was destroyed by ...
a) military conflicts on the Great Plains.
b) diseases and starvation.
c) the volume of white settlers taking over Native American land and the
ways in which these settlers transformed the West.
d) building of railroads.
4. After Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, ...
southern states left the Union between 1860 and 1861 and proclaimed themselves an independent nation establishing a rebel government, the Confederate States of America on February 9, 1861.
a) 12
b) 11
c) 13
d) 9
5. The Civil War of 1861–1865 was the most bloody war in the history of the
U.S.A. with casualties amounting to ...
a) 12,000 people.
b) 500,000 people.
c) 50,000.
d) 650,000 people.
6. The industrialization of the late 19th century when there was a dramatic expansion of American wealth and prosperity was described by Mark Twain as ...
a) the Golden Age.
b) the Gilded Age.
c) the Golden Rush.
d) laissez-faire.
226
7. Between 1840 and 1920, an enormous and diverse stream of immigrants
came to the U.S., approximately ...
a) 37 million in total.
b) 35,000 people.
c) 37,000.
d) 22 million people .
8. Progressivists Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr who opened the first
Hull House in 1889 acted at the ...
a) local.
b) state.
c) national level.
d) as crusading journalists.
9. From the progressives’ viewpoint, economic privilege and corrupt politics ...
a) threatened industrialization.
b) threatened capitalism.
c) threatened democracy.
d) bridged the gap between social classes.
10. Several motives were behind the U.S. expansion overseas. The most important one was ...
a) national prestige.
b) spread of Puritan ideas.
c) economic stagnation.
d) business leaders wanted overseas markets.
Test 4. History of the United States.
The U.S. in the 20th and 21st centuries
1. The U.S.Congress declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. The U.S.
casualties in World War I were ...
a) big, the U.S. lost almost 300,000 people killed in action.
b) immense, about 57 million people died as a result of the war, including acts of genocide such as the Holocaust.
c) immense, allied military and civilian losses were 44 million.
d) 112,000 military and mainly to diseases including influenza.
2. World War I changed American mentality; the U.S. withdrew from European affairs. ...
a) Americans terrorized blacks, but welcomed Catholics, Jews, and
immigrants.
b) Americans were becoming friendly to foreigners in their midst.
c) The American people chose isolationism: they turned their attention
solely toward domestic affairs.
d) Americans staged massive protests against Congress and sponsored
the doctrine of “Red Scare.”
227
3. The 1920’s or the Roaring Twenties were an extraordinary and confusing
time, when ...
a) jazz and spectacular technicolor movies coexisted with Prohibition.
b) booming markets coexisted with cold war plans.
c) installment plans made it possible for people to enjoy what a consumer
society offered.
d) more people were not able to buy expensive things a consumer society
offered.
4. The stock market crash of Thursday, October 29, 1929 triggered ...
a) a world-wide depression, which led to deflation and a great increase in
unemployment.
b) a deep depression in the U.S.A., which led to deflation and a great increase in employment.
c) a growth of political activity, political meetings were raided by the
police and several hundred foreign-born political radicals were deported.
d) Ford’s enormous profits by mass-producing the Model T, a car that
millions of buyers could afford.
5. In the U.S. between 1929 and 1933, unemployment soared ...
a) from 3 % of the workforce to 35 %, while manufacturing output collapsed by one-third. By 1932, thousands of American banks and over
100,000 businesses had failed. Industrial production was cut in half,
wages had decreased 30 %, and one out of every four workers was unemployed.
b) from 3 % of the workforce to 25 %, while manufacturing output collapsed by one-third. By 1932, thousands of American banks and over
100,000 businesses had failed. Industrial production was cut in half,
wages had decreased 60 %, and one out of every four workers was unemployed.
c) from 5 % of the workforce to 25 %, while manufacturing output collapsed by one-third. By 1932, thousands of American banks and over
200,000 businesses had failed. Industrial production was cut in half,
wages had decreased 60 %, and one out of every five workers was unemployed.
d) from 3 % of the workforce to 25 %, while manufacturing output collapsed by one-third. By 1932, thousands of American banks and over
100,000 businesses had been started. Industrial production was cut in
half, wages had decreased 60 %, and one out of every four workers was
unemployed.
