History of the USA. Early History of the American Continent. Native Americans, страница 4

·  the taxes on imported goods were light; smuggling was possible.

But after 1760 the situation changed:

·  the British worried about the development of industry in America and about possible competition (when their goods wouldn’t be bought in America and would be replaced by home-produced) and did everything to stop this development;

·  after the Seven Years’ War the British lost a lot of money and decided to get the money from the American colonies by introducing heavy taxes on imported goods;

·  the Quartering Act – required that the local authorities should find suitable housing and feed the British troops;

·  the Declaration Act – stated the Britain had power over all the territories and people in American colonies;

·  1773 – “The Boston Tea Party” – the British introduced a tea tax and monopoly on tea export to the colonies and that meant that the illegal trade of tea that existed in America before was not possible any longer. As a result a group of colonists dressed as the Native Americans boarded the British merchant ship in Boston and threw 342 cases of tea into the ocean. The British Government responded by closing the port of Boston and sent more troops to the colonies.

War:

To resist the British troops a militia was organised. It consisted of volunteers from the local population who were given arms to defend the colonists from the British Army.

1775 – the Congress of representatives of the colonies met in Philadelphia and began to act as a national government. It appointed George Washington (from Virginia) the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

The Congress:

·  organised the army and navy;

·  printed its own paper money;

·  started diplomatic relations with foreign countries.

Thomas Jefferson (a democrat from Virginia) prepared the text of the “Declaration of Independence” that proclaimed the independence of the 13 American colonies, the equality of all men and other unalienable rights. It was adopted by the Congress in 1776.

At first the war did not go well for the Americans, but in 1777 the French offered their financial and military help to the Americans and soon the British Government asked for peace => In 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed. The 13 colonies were now free and independent. George Washington was elected the first president of the USA and the capital was transferred from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.

Consequences of the War:

1803 – Louisiana in the south was bought from Napoleon for 27 million $ which doubled the size of the country;

1804 – the expedition to the Pacific Coast was organised. The Americans continued to explore and colonise the western lands;

1819 – Florida was obtained from Spain;

1842 – the Treaty of Webster-Ashburton established the US-Canada border. In 1846 the dispute about this border was eventually settled and the USA got Oregon, Washington and Idaho;

1836 – Texas declared its independence from Mexico and expressed its willingness to join the USA. Thus in 1845 it was annexed by the USA;

1847 – as a result of the victory in the war with Mexico the USA obtained a very large territory – California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado.

1867 – the USA bought Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million $ (2 cents per an acre); it became the 49^th state in 1959;

1900 – the USA annexed Hawaii – the only island state; it became the 50^th state in 1959.