The War of Independence and Its Effect on Britain

The first English settlements in North America emerged early in the 17-th century. The first English colony, Virginia, was established in 1607, however, not until the twentieth of the. 17-th century did these settlements form a permanent basis for the English colonies.

The English government regarded the American colonies both as sources of cheap raw materials for the home industry, and as a market for English manufacturing goods. The last thing which the English government and the English manufacturers wished was that the colonies should become independent economically. This fact was decisive in;; determining the attitude of the English government in the 1770-s of the 18-th century, when the American colonies first tried to attain economic independence of England and finally insisted on political independence as a necessary condition.

The local Indians were ruthlessly exploited and driven from their lands. The white settlers seized the best lands and did everything to exterminate the original population of North America.

During the 18^th century the economic importance of the American colonies grew still further, especially as sources of raw materials and agricultural products. The plantation-owners of the South did not encourage industrial development being content with the tremendous profits they derived from the sale of agricultural products and of slaves, whom they bred like cattle on their plantations. In the North industry developed despite the attempts of the British government to limit it. These restrictions were most serious and they increased the growing antagonism between the American colonies and the mother country.

In 1750 the English Parliament forbade the construction of iron works in America. In 1754 it prohibited the manufacture of textiles in the colonies and decreed that they should be imported from England. The poor farmers were indignant when in 1763 the English king closed the western lands to settlement.

In 1765 the Stamp Act was passed by Parliament according to which a stamp bearing a state emblem was required on all legal papers referring to commercial transactions; even newspapers were heavily taxed. This tax would have imposed a heavy burden on the population. Attempts to enforce the Stamp Act led to uprisings of the population in Boston and other towns. The resistance was so unanimous that the British government was forced to abolish the Stamp Act. But Parliament soon imposed new taxes and sent troops to the American colonies.

For almost ten years after the Stamp Act the American Colonies and the mother country were in constant dispute due to the obstinacy of the English government. Eventually these hostilities broke into open war known as the War of Independence (1775-83).

When in December 1773 The English merchants of the East India Company brought to Boston a large cargo of tea subject to a tax, the Bostonians boarded the ships and threw the bales of tea into the harbour. That same year the American colonies sent their delegates to a congress of Philadelphia which appeared to George III to abolish the restrictions on trade and industry. The congress requested too that the colonies shouldn't be taxed without their consent. The colonists wanted their own American parliament.

The English Government wouldn't tolerate such an attitude. For the English bourgeoisie America was only a market from which they could import cheaply and to which they could export with profit. George III replied with a demand for the complete submission of the colonies. Open hostilities broke out between the “red-coats”, the English army, and the American colonists. The war began in New England. The English troops won most of the engagements but, finding themselves in an unfriendly region far from their base of supplies, finally evacuated the city.

George Washington (1732-99), a rich planter from Virginia, defender of the interests of the propertied classes and outstanding organizer was appointed commander-in-chief of the troops of the rebel colonies.

On July 4, 1776 Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence drawn up by a group of bourgeois intellectuals headed by Thomas Jefferson. It declared the independence of the 13 American colonies. However, the Declaration did not abolish slavery.

Russia's positive neutrality in the War of Independence was a factor which also contributed to the American cause for freedom against England. Benjamin Franklin, an outstanding diplomat, brilliant scientist, prominent public and political figure, and one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence had already gone to Paris in search of such aid, was now able to sign treaties of commerce and alliance. French aid meant that England now had an enemy near home, and that she couldn't devote her full attention to America. The British next transferred the war to the southern colonies. However, the struggle of the rebellious American colonies against the English ended in the victory of the Americans. In 1781 the English army under General Cornwallis was trapped by a combined French and American force by land and a French fleet by sea at Yorktown and surrendered. The surrender of Cornwallis virtually ended the war. In the Treaty of Versailles (1783) the American colonies gained independence. The English recognized the independence of the colonies.

The War of Independence in North America was a bourgeois revolution which led to the creation of an independent republic, the United States of America.

The War of Independence was a struggle of the popular masses of the colonies headed by bourgeoisie against the English landed aristocracy and the colonial authorities supported by the crown. The American bourgeoisie made use of the struggle of the masses against the English in order to come to power and having come to power it intensified the oppression of the popular masses.

The greatest blow to the hopes of the masses in the American Revolution was the first Constitution, prepared by the Federal Convention of 1787. The democratic forces in the country did not have a substantial say in the making of the Constitution. It primarily guaranteed the rights and privileges of the bourgeoisie of the North and the slaveowners of the South.

Nevertheless the revolt of the American colonies and the heroic straggle of their people dealt a severe blow at the reactionary forces in Europe, Britain included. The War of Independence was the first mass freedom movement ever faced by the British in a colonial possession and it split British public opinion.

The War of Independence increased social tension in England. The war against the American colonies was lost. The results meant a defeat for the king's policy of personal government. The Tory and right Whig politicians who brought the country to the brink of political bankruptcy had to go, and in 1783 William Pitt the Younger became the prime minister in the country at the age of 24. His reforms as well as his policy of “free trade” – that is free capitalist development.

I. Answer the, following questions:

1. How-did the English government regard the American colonies?

2. Why was the economic importance of the American colonies so big?

3. What was the aim of passing the Stamp Act in 1765?

4. Can you explain the expression “the famous Boston tea-party”?

5. Why did the American colonists want their own parliament?

6. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?

7. What was the end of the War of Independence?

8. What were the results of the war?

II. Give Ukrainian equivalents to the following words:

Settlements, independence, decisive, to seize, to exterminate, raw materials, to encourage, attempt, to forbid, to tax, resistance, to abolish, bourgeoisie, hostilities, to demand, complete submission, troops, commander-in-chief, to abolish slavery, to declare, to transfer, privileges, slave-owners, colonial possession.