6. The cold war started between the United States and the Soviet Union almost as soon as WWII ended. It resulted from …
228
a) the speech of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in which he
spoke about the iron curtain.
b) a bitter disagreement over the further world order and post war spheres
of influence and control.
c) the century- lasting hostility between the Communist and Western nations.
d) the political phenomenon of McCarthyism.
7. Numerous political and armed incidents and war actions throughout the
post-war world for spheres of influence increased international tension and
the possibility of another global conflict. In fact, the Cold War reached its
height during ...
a) the war in North Korea (1950–1953).
b) the war in Vietnam (1960–1973).
c) the support of France in the Indochina War (1946–1954).
d) the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet-American conflict in Cuba
(1962).
8. The Reagan administration favored a hawkish approach to the Cold War,
especially in the Third World arena of superpower competition. The administration backed a relatively cheap strategy of specially trained counterinsurgencies or “low-intensity conflicts.” It resulted in …
a) financing training of mujahadeens and other insurgent groups under
Osama bin Laden’s control.
b) large-scale ground wars like Vietnam and Korea.
c) ending The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI or Star War initiative).
d) starting the Cold War.
9. “War on terror” was announced by President Bush with the view of …
a) justifying his policy of invasion in Afghanistan and later on in Iraq.
b) protecting Europe from al-Qaeda terrorists and their leader Osama bin
Laden.
c) punishing al-Qaeda terrorists and their leader Osama bin Laden.
d) removing the Taliban from power.
10. The war in Iraq caused international displeasure with the U.S. A majority
of people in Europe and Muslim countries believe that the U.S. ...
a) acts mainly in self-interest.
b) is arrogant.
c) is hateful to Islam.
d) acts mainly in self-interest, and a vast majority in predominantly Muslim nations believing that the U.S. is arrogant, belligerent, or hateful to
Islam.
229
Test 5. U.S. government
1. The basic framework of American government was set down by ...
a) the U.S. Constitution of 1789.
b) the Declaration of Independence.
c) the Bill of Rights.
d) the U.S. Code.
2. The behavior of U.S. legislators has little to do with ...
a) lobbying.
b) central party discipline.
c) the congressional power of investigation.
d) the wishes of their electors.
3. The Senate is traditionally ... to the House of Representatives.
a) lower
b) upper
c) more
d) equal
4. The House of Representatives consists of ... members, each of whom is
elected by a congressional district or constituency (around 520,000 people)
and serves a two-year term.
a) 100
b) 135
c) 435
d) 400
5. The legislation dealing with gathering revenue (generally through taxes)
must originate in the ...
a) Senate.
b) House of Representatives.
c) the Supreme Court.
d) the congressional investigation committee.
6. a) The Senate
b) The House of Representatives,
c) the Supreme Court,
d) the President
... has the sole power to try impeachment cases and to find officials guilty or
not guilty by a two-thirds majority guilty verdict.
7. According to the U.S. Constitution, President of the Senate is ...
a) the Senate Majority Leader.
b) President pro tempore.
c) vice president.
d) the Speaker.
8. a) The Speaker,
b) President pro tempore,
c) the U.S. president,
d) the U.S. vice-president
... is always a member of the political party with the largest representation in
the House of Representatives, aka the majority.
230
9. The head of the executive branch is the U.S. President, who is both the
head of state and head of government. He is always elected for ...
a) a two-year term,
b) a four-year term,
c) a three-year term;
d) a five-year term.
10. The President and the Vice President are the only two nationally elected
officials in the U.S. Presidents are elected ...
a) directly by all people.
b) indirectly, through the district courts.
c) openly by members of the two leading parties.
d) indirectly, through the Electoral College.
Test 6. Economy of the United States
1. The economy of the U.S. is the largest national economy in the world. In
2015, its gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated as ...
a) $18.124 trillion.
b) $15,605 trillion.
c) $14,660 trillion.
d) $12.800 trillion.
2. The U.S. economy maintains a high level of output per person. GDP per
capita, ...
a) $448.450.
b) $56,421.
c) $44,534.
d) $20,356 in 2014.
3. High levels of research and capital investment in the U.S. are funded by ...
a) the government.
b) national investors.
c) foreign investors.
d) both national and foreign investors.
