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The Founding of the United States: A little less than 500 years ago, North America was a vast wilderness only inhabited by Indians. Then in 1942, Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailing under the Spanish flag, set out for Asia and discovered a “New World”, for gold and 0riches, for honor and glory. The first settlers arrived later. They came in search of different goals-economic opportunity and religious and political freedom. In 1607 some English settlers built the first permanent village called “Jamestown”, after their King “James I” of England. More and more immigrants soon founded colonies all along the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Georgia. Over time, settlers from many other nations joined the English in America. German farmers settled in Pennsylvania and Swedish settlers founded the colony of Delaware. Dutch settlers purchased Manhattan Island from local Indians in 1626. The French settled Canada and Spanish explorers established missions in Florida and the American Southwest. Africans were first brought to Virginia as slaves in 1619. By 1733 European settlers occupied 13 colonies along the Atlantic coast. The French controlled Canada, Louisiana and the entire watershed of the Mississippi River. A series of conflicts between the British and the French culminated in the “French and Indian war”(1754-63) in which Britain, with its American colonial allies, emerged victorious. France ceded Canada and the Ohio territories east of the Mississippi river to Britain in the “Peace of Paris of 1763” The colonies gradually developed into an economical and political shape. The British started imposing new taxes on goods. These measures seemed quite fair to British politicians, who had spent a lot of money to defend their American colonies during the war. But the Americans feared that the new taxes would make trading difficult and thought that the British troops were trying to take control of the situation. So, they refused. Soon all British taxes were removed except on tea. Over time, the relationship between Americans and British started to fade out. Colonists began to organize militias and to collect and store weapons and ammunition. In 1775, the “American War of Independence” began. In 1775, the Congress founded a continental army and navy under the command of George Washington, printed paper money and opened diplomatic contracts with foreign powers. Thomas Jeffer son of Virginia drafted a Declaration of Independence, which the Congress adopted on July 4, 1776. The Declaration presented a public defense of the American Revolution. Most importantly, it explained the philosophy behind the revolution - that men have a natural right to life. The war, at first, went badly for the Americans. The British captured New York and Philadelphia. The tide turned in October 1777, when the British army surrendered at Saratoga. Encouraged by that victory, France seized an opportunity to humble Britain, her traditional enemy. A Franco-American alliance was signed in February 1778. In 1781, 8000 British troops under Lord Cornwallis’ command were surrounded at Yorktown, by a Franco-American troops, under George Washington’s command. They surrendered and afterwards the British government asked for peace. The colonies were now free but they hadn’t yet forged a united nation. George Washington was chosen to be the first president of this united nation.
Education in the USA: Over 58 million students are enrolled in American schools, which range from kindergartens to high schools, small colleges and large universities. Americans place a high value on education for themselves and their children. Education has been one of the nation’s historic goals. More than 100 years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, European settlers in Massachusetts passed laws requiring all communities to hire a schoolmaster, larger towns had to establish grammar schools to train children. The first American college, Harvard, was founded in Massachusetts in 1636; the second, William and Marry, was established in Virginia in 1693. Perhaps the most note worthy feature about American education is the absence of a national administration or structure. Each of the 50 states controls and directs its own schools. Most states require that children should attend school from the time they reach six or seven years old until they are 16 or 17. Educational requirements are set by the state legislatures, and public schools are managed by local communities, divided into about 15600 state school districts. About 85 percent of American students are enrolled in public schools, which are supported by state and local taxes. The other 15 percent chose to attend private schools, for which their families pay special tuition fees. Four out of five American private schools, are run by churches, synagogues or other religious groups. Agriculture in the USA: American farmland is among the richest and most varied in the world. In part, this is due to the United States’ vast size; in part to nature’s generosity. Deserts exist only in a relatively small area of the west. Elsewhere, rainfall ranges from modest to abundant, and rivers and underground water permit extensive irrigation. The United States today has 2176000 farms, of which more than 88 percent are owned by the people who operate them, with their effective use of machines, fertilizers and chemicals. American farmers are virtually unraveled in producing crops cheaply and in quantity. Just 50 years ago a farmer fed 10 persons; today the average farmer feeds 75. Yet the number of farmers decrease annually. There were 15.7 million people living on farms in 1960; by 1980 that total had decreased to 6.1 million. The US farm population today is under 5 million. The number of farms has also dropped over the years, from 3969000 in 1960 to 2176000 today. However the American farmers rely a lot on their government, which try to help them occasionally. The USA today produces as much as half the world’s soybeans and corn for grain, and from 10 to 25 % of its cotton, wheat, tobacco and vegetable oils. Indeed, one third of the farmland in the US produces crops for exports to Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. US farm exports reached a high of $43.3 thousand million in 1981. Agricultural imports lag far behind, leaving a surplus in the agricultural balance of trade.
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