Riassunto esame Mass media inglese, prof. Baseotto, libro consigliato American History

Pre-colonial America

Other complex cultures flourished in other parts of the America. These peoples varied enormously, ranging from poor nomadic food gatherers of the interior plains of North America to opulent fishing societies of the Pacific North-west, from the woodland hunting tribes of what is now the northern United States to the wealthy and powerful peoples of Central America.

Colonial America

The first English settlers in America came to work for private companies which had been granted trading charters by the English Crown, such as the Virginia Company of London. These first colonists consisted mainly of the landless, the unemployed and those in search of religious freedom. The most famous of these early settlers were the Pilgrim Fathers, who set sail on the Mayflower in 1620 and landed at Cape Cod in New England.

Being arrived in a good harbour, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean. It was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, dangerous to travel.

American independence

By the end of the 18^th century, the whole of the Eastern coast of North America had been colonized, largely by the British. The guiding principle for these colonies was the widely-held mercantilist view that they should supply the mother country with raw materials and not compete in manufacturing.

After the taxes had been repealed, there was relative peace everywhere except Boston, but parliament exempted the tea of the nearly bankrupt British East India Company from import duties. So, when the first cargoes of this tea arrived in Boston harbour, the American patriots boarded the three ships on the night of 16 December 1773 and threw the tea into the sea → Boston Tea Party. Parliament reacted to this act of vandalism by closing Boston harbour.

Representatives from every colony except Georgia met in Philadelphia in September 1774 and replied by imposing a trade embargo on Britain. The colonists met for a second time in Philadelphia in May 1776 and made George Washington their commander-in-chief. The formal Declaration of Independence was made on 4 July 1776.

The American War of Independence lasted over six years. The French entered the war after the American victory in the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777. The peace settlement signed two years later recognized the independence, freedom, and sovereignty of the 13 colonies.

19th century expansion

The American revolution was achieved by the original 13 states on the eastern seaboard. The Treaty of 1783 gave another area of land, further to the west, and over the next 50 years, the whole of the American mainland was brought under US control. Some of this land was acquired by treaty, such as Florida and Louisiana.

The Americans began to expand across it, continually pushing westwards from their original settlements, forming...