4. The U.S. is characterized as having a “consumer economy”. In 2014, ... of
the economic activity in the U.S. came from consumers coupled with government health care spending.
a) 52%
b) 62%
c) 70%
d) 82%
5. The theoretical foundation of the American economic system was provided by ...
a) George Washington, whose ideas on private property had a strong influence on the development of capitalism.
b) Adam Smith, whose economic ideas of “laissez faire” had a strong influence on the development of capitalism.
c) Karl Marx, whose economic ideas from his Capital had a strong influence on the development of American capitalism.
231
d) Founding Fathers, whose economic ideas of the “invisible hand” had a
strong influence on the development of the U.S.A. capitalism.
6. Throughout the 19th century, market forces in America operated with ...
a) a maximum of government intervention.
b) a minimum of government intervention.
c) without any Congress intervention.
d) under strict President’s supervision.
7. The U.S. government is responsible for ...
a) the administration of justice, education, the road system, statistical reporting, and national defense.
b) environment protection, the exploration of space.
c) social security and unemployment benefits payments, medical care for
the aged and those who live in poverty.
d) a, b, c put together.
8. The main causes of U.S. economic growth were ...
a) the number of available workers, their productivity and mobility, including a stable cheap labor pool of millions of immigrants from all over
the world.
b) vast natural resources and vast areas of highly productive farmlands.
c) a large unified market and scientific management of production, a supportive political-legal system, an entrepreneurial spirit and commitment
to investing in material and human capital; flexible organization structures known as the corporation.
d) a, b, c put together.
9. The organization, that controls how much money is issued in an economy,
plays a major role in how the economy performs, in terms of prices, output and
employment levels, and economic growth. In the U.S. that organization is ...
a) the nation’s central bank.
b) the Federal Reserve System.
c) the government.
d) the U.S. Congress.
10. The U.S. financial markets and financial institutions as a whole are also
referred as ...
a) Main Street.
b) Square Mile.
c) Wall Street.
d) Manhattan.
Test 7. The United States – nation of immigrants
1. More than 13 million immigrated to the U.S.A. (more than in any other
10-year period in the nation’s history) ...
232
a) between 1940 and 1950.
c) between 1930 and 1940.
b) between 2001 and 2010.
d) between 1910 and 1920.
2. Why did or why do these people choose America? Most immigrants were
attracted to America in the first place by ...
а) American culture.
b) American politics.
с) the ideals of American freedom.
d) freedom, new economic opportunities, a better way of life.
3. Is immigration good or bad for America? ...
a) Immigration is bad, immigrants take jobs away from U.S. citizens.
b) Immigration is good and is vitally important for the U.S. economy.
c) Immigration is a very debated issue.
d) Immigration is economically dangerous, it depletes the U.S. resources
4. The Native American contribution to American heritage is undeniable. ...
a) Much practical geographical knowledge was passed on to the new
settlers.
b) Many specifically American plants, animals and land forms retain
their Indian name.
c) Much valuable information about the New World land and its resources was passed on to the new settlers.
d) a, b, c put together.
5. Africans were the only group of people who came to North America unwillingly. Africans brought the skills and trades of their homeland to North
America. ...
a) Their expertise and experience shaped the automobile industry of the
continent.
b) Their expertise and experience shaped the agriculture of the continent.
c) Their expertise and hard labor shaped the culture of the continent.
d) Their expertise and experience shaped the industry and agriculture of
the American continent.
6. The largest 19th-century immigrant group was ...
a) the Irish.
b) the Italians.
c) the Germans.
d) the Jews.
7. The Germans as one of the predominant immigrant groups had a powerful
influence over the development of …
a) American culture: institutions, traditions, and daily habits.
b) American economy.
c) America’s recreational life.
d) America’s education system.
233
8. Irish Americans have had a significant impact on American …
a) politics over the years.
b) economy.
c) every day life.
d) potato farming.
9. Of all immigration groups it was ... who contributed a lot to the formation
of the American Mafia.
a) Russian immigrants
b) Mexican immigrants
c) Italian immigrants
d) Chinese immigrants
10. Today’s American immigration pattern is characterized by predominantly ... immigration.
a) European
b) Latin American
c) Latin American and Asian
d) African
Test 8. U.S. culture and American identity
1. American culture is commonly dated from ...
a) the day when Christopher Columbus first disembarked from his ship
on the American coast.
b) the first permanent English settlement of 1607.
c) from the days when original inhabitants were conquered.
d) from the days when the English rulers in America were overthrown.
