The new United States of America rapidly expanded. In 1803 it bought 2 million square kilometres of land from France. The territories gained by this Louisiana Purchase stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and doubled the size of the young nation.

After winning a war against Mexico in the 1840’s, America gained even more territory. This included California. That same year gold was discovered near “Frisco“ and thousands of pioneers rushed across America to make their fortune. The era of the Wild West had begun.

New and new settlers were coming from Europe, new states were set up and sharp differences arose between the Southern part, which was mainly agricultural, using slaves transported from West Africa to work on cotton fields, and Northern part, which was mainly industrial. The American Civil War broke out in 1861. The Southern states, organized as the Confederacy under President Jefferson Davis fought against the Union of the Northern states under President Abraham Lincoln. The Union states wanted to make slavery illegal. In 1865 the American Civil War also called the war between the North and the South ended in victory for the North. The slavery was abolished in 1863. Lincoln was assassinated at a theatre in Washington only one week after the surrender of the south.

After the Civil War the USA became the world’s leading industrial power. The first American military mobilization on foreign soil was in 1917 when the US entered the World War against Germany and helped France and England. US President Woodrow Wilson helped negotiate[6] a peace treaty in 1918.

In period which followed the West was open for mining, cattle ranching and grain production. New immigrants from European countries were coming to the USA. The 1930s were the years of the great economical crisis because in 1929, the value of shares on Wall Street unexpectedly collapsed or crashed. Thousands of banks and companies were ruined and America’s economy entered a period of crisis. Millions of people also lost their jobs. This period in American history is called the Great Depression and lasted until beginning of World War II The USA remained neutral and didn’t enter the War till Japanese attacked a Pearl Harbour in December 1941. Two years later, a team of US scientists developed the first atomic bomb. At the command of president Harry S. Truman, this devastating new weapon was dropped first on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and on Nagasaki three days later.

The post war period was a time of economic expansion. The US continued as a world leader in scientific, medical and technological achievements.

Political system: The USA is a federation of fifty states. The system of American Government is based on the principal established in the Constitution written in 1787 and in the Bill of Rights. The Constitution divides the power of the government into 3 branches – the Executive Branch, the Legislative ranch and the Judicial Branch. Every state has its own governor, its own police and its own laws. The Federal Government responsible for foreign affairs, defence and finance. It is situated in Washington, D.C. his is where the Congress is seated. The Congress consists of two parts – the Senate and the Hose of Representatives there are 100 members in the Senate – two from each state. The House of Representatives has 435 members (depends on density of population in states).

The Executive Branches headed by the President. He is a head of the state, chef executive and commander in chef (head of army, navy and air force). He is elected in national election for four and may be re-elected for another four years.

Washington D.C. has the 10th largest population in the country. It was the finest city in the world especial planned and built as the capital and the centre of the government. In the city, along the Potomac River, there are the most important buildings in the USA – White House – the residence of the American President, the Capitol – the seat of the Congress, the Pentagon – the centre of military forces.

There are no factories and industry in Washington and no building can be higher than the Capitol that is why we can’t see any skyscrapers there. There is a large airport and Georgetown University. Some famous monuments stand there: the Washington Monument, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorial.

[1] rozprestierať sa


[2] mierny


[3] prevažuje


[4] rozľahlých


[5] najpríjemnejšie


[6] dohovoriť, dohodnúť