Gimnazjum z Oddziałami Integracyjnymi Nr 1 im. Stanisława Wyspiańskiego
w Olkuszu
Olkusz 2011
Wydanie drugie
Opracowanie tekstów i ćwiczeń
Ewa Hołaj-Dryńska
Wydanie drugie poprawione
Korekta
Danuta Majcherkiewicz
„An Outline of American History” został opracowany w zgodzie z:
„Własnym programem nauczania języka angielskiego z poszerzonymi
elementami historii, literatury i kulturoznawstwa”,
który jest realizowany w:
Gimnazjum z Oddziałami Integracyjnymi Nr 1 im. Stanisława Wyspiańskiego
w Olkuszu
Wydawnictwo sponsorowane przez Stowarzyszenie na Rzecz Oświaty , Kultury
i Pomocy Społecznej „Wszyscy dla Wszystkich”
-2-
Zawartość
1.
Native Americans or Amerindians _________________________________________ 6
Name ____________________________________________________________________________ 6
Origin ____________________________________________________________________________ 6
Tribes ____________________________________________________________________________ 6
2.
British colonies in North America _________________________________________ 10
Reasons for settlement ____________________________________________________________ 10
Jamestown_______________________________________________________________________ 10
The Pilgrim Fathers or Pilgrims ______________________________________________________ 11
Thanksgiving _____________________________________________________________________ 11
The Mayflower Compact ___________________________________________________________ 12
“We shall be like a city on a hill”_____________________________________________________ 12
Thirteen colonies__________________________________________________________________ 12
3.
American Revolution ___________________________________________________ 18
The French and Indian War _________________________________________________________ 18
The Stamp Act ____________________________________________________________________ 18
The Boston Massacre ______________________________________________________________ 18
Lexington ________________________________________________________________________ 19
The Second Continental Congress____________________________________________________ 19
The Declaration of Independence ____________________________________________________ 19
The American War of Independence _________________________________________________ 20
The Constitution of the United States ________________________________________________ 20
4.
Territorial Growth of the USA ____________________________________________ 26
The United States after the Treaty of Paris ____________________________________________ 26
The Indian Removal Act ____________________________________________________________ 26
“The Trail of Tears” ________________________________________________________________ 26
Oregon Trail ______________________________________________________________________ 27
“Manifest destiny” ________________________________________________________________ 27
The Mexican-American War ________________________________________________________ 27
Alaska Purchase __________________________________________________________________ 28
5.
North and South _______________________________________________________ 32
Slavery __________________________________________________________________________ 32
3
Harriet Tubman ___________________________________________________________________ 32
Import Duties_____________________________________________________________________ 33
States’ Rights Doctrine _____________________________________________________________ 33
The presidential election of 1860 ____________________________________________________ 33
Confederacy______________________________________________________________________ 33
6.
The American Civil War _________________________________________________ 36
Fort Sumter ______________________________________________________________________ 36
Strengths and weaknesses__________________________________________________________ 36
War _____________________________________________________________________________ 36
The Emancipation Proclamation _____________________________________________________ 37
The Gettysburg Address____________________________________________________________ 38
7.
Reconstruction ________________________________________________________ 43
Lincoln’s assassination _____________________________________________________________ 43
Reunion _________________________________________________________________________ 43
Black Codes ______________________________________________________________________ 43
14th Amendment __________________________________________________________________ 44
The Reconstruction Act ____________________________________________________________ 44
“Carpetbaggers” and “scalawags” ___________________________________________________ 44
Reconstruction governments _______________________________________________________ 44
Fruits of Reconstruction____________________________________________________________ 45
8.
The fate of Amerindians ________________________________________________ 48
Agreements with the Amerindians___________________________________________________ 48
The Fort Laramie treaty of 1868 _____________________________________________________ 48
Slaughter of the buffalo ____________________________________________________________ 48
Reservations _____________________________________________________________________ 48
The Amerindians’ last stand ________________________________________________________ 49
9.
The USA and the First World War _________________________________________ 53
The Great War or the First World War ________________________________________________ 53
Americans neutrality ______________________________________________________________ 53
The Zimmermann telegram _________________________________________________________ 53
“The war to end all wars” __________________________________________________________ 54
Wilson’s Fourteen Points ___________________________________________________________ 54
4
The League of Nations _____________________________________________________________ 54
10.
Crash and Depression ________________________________________________ 58
The Wall Street Crash ______________________________________________________________ 58
Depression _______________________________________________________________________ 58
Roosevelt’s New Deal______________________________________________________________ 59
11.
The Civil Rights Movement____________________________________________ 63
Segregation ______________________________________________________________________ 63
Brown v. Topeka __________________________________________________________________ 63
Rosa Parks case ___________________________________________________________________ 63
Martin Luther King and his dream ___________________________________________________ 63
The Civil Rights Act ________________________________________________________________ 64
Riots in the 1960s _________________________________________________________________ 64
5
1. Native Americans or
Amerindians
Name
Christopher Columbus was sure that the islands he had reached on October 12 1492, were the Indies, a
group of islands close to the mainland of India. In fact, it was not the edge of Asia that he had reached,
but islands off the shores of a new continent that Europeans soon named America. The inhabitants of
the new continent were called, for many years, Indians. Only recently these first Americans have been
described as “native Americans” or Amerindians.
Origin
Scientists believe that the distant ancestors of Amerindians came from Asia during the earth’s last ice
age. At that time a bridge of ice joined Asia and America across what is now the Bering Strait.
Hunters from Siberia crossed this bridge into Alaska and from Alaska they moved south and east
across America. They followed herds of caribou and buffalo as the animals went from one feeding
place to the next. For many centuries they lived only as wandering hunters and gatherers of food.
Then a more settled way of life began.
Tribes
The Pueblo people, who lived in present day Arizona and New Mexico, were the best organized of
the Amerindian farming peoples. They lived in groups of villages or towns which were built on the
sides and tops of cliffs. They built terraced buildings made of adobe (mud and straw) bricks . Some
of these buildings contained as many as 800 rooms. Long before Europeans the Pueblo were building
networks of canals across the deserts to bring water to their fields. For food they grew crops of maize
and beans. They gathered cotton, which grew wild, to make clothing and blankets.
The Apache never became settled farmers. They wandered the deserts and mountains in small bands,
hunting deer and
wild plants. They also obtained food by raiding their Pueblo neighbours and
stealing it.
The Iroquois were a group of tribes that lived in the thick woods of northeastern North America.
They were skilled farmers who grew beans, squash and twelve different varieties of maize. They lived
in permanent villages in long wooden huts. The Iroquois were fierce warriors. From boyhood on, male
Iroquois were taught to fear neither pain nor death. Bravery in battle was the surest way for a warrior
to win respect and a high position in his tribe.
6
The Sioux, another warrior nation, lived between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.
This group called themselves Dakota, which means “allies”. But they were better known by the name
which other Amerindians gave to them - Sioux, which means “enemies”. The Sioux grew no crops
and built no houses. For food, for shelter and clothing they depended upon buffalo. When the buffalo
moved the Sioux moved. They took down their tepees, the conical buffalo-skin tents that were their
homes, packed their belongings in leather bags and moved off after the buffalo. They even carried fire
from one camp to the next.
The Amerindian people of North America developed varied ways of life. They could live from the
abundance of nature and they lasted for centuries. But the Europeans with their guns, their diseases
and their hunger for land would eventually destroy them all.
The potlatch was a popular ceremony amongst the wealthy Pacific
coast tribes (e.g. the Haida).The word “potlatch” means “gift
giving”. A modern potlatch is a kind of party at which guests are
given gifts, but the original potlatch went much further. A chief or
a head of family might give away everything that he owned to show
how wealthy he was and win respect. To avoid disgrace, the person
receiving the gifts had to give back even more. If he failed to do so
his entire family was disgraced.
Exercises - comprehension
1. Find pictures of Amerindians and prepare a short description of their
appearance.
2. Why are these sentences false? Correct them.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
Amerindians came from Australia.
The first settlers in North America were farmers.
Columbus reached the Indies in 1492.
Columbus knew that he discovered “the new World”.
The Pueblo and the Apache were settled farmers.
The Apache built terraced buildings.
The Iroquois didn’t build houses.
The Sioux lived in Arizona.
The name “Sioux” means “allies”.
The Pueblo lived in the forests.
7
3. Which tribe or tribes:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
grew crops?
depended on buffalo?
were warlike?
got food by raiding neighbours?
irrigated farmland?
gathered wild cotton?
were wanderers?
made tepees?
built houses?
celebrated potlatch?
4. Answer the questions .
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
What is the difference between the names: “Indians” and “Amerindians” ?
Where did Amerindians come from?
How did first Amerindians obtain food?
What made the Pueblo successful farmers?
How did the Apache obtain food?
How did the Iroquois win respect?
What was characteristic about the Sioux way of life?
What was potlatch?
Exercises – vocabulary and grammar
Match the animals with the proper name of the group.
cattle, buffalo, elephants, bees, goats, wolves, hounds, sheep, birds, supporters, geese, flies,
insects, ants, people
pack of ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
flock of …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
swarm of ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
herd of ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
crowd of ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
band of …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
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5. Read the two meanings of the verb “gather” and explain the meaning in the sentences.
gather verb 1. collect or obtain (zbierać, zdobyć) 2. come together (zebrać się, zgromadzić) 3.
understand (pojąć, zrozumieć)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
I didn’t gather much from the lesson. ……………
A crowd gathered to hear her speak. ………………
From the look on their faces she gathered that they were angry with her. ……………………
Tom went to the library to gather information about Amerindians. …………………………
The cows gathered in a herd. ………………………
I never really gathered why he had left his job. …………………………..
We gathered blackberries from the nearest forest. ………………………
Gather around children and I’ll tell you the story. …………………..
6. Match the words and expressions from the text with their meanings:
abundance, grew crops, belongings, shelter, disgraced, fierce,
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
obtained,
violent and frightening ………………………………
dishonoured ……………………………
got ……………………………..
farm ………………………….
large quantity ………………………..
possessions …………………………
a place giving protection from weather or dander …………………
7. Read the definitions of “wonder” and “wander”.
wonder verb ask yourself questions (być ciekawym, chcieć wiedzieć)
wonder noun feeling of great surprise (zdziwienie, dziwota)
wonderful adj.
wander verb walk around (włóczyć się, wędrować) wanderer noun REMEMBER: If your mind
wanders that means you think about different things and stop thinking about the subject you should
concentrate on.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
I ……………………… where Tom is.
The film was really ………………………….
In the middle of a meeting my mind started to ………………….
No ……………………children are excited. They have holidays.
The first homo sapiens were ……………………..They followed the animals.
My thoughts always …………………….. during History classes.
Students …………………….why school is so boring.
She was …………………the streets for several hours
9
2. British colonies in North America
Reasons for settlement
When Christopher Columbus returned to Spain he took back with him some gold jewelry that he had
obtained in America. In the next fifty years thousands of Spanish adventurers crossed the Atlantic
Ocean to search for more gold. Between 1539 and 1543 Hernando de Soto and Francisco Coronado,
working separately, explored much of the southern part of what is now the USA. De Soto landed in
Florida from Cuba. Coronado travelled from Mexico, searching for “Seven Cities of Gold” that
Amerindian legends said lay hidden somewhere in the desert. He never found them. The journeys of
men such as de Soto and Coronado gave Spain a claim to a large amount of land in North America.
They also led to the founding of some of the earliest permanent European settlement there.
The growing wealth of Spain made other European nations explore the new lands. In 1497 King Henry
VII hired an Italian seaman named John Cabot to look for a passage to Asia. He reached the rocky
coast of Newfoundland and sailed along the coast of North America as far as Chesapeake Bay. He
found no gold and no passage to the east but in later years English governments used his voyages to
support their claims to own most of the east coast of North America.
Claiming that you owned the land was one thing. Actually making it yours was something quite
different. Europeans could only do this by establishing settlements of their own people. By the 17 th
century plenty of people in Europe were ready to settle in America. Some hoped to become reach.
Others hoped to find safety from religious or political persecution.
Jamestown
On April 26, 1607 a group of English sailors arrived at Virginia. They were employees of the Virginia
Company formed by rich London investors. The Companys purpose was to set up colonies along the
Atlantic coast of North America. The Companys directors hoped that the settlers would find pearls,
silver and gold.
These settlers began cutting down bushes and trees and building shelters for themselves. By the end of
1607 two out of every three of them were dead. But their little group of huts became the first lasting
English settlement in America. They named it Jamestown, in honor of James I, king of England.
The early years of Jamestown settlement were hard ones. The colonists died in Amerindian attac ks, of
diseases and starvation. They failed to grow enough food to feed themselves because they were too
busy
looking for gold. Captain John Smith, the most able of original Jamestown settlers, wrote:
“there was no talk, no hope nor work, but dig gold, wash gold, load gold”.
10
Jamestown reached its lowest point in the winter of 1609-1610 when only sixty colonists survived.
This was “the starving time”. Stories reached Britain about settlers who were so desperate for food
that they dug up and ate the body of an Amerindian they had killed during an attack. Yet new settlers
continued to arrive. The Virginia company gathered homeless children from the streets of London and
sent them out to the colony. Then they sent a hundred convicts from Londons prisons. Some Virginia
emigrants sailed willingly, however. They decided that it was worth risking hardship in Virginia to
escape from the poverty they suffered at home.
Captain John Smith organized the first Jamestown colonists and
forced them to work. When food supplies ran out Smith set off into
the forest to buy corn from the Amerindians. On one of these
expeditions he was taken prisoner. According to the story he told
later, Pocahontas, the twelve-year-old daughter of the chief,
Powhatan, saved his life by shielding his body by her own.
Pocahontas went on to play an important part in Virginia’s
survival, bringing food to the starving settlers.
The Pilgrim Fathers or Pilgrims
„Pilgrims” are people who make a journey for religious reasons. But for Americans the word has a
special meaning. To them it means a small group of English man and women who sailed across the
Atlantic Ocean in the year 1620. The group’s members came to be called the Pilgrims because they
went to America to find religious freedom. Americans see the Pilgrim Fathers as the most important of
the founders of the future USA.
The Pilgrims were the Puritans who were persecuted in England by James I. To escape the
persecution, a small group of them left England and went to Holland, the only country in Europe
whose government allowed religious freedom at this time. But the Puritans never felt at home there
and some of them decided to move again. First they returned briefly to England where they persuaded
the Virginia Company to allow them to settle in the Northern part of its American lands. On
September 16, 1620 the Pilgrims left the English port of Plymouth and headed for America. The
Pilgrims’ship was called the Mayflower. After 65 days the Mayflower reached Cape Cod, a sandy
piece of land in what is now the state of Massachusetts. They decided to land at the best place they
could find. On December 21, 1620, they rowed ashore and set up camp at a place they called
Plymouth.
Thanksgiving
The Pilgrims’chances of surviving were not high. The frozen ground and the deep snow made it
difficult for them to build houses. They had very little food. Before spring came, half of the little
11
group of a hundred settlers were dead. But the Pilgrims were determined to succeed. The local
Amerindians, the Wampanoag and Pequamid people had shared corn with the Pilgrims and showed
them the best places to catch fish. Later the Amerindians had given seed corn to the English settlers
and shown them how to plant crops that would grow well in the American soil. In November, 1621 the
Pilgrims sat down to eat together and to give thanks to God for surviving the hardship of their first
year in America. The Pilgrims were joined at their feast by Amerindians. Without them there would
have been no celebration that was called Thanksgiving. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in
November.
The Mayflower Compact
Before landing at Plymouth the Pilgrims wrote out an agreement which was signed by all forty-one
men on board the Mayflower. It became known as the Mayflower Compact. In the Compact the
Plymouth settlers agreed to set up a government – a “civil body politic”- to make “just and equal laws”
for their new settlement. They also agreed to work together for the good of all. The Mayflower
Compact is remembered today as one of the first important document in the history of democratic
government in America.
“We shall be like a city on a hill”
The Pilgrims were followed by other English Puritans, who escaped the rule of a new king, Charles I
who appeared to be even less tolerant than his father James I. They settled nearby in what became the
Boston area. The Boston settlement was successful from the beginning. In 1691, the Boston settlement
combined with the Plymouth colony under the name of Massachusetts.
The idea of the Massachusetts Puritans had a lasting influence on American history. John Winthrop,
one of their first leaders, said that they should build an ideal community for the rest of mankind to
learn from. “We should be like a city on a hill,” said Winthrop. “The eyes of all people are upon us’.
To this day American people continue to see their country in this way, as a model for other nations to
copy.
Thirteen colonies
By the year 1733 the English owned thirteen separate colonies along the Atlantic coast. Most people
divided them into three groups. Each group had its own way of life and character.
The New England group, in the far north, centered on Massachusetts. Most New Englanders were
farmers or craftsmen. The other depended on the sea for a living.
12
The Middle Colonies, with New York and Pennsylvania, were inhabited by people who were more
tolerant of religious and other differences than the new Englanders. Many of them also had German,
Dutch or Swedish ancestors rather than English ones. Most people here lived by farming.
Philadelphia, which was the capital of Pennsylvania, was the largest city in America.
The Southern Colonies of Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia formed the third group. There were
large plantations of tobacco or cotton. Their owners lived in fine houses with wide, cool verandahs.
Most of the work in the fields was done by black slaves.
Exercises - comprehension
1. Who were the people? Match the descriptions.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
John Smith
Powhatan
Pocahontas
Francisco Coronado
Hernando de Soto
John Cabot
James I
John Winthrop







