Unit 1. Forming the new Nation

In the 18^th century each individual American state had its own government and behaved very much like an independent country. It made its own laws and its own decisions about how to run its affairs. The first big problem that faced the new United States was how to join together these sometimes quarrelsome little countries into one united nation.

During the War of Independence the states had agreed to work together in a national Congress to which each state sent representatives. The agreement that set up this plan for the states to cooperate with one another was called the Articles of Confederation. It had begun to operate in 1781.

When the War of Independence was over, individual states began to behave more and more like independent nations.

The weakness of its government made it difficult for the new United States to win the respect or the help of foreign nations.

It was clear that for the United States to survive there would have to be changes in the Articles of Confederation. In February 1787, Congress asked each state to send delegates to a meeting or “convention”, in Philadelphia to talk about such changes.

The original purpose of the Constitutional Convention was simply to revise the Articles of Confederation. But the delegates did more than this. They started afresh and worked out a completely new system of government in a document called the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution gave the Unites States a “federal” system of government. A federal system is one in which the power to rule is shared. A central, or federal, authority has some of it and the rest is in the hands of local authority in the separate regions that make up the country.

The new Constitution still left the individual state governments with a wide range of powers. But it made the federal government much stronger than before. It gave it the power to collect taxes, to organize armed forces, to make treaties with foreign countries and to control trade of all kinds.

The Constitution made arrangements for the election of a national leader called the President to take charge of the federal government. He would head the “executive” side of the nation’s government. It would be his job to run the country’s everyday affairs and to see that people obeyed the laws.

The law-making, or “legislative”, powers of the federal government were given to a Congress. This was made up of representatives elected by the people.

Finally, the Constitution set up a Supreme Court to control the “judicial” part of the nation’s government. The job of the Supreme Court was to make decisions in any disagreements about the meaning of the laws and the Constitution.

The Constitution went into effect in March 1789. But it was still not really complete. In 1791 ten amendments, or additions, were made to it. Together these ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights.

The reason for the Bill of Rights was that the original Constitution had said nothing about the rights and freedoms of individual citizens. The Bill of Rights altered this. It promised all Americans freedom of religion, a free press, free speech, the right to carry army, the right to a fair trial by jury, and protection against “cruel and unusual punishments”.

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights illustrated two different sides of American political life. On the one hand people saw that the country needed a strong and efficient central authority. On the other hand they wanted to protect individual rights and freedoms. Different ideas about the importance of these issues gave birth to the first political parties in the United States.

TASK 1. Match the English words and word combinations given below with their Russian equivalents:

1. отдельный штат	a) local authorities
2. независимая страна	b) Articles of Confederation
3. управлять делами	c) federal system of government
4. сварливый, вздорный	d) to collect taxes
5. Статьи Конфедерации	e) to start afresh
6. первоначальная цель	f) to obey the law
7. начать снова	g) to run affairs
8. федеральная система правления	h) to go into effect
9. местные власти	i) to make treaties
10. собирать налоги	j) original purpose
11. заключать договоры	k) individual state
12. подчиняться закону	l) quarrelsome
13. вступить в действие	m) independent country

TASK 2. Insert the right words:

the president; Congress; the Bill of Rights; system of government; central authority; powers

1. During the War of Independence the states had agreed to work together in a national ….
2. The delegates worked out a completely new … for the United States.
3. The new Constitution still left the individual state government with a wide range of ….
4. In 1791 ten amendments, called …, were made to the Constitution.
5. The Constitution made arrangements for the election of a national leader called ….
6. On one hand people saw that the country needed a strong and efficient ….

TASK 3. Answer the following questions: