1781 The Fighting Ends

After six long years of war in America the colonists and their ally, the French, the British surrendered. The British, though greater in number, had trouble with the sly fighting style of the Americans: the British fought from formations, usually two long rows of Redcoats; each would take turns firing while they marched ahead, but Patriots would shoot from behind trees, rocks, walls.

1783 The Peace of Paris

In the end England recognized independence of the 13 colonies and granted them a large territory between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Diplomats from England and America met in Paris to sign a peace treaty, officially ending the war. The Americans had the difficult task of forming a new government elected by the people. It had brought a new nation into the world.

Pick up the right answer among those given below:

1. 
   In 1775 British troops and colonial militia clashed at
   

a) Boston

b) Lexington

c) Philadelphia

2. 
   The second Continental Congress met in
   

a) New York

b) Washington

c) Baltimore

d) Philadelphia

3. 
   The war for Independence began in
   

a) 1757

b) 1775

c) 1577

d) 1777

4. 
   The Declaration of Independence was drafted by
   

a) George Washington

b) Thomas Jefferson

c) Samuel Adams

5. 
   In the end England recognized the independence of
   

a) 30 colonies

b) 40 colonies

c) 13 colonies

Brother Against Brother:

The Tragic Civil War

Background

In mid 19 th century, differences about slavery between the North and the South led to a bloody civil war. The South wanted slavery to be extended into new western territories. The South needed slaves for its large- farm economy, and it was afraid the North would try to abolish slavery in the South too. Abraham Lincoln became president in 1860. He wanted to keep the country unified. But eleven southern states seceded from, or left, the US and formed the Confederate States of America. The Civil war that followed tore the country apart. In some cases it tore families apart, too. This story is about two brothers from the southern state of Virginia, fighting on opposite sides at the Battle of Gettysburg. The story is in their letters written during the battle.

From the Confederate Side

June 29, 1863

My dearest Mother,

I know we’re right. We must defend our homeland and our way of life. We have no choice. We are Virginians first, and Americans second. My dear big brother Jed does not feel this way. He does more thinking than I do. I follow my heart and my home. Oh, how I wish we were fighting side by side, instead of against each other. I miss him so. God be with him in this awful hour.

Tonight we are sitting around our campfire cooking supper: beans, salt pork and hard bread. We are so sick of this war. We talk about home all the time. But we talk about food even more. Having enough food is our first worry. After food, the biggest comfort is coffee, at any time of day or night. Now my friends are singing “ The Girl I Left Behind Me.”It cheers us to sing about going back to a pretty girl. Thoughts of home and those we left behind keep us going. I hope to continue this letter tomorrow .

Love from your son Beau.

From the Union Side

July 1, 1863

Dear sister Rose,

Will you and Mother ever forgive me for joining the Union side? I tried to explain before I left. Maybe I think about morality more than most men do. I cannot accept slavery. I believe with all my heart that it is immoral, and that is what forced me to join this side. I hope you can make Mother understand.

We all fear the battle tomorrow. Still, the men sit around the campfire singing and writing letters.

They’re singing a song about going back home “ The Girl I Left Behind Me.” WE need songs to cheer our weary hearts.

The younger boys talk about their fears. They fear being separated from the unit; they fear dying alone; they fear not being identified if they die. A boy seeping next to me is only 15. Tonight he told me” as the bullets were flying over me today, I thought what a foolish boy I was to run away from home and get into this mess. I would be glad to see my father come after me now.” He said he marched off with 34 soldiers from his town, and now, two years later, only four are still alive.

Many young boys joined to escape the boredom of farm life. They expected a good time, an adventure. Not much talk about glory or honor now. We talk about going home. Who would have thought it would last this long, two years. After this is over, I want to go home to Virginia. I hope you will accept me back. I will finish this letter tomorrow.

Love from brother

Importance

The battle of Gettysburg was the turning point of the war. It weakened the Confederate side, but they still fought on for two more years. It was the war’s bloodiest battle, with 7,000 men killed and 42,000 wounded on the two sides.

The weapons in this war had 10 times the killing power of those in the Revolutionary War. On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln gave one of his most famous speeches, the Gettysburg Address. Here, dedicating a cemetery at the battlefield, Lincoln asked his countrymen never to forget the dead soldiers, who gave their lives “ that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth.

After Gettysburg, Joshua Chamberlain was wounded six times and rose to Major General, but went on to be Governor of Maine for four terms, and president of Bowdoin College.

From the Confederate Side

July 2, 1863

Dearest Mother,

I’m lucky I can continue this letter. I want you to know everything, but I don’t want to frighten you. Today was the worst ever. It was the second day of fighting here at Gettysburg, a town in Pennsylvania. General Lee has most of our army here. We came so far north to bother Mr. Lincoln and to show those Yankees they must let us go.