A soldier and explorer who organized the Jamestown colonists.
The Puritans’leader who wanted to build an ideal community.
An Italian sailor who was supposed to find a passage to Asia.
Travelling from Mexico he tried to find the “Seven Cities of Gold”
The English monarch who persecuted the Puritans.
An Amerindian princess who helped colonists to survive.
The chief of the Amerindians.
2. Answer the questions.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
What were the reasons for European settlement In North America?
Why did Henry VII hire John Cabot?
How did English government support their claim to the east coast of North America?
What was the purpose of the Virginia company?
What problems did the Jamestown colonists have to face?
In what way did John Smith help the Jamestown colonists?
What is the meaning of the for “Pilgrims” for Americans?
Why did the Pilgrims decide to come to North America?
What did John Winthrop mean by “a city on a hill”?
What was the Mayflower Compact?
What is the origin of Thanksgiving celebration?
13
3. Explain the importance of the following dates in American history: 1607, 1620,
1621.
4. The names of 13 colonies are written in phonetic alphabet. Read them and
match with the names written in letters. Use the map.
a. /meɪn/…………………
b. /njuːhæmpʃɪə/……………………..
c. /mæsəˈtʃuːsəts/............................................
d. /ˈrəʊd aɪlənd/...............................................
e. /njuːjɔːk/...............................................
f. /kəˈnetɪkət/............................................
g. /pensɪlˈveɪnɪə/.........................................
h. / njuːdʒɜːzi/..................................................
i. /dˈeləˌwɜə/....................................................
j.
/ˈmɜərɪlænd/..................................................
k. /vəˈdʒɪnɪə/................................................
l. /nɔːθˌkærəˈlaɪnə/............................................
m. /ˈsaʊθˌkærəˈlaɪnə/.......................................
n. /dʒɔːdʒɪə/..................................................
Exercises – vocabulary and grammar
5. Make one sentence using the word “whose”.
Example:
Tom is a doctor. His car is over there. Tom, whose car is over there, is a doctor.
a. The woman is pretty. Her dog is brown.
…………………………………………………………………………….
b. The actor’s wig is red. He is very short.
…………………………………………………………………………….
c. The house is big. Its roof is black.
……………………………………………………………………………
d. Jenny’s legs are long. She can run very quickly.
………………………………………………………………………………..
e. Can you see a girl? She has got dark hair.
…………………………………………………………………………………
14
6. Read the meanings of the word “last” and decide what is the meaning in the sentences.
last adj. final, before , most recent (ostatni, poprzedni)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
last verb continue to exist (trwać)
Did you see the news last week? …………………….
The Last Supper is the meal Christ ate with his friends the night before he died. ……………..
Nobody believes in the lasting peace in Africa. ………………..
The meeting lasted for two hours. ………………
I hate being the last one to arrive at school. …………………………
7. What is the meaning of the words in the sentences?
lay, laid, laid, laying - położyć, składać jajka,
lie, lay, lain, lying – położyć się
lie, lied, lied, lying – kłamać
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
Don’t lie to me! Be honest! ……………..
She laid the baby in its bed. …………………..
We should lay the paper over the floor while we are painting the room. …………………
He lay down on the bed and cried. ………………………..
There’s an old pair of shoes lying at the bottom of the wardrobe. ……………………..
Don’t trust her – she’s lying. ……………………………..
The cat just loves to lie in front of the fireplace. ……………………..
Lay down your weapon and surrender. …………………….
8. Read the definition of the verb “persecute” and fill in the sentences with a proper form.
persecute verb treat someone unfairly or cruelly over a long period of time because of their race,
religion or political beliefs.
persecution noun (U) persecutor noun (C)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
9.
Religious minorities were …………………………… in the 16tth century.
The left the country out of fear of ………………………….
The clergy was the main ………………………… in the Middle Ages.
Thousands of people escaping from political …………………………arrived in the USA.
Celebrities are ……………………… by tabloid press.
Work out the meaning of “will” in the sentences and “willingly”
Will:



Express future
Likely
Mental power
15

A document, arrange a document
Willingly:

Be ready, enthusiastic
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
She willed the house willingly to her brother. ………………..
The lawyer helped him willingly to make his will. ………………
I will see him tomorrow. …………….
She shows a willingness to work. ……………………
She will need a strong will to succeed. ………………………….
He willed his grandchildren $ 1000 000. ……………………….
10. Match the words from the text with their English and Polish meanings.
Nouns: poverty, starvation, passage, amount, mankind, employees, convicts
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
connecting way ……………………………………
the condition of being very poor …………………………..
lack of food that may cause death ………………………………………
someone who is in prison because they are guilty of a crime ………………………………..
a collection or mass that is difficult to count ………………………………….
someone who is paid for working for someone else …………………………
the whole of a human race …………………………………….
Polish meaning: głód, bieda, ilość, skazani, zatrudnieni, ludzkość, przejście,
11. Correct the sentences.
Another
Other
Others
Meaning
additional, extra,
alternative
additional, extra
additional, extra
Use