2. American culture possesses an unusual mixture of patterns and forms, values and belief systems contributed by ...
a) Europeans.
b) Native American peoples.
c) European colonizers, Native American peoples, African and Asian immigrants.
d) African and Asian immigrants.
3. At first, during the ... American culture was a unique American voice.
Later American cultural self-identity became more complex and more diverse as immigrants streamed into the country.
a) 19th century
b) 16th century
c) 18th century
d) 17th century
4. The existence in the American culture of two major trends called assimilation and multiculturalism became possible only because of American ...
a) pragmatism.
b) Puritanism.
c) pluralism.
d) nationalism.
234
5. An intense process of consistent integration when members of an ethnocultural group, usually immigrants, or other minority groups, are “absorbed”
into an established, generally larger community is called cultural ...
a) adaptation.
b) naturalization.
c) diversification.
d) assimilation.
6. The idea of multiculturalism is often put forward as an alternative to assimilation or the old “melting pot” metaphor. Today’s ideologies of multiculturalism and diversity ...
a) deny the existence of a common culture in the U.S., denounce the assimilation, and promote the primacy of racial, ethnic, and other sub-national cultural identities and groupings.
b) see multiculturalism as a relentless economic progression. The hard
working new-arrivals struggle along with a new language and at low
paying jobs in order for their children to climb the economic ladder, each
generation advancing a rung.
c) see multiculturalism as a means to integrate immigrants into the general American culture.
d) deny all the ethnicities that make up the U.S.A. as well as their national features and originality.
7. The term “hyphenated” American refers to Americans who consider themselves …
a) citizens of both their home country and the U.S. with a dual citizenship.
b) of a distinct cultural origin other than the U.S., and who claim to hold
loyalty to both.
c) American citizens but are defined as foreigners by other people.
d) American citizens with conflicting loyalties because one day they
agree with the global citizen concept of caring about all people regardless of nationality, the other day they stick only to their American identity.
8. American pluralism arises from ... . It allows for distinctiveness rather
than uniformity, and many American people take pride in preserving and
celebrating their origins.
a) the Articles of Confederation
b) the Bill of Rights
c) the Emancipation Proclamation
d) the U.S. Constitution.
9. The term Americanization refers to …
a) the influence that the U.S.A. has on the culture of other countries, substituting their culture with American culture.
235
b) the process of readapting foreign movies and shows for American
viewers.
c) the process of adapting immigrants to the American way of life in order to become U.S. citizens.
d) the influence that the U.S.A. has on the culture of other countries,
substituting their culture with American culture; the process of adapting
immigrants to the American way of life in order to become U.S. citizens; the process of readapting foreign movies and shows for American
viewers.
10. The U.S. has become the dominant cultural source for entertainment and
popular fashion, from the jeans and T-shirts young people wear to the music
groups and rock stars they listen to and the movies they see. Within the U.S.
American mass culture ...
a) increases class and ethnic distinctions in the American society and
makes it more democratic, less profit-oriented and equal.
b) produces a homogeneous commercial atmosphere throughout the
country. It homogenizes tastes, styles, and points of view among different groups in the U.S.
c) increases the general standard of taste, since mass media seek to please
the largest number of people by appealing to their tastes.
d) increases interest in the culture or political developments in the U.S.A.
by other countries.
Test 9. American cultural traits
1. American values are often portrayed as global or universal ones. This
trend is not only cultural but also a political one. By spreading and dissemination its culture all over the world the U.S. is shaping the perception of the
country overseas. So, American culture has become a means of ...
a) brainwashing and indoctrination.
b) cultural pluralism.
c) cultural juggernaut.
d) adapting immigrants to the U.S. way of life in order to become American citizens.
2. Some values and beliefs are at the core of the American value system;
they unite all Americans and shape their culture. They are: ...
a) free market, a republican form of government.
b) democracy, pluralism, and patriotism
c) individual liberty, individualism, self-sufficiency, equality, free
market, a republican form of government, democracy, pluralism, and
patriotism.
236
d) individual liberty, individualism, self-sufficiency, equality, multiculturalism, free market, a republican form of government, democracy and
patriotism.