We have been marching since I started this letter. Before Gettysburg, our men were ready for a fight. Before this battle, those Union Yankees were running away more than they were fighting. Now we are deep in their territory and they are fighting harder.

Today we fought on Cemetery Hill. We attacked going uphill, with the light in our eyes. They were hiding behind a stone wall and shooting down on us as we came through the trees. It was terrible to see so many men fall on that hill. My group charged, then fell back. For a while, the Yankees quit firing on us, so we thought they had retreated. But just as we went up through the trees, a Yankee officer yelled,” Charge! Charge!” And all those Yankees came down on us with bayonets. Half my regiment was killed, wounded or captured. I don’t know how I survived.

Have you heard which regiment Jed is in? I pray he is not here.

Love from the battlefield.

Your son Beau.
From the Union Side

July 2, 1863

Dear sister Rose,

We’re still camped outside a small town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg. We are on Cemetery Ridge, the hill we held yesterday. Tonight I feel the heaviness of this terrible war more than ever. I am so afraid brother Beau is across the field from me, camped in the trees. Instead of sleeping across this deadly battlefield. I can see the light of the Rebel campfires. They must see ours. It was bound to happen, that we would meet in a battle. Brother fighting against brother is wrong. I know his regiment, the First Virginia, is there. I pray I don’t see him tomorrow. I pray they don’t attack again.

Do wonder which regiment I joined? Since I’m not from the North, I can join any one. We southerners are welcomed. I’m in a regiment from Maine. I have a spectacular commander, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain. He is a professor and a graduate of Harvard University, but he is as good a fighting man any West Point man. Before the battle, he talked to us and said “ All the men who have died in the past are with you today.” That was inspirational.

During the battle, the Rebels kept coming, even though it was uphill. They’d appear through the trees, stop behind one and fire. We’d fire back, then re-load. They’d shoot again. Men were falling all around me. Finally we ran out of ammunition. Most commanders would retreat from the battle at that point, but not Chamberlain.

He said, “Fix your bayonets, boys. We’ll charge on them.” And so we did. When they attacked again, we charged down the hill at them. They were so surprised to see us come charging with our bayonets, most of them ran away or they gave up and we captured them. That was a masterly thing for Chamberlain to do. Unfortunately, we lost half our regiment in the battle.

When this cruel war is over, I hope to continue my studies. I’d like to be a college professor like Colonel Chamberlain. He gives fine speeches. He sounds like a preacher. I can see why women fall in love with preachers. A professor is something like a preacher.

From your loving brother Jed.

The next day, the Confederate charge ended in disaster for General Lee’s army. Jed searched the battlefield and found his brother Beau dying. Beau asked him to make sure his mother received his letters. Jed held Beau until he died.

Fill in the space with the best word from the list below.

1. 
   Eleven southern states_____ from the United States.
   
2. 
   The Union Army was on a ridge named after the burial ground, the ______.
   
3. 
   When soldiers run out of _____ they usually retreat.
   
4. 
   After fighting for a year, a soldier didn’t think of war as adventure or _____
   
5. 
   Jed said fighting against his brother was _____ happen at some time.
   
6. 
   Jed _____ the Gettysburg battle, but his brother Beau didn’t.
   
7. 
   Jed thought that Colonel Chamberlain was an amazing man, a_____ man.
   
8. 
   Beau was glad he hadn’t been injured, killed, or _____.
   

Captured, seceded, cemetery, glory, spectacular, survived, ammunition, bound to

Match two parts to make a correct sentence

1. 
   T two brothers fight
   
2. 
   Beau doesn’t know
   
3. 
   The two armies
   
4. 
   Chamberlain’s men use
   
5. 
   Jed is inspired
   
6. 
   Beau doesn’t write
   
7. 
   Jed’s conscience
   
8. 
   Jed finds Beau
   

A to his mother about the battles.

B by Colonel Chamberlain’s words.

C dying on the battle.

D in enemy armies.

E made him join the northern army.

F bayonets to charge down the hill.

G camp opposite each other outside Gettysburg.

H what regiment Jed joined.

3 American People – “A Nation of Nations”

Read the texts carefully. Match the texts with the titles. One is extra.

A American people

B The British

C Hispanic - Americans

D African - Americans

E Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe

F Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe

G The New England Yankee

H Native Americans

1. 
   The first people came to America from Asia. Today there are about 1.5 million Indians in the USA, most of them live in the Western states- California, Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico. About one - third of the Native Americans live in reservations, the land that was given them by the government in the 19 th century.
   
2. 
   Immigrants from Britain began setting in the eastern part of North America in the 1600’s. By the time of the American Revolution ( 1776 ) the culture of the American colonists was completely British. One could say that the British culture was the foundation of the new nation’s culture.
   