before singular
countable nouns
before “few” or
“number”+plural nouns

before plural nouns

Alone
Example
 Could I have another
bottle?
 another few bottles
 another three bottles
 Let’s paint it another
colour!
 Where are the other
photos?
 Where are the others?
16
Expressions :
each other/one another; (They love each other/one another)
on the other hand; (The film was very boring, but on the other hand it was better than
learning History.
Who are the others people? ………………………………………………………
Have you got another cakes? …………………………………………………….
I’m staying for other three days. …………………………………………………..
I prefer other colour. ………………………………………………………………
On the one hand they hate school. On another hand they like the
teachers………………………………………………………………….
f. Tom and Bella can look at each others for several hours.
………………………………………………………………………………………
g. Another children can help them. …………………………………………………..
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
17
3. American Revolution
The French and Indian War
In the eighteenth century Britain and France fought several major Wars in Europe, Asia and North
America. In North America France claimed to own Canada and Louisiana. In 1756 Britain and France
began the Seven Years War. This is known to Americans as the French and Indian War. As a result of
the war France had to give up its claim to Canada and all of North America east of the Mississippi
River. Although Britain won an Empire the victory led to conflict with its American colonies. The
British government told the colonists that they must pay new taxes on imports of sugar, coffee,
textiles, and other goods. The government also told them that they must feed and find shelters for
British soldiers. These orders seemed perfectly fair to British politicians. It had cost British taxpayers
a lot of money to defend the colonies during the French and Indian War. But the colonists objected.
They did not want to pay. They were also afraid that British troops might be used to force the
colonists to obey the British government. This last objection was an early example of a belief that
became an important tradition in American political life – that people should not allow governments
to become too powerful
The Stamp Act
In 1765 the British Parliament passed another new law called the Stamp Act. It said that the colonists
had to buy special tax stamps and attach them to newspapers, licenses and legal papers. Most
colonists, however, refused to use them. They said that because they had no representatives in the
British Parliament this Parliament had no right to tax them. “No taxation without representation” –
became their demand. The opposition was so strong that the British government was forced to
withdraw the Stamp Act.
The Boston Massacre
In 1767 the British placed new taxes on tea, paper, paint and other goods the colonies imported from
abroad. Again the colonists refused to pay. Riots broke out in Boston and the British sent soldiers to
keep order. On March 5, 1770, a Boston mob began to shout insults at a group of British soldiers.
Sticks and stones began to fly through the air at the soldiers. One of the crowd tried to take the
soldier’s gun and the soldier shot him. Without any order from the officer in charge, more shots were
fired and three more members of the crowd fell dead. Several others were wounded. Samuel Adams, a
politician and writer, called this incident “Boston Massacre” to stir up American opinion against the
British.
Boston Tea Party
18
Although the British removed all the duties except for the one on tea some colonists in Massachusetts
were determined to keep the quarrel going. In December 1773, a group of them disguised themselves
as Mohawk Amerindians. They boarded British merchant ships in Boston harbor and threw 342 cases
of tea into the sea. “I hope that King George likes salt in his tea,’ said one of them. The British decided
to punish Massachusetts. Boston harbor was closed to all trade until the tea was paid for. More
soldiers were sent there to keep order. In September 1774, a group of colonial leaders formed the
First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The Continental Congress claimed to be loyal to the
British king but it called upon Americans to support the people in Massachusetts by refusing to buy
British goods. Many colonists went further than this. They began to organize themselves into groups
of part-time soldiers, or “militias,” and to gather together weapons and ammunition.
Lexington
On the night of April 18, 1775, 700 British soldiers marched out of Boston in order to seize weapons
and ammunition that the colonists stored in Concord, a nearby town. But the colonists were warned. In
the village of Lexington the British found seventy American militiamen, barring their way. ( These
part-time soldiers were called “Minutemen” because they promised to take up arms immediately – in
a minute –whenever they were needed. ) The British commander ordered the Minutemen to return to
their homes. They refused. Then someone, nobody knows who, fired a shot. Eight Minutemen fell
dead. The first shots had been fired in what was to become the American War of Independence.
The Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in May 1775. It began to act as an American
national government. It set up an army of 17 000 men under the command of George Washington. The
Continental Congress also sent representatives to seek aid from friendly European nations – especially
from France. By the following year the fighting spread beyond Massachusetts. It had grown into a full
-scale war.
The Declaration of Independence
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress cut all political ties with Britain and declared that “these
United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.’ On July 4, 1776 the
Congress issued the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence is the most
important document in American history. It was written by Thomas Jefferson, a landowner and lawyer
from Virginia. After repeating that the colonies were now “free and independent states” it officially
named them the United States of America. One of the first members of the Continental Congress to
sign the Declaration of Independence was John Hancock of Massachusetts. Hancock picked up the pen
and wrote his name in large, clear letters – “large enough,” he said, “for King George to read without
spectacles.”
19
The Declaration of Independence was much more that a statement that the colonies were a new nation.
It also claimed that all men had a natural right to “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” It said
that governments can claim the right to rule if they have the agreement of those they govern – “the
consent of the governed.” Ideas such as these were the central part of the political tradition that the
colonists’ ancestors had brought with them from England. Colonial leaders had also studied these
ideas in the writings of an English political thinker named John Locke. The authors of the Declaration
of Independence combined Locke’s ideas with their own experience of life in America to produce a
new definition of democratic government. This new definition said that governments should consist of
representatives elected by the people. It also said that the main reason the governments existed was to
protect the rights of individual citizens.
The American War of Independence
After some early successes, the Americans did badly in the war against the British. Washington’s
soldiers had no military training and many obeyed only those orders that suited them. Officers
quarreled constantly over their rank and authority. Washington had to train his men and turn them into
disciplined soldiers. Meanwhile the Americans suffered defeat after defeat. In September 1776 the
British captured New York City. Success came to the Americans in October 1777 when they forced
the British commander to surrender at Saratoga. Benjamin Franklin used this victory to persuade the
French government to join in the struggle against Britain. French ships, soldiers and money were
soon playing an important part in the war.
In September 1781, George Washington, leading a combined American and French army, surrounded
8 000 British troops under general Cornwallis at Yorktown. On October 17, 1781 Cornwallis
surrendered his army to Washington. When the news reached London the British Prime Minister,
Lord North cried: “It is all over.” North was right. The British started to withdraw their forces from
America and British and American representatives began to discuss peace terms. In the Treaty of
Paris, which was signed in September 1783, Britain officially recognized her former colonies as an
independent nation.
The Constitution of the United States
The Treaty of Paris had recognized the United States as an independent nation. But it was not one
nation. In 1783 most Americans felt more loyalty to their own state than to the new United States.
They saw themselves as Virginians or New Yorkers rather than as Americans. Each state had its own
government and behaved like an independent country. During the war the states had agreed to work
together in a national Congress to which each state sent representatives. The agreement was called the
Articles of Confederation. Under the Articles of Confederation the central government was very weak
and after the war it was clear that for the United States to survive, the Articles of Confederation would
20
have to be changed. In February 1787, Congress asked each state to send representatives to a meeting
in Philadelphia to talk about such changes. Only Rhode Island refused. Fifty-five delegates worked out
a completely new system of government for the United States. They set out the plan for this
government in a document called the Constitution of the United States .
The Constitution gave the United States a federal system of government. A federal system means tha t
the power to rule is shared. A central, or federal, authority has some of it, and the rest is in the hands
of local authorities.
The new Constitution still left the individual state governments with a wide range of powers. But it
made the federal government much stronger. The Constitution made arrangements for the election of a
national leader called the President to take charge of the federal government.
Exercises - comprehension
1. Fill in the table with the dates or events.
Event
Date
The beginning of the French and Indian War
The Stamp Act
1770
Boston Tea Party
1774
The battle of Lexington
May 1775
The Declaration of Independence
The battle of Saratoga
1781
1783
The Constitution of the United States
21
2. Who were the people?
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, John
Hancock
3. What happened at these places?
Place
Philadelphia
Event
1.
2.
Boston
Concord
Lexington
Saratoga
Yorktown
Paris
4. Explain the meaning of the names.
Militia, Minutemen, the Stamp Act, Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, federal
system of government
5.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
Answer the questions.
What was the reason for the French and Indian War?
What were the consequences of the French and Indian War?
Why did the British government want Americans to pay new taxes after the
French and Indian War?
What did Americans mean by saying: ”No taxation without representation”
What were the consequences of Boston Tea Party for Boston?
What were the decisions of the First Continental Congress?
Why did Minutemen barred the way at Lexington?
What is the importance of the Declaration of Independence in American
history?
Which country became an American ally during the War of Independence?
Why did Americans need the Constitution?
22
Exercises – vocabulary and grammar
6. Rewrite the sentences using the words in brackets.
force somebody to do something (zmusić kogoś do zrobienia czegoś)
allow somebody to do something (pozwolić komuś cos zrobić)
persuade somebody to do something (przekonać kogoś aby coś
zrobił)
make somebody do something (sprawić żeby ktoś coś zrobił)
Example:
She couldn’t go out. (father, not allow) Father didn’t allow her to go out.
a. The students do their homework regularly. (the teacher, make)
………………………………………………………………………………………………
b. Tom and Maria are having a party at home. (parents, allow)
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
c. Peter had to visit a doctor. (mother, persuade)
……………………………………………………………………………………………
d. I didn’t want but I smiled. (they, force)
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
e. We agreed to sing. (our friends, persuade)
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
f. They didn’t want to tell the truth but they had to. (I, force)
……………………………………………………………………………………………
7. Rewrite the sentences using “seem” as in the example.
Example:
I think that Tom lies. It seems to me that Tom lies. Tom seems to lie.
a. I think that your friends hate school.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
b. I think that our government does its best.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
c. I think that the idea is excellent.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
23
8. Read the different meanings of the verb “lead” and work out the meaning in the
sentences.
lead, led, led control; to be a person that makes decisions and is the most important person in a group
(przewodzić, stać na czele, być przywódcą)
lead, led, led influence to think or to do something (doprowadzić)
lead, led, led show the way to people or animals that follow (prowadzić)
lead, led, led show direction (wskazywać drogę, prowadzić)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
The guide led us through the mountains. …………………………….
A trail of blood led directly into the cave. ………………………….
He’s the right person to lead the expedition. ……………………….
The blue door leads into a secret room. ………………………
Peter should lead the discussion. ……………………………..
If you lead we’ll follow you. ……………………………..
The book led me to believe that there are monsters in the world. ……………………
She has been leading the company for many years now. ………………………….
Being tired leads people to make the wrong decisions. …………………………………
9. Match the sentences with their results. Use “as a result” or “as a result of”.
Example:
Tom is lazy. (laziness) He failed his exams. Tom failed his exams as a result of his laziness.
Tom didn’t work enough. He failed his exams. Tom didn’t work enough. As a result, he failed his
exams.
a. Mark was very careless.
………………………………………………………………………………………………..
 The road was closed.
b. They didn’t take a map.
 The area is highly polluted.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
(environmental pollution)
c. There is more traffic.

He broke both his legs.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
 The group got lost.
d. The forests are dying.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
24
10. Use a proper form of a word “object”.
object verb oppose; feel or express opposition or dislike of something;
objection noun
objectionable adj If you describe something as objectionable you oppose it or dislike it
objector noun a person that objects
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
A lot of …………………………………..were present at the inquiry.
Her …………………………….. to the project was based on the incorrect facts.
The violence in the film was really ………………………………….
No one ……………………………..when the boss said it is time to go home.
Would anyone ……………………… if we start?
What an ………………………………….smell!
11. Match the words with their Polish meanings and then fill in the expressions with the
words. Translate the expressions.
mob, insult, bar, withdraw, spread, a wide range of, pursuit, in charge, disguise
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
przebranie…………………………
tłum ……………………………….
zniewaga ……………………………..
wycofać ………………………..
dążenie ………………………….
rozprzestrzenić ……………………………
szeroka gama …………………………………..
odpowiedzialny ………………………………..
powstrzymać …………………………………