3. At the center of all that Americans value is freedom. The notion that
America offers freedom for all is an ideal that unifies Americans and links
present to past. Americans’ understanding of freedom is shaped by the belief
of ... , that all people are equal and that the role of government is to protect
each person’s basic “inalienable” rights as prescribed in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
a) George Washington
b) the Founding Fathers
c) Thomas Jefferson
d) Abraham Lincoln
4. Individual freedom is the cornerstone of American values. It is believed that
a free individual’s identity should be held sacred and that his or her dignity and
integrity should not be violated. Individualism has been a central theme in
American history. It is understood as ...
a) freedom of choice but also as freedom of speech.
b) self-reliance, individual resourcefulness but also as economic self-sufficiency, and freedom of choice.
c) freedom but also as independence.
d) freedom but also as confidence.
5. Privacy is associated with the value of freedom. The notion of individual
privacy may make it difficult for Americans to make friends and adapt to
other cultures’ customs and habits. Americans are known as a …
a)“free-contact people”.
b) “contact people”.
c) “non-contact people.”
d) “intimate-contact people.”
6. The desire to progress by making use of opportunities is important to
Americans. In this immigrant society, progress is personally measured by ...
a) a number of possessions.
b) family progress over generations.
c) willingness to work hard.
d) a good education for the children.
7. Americans idealize whatever is practical. In America, “what works is
what counts.” In American community and political life the ‘do-it-yourself’
spirit is also known as ...
237
a) volunteerism.
b) entrepreneurial impudence and ability.
c) personal courage.
d) efficiency.
8. Mobility in America is a sign of ...
a) voluntarism.
b) pessimism.
c) patriotism.
d) optimism.
9. Because American society is so competitive, Americans feel in the end
that they ...
a) can only rely on themselves.
b) must recognize their places.
c) shouldn’t try to stick out.
d) cannot devise workable solutions to the daily problems and dangers
they face.
10. Americans are profoundly future-oriented. ...
a) They often look back to the past for guidance.
b) They have a nearly exclusive respect for the future and what it will
bring and believe that for every problem there is a rational solution.
c) Americans see their histories as cycles of good times and bad times.
d) Americans don’t think that they have the power to affect the course of
events.
Test 10. American English
1. American English is ...
a) a deviation from the norm of the English language.
b) an American variant of the English language.
с) a local usage of the English language.
d) an American dialect of the English language.
2. American English (AE) separated from British English (BE) because of …
a) political circumstances in the 17th century.
b) curiosity of first settlers.
c) disparity between the environment, life and traditions of the American
people since 17th century and those of the English.
d) British habit of conformity.
3. The history of AE counts more than ... centuries.
a) three
b) two
c) four
d) two or three
238
4. One of the strongest forces to shape the language in the New World were ...
a) European languages.
b) Latin and Greek.
c) Native American languages.
d) European languages, Latin and Greek.
5. The replenishment of the vocabulary of AE went by …
a) appearance of new words.
b) appearance of new words, change of word meaning and borrowing
from other languages.
c) change of word meaning.
d) borrowing from other languages.
6. There exist two established forms of English pronunciation: Standard
American English (SAE) and Received Pronunciation (RP). Both SAE and
RP differ in …
a) word stress patterns.
b) the articulation of single phonemes within words and American rhotacism.
c) an increased number of allophones for some phonemes.
d) sounds, stress, accent, intonation.
7. American grammar runs amok. It differs from its British counterpart in…
a) the usage of some tense forms and the subjunctive mood.
b) the usage of prepositions, different phrases with verb – adverb combinations.
c) the usage of singular and plural forms of nouns, prefixes and suffixes,
the usage of the morphological forms and word formation.
d) a), b), c) put together.
8. AE spelling differs from BE spelling largely because of one man ... who
sought to standardize spelling in the United States by promoting the use of
the American language that intentionally differed from BE.
a) George Bernard Shaw
b) Noah Webster
c) Theodor Dreiser
d) Fennimore Cooper
9. Among the strongest forces to shape the language in the New World were
Native American languages. American Indian words became parts of English mostly because…
a) in America the colonialists encountered things and entities that were
unfamiliar to them.
b) they were very exotic and strikingly amazing.
239
c) Americans tried to encourage people to use “wigwam words.”
d) the Indian cultural influence was strong.
