L'histoire américaine (document en anglais)

Since 1620, the United States has witnessed many important events that shaped its history and contributed to what it is today. US Historians and other scholars around the world continue to give much importance to these major historical incidents because they are considered a significant part in understanding US history. This introduction aims to highlight some of the key events in the history of the United States.

The American revolutionary war was one of the most significant events in the American history. It is considered a strategic war because it paved the way to establishing a new constitution upon which one of the most powerful nations in the world would be built. This war was the result of a number of acts imposed by the parliament of Great British but the thirteen colonies in North America claimed that such acts were unconstitutional, and thus, taxation without representations was illegal. Americans believed that they were entitled to basic rights. The British, on the contrary, believed that the American colonies were there just to be exploited. These conflicting views led to social unrest among the colonies and made war inevitable.

Another major deadly event in American history was the Civil War (1861-1865). Civil War was considered a very significant incident that shaped US political history in many ways. The main reason that led to the war was slavery because it create a hot and sectional tension between the Northern states (the Union) and the Southern states that seceded from the Union and formed the Confederacy. Politically speaking, this sectional tension create by slavery was very much enshrined in the constitution in the sense that it did not provide any clear directive on the geographical limits of slavery. The Dred Scott decision was a very good example that proves to be an example of the kind of confusion that the Constitution had created by not including clear directions on the issue of slavery.

The US civil rights movement (1950s and 1960s) was also another major important historical event in the history of the United States. It was a long struggle led by African Americans against racial discrimination and social injustices in the mid-twentieth century. This movement had significant social and political consequences for the United States. The struggle of blacks for equal rights led to the adoption of several acts such as Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and voting rights acts in 1965 etc.

The cold War was undoubtedly another historical event that shaped US history in many important aspects. During that period, the United States adopted policies that strategies that would help it spread its economic and political strategies. One important of example of these strategies was the policy of containment adopted to prevent the spread of communism abroad. This harsh position led the United States to finally win the Cold War in 1989 and become the only super power that would lead the world.

Finally, 9/11 was another vital event that led the United States to reconsider its foreign policy and security agenda vis-à-vis the outside world. This idea was very much clear in US political discourse especially towards the Islamic world. These terrorist attacks left a serious impact on US economy and it changed both external and internal polices, especially those related to the stock market.

Structure of the American Government

The written constitution of the United States constitutes its government. Although it is the shortest constitution in the world, it is divided in three different parts. The first part is the preamble which represents a guide to the whole constitution and which states the purposes of its articles. The second part is the seven articles that separate power among the three different branches and within the federal government which are the executive branch (Congress) which formulates the law, the legislative branch (The president and the government departments) which executes the law, and the judicial branch (Supreme court and Federal courts) which interprets the law. The last part of the United States constitution is the twenty seven articles or amendments that affirm the rights and freedoms that are given to the citizens and to the different powers that each has to benefit from without any type of restrictions.

In order to avoid that a branch become more powerful than the other and that its abuses from its power and harms the citizens, the United States constitution framers have decided to break up the power into the three mentioned chambers in the earlier paragraph and it is referred to as the separation of power. Making the law, executing it and interpreting it are the three different function s of the three branches and they were set in order to protect the citizens; therefore, the constitution created a system of checks and balances that give each of the branches some authority to counteract of check the other two branches. For instance, the president has the authority of pardon people convicted of crime. The House can also impeach executive and judicial appointees and the Senate can convict and remove impeached officials from office by two over three majority. Also, the courts have the authority to review the legality of actions taken by the executive branch officials and can decide in any terms which cases are argued before it.

The Civil War

The United States of America was affected by the Civil War in several ways. USA after the civil war entered into a very important era which consists of a total reconstruction. The Civil war modernized the southern part of the states; because before the civil war the southern area was generally rustic and it lacked many ways of transportation. In addition, during the period that follows the civil war, the northern Carpetbaggers moved completely to the South in order to make the southern people get better from the war, they constructed the roads, built factories, and tried to develop the educational sector.

As a result, the factories which were built at that time are the ones which represent the most important part that contributes in the economy of the region. Atlanta Georgia is the wisest economic place in the United States of America today and it’s considered as the highest growing area. Moreover, different car companies opened their doors and spread their activities long run the southern area, so they offered many job opportunities and also a variety in production for the southern people. As a consequence, the education in the southern area was badly affected by the civil war and it still suffers from having the lowest level and test scores.

After the civil war, in the southern area, there was a lot of dishonesty especially for the new state officials because they started to use

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