put ………………….
………………………………………..
relentless ………………of wealth
…………………………………….
……………………. the troops
……………………………………..
in …………………
…………………………………………
……………. fast
………………………………………
throw ………………….
………………………….
………………… products
……………………………
……………… effectively from
………………………………
angry …………………
…………………………….
25
4. Territorial Growth of the USA
The United States after the Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris granted the USA all of North America from Canada in the north to Florida in the
south, and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River. After 1783 more and more people set off
for the new territories between Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. They journeyed
across the mountains to make new farms and settlement out of the wilderness. The federal
government divided this territory into two. The area south of the Ohio River was called the Southwest
territory and that to the north the Northwest Territory. As the number of people increased each of
these big territories was divided into smaller ones. In 1787 the government introduced the Northwest
Ordinance according to which the territory whose population increased 60 000, became a new state,
with the same rights and powers as the original thirteen states. The importance of the Northwest
Ordinance is that it made sure that original 13 states were not able to control for their own benefit
lands that were settled later.
The Indian Removal Act
Amerindians who had already lived on the Northwest and Southwest territories saw the settlers as
thieves who had come to steal their hunting grounds. They made fierce attacks on the newcomers’
farms. The settlers struck back, sometimes destroying entire Amerindian villages.
The new government of the United States tried at first to keep the peace by making treaties with the
Amerindians. But the government soon changed its policy. President James Monroe believed that
there is only one way for the Amerindians to survive. They must be moved from lands that white
settlers wanted to other lands, further to west. In 1830 the United States government passed a law
called the Indian Removal Act to put this new policy into practice. The law said that all Indians
living east of the Mississippi River would be moved west to a place called Indian Territory.
“The Trail of Tears”
The Cherokees were an Amerindian people who suffered greatly from the Indian Removal policy. By
the early 19th century the Cherokees had changed themselves from a stone age tribe into a civilized
community. Many of them owned large farms and lived in European-style houses built of brick. They
had become Christians and attended church and sent their children to school. They had a written
language and published their own newspaper in both Cherokee and English. They even wrote for
themselves a Constitution modeled on that of the United States.
None of this saved the Cherokees. In the 1830s Congress declared that their lands belonged to the state
of Georgia and they were divided up for sale to white settlers. The Cherokees were driven from their
26
homes and forced to march hundreds of miles to what is now the state of Oklahoma. In 1838, in cold
winter weather American soldiers gathered thousands of Cherokee men, women and children, and
drove them west. The nightmare journey lasted almost five months. By the time it was over, 4 000 of
Amerindians – a quarter of the whole Cherokee nation – were dead. This episode came to be called
“The Trail of Tears”.
Oregon Trail
In 1803 the US government purchased Louisiana from France. The lands beyond Louisiana were
known as Oregon. In 1805 four countries claimed to own Oregon – Russia, Spain, Britain and the
United States. By the 1830s the British had more settlements in Oregon than the Americans.
American political leaders began to fear that Britain would control the area. To prevent this they
made great efforts to persuade more Americans to start farms in Oregon. At first Americans travelling
to Oregon went by ship. The journey was expensive and lasted for months. Settlers began travelling to
Oregon by land in 1832. This overland route was called the Oregon Trail. In 1843 “Oregon Fever”
came to many parts of the United States. People left their farms, packed their possessions on wagons
and set off for the West.
“Manifest destiny”
American settlers soon outnumbered the British in Oregon. American newspapers and political
leaders began to express an idea called “manifest destiny”. This was a claim that it was the clear
(“manifest”) intention of fate (“destiny”) that the territory of the United States should stretch across
North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Supporters of manifest destiny demanded that the
United States should take the whole Oregon. For a time war with Britain seemed possible. But by the
summer of 1846 the US was at war with Mexico. President James Polk agreed to divide Oregon with
Britain in two almost equal sections.
The Mexican -American War
Thousands of Americans settled in Texas that was ruled by Mexico. The Texas Americans, or Texans,
came to dislike Mexican rule. In October 1835, they rebelled and defeated Mexican army in1836. As a
result they made Texas an independent republic. Most of Texans, however, wanted their country to
join the United States. Eventually the two countries reached an agreement about this and in 1845
Texas became part of the United States. In April 1846, there was fighting between American and
Mexican soldiers along the border between Mexico and Texas. President James Polk saw an
opportunity to take land from Mexico and he declared war. Americans invaded Mexico and in
September 1847, they had occupied Mexico City, the country’s capital. The war was ended by a peace
treaty signed in February 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo forced Mexico to hand over
27
enormous stretches of its territory to the United States. Today these lands form the American states of
California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado.
The annexation of these Mexican lands completed the “manifest destiny” of the United States. It now
stretched across the North American continent from ocean to ocean.
Alaska Purchase
Alaska was governed by Russian-American Company. Russian government thought it was too far
away and not worthy to keep any longer. Alaska was also meant to be the territory dividing Russia
from British Canada. It was sold to the United States in 1867 for 7.2 mln dollars. The U.S. Senate
approved the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at two
cents per acre, about five cents per hectare.
Exercises - comprehension
1. When and how did the United States obtained the following territories? Use the
contemporary map and the map of territorial growth.
Territory
When obtained?
How obtained?
Alabama
Mississippi
Louisiana
Texas
Alaska
Oregon
California
Montana
Nevada
Ohio
Florida
2. What was the importance of the Northwest Ordinance and the Indian Removal
Act?
3. How did Indian Removal Act affect the Cherokees?
4. Explain the meaning of expressions: “Oregon Trail” and “Oregon Fever”.
5. What did “manifest destiny” mean? How did it influence American policy?
28
Exercises – vocabulary and grammar
6.
Read the definitions of the word “worth”. Use a proper form in the sentences. Write the
part of the speech the words you use are.
worth noun (U) the amount of money which something can be sold for
worth adj having the value of money
worth preposition important or useful (worth doing, worth a mention)
worthless adj having no value; unimportant, useless
worthy adj deserving respect, admiration
a. It’s ……………… remembering that the best things are free. ……………………….
b. She was criticized so much that she started to think that she is …………………………
c. Our house is ………………… about $2000 000. ……………………..
d. This book is …………………. its weight in gold. ………………………….
e. When the company went bankrupt the shares became …………………………….
f.
We wanted to get our money’s …………………… from our tickets and went to every
museum in the city. ………………………
g. If a thing is ………………… doing it’s ………………… doing well. …………………..
h. The castle is open to the public and it’s ……………. a visit. ……………………
i.
Every year she makes a large donation to a ………………… cause. ………………………
j.
Educational games are often more ………………….. than fun. ……………………..
7. What is the meaning of the word “stretch” in the following sentences?
stretch verb become longer or wider; go as far as; reach as far as possible; spread over a large area or
distance; ( rozciągnąć, rozciągać sie, rozpościerać, sięgać, ciągnąć się)
stretch noun continuous area of land or water; long period of time; (przestrzeń, obszar, przeciąg
czasu, rozpiętość)
a. The Dead Sea is the largest stretch of water in the Middle East. ………………………
b. This ancient tradition stretches back hundreds of years. ……………..
c. These exercises stretch and lengthen the muscles of your stomach. …………………..
d. Shouting at people until they agree with you is stretching the definition of negotiation.
…………………
29
e. They ignored the beggars who were stretching out their hands for money. ……………….
A huge cloud of smoke stretched across the sky. ……………………
f.
g. The refugee camps stretch as far as the eye can see. …………………
h. I can work ten hours at a stretch. ……………………..
8. Fill in the sentences with the infinitive expressions as in the example.
Example: To prevent this, they made great efforts to persuade more Americans to start farms in
Oregon.







