The UNITED States

The UNITED States

姓名：敬萍学号：2009212727班级：7班分数____________

完成时间：2010年12月25日星期六

Contents

Abstract (i)

Brief Introduction (ii)

Chapter One: Geographical advantages

1.1The Position of America (iii)

1.2The Natural Resources (iii)

Chapter Two: The Unity in Different Aspects

2.1 The Unity of Culture (iv)

2.2 The Unity in Political System

2.21 The Mayflower Compact (vi)

2.22 The Article of Confederation (vi)

2.23 The United States Constitution (vi)

2.24 Today’s Political System (vii)

Chapter Three: The Unity in Gaining Successes

3.1The War of Independence (viii)

3.2The Civil War (x)

3.3After Civil War and The Modern Era (xii)

Postscript (xii)

Referances (xiii)

中文摘要

本科论文主要讨论关于美国崛起的成因与要素。一个国家的形成源于一片土地上所有人的共同信仰与观念，如果这种信仰与观念得到了实际行动的认证，那

么一个国家的形成是必然的。而倘若这种共同信仰与观念的积极向上的，有宜于生存发展的，当时的自然与社会条件也对观念转为行动十分有利，那么，这个国家的崛起也是必然的。美国的形成与发展壮大就得益于以上各种条件的融合。所以本论文将以“统一联合”为主线，从文化，政治，与取得各种斗争的胜利的方面讨论其中的“统一与联合”，同时也包括“统一联合”形成的条件，“统一联合”发展的有利环境，“统一联合”实践的结果，以此来论述美国形成与强大的原因。

Abstract In English

This paper will mainly talk about how America came into being and rose to be the strongest country. When people of an area all believe in the same, a country?s forming is no doubt on the way, and if the belief is strong enough, and the social enviroment is also good for the development, the nation certainly have the chance of being powerful. The formation and the development actually benefit a lot from this kind of unity. In this paper, I will discuss the unity in different aspects, including the unity in culture, the unity in political system, and the unity in gaining successes. Also, the conditions for the …unity?, the favorable environment for the …unity?, and the results of the …unity? will be covered. And thus explain the rise of the United States.

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Brief introduction

When people of an area all believe in the same, a country?s forming is no

doubt on the way, and if the belief is strong enough, the nation certainly have the chance of being powerful.

One indisputable factor to the success of the nation, stems from the generosity of nature. But that may not be the major cause. If there is just one certain reason for the rise of America, that should be THE AMERICAN DREAM, while as we talk about how America came into being, and why it becomes the most powerful country in the world, the saying, …accidents of birth?, will usually used. It is no doubt that America benefits a lot from the great inherited wealth and social status, but we can not thus ignore the most important reason, the American Dream.

American dream, in my eyes, contributes most on the rise of the country. It has, actually, explained the common idea of most Americans. People here share the same opinion on how to live a better life, they all advocate liberty, democracy, equality, and pursuit of happiness. When people of an area all believe in the same, a country?s forming is no doubt on the way, and if the belief is strong enough, the country certainly have the chance of being powerful. If fact, we can view the unity of America in different perspective: the united culture, the united politics, the united belief… The United State, is not only a coalition of areas, but, in a deeper sense, the unite of people?s ideas.

So, my paper will mainly focus on the UNITY, for I believe, the unity of different aspects made the United States. Other factors like geographic advantages will also be mentioned.

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1．Geographical advantages

.1.1 The position of America

First, America?s position on the globe and its relative position in relation to other countries both provide advantages for the country in its development. Before the discovery of America by Columbus, Arabia was the most powerful country in the world, and Islam at that time was the most dominate religion. A country?s booming has so much to do with its geographic position. Let?s

imagine, if there was no America on the world map, then Arabia was definitely the center of the whole world, the geographic was surely the major reason for the mightiness of the country. From this, we can see, how important the position of a country is.

While since 16th century, Columbus accidentally discovered America, the center position thus switched from Arabia to today?s United States. America is sandwiched in between two large oceans, the Atlantic ocean and the Pacific ocean, this provides a lot for the transportation convenience. Mainland America, lying with the northern temperate zone, grows large variety o agricultural products. The long coastline with many harbors and inlets not only facilitates foreign trade and the fishing industry, but also brings much of the country within the influence of the oceanic air mass. America has no land neighbor which is strong enough to pose a threat to its security. This relieves the United States of the burden to maintain a large frontier army along its border. Canada and Mexico are the only two countries that share the border with America, while as a matter of fact, these two are not the threatens to America, Canada even is the most important trading partner and the trade between America and Mexico is also climbing.

