1861 – these 11 states formed the Confederate States of America with its capital in Richmond, government and army.

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Events

January 1, 1863 - the Emancipation Proclamation (a document issued by Lincoln which granted freedom to all slaves; later on it would serve as the basis for the 13^th Amendment)

Summer 1863 – Battle at Gettysburg (Pennsylvania)

As a result the Confederates were defeated and afterwards (November 1863) Lincoln made his most famous speech Gettysburg Address.

1864 – the Union Army under Gen. Sherman (North – Union Army) marched into the southern states.

April 2, 1865 – Gen. Lee (the South –Confederate Army) gave up Richmond (the capital of the Confederate States).

April 9, 1865 – Battle at Appomattox

As a result, Gen. Lee surrendered to Gen. Grant (North) and the war was over.

Results/ Consequences:

1) political

ü April 14, 1865 – Lincoln was assassinated (killed) by an actor John Booth during the performance.

ü The war solved 2 most important issues:

- the country, as well as nation, became united again

- the question of slavery

In 1865 the Congress passed the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution which officially abolished slavery. A bit later in 1866 the 14^th Amendment was passed, which gave the former slaves the rights of the citizens.

2) social

ü The war is considered to be the bloodiest war in the history of the USA, which took 635,000 people on each side.

ü Although the Blacks became free and had some rights, they were still considered “second-rate citizens”, who had to live in the poorest districts of cities. There existed racial segregation in the society, schools, public transport and other public places. The southern states started to pass “Black Codes”, laws which restricted the freedom of the blacks by telling what they can do, where they are allowed to appear in public places. Most of the blacks lost their right to vote because they couldn’t pay the poll taxes or didn’t pass the literacy test. Besides, by the 1870 in the south secret terrorist organizations started to appear which were aimed at threatening the blacks and those whites who helped them. The most notable of them was Ku Klux Klan, which was responsible for many murders of the blacks. The blacks didn’t have the true civil rights up until 1950s-1960s, when the Black Civil Movement made its appearance headed by Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Since that time the process started when the Blacks began to gain more “real” rights.

NB! Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was the most prominent of the Southern terrorist organizations. The name comes from the Greek “circle”. Its members were the white southerners dressed into white hoods and robes with the cross emblem on the left side of the chest. They acted by the Lynch Law – murder without a trial, and often left the burning wooden cross outside the house of their victim. The “trials” usually happened at night, which ended up in killing, lynching or beating. By 1872 the federal government had suppressed the Klan, but the violence continued. Even in modern times there are rumors that the KKK has been resurrected in the south again.

ü The influx of immigrants

ü The rapid growth of Capitalism

ü Further development of the US (industry, trade, economy)

(for more details see Unit20 in “Hello, America!” p.115-119)

Political System of the USA

A) General Information

NB! A “Federal State” means that the states are joined as equals under the common government (Federal Government), granting some of their powers to the common government, but retaining some to themselves.

The distribution of powers between the Federal Government and the Governments of the states

B) The Constitution

NB! The Founding Fathers of the American Constitution are the outstanding leaders of the new nation. They were part of the Constitutional Convention, which was formed on May 25, 1787 in order to work out and adopt a new constitution. Among the 55 delegates there were 6, the most prominent ones. They were:

Alexander Hamilton

James Madison played the leading roles

George Washington

William Johnson

Governor Morris

Rufus King

The significance of the US Constitution:

1) It established the existing federal system, in which the power is shared between a central authority and the states that retain some powers for themselves.

2) It also provided the division of powers into three branches: legislative (the Congress), executive (the President) and judicial (the Supreme Court).

3) It established the system of checks and balances which ensured that none of the branches would abuse its power. Thus the system gives each branch a mechanism to restrain the other two.

E.g. the President has the right to veto a bill passed by the Congress, but the Congress may override it by 2/3of majority. But the Supreme Court has the power to declare a bill illegal if it doesn’t agree with the Constitution.

4) It also ensured that the changes (amendments) can be introduced to the Constitution. Article 5 states that the changes can be made only if they are passed by the Congress (only 2/3 of the votes are needed).

NB! When the Constitution was written there existed only13 states, but the Founding Fathers foresaw that with time some changes could be needed. As a result a method of adding amendments was introduced in the main text of the Constitution (article 5).

Throughout the whole history of the US Constitution (that is more than 200 years) only 27 Amendments have been made. The most notable are:

¨ The 1^st 10 Amendments (known as “the Bill of Rights”) deals with the civil rights.

NB! The Bill of Rights is a collective name for the first 10 Amendments to the American Constitution, adopted on December 15, 1791. The first 4 of them deal with the individual rights of a citizen, the next 4 – the system of justice, and the last 2 contain very broad statements of the constitutional authority.

E.g. the 2^nd Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms. The 7th Amendment assures trial by jury in civil cases involving anything valued at more than $20.

¨ The 13^th Amendment abolished slavery, introduced in 1865.

¨ The 14^th Amendment established a clear and simple definition of citizenship, including the civil rights of the former slaves (adopted in 1868).

¨ The 19^th Amendment deals with the universal suffrage, thus giving the US women the right to vote (ratified in 1920).

¨ The 27^th Amendment states that elections to the Congress should be before the pay rise (proposed in 1789, but ratified in 1992).

5) It served as the basis for the states’ constitutions. So as they would not contradict with the main one. But it should be mentioned that some of them has changed with time and turned from small and short in size into very detailed documents of several volumes.

E.g. Louisiana has rewritten its constitution 11 times and the most recent version is of 1974.

C) The Legislative Branch – the Congress

The Congress is the strongest branch and plays a very important part in the representative government. It consists of two Houses:

NB! “The Big Four” is a small body made up by the Speaker, the Vice-President and majority party leaders (Democratic and Republican). Its main functions are: a) to maintain close contacts with the President; b) to influence making laws; c) to consider home and foreign policy.

The Committees

The work of the Congress is maintained by numerous committees. Today there are 22 standing (permanent) committees in the HofR and 16 in the Senate, plus 4 joint permanent committees from both Houses. All these have about 300 subcommittees that deal with specific problems. Furthermore, standing committees may specialize in a certain sphere of lawmaking (foreign policy, defense, agriculture, etc.). The majority party in each house controls the work of each committee, and the minority party is represented in them according to their numbers in each House.

Powers of the Congress

@ to declare war against foreign nation

@ to remove federal officials for crimes

@ to approve/ reject the candidates for the Supreme Court, federal judges, Secretaries (Cabinet Ministers), ambassadors, suggested by the President.

Passing a Bill (stages)

1) Introduction of a bill