To help his mother
To win the prize
To draw her attention
To become rich
To learn more
To keep fit
To concentrate
a. ……………………… she practiced every day at the swimming pool.
b. ………………………. he wore a scarlet hat with green feathers.
c. ……………………….. he must win the competition.
d. …………………………they have to find better jobs.
e. ……………………….. you should read more books.
f.
……………………… Tom peeled potatoes.
g. ……………………….. Susan asked them to turn down the radio.
9.
Read the definition of the word “wild’ and fill in the sentences with the proper words.
wild adj, adv 1. Living or growing independently of people
wildly
2. Uncontrolled, violent, extreme
wildness
wilderness noun area that has not been cultivated, without towns and roads especially because it is
difficult to live in
a. As a young he led a ………………… life.
b. She said that Alaska was the last great ……………………….
c. His …………………………….. made him a difficult boss.
30
d. She was dancing ……………………….
e. Lions and tigers are ……………………. animals.
f.
The animals that lived ……………………. never adapt to captivity.
g.
She went ………………….. with excitement.
10. Use the words in the sentences.
granted
strike(s)
fear
outnumber
attended
opportunity
a. They ……………………….. an entry visa to her.
b.
The police warned people that the killer can ………………… again
c. He goes fishing at every ……………………….
d. The females in our school ……………………….. the males 3 to 1.
e. What do you ……………….. most?
f.
In the long run your successes ………………………… your failures.
g. Lightening never …………………………… twice in the same place.
h. Peter was ……………………. a lot of money to continue his research.
i.
She was given an ………………………….. of working.
j.
They …………………….. the classes for a month.
k. The doctor …………………… the most wounded soldiers.
l.
Do you ever …………………. for your children safety?
31
5. North and South
Slavery
In the year 1810 there were 7.2 mln people in the United States. For 1.2 mln of these people the words
of the Declaration of Independence “that all men are created equal” were far from true. They were
black and they were slaves. They cultivated the southern fields of tobacco, rice and cotton. But in the
north of the United States farms were smaller and the climate cooler. Farmers did not need slaves to
work the land for them. Some northerners opposed slavery for moral and religious reasons also. Many
were abolitionists – that is, people who wanted to end or abolish slavery by law. By the early
nineteenth century many northern states had passed laws abolishing slavery inside their own
boundaries. In 1808 they also persuaded Congress to make it illegal for ships to bring any new slaves
from Africa into the United States.
By the 1820s southern and northern politicians were arguing about whether slavery should be
permitted in the new territories. The argument centered on the Missouri territory. Southerners argued
that slavery should be allowed in all lands of the Louisiana Purchase. Both abolitionists and other
northerners objected to this. Eventually the two sides agreed on a compromise . Slavery would be
permitted in the Missouri and Arkansas territories but banned in lands to the west and north of
Missouri. In the next twenty years the United States grew much bigger and a new compromise was
necessary. In 1850 Congress voted and decided that California would be a free state, while people who
lived in Utah and New Mexico were given the right to decide for themselves whether or not to allow
slavery. To persuade southerners to agree to these arrangements, Congress passed a new Fugitive
Slave Act. This was the law to make it easier for southerners to recapture slaves who escaped from
their masters to free states. The law called for “severe penalties on anyone assisting negroes to
escape”.
The Fugitive Slave Act angered many northerners. Some judges refused to enforce it. Other people
provided food, money and hiding places for fugitives. They mapped out escape routes and moved
runaway slaves from one place to another. The final stop was Canada. This carefully organized system
was called “Underground Railroad”. Guides who led the fugitives to freedom were called
“conductors”, and hiding places were called “depots’. All these were terms that were used on ordinary
railroads.
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was a young black woman who became the most famous “conductor” on the
Underground Railroad. She was born in 1821 and grew up as a slave on a plantation of Maryland. She
escaped in 1849 and joined the “Underground Railroad”. Over the next ten years she made nineteen
32
trips into slave states and led more than 300 men, women and children to freedom. During the Civil
War Harriet worked as a nurse, a cook and a laundress with the Union armies fighting in the South.
After the Civil War she worked to help children and old people, using the profits she earned from her
autobiography. When she died in 1923, she had already become a legend.
Import Duties
Slavery was not the only reason for disputes between North and South. By the early 1830s another
angry argument was going on. This time the argument began over the import duties. Northern states
favored such duties because they protected their young industries against the competition of foreign
goods. Southern states opposed them because they relied upon foreign manufacturers for both
necessities and luxuries of many kind. Import duties would raise the prices of such goods.
States’ Rights Doctrine
During the argument a much more serious question was raised by a southern political leader John
Calhoun. He claimed that a state had the right to disobey any federal law if the state believe that the
law would harm its interests. This idea was strongly supported by other southerners. It became known
as the “state rights doctrine.” Calhoun’s claim was strongly denied by senator Daniel Webster of
Massachusetts. Webster said that the power to decide whether the federal authorities were acting
rightly or wrongly belong to the Supreme Court. His speech was a warning that the states’ rights
doctrine could become a serious threat to the unity of the United States.
The presidential election of 1860
Opponents of slavery had formed a new political group called the Republican Party. One of its
members, Abraham Lincoln said that the spread of slavery must be stopped. “A house divided against
itself cannot stand. I believe that this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half
free”- he said. This stand against slavery impressed many people and in 1860 the Republicans chose
Lincoln as their candidate in that year’s presidential election. To oppose Lincoln southerners put
forward a candidate of their own. They threatened that the South would break away, or “secede,” from
the United States if Lincoln became President. In every southern state majority of citizens voted
against Lincoln. But voters in the North supported him and he won the election.
Confederacy
A few weeks after the election, in December 1860, the state of South Carolina voted to secede from
the United States. It was soon joined by ten more southern states. In February 1861, these eleven states
announced that they were now an independent nation, the Confederate States of America, often
known as Confederacy. The American Civil War was about to begin.
33
Exercises - comprehension
1. Enumerate three questions that made northern and southern states argue.
2. Who were abolitionists?
3. Why did Congress pass Fugitive Slave Act?
4. How did northerners react to Fugitive Slave Act?
5. Who was Harriet Tubman?
6. What did John Calhoun and Senator Daniel Webster argue about?
7. What was Lincoln’s opinion of slavery?
8. Why did the state of South Carolina secede from the United States?
Exercises – vocabulary and grammar
9. Use the proper form of the verbs: raise or rise
raise, raised, raised lift (raise a hand); cause to exist (raise a problem); take care of children until
they are grown
rise, rose risen move upwards (the balloon rose into the air); increase (house prices have risen)
a. Tom ………………… to his feet to make a speech.
b. She was ……………….. by her grandparents.
c. Terror ………………… in her whenever she thinks about future.
d. The farmer ……………………. Chickens and pigs.
e. I had to ………………… my voice to let the people hear.
f.
I want to start my own business if I can …………………. enough money.
g. He ………………… his eyebrow when he had heard the news.
h. The wind is …………………….
i.
Last year inflation ……………… 1% a month.
j.
New buildings are …………………. through the city.
10. Use the proper form.
abolish verb end officially
permit verb allow,
abolition noun
permission noun
abolitionist
permissive adj
noun
ban verb forbid
ban
noun
a. Smoking is …………………. In restaurants. (ban)
34
b. There should be a ………………….
on talking in cinemas. (ban)
c. I think that bullfighting should be ………………….. (abolish)
d. Northerners campaigned for the ………………….. of slavery. (abolish)
e. An ………………………. is a person who supports the ………………….. of something.
(abolish)
f.
The prison authorities ………….. visiting once a month (permit)
g. The authorities have refused ………………… for the demonstration. (permit)
h. The …………….. society is the type of society in which there is a great amount of freedom.
(permit)
11. What is the meaning of the verb “cultivate” in the sentences below.
cultivate
1. prepare land and grow crops (uprawiać zięmię);
2. develop, improve (udoskonalać, rozwijać);
3. make a special effort to establish or develop (pielęgnować, kultywować)
a. most of the land is too poor to cultivate. ………………….
b. At this school we cultivate the minds of all our students. …………………
c. You should cultivate relationship because it may be useful. ……………………..
d. The villagers cultivate mostly maze. …………………………
12. Match the words with their meanings.
boundaries
refuse
fugitive
enforce
import duties
announce
laundress
depot
rely on
endure
a. A person who is running away ………………………….
b. Cause to be obeyed …………………………
c. Bear calmly for a long time …………………..
d. Make known publicly ………………..
e. Lines that mark the edge or limit of something ………………………..
f.
Say no …………………..
g. Taxes paid to the government especially on things you bring into a country …………………
h. Depend on or trust ……………………
i.
Bus or train station ………………..
j.
A person that washes, dries and irons dirty clothes ……………………..
35
6. The American Civil War
Fort Sumter
On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln took the Oath of office as President of the United States. In his
inaugural address as President, Lincoln appealed to the southern states to stay in the Union. He
promised that he would not interfere with slavery in any of them. But he warned that he would not
allow them to break up the United States by seceding. The southern states took no notice of Lincoln’s
appeal. On April 12, 1861, Confederate guns opened fire on Fort Sumter, a fortress in the harbor of
Charleston, South Carolina, that was occupied by United States troops. These shots marked the
beginning of the American Civil War.
Strengths and weaknesses
Lincoln called for 75 000 men to save the Union. Jefferson Davis, the newly elected President of the
Confederate States, made a similar appeal for men to fight for the Confederacy. Some people found it
difficult and painful to decide which side to support. The decision sometimes split families. Three of
President Lincoln’s own brothers-in-law died fighting for the Confederacy.
In both men and resources the North was much stronger than the South. It had a population of 22
million people. The South had only 9 million people and 3.5 million of them were slaves. The North
grew more food crops that the South. It also had more than five times the manufacturing capacity,
including most of the country’s weapon factories. The North had not only more fighting men than the
South, it could also keep them better supplied with weapons, clothing, food and everything else they
needed.
From the first months of the war Union warships blockaded the ports of the South. They did this to
prevent the Confederacy from selling its cotton abroad and from obtaining foreign supplies.
However, the North faced one great difficulty. The only way it could win the war was to invade the
South and occupy its land. The South had no such problem. Almost all the was fighting took place in
the South which meant that Confederate soldiers were defending their own homes. This made them
fight with more spirit that the Union soldiers. The South was fighting for its independence from the
North, they said, just as their grandfathers had fought for independence from Britain almost a century
earlier.
War
The war was fought in two main areas – in Virginia and in the Mississippi valley.
36
In Virginia the Union troops suffered one defeat after another in the first year of the war. Again and
again they tried to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital. Each time they were thrown back with
heavy losses. The Confederate forces in Virginia had two great advantages. The first was the many
rivers cut across the roads leading south to Richmond and so made the city easier to defend. The
second was their leaders, Robert Lee and Thomas Jackson. Jackson got the nickname “Stonewall”
because he stood firm against the advancing Union troops. A fellow officer, encouraging his soldiers
shouted: “Look, there is Jackson, standing like a stone wall!”
Fortunately for the North, Union forces in the Mississippi valley had more success. In April 1862, they
captured New Orleans, the largest city in the Confederacy. On July 4, 1863 an important Confederate
stronghold on the Mississippi called Vicksburg, surrendered to the Union army led by General
Ulysses Grant. Its fall was a heavy blow to the South. Union forces now controlled the whole length
of the Mississippi. They had split the Confederacy into two. It became impossible for western
Confederate states like Texas to send any more men and supplies to the east.
General Lee, the Confederate commander, believed that if his army could win a decisive victory on
northern soil, the Union government might be made to make peace. That is why in the last week of
June 1863, Lee marched his army north to Pennsylvania. At a small town called Gettysburg a Union
army blocked its way. The battle which followed was the biggest that has ever been fought in the
United States. In three days of fierce fighting more that 50 000 men were killed or wounded. On the
fourth day Lee broke off the battle and led his army back into the South. The Confederate army had
suffered a defeat from which it would never recover.
By 1864 the Confederacy was running out of almost everything – men, equipment, food, money. In
November 1864, a Union army led by General William Sherman began to march through the
Confederate state of Georgia. Its soldiers destroyed everything in their path. On December 22 they
occupied the city of Savannah. On April 2, General Lee had to abandon Richmond and marched south.
But general Grant followed him and on April 9, 1865, General Lee met Grant in a small village called
Appomattox and surrendered his army. “The war is over. The rebels are our countrymen again” said
Grant as General Lee rode away.
The Civil War decided finally that the United States was one nation, whose parts could not be
separated. But the war left bitter memories. It caused terrible destruction. All over the South towns and
farms lay ruins. And more Americans died in this war that in any other, before or since. By the time
Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox, the dead both sides totaled 635 000.
The Emancipation Proclamation
On September 22, 1862 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared that
from January 1, 1863, all slaves were to be made free – but only if they lived in areas that were part of
37
the Confederacy. The Proclamation changed the purpose of the war. From a struggle to preserve the
Union, it became a struggle both to preserve the Union and to abolish slavery. In 1865 slavery was
abolished everywhere in the United States by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
The Gettysburg Address
On November 19, 1863, Lincoln travelled to Gettysburg to dedicate part of the battlefield as a national
war cemetery. A speech that he made there was called the Gettysburg Address. At the time it was seen
as a statement of what the North was fighting for. In later years it came to be seen as a moving
expression of faith in the basic principles of democratic government.
“…our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, dedicated to the
proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil
war, testing whether that nation can long endure. /…/ We have come to dedicate a
portion of that field as a final resting- place for those who here gave their lives, that
that nation might live. /…/ It is for us the living to resolve that these dead shall not
have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom;
and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish
from this earth.”
Exercises - comprehension
1. Fill in the table with events from the Civil War.
Dates
Events
March 4, 1861
April 12, 1861
April, 1862
September 22, 1862
July 4, 1863
July, 1863
November 19, 1863
December 22, 1864
April 9, 1865
The Gettysburg Address, Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox, William Sherman occupied
the city of Savannah, Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office as President, the Emancipation
Proclamation, the Battle of Gettysburg, Vicksburg surrendered to the Union army, Confederate
guns opened fire on Fort Sumter, Union ships captured new Orleans
38
2. Match the people to the events.
Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert Lee, Thomas Jackson, Ulysses
Grant, William Sherman
a. He made a speech called the Gettysburg Address …………………………………..
b. He led the Union army that destroyed everything in Georgia ………………………
c. He was President of the Confederate States ……………………………………………….
d. His nickname was “Stonewall.” ………………………………………………………..
e. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation …………………………………………
f.
He forced Lee to abandon Richmond …………………………………………………..
g. He surrendered at Appomattox …………………………………………………………
h. He lost the Battle of Gettysburg …………………………………………………………
3. Answer the questions.
a. How did Lincoln try to persuade the southern states to stay in the Union?
b. What were the advantages of the North when the war started?
c. What main difficulty did the North face during the war?
d. Why did Union warships blockade the ports of the South?
e. Why was it so difficult for the Union army to capture Richmond in 1862?
f.
Why was the capture of Vicksburg such a heavy blow to the South?
g. Why did Lee march his army into Pennsylvania?
h. How did Shermans troops behave in Georgia?
i.
What was the North fighting for according to the Gettysburg Address?
j.
What does the thirteen Amendment to the Constitution say?
39
Exercises – vocabulary and grammar
4.
Match the verbs with definitions and fill in the sentences with the proper verb.
break off
break out
break up
run short (of)
run deep
run wild

to begin suddenly …………………………..

to do anything somebody wants …………………..

to stop for a short period …………………….