1.2 The natural resources

The natural resources of America also contribute a lot to the rise of the country. First, the total area of the country is 9.4 million square kilometers, and 47% of it can be used for farmland of which some 400 million acres are harvest cropland and about 900 million acres are permanent pastureland, this provides the United State with adequate food and raw materials. Still, the three regions of America have its own diversity in geography, which provides the country different kinds of resources. The Appalachians are a beautiful region in which

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valleys twist and wind among wooded hills. Among the mountains there are numerous fertile valleys which are often separated from each other because of the complicated pattern of hills. Early immigrants from Europe established their settlements in these valleys. The great Mississippi river basin is the largest area. Rivers rising in both mountains chains flow toward each other down the sloping sides of this vast bowl, emptying into the mighty Mississippi river, the …father of waters?. The sediment of the rivers make the soil in this area very rich. Here thus become the best for agricultural fields and ranches. Then comes to the Rockies West to the Pacific Ocean. The striking and varied scenery of the

Rockies has led to the establishment of a number of national parks of travel here, which booms the travel industry of the country and brings masses of capital.

As to climate and weather, the effect of different air masses, combined with that of the varied landforms, produces many differences, but in general, climate here is suitable for human-beings, plants, and live stocks.

Another indisputable advantage is the water resource. The United States is comparatively rich in water resources. Except for some dry areas in the west, especially the southwest, the country for the most part receives enough rainfall for agricultural production. Besides, there are many rivers and lakes that can be used to irrigate fields, transport goods, and furnish power.

Other resources like forests and mineral resources all bring the America quite advantages that any other country can not compete. All these lay the foundation for the rise of a great country. But only rich in natural resources can not determine a prosperous nation. As I have mentioned in the introduction, the unity of different aspects dominate the rise.

2. The Unity of Different Aspects

2.1 The Unity of Culture

America is such a unique country for its short history and residents? origin, even so, we can still notice that America actually became a unity. And the unity of culture make much sense.

America actually began in two different places for different reasons. In 1607, the Virginia company of England made a daring proposition: sail to the new ,mysterious land, which they called Virginia in honor of Elizabeth I, the

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Virginia queen, and began a settlement. In 1620, another group of English men and women came to America with a different mission. Having given up the Church of England, which they thought had became too much like Catholic church, these separatist Puritans sought to establish an ideal church in America. After these first two major groups of immigrates, the followers gradually came into this abundant land, those who came involuntarily, including the African slaves, prisoners, debtors, young people who were sold by their parents or people, who, in effect, sold themselves into indentured servitude. Although people came here with different concrete reasons, for

those who came to America voluntarily, all could be boiled down to one essential point: they want to improve their lives. While for those who came involuntarily , they at least want to live a better life than they used to. So now ,we can see, the unity of the missions. They all want to improve their lives, as long as the goal came to be the same, their action will be accordant. They would move in the same direction. They will unite and fight against all the difficulties.

One example can be listed here. The evolution of thanksgiving shows the unity or tolerance in American culture. Today?s thanksgiving is an offshoot of three separate traditions. One tradition is the harvest festival. The event we call the “First Thanksgiving” at Plymouth, held by the Pilgrims and their Native American neighbors in 1621, was an informal harvest festival. The second tradition from which our modern Thanksgiving has evolved is the Puritan religious “Day of Thanksgiving” called by a religious leader in response to a special act of Divine Providence. These Days of Thanksgiving were purely religious and the entire day would have been spent in church, with no feasting or amusements. The third tradition is a special day of Thanksgiving, called civic authority, to celebrate a specific event, such as victory in battle or the end of a war. Thus the three combined with each other, and the modern Thanksgiving came into being. Today, as we celebrated America?s multicultural heritage, the story of the Pilgrims and Native Americans sharing a harvest celebration remains an inspiration to many.

As a matter of fact, America is such a distinct country for its immigrates, huge differences in origin made America outstanding in TOLERANCE, this tolerance, can be also interpreted as unity. Americans can receive any kind of

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religion or culture, and can mend themselves with each other or exist without interfering others. The liberty in culture gives America a lot of chances to develop itself. And the Unity in culture is really the basis of the UNITED States.

2.2 The unity in political system

2.21 The Mayflower Compact

The first political document came from the Puritans. On September 16,1620,led by William Bradford, the separatist puritans set off from Plymouth, England to the New World on a ship called the Mayflower. When they arrived,

they anchored off the tip of Cape Cod. And before they even set foot on shore they wrote an agreement called the Mayflower Compact that would set the rules to guide them through the early and hard times of establishing a new community. The compact, which was by all the men on November 21,1620, served as the first official constitution of the Plymouth Colony for many years.

