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Early History of America (part I)
On 6th September, 1620, a group of 102 pilgrims sailed from England to America, "the New World", on the ship the Mayflower. The pilgrims left England because they wanted political and religious freedom.
On 9th November, 1620, the pilgrims saw land in the distance. They called the first village Plymouth. In the first winter died 45 people, because the hunger and the extremes temperatures.
In March 1621, the pilgrims met the Native Americans. The Natives taught them how to grow corn, pumpkins, etc -
Early History of America (part II)
By the 1750s, the British had 13 colonieson the east coast of North America and about two and a half millions colonists lived there.
From 1754 to 1763, the British army and the colonists fought the French over land in North America. The British won the war, but then, the British government asked for taxes form the colonists. They refuse to pay to the government and decide to join together.
On 4th July, 1776, the colonies declared independence from Great Britain. Then started the war. -
Expansion
The French still owned some land to the west of the colonies. In 1803, the French Emperor Napoleon offered to sell the land to the United States for $15 million. The preident, Thomas Jefferson, accepted the offer and signed the Louisiana Purchase Agreement. This doubled the size of the country and people started to move west. By 1848, the country extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. -
Civil War. Part I. A Diary Extract
"There are problems in our country. The people in the north live in towns, but in the south, they live on plantations and own slaves. The plantation owners want to keep their slaves, but the people in the north want to abolish slavery. They say it is cruel."
Abraham Lincoln is now the president of the USA. He wants to end slavery. The people in the south want to leave the Union and have their own nation, called the Confederate States of America, or the Confederacy. But Lincoln refuse it. -
Civil War: Part II. A Diary Extract
" The south has got their Confederacy. It's got 11 states now. Richmond, in Virginia, is the capital. They think they're a different nation from the Union in the north. Confederate soldiers attacked a Union fort called Fort Sumter yesterday. So now, we're at war! I'm very frightened." -
Civil War: Part III. A Diary Extract
"This war is terrible! Thousand of people are dead. Both the people in the north and the south are suffering. The war can't continue for long because the Confederates are losing. They have got fewer soldiers than the Union" -
Civil War. Part IV. A Diary Extract
"Today, General Robert E. Lee, the Confederate army leader, surrender to General Ulysses Grant, the Union army leader. I can't
believe it! It's the end of the war! But more than 600.000 Americans are dead. Now, the slaves are free and the country is one nation. But we'll never be the same again!