to become serious …………………………

end a relationship ……………………………

to be left with not much ……………………
BREAK
a. Their marriage ……………………. last year.
b. A storm …………………. during the night.
c. They ………………..laughing.
d.
The emigration of young people often ………………. families.
e. Can we …………….. for lunch?
f.
He …………… his holiday to attend a business meeting.
RUN
a. Those children are allowed to ……………………….
b. The differences between the two sides ……………………..
c. Money is beginning to ……………………
d. We’re ………………………… of cheese. Go and get some!
40
5. Read the definitions od the verbs and fill in the sentences with the proper forms.
lose, lost, lost verb to no longer posses; be defeated; loss noun
loosen, loosened verb become less fixed; immoral; loose adj
a. The men began to ……………….. their ties.
b. They …………….. their last battle.
c. They experienced heavy …………………… during the last war.
d. Her hair was hanging ………………. over her shoulders.
e. His ……………. life affected him in the end.
f.
They never got over the ……………… of their son.
g. She ………………… her mind when her parents died.
6. Fill in the table with the proper form and then fill in the sentences.
Adjective
noun
verb
Strong
strength
strengthen
Weak
Long
Wide
a. There are …………………………. in their security system.
b. His main ………………….. is his bravery.
c. They were ………………….. by hunger.
d. You are very …………… after a fever.
e. Drink it! It will ……………….. you.
f.
They are going to …………………. the three-year course to four years.
g. The boat is ten metres in …………… and two metres in …………………..
h. As it approaches to the sea the river ………………
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7.
Rewrite the sentences with the verb “prevent from).
Example: She didn’t allow her mother to go abroad. She prevented her mother from going abroad.
a. Tom didn’t leave school because his parents didn’t agree.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
b. Maria didn’t allow Peter to come to her party.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
c. John didn’t kiss Sue because she didn’t agree.
……………………………………………………………………………………
d. The teacher didn’t allow George to cheat.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
8.
Use the proper form of the word “dedicate”.
dedicate verb give completely energy, time; say or write in honour of somebody;
dedicated adj
dedication noun
a. He has always shown great ………………… to the cause.
b. He’s a wonderful doctor – he’s so ……………………..
c. She has ………………….. her life to scientific research.
d. The church was ………………….. on the 1st March.
e. The ……………… at the front of the book says “I love you”.
9.
Match the words with their definitions.
interfere
resolve
appeal
obtain
split
capacity
a final resting place
issue
stronghold heavy blow
a. To make a decision…………………………..
b. Position which is strongly defended……………………..
c. A cemetery……………………………
d. The total amount…………………………..
e. Produce or provide………………………
f.
Involve with things connected with others……………………………
g. Get…………………………
h. To request formally……………………..
i.
A hard hit with a hand or a weapon…………………………
j.
To divide…………………………….
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7.
Reconstruction
Lincoln’s assassination
On the night of April 13, 1865, crowds of people in Washington celebrated Lee’s surrender at
Appomattox. The next day was Good Friday. In the evening President Lincoln and his wife went to
see a play called “Our American Cousin.” Once Lincoln was safe in his seat, his bodyguards moved
away to watch the play themselves from seats in the gallery. At exactly 10.13, a pistol shot through the
darkened theater. The gunman, an actor named John Booth, was captured a few days later.
Lincoln was carried across the street to the house of a tailor. He died there in the downstairs bedroom
the next morning. Men and women wept in the streets when they heard the news. The poet James
Russell Lowell wrote: “Never before that started April morning did such multitude of men shed tears
for the death of one they had never seen, as if with him a friendly presence had been taken from their
lives.”
Reunion
Lincoln was succeeded as President by his Vice President, Andrew Johnson. The biggest problem he
faced was how to deal with the defeated South. His ideas were similar to Lincoln’s. Lincoln blamed
individual southern leaders for the war. He intended to punish only those guilty individuals and to let
the rest of the South’s people play a full part in the nation’s life again.
Johnson began to introduce plans to reunite the South with the rest of the nation. He said that as soon
as the citizens of the seceded states promised to be loyal to the government of the US they could elect
new state assemblies. When a state voted to accept the 13th Amendment to the Constitution (the one
that completely abolished slavery) Johnson intended that it should be accepted back into the Union as
a full and equal member.
Black Codes
White southerners were horrified at the idea of giving equal rights to their former slaves. The
assembly of the state of Mississippi expressed the way it felt in these words: “Under the pressure the
people of Mississippi have abolished the institution of slavery. The negro is free whether we like it or
not. To be free, however, does not make him a citizen or entitle him to social or political equality with
the white man.”
The other former Confederate states shared this attitude. All their assemblies passed laws to keep
blacks in an inferior position. Such laws were called “Black Codes.” Black Codes refused blacks the
vote, said that they could not serve on juries, forbade them to give evidence in court against a white
43
man. In Mississippi blacks were forbidden to buy or to rent farm land. In Louisiana they had to agree
to work for one employer for a whole year and could be imprisoned and made to do forced labor if
they refused. With no land, no money and no protection from the law, it was almost as if blacks were
still slaves.
14 t h Amendment
Many members of the United States Congress believed that President Johnson was treating the
defeated white southerners too kindly and the southerners were taking advantage of this by cheating
the blacks. In July 1866, despite opposition from the President, Congress passed a Civil Rights Act
and then introduced the 14th Amendment to the Constitution that gave blacks full rights of citizenship,
including the right to vote.
The Reconstruction Act
All the former Confederate states except Tennessee refused to accept the 14th Amendment. In March
1867, Congress replied by passing the Reconstruction Act. This dismissed the white governments of
the southern states and placed them under military rule. They were told that they could again have
elected governments when they accepted the 14th Amendment. By 1870 all the southern states had
new “Reconstruction” governments. Most of these governments were made up of blacks, a few white
southerners who agreed to cooperate with the blacks, and white men from the North.
“Carpetbaggers” and “scalawags”
The newly arrived northerners were referred to by southerners who opposed them as “carpetbaggers.”
The name came from the large, cheap bags made of carpeting material in which some of the
northerners carried their belongings. Any white southerners who cooperated with “carpetbaggers”
were referred to with contempt as “scalawags.” The word “scalawag” still means scoundrel, or rogue,
in the English language today.
Reconstruction governments
Most white southerners supported the Democratic political party. They claimed
that the
Reconstruction governments were incompetent and dishonest. There was some truth in this claim.
Many of the black members were inexperienced and poorly educated. Some carpetbaggers were
thieves. But Reconstruction governments also contained honest men who tried to improve the South.
They passed laws to provide care for orphans and the blind, to encourage new industries and the
building of railroads, and to build schools for both white and black children. None of these
improvements stopped southern whites from hating Reconstruction. It was because Reconstruction
aimed to give blacks the same rights that whites had. They were determined to prevent this. They
organize terrorist groups whose main aim was to threaten and frighten black people and prevent them
44
from claiming their rights. The largest and most feared terrorist group was secret society called Ku
Klux Klan.
Fruits of Reconstruction
The use of violence and fear helped white racists to win back control of state governments all over the
South. By 1876 Republican supporters of Reconstruction held power in only three southern states.
When Congress withdrew federal troops from the South in 1877, white Democrats won control of
these, too. Reconstruction was over. From this time southern blacks were treated more and more as
“second class citizens” – that is, they were not given equal treatment under the law. Most serious of
all, they were robbed of their right to vote.
But the Reconstruction had not been for nothing. It had been the boldest attempt so far to achieve
racial justice in the US. The 14th Amendment was especially important. It was the foundation of the
Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Exercises - comprehension
1. Explain the names:
Black Codes, carpetbaggers, scalawags, Ku Klux Klan
2. Find the years in which the following events took place.
a. The Assassination of President Lincoln……………………………….
b. A Civil Rights Act…………………………..
c. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution…………………………………
d. The Reconstruction Act………………………………
e. Withdrawal of the last federal troops from the South……………………
3. Answer the questions.
a. What was President Johnson’s attitude towards the defeated southern states?
b. What was the reason for passing Civil Rights Act and 14th Amendment?
c. What does 14th Amendment say?
d. Why did Congress pass the Reconstruction Act?
e. Who did Reconstruction governments consist of?
f.
What objections did southerners have against Reconstruction governments?
g. What improvements did Reconstruction governments introduce?
h. What was the fate of the blacks when Reconstruction was over?
45
Exercises – vocabulary and grammar
4. Fill in the sentences with the expressions below.
a former nurse
a former life its former glory a former church
his former self
formerly (2x)
a. They asked the woman, ………………….. for advice.
b. She was ……………………. a teacher.
c. The painting was restored to ……………………….
d. After the accident Tom didn’t seem …………………….
e. He was sure he was a doctor in …………………………..
f.
The building, ………………………., has been redecorated.
g. ……………………….. there were two houses but we made them into one.
5. Read the definitions and examples. Rewrite the sentences using the verbs in their correct
forms.
take advantage of – benefit intentionally from a situation; Take advantage of low prices and buy
something.
entitle – give right to do something; You are entitled to have a day off every month. They entitled
him to have a day off every month.
forbid, forbade, forbidden – refuse to allow something; He forbade me to tell anybody. You are
forbidden to tell anyone.
a. The weather is great. (take advantage) …………………………………………………….
b. They can’t play tennis here (forbid) ………………………………………………………
c. Tom is allowed to visit Sarah (forbid) ……………………………………………………..
d. You can have another piece of cake (entitle) ……………………………………………..
e. Peter wants to help you (take advantage) ………………………………………………….
f.
They cannot participate in the course (entitle) ……………………………………………
6. Read the different definition of the adjective “bold”. Decide what the meaning is in the
sentences.
bold 1. brave (odważny)
oczy)
2. strong in colour or shape (wyraźny, widoczny, rzucający się w
3. not shy in a way that shows no respect (bezczelny)
46
a. He was a bold man. He demanded money. ………………..
b. Her refusal was a bold attempt to be independent. ……………………..
c. She marched into the shop as bold as brass and wanted exchange. …………………..
d. They painted the kitchen in bold colours. ……………………………
e. His bold behavior earned him respect. ………………………..
f.
The newspaper took a bold step by publishing the names of the politicians. ………………..
7.
Fill in the expressions with the words below
assembly
scoundrel
rogue
rogues’
weep/wept
shed
a. ………………….. line / ……………………….
b. General ……………………/ …………………………….
c. The right of free ………………………../ ………………………..
d.
…………… with joy / ………………….
e.