Although the Mayflower Compact was short and had no substantial laws and regulations. But this Compact had led Americans for hundreds of years. We can see that the liberty, self-government, and religion had all been included, which proved later to be the essential parts of America?s political attitudes.

2.22 The Article of Confederation

Then came the Articles of Confederation in 1776. This Article was drafted just after the independence of America. And since the whole country were operated under it. The Articles of Confederation claimed that each state to be independent with its own guarantees of liberty after the Revolution. With the states retaining considerable power, the central government had insufficient power to regulate commerce. From this, we can already see the liberty of the whole country. But that means this country was not united enough under the Article, so development should be followed.

2.23 The United States Constitution

And thus the formation of the United States Constitution came into being. The peace treaty of 1783 inspired cheer and hope, but these were dashed by the economic hard times that followed. Many people were in debt and paper money was flooding the country, creating extraordinary inflation. The economic hard times was accompanied by political unrest. Depression, inflation, and

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high taxes made life miserable for many Americans. And rebellions broke out. The Articles of Confederation, with its litter power to settle quarrels between states, and to govern the whole country effectively, delegates from all the newly independent states gathered and drew up one of the most influential documents of Western world history, the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution is the cornerstone of American government. In 4,543 words this document describes the structure of the government and the rights of the American people. No law may be passed that contradicts its principles and no person or government, is exempted from following it. This is why it is

commonly called the “the supreme law of the land”. Although the birth of this remarkable document lived through the disagreement, the issues of commerce and slavery, the final draft came on the September 17,1787. A basic idea of the Constitution is that the people play an important part in the government .

2.24Today’s political system

The political system of the United States of America is established on the basis of three major principles: federalism, the separation of powers, and respect for the constitution and the rule of law. The United States of America is a federal union of fifty states. The center of the national government is the District of Columbia. Each state inside itself has countries, cities, townships and villages which have their own elected governments. Each of the American states is under the control of the two governments—the state and the federal. According to the Constitution, the states have the basic functions of providing law and order, education, public health and most of the things which concern everyday life. The federal government deals with foreign affairs, national defence and matters of general concern to all the states.

The legislative body of the United Stated of America is the Congress. The American Congress is the law-making and supreme legislative body of the states. It is made up of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The American Congress has many functions: defence, foreign affairs, citizenship and immigration, the regulation of commerce with foreign countries and the states and the power to collect taxes to pay the country?s debts.

The constitution limits the powers of the Legislative(including the senate and the house of representatives), the executive(headed by the president) and

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the judicial(headed by the supreme court) branches: and prevents any one branch from gaining undue power. This balance is always kept among the three branches and this is called the “the system of Checks and Balances”.

There is no doubt that today?s political system in America mainly comes from the United States Constitution. And we can draw out that the development of the political system actually shows the development of the whole country, and the unity of the whole country. The document of politics began with the Mayflower Compact, which only belonged to the early puritans, and then the Articles of Confederation, which emphasize self-government of single state.

But to now, the system belongs to the whole country and make the whole country united. Although America is not as centralized as many other countries, we can not ignore the country is so different from others. Today?s political system in America actually is centralized enough and can unite the whole country. There has been no second constitution like the United States Constitution that can remain and govern the whole nation for such a long time. So it is indeed an excellent document, and has made great contribution to the rise of America.

3. The ‘UNITY’ In gaining successes

3.1 The War of Independence

By the middle of 18th century, differences in life, thought, and interests and developed between the mother country and the growing colonies. After the Seven Years? War ended up with Great Britain defeated France and removed a long-standing threat to the colonies, Britain actually had accumulated a large debt over the course of the war. To help pay off the debt, Britain sought to assert greater control over the far-flung parts of the empire and turned to the colonies to generate revenue and in so doing they came into conflict with the political traditions and assumptions of the colonies who resisted what they saw as unconstitutional parliamentary innovation.

In the following years, a series of events stimulated the independence of America. The first was The Stamp Act, which required that all newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents, commercial bills, advertisements, and other papers issued in the colonies bear a stamp. The act was met with a great uproar in the colonies. Then came to The Boston Massacre. With the

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tensions between American colonies and the British running high in the early spring of 1770. On March 5, 1770, a crowd of jeering Bostonians slinging snowballs gathered around a small group British soldiers guarding the Boston Customs House. The soldiers became enraged after one of them had been hit, and they fired into the crowd, even though they were under orders not to fire. They shots hit and killed four civilians in an event that has come to be known as the Boston Massacre. The event in Boston helped to unite the colonies against Britain. What started as a minor fight became a turning point in the beginnings of the American Revolution. Also, on the evening of December,