10. AE has borrowed more words from Spanish than from any other modern
European language. Nowadays the Spanish influence on American life and
language ...
a) has ended.
b) has increased.
c) is growing.
d) has decreased.
Test 11. U.S. education
1. The history of U.S. education dates back to the days ...
a) of the American revolution.
b) when colonists from Europe first arrived in America.
c) of the American Civil War.
d) when the first German immigrants arrived.
2. By the end of the 19th century the American public school had become ...
a) an example of classical education.
b) an example of pragmatic education.
c) the vessel in which a distinctive American civilization was shaped.
d) an example of social integration.
3. American education today reflects ...
a) national and social problems.
b) economic stresses.
c) contradictory theories of how to choose the right pattern for the future
education programs.
d) a, b, c put together.
4. The authority over education and the responsibility for organizing and
administering it is placed in the hands of ...
a) the federal government.
b) the states.
c) the states, agencies and institutions within the states.
d) the local community.
5. In the U.S., all students must attend mandatory schooling starting ...
a) with 1st grade and following through 12th grade.
b) with 1st grade and following through 9th grade.
c) with 3d grade and following through 12th grade.
d) with 3d grade and following through 9th grade.
240
6. In American schools students may elect courses according to their interests starting with ...
a) elementary school.
b) high school.
c) middle school.
d) private school.
7. According to UNESCO, the U.S. has the highest number of higher education students in the world. Out of more than three million students who graduate from high school and compete for admission each year, about ...
a) half a million go on for “higher education”.
b) one million go on for “higher education”.
c) one million and a half go on for “higher education”.
d) two million go on for “higher education”.
8. The U.S. ranks ... among industrial countries for percentage of adults with
college degrees.
a) 10th
b) 2nd
c) 3rd
d) 1st
9. The U.S. degree-granting institutions are typically divided into ...
a) two-year and four-year colleges.
b) four-year colleges.
c) ) two-year, four-year colleges and Universities.
d) two-year colleges, four-year colleges, Universities and technical institutions.
10. A scholarship is an award of access to a college or a university. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria. The most common scholarships may
be classified as ...
a) merit-based.
b) need-based.
c) student-specific and career-specific.
d) a, b, c put together.
Keys to tests 1-11
test 1 test 2 test 3 test 4 test 5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
d
a
b
a
c
b
d
c
b
b
c
c
b
c
d
c
a
c
b
b
b
a
c
b
d
b
a
a
c
d
d
c
c
a
b
b
d
a
c
d
a
b
b
c
b
a
c
a
b
d
test 6
a
b
d
c
b
b
d
d
b
c
test 7 test 8 test 9 test 10 test 11
b
d
b
d
b
c
a
a
c
c
b
c
a
c
d
a
b
b
d
b
a
c
b
b
c
b
a
d
a
b
b
c
c
c
b
d
d
b
a
c
b
c
d
c
a
b
b
a
d
d
REFERENCES
1. Adams, J.T. The Epic of America / J.T. Adams. Safety Harbor, FL: Simon Publications, 2001. 433p.
2. Archdeacon, T. J. Becoming American. An Ethnic History / T. J. Archdeacon.
The Free Press, Inc., 1983. 297 p.
3. Boorstin, J. The Hollywood Eye: What Makes Movies Work. 1st edition / Jon
Boorstin. Harper Collins, 1990. 256 p.
4. Clinton, Bill. Between Hope and History: Meeting America's Challenges for
the 21st Century/ Bill Clinton. N.Y.: Times Books, 1996. P.149.
5. Crichton, M. State of Fear / M. Crichton. Harper Collins Publishers, London,
2005. Pp. 682-683.
6. Crystal, D. The English Language. A Guided Tour of the Language / D. Crystal. London: Penguin Books, 1990. 401 p.
7. Dillard, J.L. Black English; Its History and Usage in the United States /
J.L. Dillard. New York: Random House, 1972. 361 p.
8. Dillard, J.L. Perspectives of American English / J.L. Dillard. Berlin: Mouton
Publishers, 1980. 467 p.
9. Falk, R. Spotlight on the USA / R. Falk. Oxford University Press, 1993. 172 p.
10. Fiedler, E. America in Close-Up / E. Fiedler, R. Jansen, M. Norman-Risch.
Longman, 2001. 276 p.