…………….. tears / …………………………
f.
filthy …………………… / ……………………
g. a …………………. Gallery / …………………………
h. a ……………….. animal / …………………….
47
8.
The fate of Amerindians
Agreements with the Amerindians
When the cowboys arrived on the Great Plains, Amerindian people like the Sioux
had been roaming across them for hundreds of years. The Sioux depended on the
buffalo that provided them with everything they needed – food, clothing, tools,
homes. In the 1840s wagon trains began to cross the Great Plains. The railroads
began to push across the grasslands. White people who stayed on the prairies
began to plough them. At first the Amerindians tried to drive the newcomers away
from their hunting grounds. But soon they saw that this was impossible. So they
made treaties with the government in Washington, giving up large pieces of their
land for white farmers to settle upon. In return the government promised to leave
the Amerindians in peace on the lands that remained theirs. The Fort Laramie
treaty was typical of these agreements.
The Fort Laramie treaty of 1868
In this treaty the government declared that large areas between the Missouri River and the Rocky
Mountains belonged to the Sioux. It gave a solemn promise that the lands remained Sioux property
“as long as the grass should grow and the water flow.” Six years later, however, American soldiers
found gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Black Hills were sacred to the Sioux so they
refused to sell them. American government ignored the Sioux’s refusal and broke the Fort Laramie
treaty. In the winter of 1875 thousands of white man poured into the area.
Slaughter of the buffalo
More and more of the land that the buffalo need to graze upon was being taken by ranchers and
farmers. White hunters were shooting down the buffalo by thousands. They killed them for their hides
or for sport and left their flesh to rot. In just two years between 1872 and 1874 the hunters almost
completely destroyed the great herds. The Amerindians could not understand this behavior. But even
the American army encouraged the slaughter. General Sheridan, the officer who commanded the army
in the West, saw the extermination of the buffalo as a way to end Amerindian resistance to the
occupation of their land.
Reservations
As more settlers claimed homesteads in the West the American government needed more land for
them. To obtain this it decided to force the Amerindians to give up their wandering way of life. It sent
soldiers to drive the Amerindians onto “reservations.” These reservations were the area of land that
48
were usually so dry and rocky that the government thought white settlers were never likely to want
them.
The Amerindians’ last stand
The Ghost Dancers’ Song
The Amerindians fought back. They were outnumbered and
outgunned. But they won their best known victory at the
Fathers, have pity on us
We are crying for thirst
battle of the Little Big Horn in June 1876. On a hill beside the
Little Big Horn River 3,000 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors led
All is gone!
by Crazy Horse surrounded and killed 225 men of company of
We have nothing to eat
United States cavalry. The dead included the commander,
Father, we are poor.
General George Custer. For this reason the battle is sometimes
We are very poor.
called “Custer’s Last Stand.”
The buffalo are gone.
The Battle of the Little Big Horn was also the last stand for
They are all gone.
The Amerindians. The American government was angry at the
Take pity on us, Father,
defeat of their soldiers. They felt they had been humiliated.
We are dancing as you wished
More soldiers were sent west to hunt Custer’s killers. The
Because you commanded us.
We dance hard, we dance long-
Sioux were too weak to fight back. Without the buffalo, more
of their people were dying every day of starvation and
disease. The Sioux surrendered and the soldiers marched them
Have pity,
away to the reservations.
Father help us
You close by in the dark
The Ghost Dance
Hear us and help us.
There was great suffering on the reservations. Epidemic
Take away the white men
diseases killed the Amerindians.
Send back the buffalo
In 1890 a religious prophet told the Sioux to dance a special
We are poor and weak
dance called the Ghost Dance . He told them that if they did so
We can do nothing alone
a great miracle would take place. Their dead warriors would
Help us to be what we once were-
come back to life, the buffalo would return and all the white
Happy hunters of buffalo.
men would be swept away by a great flood. The Ghost Dance
movement was peaceful. But the dancers’ beliefs worried the
government. It ordered the army to arrest the movement’s
leaders.
On a cold December day in 1890 a group of 350 Sioux, men, women and children, left the reservation.
They wanted to join another group nearby for safety. But soldiers stopped them on the way and
marched them to an army post at Wounded Knee Creek. Next morning the soldiers ordered the Sioux
49
to give up their guns. One young warrior refused. A shot rang out. The soldiers began shooting down
the Sioux men, women and children. Within minutes most of them were dead or wounded. The
Wounded Knee massacre marked the end of all hope of a return to their old way of life.
But Sioux, like other Amerindians, survived. In 1924 they were recognized as full citizens of the
United States. In 1934 they were allowed to set up their own councils to run their affairs in
reservations.
Exercises - comprehension
1. Put the events in the chronological order and match the dates to them.
a. Custer’s Last Stand……………………………
b. The Fort Laramie treaty………………………
c. The discovery of gold I the Black Hills……………………..
d. The Wounded Knee Massacre……………………………….
e. The Indian Citizenship Act……………………………..
2. Explain the meaning of the names:
a. Reservation
b. The Ghost Dance movement
c. The Amerindians Last Stand
3. Answer the questions about the Ghost Dancers’ Song.
a. What problems do the Sioux have to face?
b. Why are they dancing?
c. How do they dance?
d. What do they Ask God for?
e. What do the Sioux dream about?
4. Answer the questions.
a. Why did the government break the Fort Laramie treaty?
b. Why did the Sioux refuse to sell the Black Hills?
c. Why did the white people exterminate the buffalo?
d. Why did the Sioux decide to fight in 1876?
e. Why did the Sioux leave reservation in 1890?
Exercises – vocabulary and grammar
5. Read the definitions of the words and fill in the sentences.
remain verb to be left after other people or things have gone; to stay in the same place
50
remainder noun (sing with singular or plural verb) people or things that are left after the others have
gone
remains noun (plural) what is left behind after other parts have been used or taken away; a dead
body;
a. Human ………………………. were discovered in their garden.
b. Most of us decided to visit the castle. The ………………………… didn’t know what to do.
c. Although his family moved house he ……………………. In London.
d. Tom …………………. behind after class.
e. They spent the two …………………….. days, sunbathing.
6.
Write the definitions of the following verbs :
“Out” at the beginning of some verbs means “be better”.
outnumber – be greater in number
outgunned – have more guns
a. outlive ……………………………………………………
b. outsize……………………………………………………
c. outweigh……………………………………………….
d. outwit…………………………………………………..
e. outlast…………………………………………………
f.
outdo……………………………………………………
7. Match the verbs with their definitions.
roam
push (across)
rot
obtain
plough
pour (into) graze
sweep (away)
a. go bad; decay (psuć się) …………………………
b. to get something (otrzymać coś)……………………………
c. eat grass in the field (paść się)………………………………….
d.
use force to move (pchać się)…………………………………..
e. Break up and turn over the soil (orać)…………………………….
f.
Move quickly and smoothly over the area (rozprzestrzeniać się) ………………….
g. Flow quickly and steadily into or out something (wlewać, lać) ……………………..
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h. Walk or travel with no particular plan (włóczyć się)…………………………………
8.
Work out the meaning of the following words. Remember to write which part of speech
they are. If you cannot do this out of the text use a dictionary.
a. wagon trains ………………………………………………………………..
b. solemn ……………………………………………………………………
c. sacred …………………………………………………………………
d. flesh …………………………………………………………………..
e. homesteads …………………………………………………………….
f.
starvation………………………………………………………………..
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9.
The USA and the First World War
The Great War or the First World War
In August 1914, a war started in Europe. At the time people called the conflict the Great War. Later it
was called the First World War. The countries fighting the war were, on one side, France, Great
Britain and Russia. They were known as the Allies. On the other side the main countries were
Germany and Austria, who were called the Central Powers.
Most Americans wanted to keep out of the war that they saw as a purely European affair that was not
their concern. They agreed with their President Woodrow Wilson who said that they should be
“impartial in thought as well as in action.”
Americans neutrality
Americans found it difficult to be impartial for long. They were shocked that the German government
sent their troops into neutral Belgium. Their trade with the Allies grew very quickly. They sold vast
amounts of weapons and ammunition to Great Britain and France. German leaders were determined to
stop this flow of armaments to their enemies. In February 1915, Germans announced that they would
sink all Allied merchant ships in the sea around the British Isles. In May 1915, a big British passenger
ship called Lusitania was hit by a torpedo from a German submarine. One hundred and twenty-eight
of the passengers that died were Americans. President Wilson made strong protest to the German
government. For a time Germans stopped the submarine attacks.
Wilson, who was re-elected in 1916, appealed to the warring nations in Europe to make a “peace
without victory.” Only nine days after Wilson’s appeal Germans ordered their submarines to sink
ships sailing towards Allied ports, including neutral vessels. In the next few weeks Germans sank five
American ships.
The Zimmermann telegram
On March 1, 1917, newspapers all over the United States printed a sensational story. The story
claimed that Arthur Zimmermann, the German Foreign Secretary, had tried to persuade Mexico and
Japan to attack the United States. Zimmermann was said to have sent a secret telegram to the German
ambassador in Mexico. The telegram told the ambassador to invite Mexico to sign an alliance with
Germany. The idea was that if the USA went to war with Germany, the Mexicans should attack the
USA. Mexico’s reward would be the return of all the lands it had lost to the USA in 1848.
Zimmermann also wanted Mexico to invite Japan to join the anti-American alliance.
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Zimmerman’s telegram was intercepted and decoded by British agents. Wilson was given the
telegram. He was furious. He told the newspapers. The telegram turned American opinion more
strongly in favour of the Allies. This was especially true in the western parts of the country. These
were the very areas that would have been threatened most if Zimmermann’s plan had worked.
“The war to end all wars”
The Zimmermann telegram and German submarine attacks made Wilson ask Congress to declare war
on Germany on April 2, 1917. Wilson’s aim was not simply to defeat Germany. For him the war
would become a war “to make the world safe for democracy, the war to end all wars.”
American soldiers began to arrive at the battlefront in July 1918. They strengthen the Allied forces in
France where they were in great danger. Soon over a million of Americans had joined in the battles
against the Germans.
In August 1918, the Allied armies counter-attacked. The German armies were driven back towards
their own frontiers. In October the German government asked for peace. On November 11, 1918,
German and Allied leaders signed an armistice, an agreement to stop fighting. The war was over.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
By January 1919, Wilson was in Europe. He was there to help work out a peace treaty. He outlined his
ideas for a just and lasting peace in the speech to the United States Senate. These were called the
Fourteen Points. The Points required nations to:

stop making secret agreements

reduce their military forces and armaments

trade freely with one another

draw up new national boundaries that would allow the separate peoples of Europe to rule
themselves

organize the League of Nations, an organization where representatives of the world’s nations
would meet and settle their differences by discussion instead of war.
But other Allied leaders regarded some of Wilson’s ideas as idealistic nonsense. The French leader,
Clemenceau, compared the Fourteen Points to the Christian religion’s Ten Commandments. “Mr.
Wilson bores me with his Fourteen Points,” he said. “Why, God Almighty has only ten!”
In the end the Fourteen Points had much less influence on the terms of the Versailles Treaty that
Wilson had hoped for.
The League of Nations
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Wilson persuaded the Allied leaders to accept his plan of the League of Nations. He failed, however,
to persuade Congress and the American people to accept it. Tired and ill, he boarded a special train
and set off on a speaking tour of the western United States to plead for the League. The tour was
never completed. The exhausted Wilson suffered the severe stroke. In March 1920, the Senate voted
against the United States joining the League of Nations, and the idea was dropped. Wilson was
extremely disappointed. “We have lost a chance to gain the leadership of the world. We have lost it
and soon we shall be witnessing the tragedy of it all,” he said.
Exercises - comprehension
1. Fill in the dates
Event
Date
The beginning of the Great War
The Lusitania sank
Re-election of Wilson
Germans started to attack neutral vessels
Zimmermann’s telegram affair known to Americans
The USA declared war on Germany
The armistice finishing the Great War
The Fourteen Points
Senate voted against the League of Nations
2. Fill in with the countries
The Allies
The Central Powers
3. Explain the meaning of the names:
The Zimmermann Telegram, Fourteen Points, the League of Nations
4. Answer the questions.
a. How was the United States involved in the First World War when it was still neutral?
b. Why were Americans angry when Germans sank the Lusitania?
c. What did Wilson suggest European nations should do in January 1917?
d. Why did the United States government declare war on Germany?
e. Who was Arthur Zimmermann?
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f.
How did Zimmermann try to involve Mexico in the war?
g. Why did Wilson arrive in Europe in 1919?
h. Why was Wilson disappointed by the Versailles Treaty?
i.
What did Clemenceau compare the Fourteen Points to?
j.
Why, do you think, Americans did not accept the idea of the League of nations?
k. Why did Wilson want the USA to accept the idea of the League of Nations?
Exercises – vocabulary and grammar
5. Rewrite the sentences. Use “be said to do” or “be said to have done”.
Example
They say Tom steals our money. Tom is said to steal our money.
They say Tom stole our money. Tom is said to have stolen our money.
They said Tom stole our money. Tom was said to steal our money.
They said Tom had stolen our money. Tom was said to have stolen our money.
a. They say he is clever. …………………………………………………………………..
b. They say his books were popular in England ………………………………………….
c. They said Henry V was a real warrior………………………………………………….
d. They say Henry V was a real warrior …………………………………………………….
e. They said that Richard III ordered to kill the princes ……………………………………
f.
They say that the government decided to ban drugs ……………………………………
g. They said that his parents had moved house without their children.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
h. They said that Robin Hood had been very honest
……………………………………………….
i.
They say our teachers had an argument ……………………………………………………
6. Fill in the sentences with the proper word: impartial, impartially or impartiality.
a. She cannot judge it …………………………..
b. The government insists on broadcasting ……………………………………
c. His …………………….. in an argument did not win him friends.
d. It is important to have an …………………….. observer.
e. …………………… news coverage is quite hard to find.
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7. “Counter”
-
means a reaction to or in opposition to. Make words that start with
“counter”. Use the words from the list below. Translate them into Polish.
attack
attraction
balance
clockwise
intelligence
offensive productive
A. ……………………………………………………………………..
B. ……………………………………………………………………
C. ………………………………………………………………………
D. …………………………………………………………………….
E. ……………………………………………………………………
F. ……………………………………………………………………
G. …………………………………………………………………..
8. Find the words below in the text and work out their meaning. Use a dictionary if
necessary.
a. intercepted ………………………………………………………………………….
b. armistice ………………………………………………………………………….
c. boundaries …………………………………………………………………………
d. plead for …………………………………………………………………………..
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10. Crash and Depression
The Wall Street Crash
Wall Street is the home of the New York Stock Exchange. Here dealers called stockbrokers buy and
sell valuable pieces of papers. The pieces of papers are share certificates. Each certificate represents a
certain amount of money invested in a company. Owning shares in a business gives you the right to a
share of profits which the company made. But you can make money from shares in another way. You
can buy shares at one price, then, if the company does well, sell them later at a higher price.
More and more people were eager to get some of this easy money. By 1929 buying and selling shares
– “playing the market” – had become almost a national hobby. Many people borrowed large amounts
of money to buy shares. Some people, however, began to have doubts. By the fall of 1929 the profits
being made by many American firms had been decreasing for some time. More cautious investors
began to sell their shares. Day by day their number grew. Soon so many people were selling shares
that prices started to fall. A panic began. On Thursday October 24, 1929 – Black Thursday – 13
million shares were sold. On the following Tuesday 29, 1929 – Terrifying Tuesday – 16.5 million
were sold. Thousands of people found themselves facing debt and ruin. Some committed suicide.
This collapse of American share prices was known as the Wall Street Crash. It marked the end of the
prosperity of the 1920s.
Depression
The most important cause of the Wall Street Crash was that too few Americans were earning enough
to buy the goods they themselves were producing. There were more and more goods that factories
could not sell. After the Crash the factories had even fewer customers. As a result employers stopped
employing workers and reduced production. By the end of 1931 nearly eight million Americans were
out of work. They received no government unemployment pay. Many were soon without homes and
food and depended on charity. Many spent hours in “breadlines.” Here they received free pieces of
bread and a bowl of soup.
By 1932 thousands of banks and over 100,000 businesses had closed down. Industrial production had
fallen by half and wage payment by 60 %. 12 million people were unemployed. Farmers could not
sell their produce. If anyone did buy, it was at the lowest possible price. People were demanding that
President Hoover take stronger action to deal with the Depression. He told the people that the recovery
from the Depression was just round the corner. But the factories remained closed. The breadlines grew
longer and people became hungrier. Then, Franklin Delano Roosevelt came on the scene. On
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November 9, 1932, Roosevelt was elected as the next President of the United States by the largest
majority in American history.
Roosevelt’s New Deal
Roosevelt’s main idea was that the federal governments should take the lead in the fight against
Depression. He promised Americans a “New Deal.”
For a hundred days, from March 8 to June 16, 1932, Roosevelt sent Congress a flood of proposals for
new laws. Many of the new laws set up government organizations called “agencies” to help the nation
to recover from the Depression. The American people knew these New Deal organizations by their
initials. That is why they were called “alphabet agencies.”
The CCC – the Civilian Conservation Corps – found work for many thousands of young men. They
cut fire-lanes through forests, strengthened river banks against flooding, planted trees where the soil
was blown away. The government gave the workers food, shelter and a wage of a dollar a day.
The WPA – the Works Progress Administration – was set up in 1935. Like the CCC, it aimed to set
people to work on jobs that were useful to the community. The WPA workers built roads, schools and
hospitals. The WPA even found work for writers and artists. The writers produced guidebooks to
states and cities. The artists painted pictures on the walls of post offices and other public buildings.
The AAA – the Agricultural Adjustment Administration – was set up to help farmers. The AAA aimed
to persuade farmers to produce less meat, corn, cotton and other main crops. The idea was to make
such products scarcer, so that selling prices would rise and farmers would be better off. Farmers who
agreed to grow less were given money by the government to make up for having less to sell. By 1936
they were earning half as much again as they had in 1933. By 1939 they were earning twice as much.
The NRA – National Recovery Administration – worked to make sure that people were paid fair
wages and that businesses charged fair prices.
Alphabet agencies put millions of people to work. This meant that people were able to support
themselves once more. They regained their independence and self respect. The money they were paid
helped to bring trade back to life. Shops had customers again. Factories became busy once more.
Farmers had someone to buy their products. This was what Roosevelt had hoped for.
The unemployment disappeared in 1941 when the United States joined the Second World War. From
the very beginning of the war the United States became the main supplier of weapons to the countries
fighting Hitler and then to American army.
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By the time Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, all Americans were better off that they had been in the
dark years of the Depression. Some argued that this was due to the coming war. But many thought
the main reason was the New Deal.
The New Deal altered American’s ideas about the rightful work of their national government. Before
the New Deal most thought of the government as a kind of a policeman that keeps order. The
Depression weakened this belief. Roosevelt taught Americans to look to the government to see that
everyone had a fair chance to obtain “the good things of life.”
Exercises - comprehension
1. Match the names below with their definitions.
a. Stock Exchange
b. a stockbroker
c. shares
d. “playing the market”
e. breadlines
f.
the Wall Street Crash
g. the Depression
h. the New Deal
i.
“alphabet agencies”
Organizations that were set up by the government to help people recover from
Depression.
Valuable pieces of paper that represent a certain amount of money invested in a
company.
Buying and selling shares in order to make profit.
A dealer that sells and buys share certificates.
The place where stockbrokers buy and sell the shares.
The collapse of American share prices in 1929.
The queues during the Depression where people received free food.
The period between 1929 and 1933 when millions of people were unemployed and
industrial production fell dramatically.
The Roosevelt’s policy to deal with the Depression.
2. Find the dates of the events.
a. Black Thursday……………………………………………..
b. Terrifying Tuesday…………………………………………
c. “Hundred Days”………………………………………
d. Disappearance of unemployment in the USA…………………………………..
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3. Answer the questions.
a. What was the most important cause of the Wall Street Crash?
b. What were the symptoms of the Depression in towns?
c. What problems did farmers have during the Depression?
d. What was the main purpose of “alphabet agencies”?
e. Which “alphabet agency” helped young people to find work?
f.
Which “alphabet agency” helped writers and artists” find work?
g. Why did the AAA pay farmers to grow less?
h. How did the Second World War help the Americans stop unemployment?
i.
How did the New Deal change Americans’ perception of the national government?
Exercises – vocabulary and grammar
4. Rewrite the sentences using “due to”.
be due to – resulting; expected;
Example
The train is expected at 6. The train is due to arrive at 6.
a. You should be at school before your teachers. ………………………………………………….
b. The train will be late because of heavy snow
……………………………………………………
c. His cruelness made her cry. ………………………………………………………………..
d. Boredom makes her unhappy. ……………………………………………………………..
e. A faulty wire caused the fire. …………………………………………………………….
f.
Her laziness resulted in the exam failure ………………………………………………………
5. Fill in the sentences with a proper form of the verbs: weaken or strengthen.
a. If you want to ………………………….. your muscles you must practice more.
b. You should ……………………….. your grip on the class.
c. They were ………………………… by hunger.
d. The US dollar ……………………………. against
e. His ability to fight was …………………. By his illness.
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f.
They have …………………………. Their border defences in preparation for war.
g. You could see the dog ……………………….. every day as the disease spread through his
body.
6. Use a proper form of the word “employ”.
employ employment employed
employer
unemployment unemployed
employee
a. How many people does you company ……………………?
b. The number of ……………… in the company has increased lately.
c. We need a reference from your former ……………………..
d. ……………………………. levels is likely to rise next year.
e. They have …………………………. several new people recently.
f.
How long have you been ……………………………?
g. An ………………………… agency helped her to find a job.
7. Work out the meaning of the words below. Use a dictionary.
a. stockbroker ……………………………………………………………..
b. stockbroking ………………………………………………………………..
c. stockholder …………………………………………………………………
d. share(certificate) ……………………………………………………………
e. stock exchange (stock market) …………………………………………………………….
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11. The Civil Rights Movement
Segregation
Despite the fact that black people were granted freedom and full rights of citizenship (13 th and 14th
Amendments to the Constitution) they were still treated as a second-class human beings. They were
separated from the rest of citizens at schools, universities, restaurants or buses.
During the Second World War, segregation started to break down, at least outside the South. To
escape from humiliation of segregation many black people migrated into the North. Many of them,
however, started the struggle for equal treatment which became known as Civil Rights movement.
Brown v. Topeka
In 1954, in a case called Brown v. Topeka the Supreme Court declared that segregated schools were
illegal and ordered that black children should be allowed to attend any school as pupils. In September
1957, black children tried to enroll at the previously all white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
An angry mob gathered to prevent them. President Eisenhower sent troops to enforce the Supreme
Court decision and children were admitted.
Rosa Parks case
On December 1, 1955, a black woman named Rosa Parks got on a bus in the strictly segregated
southern city of Montgomery, Alabama. She took a seat towards the back of the bus, as the blacks
were supposed to do. But then white workers and shoppers filled up the front section of the bus and
the driver ordered her to give up the seat. Mrs. Parker refused to move. She was arrested. The national
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) persuaded a judge to release Mrs.
Parks from jail. Then they started a campaign to end segregation on buses. The campaign was led by a
young clergyman named Martin Luther King. They began to stop using, or “boycott,” the city’s bus
service. The boycott went on for a year. Finally, in November 1956, the Supreme Court declared that
segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. Montgomery’s public system was desegregated.
The success of the Montgomery bus boycott encouraged blacks in other places to act together. They
boycotted stores where black workers were refused jobs, refused to pay rent until landlords improved
housing conditions, and held “sit-ins” in restaurants that would not serve black customers.
Martin Luther King and his dream
A climax of the Civil Rights movement came in 1963. In August 1963, 200,000 people, black and
white, took part in a mass demonstration in Washington to demand full racial equality. In a moving
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and dramatic speech Martin Luther King told millions of Americans watching their television all over
the country:
“ I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out these truths that all
men are created equal. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the
sons of former slaves and sons of former slaveholders will be able to sit down together
at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my four littl e children will one day
live in a nation where they will not be judged by their color of their skin but by the
content of their character”
The Civil Rights Act
President John Kennedy sympathized with the blacks and worked out a plan to ensure that all
Americans, of any race, would receive equal treatment. He sent his scheme to Congress to be made
into a law. He was murdered before this could happen, but his successor, Lyndon Johnson, made
getting the law passed one of his first aims. In 1964 the Civil Right Act became the law of the land.
Riots in the 1960s
Alterations in the law, however, was not enough to end the racial difficulties that were very deeplyrooted and needed changes in human attitudes. In the 1960s most American blacks were still worse
housed, worse educated and worse paid than other Americans. The negroes were becoming more and
more impatient at their lack of progress towards real equality – especially economic equality. In the
mid 1960s this impatience boiled over into violence.
In August 1965, the streets of Watts, a black ghetto in Los Angeles, became a battlefield. For six days
police and rioters fought among burning cars and buildings. Thirty-four people were killed and over a
thousand were injured. The Watts riot was followed by others – in Chicago, Detroit, new York,
Washington.
In April 1968, Martin Luther King was murdered. He was shot on the balcony of a motel in Memphis,
by a white sniper.
In the 1970s and 1980s large part of Martin Luther King’s “dream” had come true. Blacks and whites
studied side by side in schools and colleges. They worked side by side in all kinds of occupations.
More and more black people were elected to the position of power. In 1988 Jesse Jackson, a former
assistant of Martin Luther King, became a candidate for the presidential election. As King had dreamt,
people seemed to be learning to judge each other more by the content of their characters than by the
color of their skin.
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Exercises – comprehension
1. Match the sentences and dates with the proper names.
a. Brown v. Topeka case
b. Rosa Parks case
c. Little Rock, Arkansas
d. The Civil Rights Act
e. The Watts riot
f.
Memphis, Tennessee
 Martin Luther King was assassinated.
 The Supreme Court declared that segregated schools were illegal.
 Soldiers were sent to enforce the Supreme Court decision.
 The Supreme Court declared that segregation on public transport was unconstitutional.
 The law passed by Congress.
 Fights between the police and black people.
August 1965
April 1968
1954
September 1957
November 1956
1964
2. Answer the questions
a. Who was Martin Luther King?
b. What were the “sit-ins?”
c. How did the NAACP fight with segregation?
d. What was the aim of a mass demonstration in Washington in 1963?
e. Why did black people become violent in mid 1960s?
\
Exercises – vocabulary and grammar
3. The verb „suppose” can mean either 1. believe that something is true or 2. expect.
Rewrite the sentences as in the examples below and decide what the meaning of
“suppose” is in each of them.
Example
You should learn more. You are supposed to learn more. (expect)
He seems to be famous. He is supposed to be famous.(believe)
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a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
They think he is German. ……………………………………………………………………….
They are probably very rich …………………………………………………………………….
Peter should work more. ………………………………………………………………………..
We expect them at 12. ………………………………………………………………………….
Don’t tell anybody! ………………………………………………………………………….
Mary’s parents will probably buy a new house …………………………………………………
4. Fill in the sentences with a proper form of the verbs: infinitive or –ing form.
Go on+ -ing form – means continue
Go on infinitive- refers to a change of activity
a. She went on …………………. (talk) about her illness until we all went to sleep.
b. She stopped talking about her illness and went on …………………… (tell) us about all her
other problems.
c. Go on …………………… (do) your homework until you finish.
d. When they finished with the project they went on ………………(design) a new scheme.
e. Stop complaining and go on …………………(fight).
5. Use “at least” or “at last”.
At least – not less than but probably more
At last – finally
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
“How old do you think he is?” “…………….. thirty”
When they …………… found him he was almost dead.
He has been in love ………………… five times this year.
They lost everything in the fire. But ……………… nobody was hurt.
……………! Where on earth have you been.
Tom has passed his exams …………………
6. Work out the meaning of the words below. Use a dictionary if necessary.
a. equality …………………………………………………………
b. live out ………………………………………………………….
c. enroll ………………………………………………………….
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