THE CREATION OF THE USA

The Vikings were probably the first Europeans to reach America. Although archeological remains have been found in Canada from about 1000 years ago, so far there is no conclusive evidence for Viking habitation in today`s USA.

In 1492 Columbus, an explorer and trader sailed westward from Spain, seeking a short sea route to the Orient. He found instead a vast “New World” as it became known later, although Columbus himself named it the “Other World”. Following Columbus` voyage, explorers, soldiers and settlers from countries sailed to this land soon called America after Amerigo Vespucci, by most Europeans. Vespucci made voyages to the New World for Spain and Portugal beginning in 1497.

The discovery of the existence of America caused a wave of excitement in Europe. To many Europeans the New World offered opportunities for wealth and power. They found gold in large quantities during the 1500-s. Spaniards moved into what is now the South-eastern and Western United States. They took control of Florida and the land west of the Mississippi River, basing their activity on the West Coast. In 1565 the Spanish founded St.Augustine, Florida, the oldest permanent settlement by Europeans in what is now the United States.

The English and French began exploring eastern North America in 1500. At first both nations sent only explorers and fur traders to the New World. But after 1600 they began establishing permanent settlements there. The French settlements were chiefly in what is now Canada and the south of the USA. The English settlements included the 13 colonies that later became the United States. Explorer Bartholomew Gosnold sailed to New England in 1602. In 1607 he established the first permanent settlement in North America at Jamestown in Virginia. Jamestown became the first real English colony and eventually led to the creation of the United States. Many historians believe the US would have become Spanish territory if had not been for Gosnold.

The Pilgrims were a group of English Protestant extremists who sailed from Europe to North America in 1620 in search of a home where they could freely practice their religion and live according to their Biblical laws. The various members of the group had broken away from the Church of England and moved to Amsterdam to escape religious persecution. But by 1617 a poor economy and concern over the Dutch influence on the community convinced many of them to move to the New World. They left the Netherlands and joined a large group of religious separatists and boarded “The Mayflower”. They departed in 1620 with 102 people aboard. Their destination was Northern Virginia. “The Mayflower” arrived at Cape Cod. Having no legal authority to colonize the area, they met to sign their own charter, known as the Mayflower Compact in which they agreed to form a self-governing community.

By the mid-1700-s most of the settlements had been formed into 13 British colonies: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Each colony had a governor and legislature but each was under the ultimate control of the British government. The earliest colonies had a thriving economy. The majority of the rice, indigo, tobacco, maize, wheat and timber produced, was sent for export. Trade was chiefly with Britain whose manufacturing firms depended on raw materials from its colonies. In return they received manufactured goods. The colonies also traded with the French, Dutch and Spanish.

Relations between the American Colonies and Great Britain began to break down during the mid-1700-s. The colonists, who were not represented in Parliament, argued that Britain had no right to tax them. They expressed this belief in the slogan “Taxation without Representation is Tyranny”. One of the most frequently described events that define this dislike of taxation was the Boston Tea Party when a group of merchants dressed up as Native Americans to disguise their identities, boarded a ship importing crates of tea and threw the crates overboard, as the tea carried excise and taxes payable to the British government.

Friction increased and on April 19, 1775, the American Revolution broke out. During the war the American Congress officially declared independence and formed the United States of America by adopting the Declaration of Independence. On October 19, 1781, the Americans won a decisive victory at the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia, when thousands of British soldiers surrendered. Within months the British government decided to seek peace. Finally on September 3, 1783, the Americans and the British signed the Treaty of Paris of 1783, officially ending the American Revolution. At the end of the American Revolution the new nation was still a loose confederation of states. But in 1787 American leaders got together and wrote the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution became the country`s basic law. The men who wrote it included some of the most famous and important figures in American history. Among them were George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin. The authors of the Constitution won the lasting fame as the Founding Fathers of the United States. George Washington was an American general and Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and later the first President of the United States under the US Constitution.

There was initially a lot of opposition to the new Constitution, as many felt that it did not specifically guarantee enough individual rights. In response 10 amendments known as the Bill of Rights were added to the document. The Bill of Rights became law on December 15, 1791. Among other things it guaranteed freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, freedom of religion and other rights to trial by jury and peaceful assembly.

During early 1800-s, settlers moved westward over the Appalachian Mountains into the new states and territories. They flocked into Texas, California and other western lands belonging to Mexico. Americans also settled in the Oregon Country, a large territory between California and Alaska owned by Britain. The build-up of the West gave rise to changes in American politics. As areas in the West gained large populations, they were admitted to the Union as states. But wealthy Easterners continued to control governmental and economical policy. Western farmers and pioneers as well as city labourers and craft workers soon banded together politically to promote their interests. They found a strong leader in Andrew Jackson and helped elect him president in 1828. Jackson took steps to reduce the power of wealthy Easterners. By 1820 American pioneers had established many frontier settlements as far west as the Mississippi River.

By 1830-s the Westward Movement had pushed the frontier across the Mississippi into Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and eastern Texas. The land beyond, called the Great Plains was dry and treeless and was farmland. But explorers, traders and others who had journeyed father west told of rich farm-land and forests beyond the Rocky Mountains. In the 1840-s large numbers of pioneers made the long journey across the Great Plains to the Far West. By 1840-s thousands of Americans lived in the Oregon Country and on the western land claimed by Mexico. By then large numbers of Americans had come to believe in the doctrine of manifest destiny. That is they thought the United States should control all of North America. Stirred by this belief, Americans demanded control of Oregon and Mexico. The struggle over the Mexican territory began in Texas in 1835, when the American settlers there staged a revolt against Mexican rule. In 1836 the settlers proclaimed Texas independent republic, but also requested US statehood. Nine years later the United States annexed Texas and made it a state. The United Sates gained more Mexican territory as a result of the Mexican War (1846-1848), which was fought between the United States and Mexico over a number of disagreements, including territorial disputes and valuable land, such as California, then part of Mexico. The treaty that ended the war gave the United States a vast stretch of land from Texas west to the Pacific and north to Oregon.

In 1853 with Gadsden Purchase America bought from Mexico the strip of land that makes up the southern edge of Arizona and New Mexico. The United States then owned all the territory of its present states except Alaska and Hawaii.