11. George, Robert P. Law, Democracy, and Moral Disagreement / Robert P.
George, Harvard Law Review, Vol. 110, 1997. P. 1390.
12. Ghent, William. Our Benevolent Feudalism / William Ghent. New York:
Macmillan, 1902. P. 29.
13. Hendrickson, R. American Talk: The Words and Ways of American Dialects /
R. Hendrickson. New York: Viking, 1986. 230 p.
14. Marckwardt, A.H. American English / A.H. Marckwardt. Rev. J. L. Dillard.
2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. 192 p.
15. Morris-Wilson, I. English Segmental Phonetics / I. Morris-Wilson. Helsinki:
Finn Lectura, 1992. 220 p.
16. The New Americans: Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. National Research Council edited by James P. Smith and Barry Edmonston.
Panel on the Demographic and Economic Impacts of Immigration, 1997. 448p.
17. Rein, M.L. Immigration and Illegal Aliens: Burden or Blessing / M.L. Rein.
Gale Group, Inc., 1999. 160 p.
18. Shuy, R.W. Discovering American Dialects / R.W. Shuy. Urbana, Illinois. National Council of Teachers of English, 1967. 68 p.
19. Stevenson, D.K. American Life and Institutions / D.K. Stevenson. Stuttgart:
Ernst Klett Schulbuchverlag, 1998. 234 p.
20. Wanning, E. Culture Shock! USA / E. Wanning. Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 1991. 248 p.
243
21. Zelinsky, W. The Cultural Geography of the United States / W. Zelinsky.
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1992. 176 p.
22. Письменная, О.А. Окна в англоязычный мир / О.А. Письменная. М.:
Логос, 2004. 535 c.
23. Шитова, Л.В. American Historic Festivals / Л.В. Шитова, Г.Б Губина.
Спб.: Антология, 2003. 318 с.
24. American English [Electronic resource]. – 2012. – Mode of access: ebbs.
english.vt.edu/hel/helmod/america.html – Date of access: 9.07.2012.
25. Articles of Confederation: March 1, 1781. 2008 Lillian Goldman Law Library127 Wall Street, New Haven, CT 06511. [Electronic resource] – 2008. Mode of
access: http http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/artconf.asp – Date of access:
18.09.2008.
26. Chinese Immigration [Electronic resource]. – 2011. – Mode of access: www.
sfmuseum.org/hist6/chinhate.html – Date of access: 15.04.2011.
27. First Inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt [Electronic resource] – "Inauguration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933". Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. 1933. – 2003. – Mode of access: www.inaugural.senate.gov/swearing-in/event/franklin-d-roosevelt-1933. – Date of access: 22.01.2009.
28. Hyphenated American [Electronic resource]. Hyphenated American. – 2007. –
Mode of access: http://en.wikipedia.or/wiki/Hyphenated_American – Date of access: 27.11.2007.
29. King, M.L. I Have a Dream [Electronic resource] / M.L. King. I Have a
Dream. 2014. – Mode of access: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//I_Have_a_Dream –
Date of access: 25.10.2014
30. Immigration to the United States [Electronic resource]. – 2011. – Mode of
access: www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/usa_immigration.html – Date of access:
15.04.2011.
31. Immigration to the United States [Electronic resource]. – 2010. -Mode of access: www.cencus.gov/pro/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf – Date of access: 15.04.2011.
32. Obama: Nobel Prize a "Call to Action" [Electronic resource]. – 2009. – Mode
of access: www.cbsnews.com. October 9, 2009. – Date of access: 15.09.2010.
33. Physical Geography of the United States [Electronic resource]. – 2014. –
Mode of access: www.workmall.com/world_fact_book_2014/united_states/index.
html – Date of access: 14.09.2015.
34. Ten Top Largest United States Cities [Electronic resource]. – 2014. – Mode
of access: www.workmall.com/world_fact_book_2014/united_states/index.html –
Date of access: 14.09.2015.
35. The Bush Doctrine [Electronic resource] / G.W. Bush. The war on terror. –
2001. – Mode of access: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_Doctrine. – Date of access: 12.07.2009.
36. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of
America. [Electronic resource] The Constitution of the United States of America. –
2008. – Mode of access: http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Office%20
244
of%20Citizenship/Citizenship%20Resource%20Center%20Site/Publications/
PDFs/M-654.pdf. 33 p. – Date of access: 18.09.2008.