3. 
   Different people use the word “yankee” in different meanings. For a person from the South of the USA it means a Northerner. For a foreigner the word means an American. But the exact meaning of the word “yankee” is a New Englander. They have a reputation for being honest but shrewd, realistic, practical, untalkative , thrifty and independent. The Yankees like to speak about the special role that New England has played in the history of the USA. New England Yankees led the fight against slavery in America.
   
4. 
   Between 1620 and 1820 very large groups of people came to the USA not as willing immigrants , but against their will. They were from Africa. They were brought to America to work as slaves on the plantations of the South. The total number of the people brought to America within this period reaches 8 million. The Civil War in the 1860’s ended slavery and established equal rights for former slaves.
   
5. 
   In the 1820’s many people in Europe , suffering from poverty , war and discrimination, began emigrating to the United States. They hoped for better opportunities there. During the first half- century, most immigrants came from the countries of north-western Europe – Germany, the United Kingdom of great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ireland, Sweden and Norway. During those years the USA was expanding into what is now the Midwest. Even today, German and Scandinavian influence is felt in Midwestern foods and festivals.
   
6. 
   Many immigrants came to the USA from the countries of southern and eastern Europe-Italy, Greece, Poland, Russia between the 1870’s and the 1930’s. The US was developing into a mainly industrial country. Much of the farmland in the Midwest had been settled, so the new wave of immigrants moved to cities and worked in factories.
   
7. 
   Hispanics are people whose ancestors were Spanish or Spanish –Americans. Some Hispanics had lived in the areas which were under Spanish control, and found themselves living in the US when these areas became part of the United States ( for example California and New Mexico). Many other Hispanics immigrated to the United States from many different countries, mostly from Mexico, Puerto and Cuba.
   

4 “The Melting Pot “

The USA is a land of immigrants. Between 1815 and 1914, the world witnessed the greatest peaceful migration in its history: 35 million people, mostly Europeans, left their homelands to start new lives in America. Why did these people risk everything by leaving their homes and families to see what the New World had to offer? How had the Old World let them down? There are both push and pull factors which we should consider.

First, what forced emigrants to make the momentous decision to leave? One major cause of the exodus among European peasants was the rise in population which in turn led to land hunger. Another was politics. Nationalism saw increased taxation and the growth of armies, and many young men fled eastern Europe to avoid being conscripted. Also, the failure of the liberal revolutions in Europe caused the departure of hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Physical hunger provided another pressing reason. Between 1845 and 1848 , the terrible potato famine in Ireland ended in the deaths of one million Irish people and the emigration of a further million who wished to escape starvation. Following the collapse of the economy of southern Italy in the 1860’s, hundreds of thousands decided to start afresh in America.

Religion also encouraged millions to leave the Old World. We should remember that the Pilgrim Fathers had wished to escape the ungodliness of England, while the Russian Jews of the last century sought to escape persecution and death in their native land.

In short, people chose to live their homes for social, economic and religious reasons. As a result, by 1890 among a total population of 63 million, there were more than nine million foreign- born Americans.

But what were the attractions? First of all, there was the promise of land which was so scarce in Europe. Next , factories were calling out for labor, and pay and conditions were much better than back home. Men were needed to open up the West and build the long railroads, and settlers were needed to populate new towns and develop commerce. There was the space for religious communities to practice their faith and comparative isolation.

This immigration meant that by around the 1850’s Americans of non- English extraction had started to outnumber those of English extraction. As we know, there were losers. To start with, there were those unwilling immigrants, the slaves who had been used as a source of cheap labour for the tobacco plantations of the South. Nor should we forget the equally awful fate of the American Indians. By 1860 there were 27 million free whites, 4 million slaves and a mere 488 000 free blacks.

Nowadays, the USA is still seen by millions as the Promised Land. Gone are the days when you could buy US citizenship for one dollar. Yet , even though entry is strictly limited, refugees continue to find freedom and people from poorer countries a better way of life. As always, it remains a magnet to the ambitious and the energetic who are ready to commit themselves to the land that gives them a second chance.

Choose the appropriate answers to these questions :

1. 
   What is not given as a reason for emigration in the text?
   

A The search for religious freedom

B The search for adventure

C Avoidance of military service

D Economics

2. 
   The lives of 19 th century European peasants were difficult because
   

A There was no shortage of land

B Of peace

C The population had gone down

D There were too many of them

3. 
   Which of these things was not an attraction of the USA ?
   

A Employment

B A healthy life

C Availability of land

D Business opportunities

4. 
   Which fraction gives the closest estimate of the number of non-native born Americans in 1890?
   

A A third

B An eight

C A half

D A quarter

5. 
   The story of the American Indians is
   

A Sadder than that of the slaves

B The saddest tale of all

C Not as sad as that of the slaves

D As sad as that of the slaves

5 American character

Task 1

Match the headings with the paragraphs

A The land of diversity

B The American dream

C “ Try it – you ‘ll like it”

D Typical American behaviour

E Where the car is king

F Rich and poor

G The American character

1. 
   People like to feel that they, too, could be rich if they worked hard enough. They feel good about the future. To be free to do well, to be rewarded properly for honest, hard work- this, they say, is the real meaning of America. It was to this country, after all, that the poor of the world came to find a new life and a fair chance for their children, and many of them found it.
   

