英美概况考试重整理 美国史.docVIP

Unit 1 The United States of America 1. The United States is bordered on the north by Canada, on the south by Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. 2. According to the text, the large territory of the continental US is divided into three basic areas: A. The Atlantic Seacoast west to the Appalachians; B. The Mississippi River Basin; C. The Rockies west to the Pacific; Unit 2 American population 3. The first blacks arrived in Jamestown in 1619 as indentured servants, but soon after 1619 they were brought to colonies as slaves. The blacks were formally freed in 1863, but continued to suffer the institutionalized segregation for about a century. Today many blacks still live in the south, some have entered the middle class, but one-third of all black families still live below the poverty line. Chapter 5 The Confederation and the Constitution 1．Under the Articles of Confederation the national government consisted of only a legislature; it had no separate executive and judicial divisions. The state government was left the exclusive powers to regulate commerce and to tax their citizens. 2. The Antifederalists opposed the constitution and prefermd a more decentralized federal system of government. 3. George Washington was elected unanimously as the first US President in 1788. The first Vice-President was John Adams, the first Secretary of Treasury was Alexander Hamilton and the first Secretary of State was Thomas Jefferson. 4. The most glorious achievement of Jefferson as President was the Louisiana Purchase which was about 828000 square miles. This Purchase doubled the area of the then United States. 5. The War of 1812 is also called the Second War of Independence. This war lasted three years and ended in another American victory. An important result of the war was the strengthening of national unity and patriotism. And it was after this war that the US was able to make the change of a semi-colonial economy