37. The Monroe Doctrine [Electronic resource] The Monroe Doctrine. – 2011. –
Mode of access: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine – Date of access:
5.03.2011.
38. The Star-Spangled Banner [Electronic resource] – The Star-Spangled Banner. 2014. – Mode of access: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki// The Star-Spangled Banner – Date of access: 25.10.2014.
39. The United States Demographics [Electronic resource]. – 2014. – Mode of
access: www.workmall.com/world_fact_book_2014/united_states/index.html –
Date of access: 14.09.2015.
40. The United States Education Statistics [Electronic resource] U.S. Department of Education. – 2011. – Mode of access: http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/landing.
jhtml – Date of access: 19.02.2011.
41. Uncle Sam [Electronic resource]. A joint resolution designating September
13, 1989, as "Uncle Sam Day"// Bill Summary & Status – 100th Congress (1987 –
1988). All Congressional Actions – THOMAS (Library of Congress)" – 1989. –
Mode of access: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d100:HJ00626:@@@X/ –
Date of access: 16.08.2012.
42. U.S. Economy at a Glance: Perspective from the BEA Account [Electronic
resource] National Economic Accounts – 2015. – Mode of Access: http://www.bea.
gov/newsreleases/glance.htm – Date of access: 11.09.2015.
43. Washington, D.C. [Electronic resource] Washington, D.C. Official Tourism
Site of Washington, D.C. – 2014. – Mode of Access: https://www.google.by/url?sa=
t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CD4QFjAGahUKEwj4zfb0qrjIAh
VD7nIKHbhwBpM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwashington.org%2F&usg=AFQjCNF9
zUmYa0Kd9kkEWAcCxxwIoldEzg – Date of Access: 6.03.2014.
Н73
Новик, Н.А.
Страноведение. США: география, история, экономика, культура =
Country Studies. USA: geography, history, economy, culture : учеб.
пособие : (с электрон. прил.) / Н.А. Новик. – Минск : Вышэйшая
школа, 2015. – 245 с. + 1 электрон. опт. диск (CD).
ISBN 978-985-06-2664-6.
Представляет собой учебное пособие по дисциплинам «Страноведение»,
«Лингвострановедение» и «Культура страны изучаемого языка». Содержит тексты о географии, истории США, культуре американцев, национальной политике,
экономике, языке, вкладе иммигрантов в формирование и развитие американского государства. Тексты сопровождаются словарем, кратким содержанием, ключевыми вопросами по теме и тестами для контроля понимания пройденного материала. Электронное приложение включает иллюстрированное изложение учебного материала, его музыкальное сопровождение, тесты и справочный материал.
Предназначено для студентов вузов и лицеев, изучающих английский язык и
межкультурную коммуникацию, старшеклассников, преподавателей, переводчиков, персонала туристических фирм, деловых людей, а также для широкого круга
лиц, изучающих английский язык.
УДК 811.111(075.8)
ББК 81.2Англ-923
Учебное издание
Новик Нонна Алексеевна
Страноведение. США: география, история,
экономика, культура
Учебное пособие
(с электронным приложением)
Редактор Л.Д. Касьянова
Художественный редактор Е.Э. Агунович
Технический редактор Н.А. Лебедевич
Корректор Л.Д. Касьянова
Компьютерная верстка Н.В. Шабуни, Л.В. Ковальчук
Подписано в печать 11.11.2015. Формат 60×84/16. Бумага офсетная. Гарнитура «Таймс».
Офсетная печать. Усл. печ. л. 14,42. Уч.-изд. л. 16,5. Тираж 600 экз. Заказ 461.
Республиканское унитарное предприятие «Издательство “Вышэйшая школа”».
Свидетельство о государственной регистрации издателя, изготовителя,
распространителя печатных изданий № 1/3 от 08.07.2013.
Пр. Победителей, 11, 220048, Минск. e-mail: [email protected] http://vshph.com
Открытое акционерное общество «Полиграфкомбинат им. Я. Коласа».
Свидетельство о государственной регистрации издателя, изготовителя,
распространителя печатных изданий № 2/3 от 04.10.2013.
Ул. Корженевского, 20, 220024, Минск.
NOTES