2. 
   There is great diversity in the ethnic makeup of America. Nevertheless, many writers ha-ve generalized about typical American values, attitudes, and beliefs. For example, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report, sees his country as “ a culture of self- reliance, independence, resourcefulness, pragmatism and novelty.” He goes on to describe his fellow Americans in greater detail. “We are comfortable with change and with people who make things happen. In America, the new is better than the old; taking charge is valued over playing it safe; making money is superior to inheriting it; education and merit are favoured over family ties.”
   

3. 
   Americans love to make a lot of money and spend it on themselves- to buy things that save time, give them pleasure, or serve as status symbols. However, Americans are also very generous and very willing to donate money to good causes.
   

4. 
   The great American novelist and humorist Mark Twain described the typical Englishman or – woman as a” person who does things because they have been done before” and the typical American as a “person who does things because they haven’t been done before.” Americans love to try something new out of curiosity and a belief that newer may be better.
   

5. 
   Today, only really poor families and those too old to drive do not own a car and their freedom is limited. But for the 87 percent who do have cars, there is hardly any need to use their legs. There are banks, fast-food restaurants, and movie theaters where you can withdraw money, eat a meal, or see a film without ever getting out of your car. There are even drive-in- churches. It’s surprising that some people remember how to walk at all.
   

6. 
   The good result, though, is the confidence that many Americans have in themselves. They seem to feel that they can do anything, and get whatever they want if they try hard enough. It may take a lot of hard work to do well in America, but it’s certainly exciting.
   

Task 2

Read the text and choose from the sentences A – G the one which fits each gap 1 – 6.

There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

A The desire to make a fresh start in a new place is still noticeable throughout the nation.

B Most are friendly, kind – hearted, eager to help visitors and immigrants.

C All these familiar sayings reflect the American obsession with promptness and efficiency.

D Americans admire what is practical, fast, efficient and new.

E They are direct and assertive.

F Americans are often accused of being materialistic, of valuing wealth and possessions above all else.

G However, Americans have moved in the opposite direction.

Watcting Americans in action, foreigners sometimes see behaviour that seems rude or just plain silly. Among them are the following traits.

Almost every American wears a watch, and, in nearly every room in an American home, there’s a clock.”Be on time.” “Don’t waste time.” “Time is money.”” Time waits for no one.” 1 ________________________ Students displease their teachers and employees displease their bosses when they arrive late. This desire to get the most out of every minute often makes Americans impatient when they have to wait. It also makes it difficult for Americans to relax.

The desire to save time and do work more quickly and easily leads them to buy many kinds of machines – from office equipment such as calculators, photocopy machines, and computers to dozens of home and personal appliances, such as microwave ovens.

After visiting the U.S. in the 1830s, the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “I know of no country…. Where the love of money has taken stronger hold…”2____________________ Money us valued both as a symbol of success and also for a more obvious reason- its purchasing power. Purchases are made in order to “keep up with the Joneses,” to show friends that one can afford a bigger house or a better car.

Also, advertising encourages people to keep buying things far beyond what they need. In the 19 th century, the American author Henry David Thoreau advised his countrymen ,”Simplify your needs!”3_______________________ Now, just as Thoreau predicted, many find that their possessions own them. They must work hard to earn enough money to buy and maintain the many possessions they consider necessities.

Americans believe that” honesty is the best policy”.4_______________________

They ask for what they want. Children often argue with their parents and citizens express opposition to actions of the government. If the soup is cold or the meat is tough, the diner can complain to the waiter. If a teacher is wrong or confusing, a student may say so. If the boss makes a mistake, an employee may politely point it out.

The extremely competitive nature of Americans is often criticized. Of course, competition isn’t always bad. But the desire to get ahead of others sometimes causes people to do things that are unkind and even dishonest.

5____________________________Sometimes they cannot understand cultures that prefer more traditional, leisurely ways of doing things. People from other cultures, on the other hand, may dislike the practical, hectic American life style.

Despite these traits, which many foreigners may view as faults, Americans are usually considered very likable.6___________________________ In this nation of immigrants, the foreigner does not remain an outsider for long.

<предыдущая страница | следующая страница>