16, 1773, in Boston, some angry businessmen disguised themselves as Indians and threw 342 chests of tea into the harbor waters—to be known as the Boston Tea Party. After these important events, the War for Independence broke out in 1775. Britain sent around 2,000 soldiers from Boston to confiscate munitions that the colonies were storing as Concord, while Minutemen, which was formed by civilians and organized in response to the crisis with the mother country, shot the first fire of the Revolutionary War on the morning of April 19. Then , the second Continental Congress met on May 10. The Congress established the militia as the Continental Army to represent the thirteen states, they also elected George Washington as Commander in chief of the Continental Army. The Declaration of Independence served as the most important document in the revolution. Thus , on July 4, 1776, America finally became an independent country.

The independence of the UNITED States actually proved the unity of the people here. They united together to fight against the British Empire, and also for their unity, they gained the success at last, so we should say, the rise of America has a lot to do with the unity of all the states on the land of America.

3.2 The Civil War

Although some may argue that the Civil War is the evidence of the disruption of the country. But actually when we look at the result of this war, the whole nation was indeed united

The Civil War spilt the American nation. It was the most bitter conflict within the United States. The source of the conflict between the North and the South resulted from fundamentally different ways of life. Economy in the South

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was heavily based on plantation agriculture and slavery. The North was heavily industrialized with factories and manufacturing being central to the economy. Though the expansion of slavery was the underlying cause of the Civil War, many felt that the real issue at stake was the question of states? rights versus federal power—whether states could secede from the Union in protest against federal policy regardless of whether that policy concerned slavery or another issue.

Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860. in addition to Lincoln? s presidential victory, the slave states had lost the balance of power in Senate

and were facing a future as a perpetual minority after decades of nearly continuous control of the presidency and the Congress. So on April 12, 1861, the South fired upon the Federal troops stationed at Fort Sumter, and the Civil War began.

Early in the war president Lincoln was careful to stress he wad fighting to preserve the Union, not for abolition of slavery. While as the war processed, he eventually came to favor emancipation and start to adopt revolutionary measures. On September 22, 1862, shortly after the union victory at the battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.All slaves in states rebelling against the United States were to be declared free. The effect of the proclamation was enormously abroad. It helped to win the popular support for the Union in England and France and rendered it impossible for the governments of these two countries to continue to interfere. The south was thus greatly discouraged. The proclamation also encouraged the black slaves to join the cause.

The Union victory at Gettyburg in July, 1863, marked a definite turning point in the Civil War. Both sides now had seasoned, equally valiant soldiers, and in Robert E. Lee Ulysses S each had a superior general. But the North, with its larger population and comparatively enormous industry, enjoyed a tremendous material advantage.

So, in early 1864, the Civil War ended up with the South defeated, and in Lincoln?s second inaugural address, he extended a conciliatory hand to the South, he asked for northern tolerance and mercy for a just and lasting peace. Now, it was time for the people of both the South and the North to rebuild their lives.

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After the North defeated the South, which cost half a million lives, politician now set about to put the divided country back together. Although the end of the Reconstruction marked the demise of most civil, political, and economic rights and opportunities for African Americans, the effort to achieve the Reconstruction can not be ignored, and actually the whole country in some degree became more united than before. It is one part of the process on the rise of America.

3.3 After Civil War and The Modern Era

After the Civil War came to the Gilded Age which extended to 1900, it is considered the time of the greatest economic, territorial, industrial, and population expansion in American history. During this period the expansion of commerce and heavy industry, mercantilist economic policies, and federal railway subsidies created a number of immensely successful businessmen often referred pejoratively as the robber barons.

And even after. With the close of World War I and World War II. America gained so much from the world market even without really joining the first war. Although the Great Depression followed the World War 1, and it lasted for ten years , dominating every aspect American life during the 1930s, things changed when the World War II came, during this period, women were encouraged to enter the workforce, and the women aiding in the war effort were glorified. And the status in the whole world of America had increased. Also , the country had gained great sum of wealth, which boomed the domestic economy. Still the military force of America even ranked the first, which made the country stronger.

Postscript:

In recent years, some noticed that America has the tendency of falling down, but its dominate position in the world still can not be replaced. Even though we sometimes denounce the country for its aggression, the waste of natural resources, and so on so forth, we know that every country can not be perfect, we all expect a better America to guide the whole world. As to the

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falling of the nation, I believe America will still be the most powerful country at least in hundreds of years, for the UNITED States is so special. Its abundant natural resources, the special location, short but legendary history, has all determined the mightiness of America.

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