Words+and+Expressions+regarding+the+USA

=Words and Expressions regarding the USA = || The ship the Pilgrim Fathers used to travel to the New World (USA) || - They had to pay tax - They did not get representation in the British parlament - They wanted to keep their own natural resources Therefore they started the war of independence between the colonists and Britain (1775-1783) ||
 * American Regions || New England, Mid-Atlantic States, The South, The Midwest, The Southwest, The West ||
 * The Pilgrim Fathers || The people who left England because of their religion and wanted to start a new life in the new world. ||
 * The Mayflower
 * The War of Independence || The colonists were unhappy because they had were controlled by Britain:
 * The Declaration of Independence || USA declared themselves independent already during the war in 1776, and wrote a document (the declaration of independence).

After the war in 1783 they got independence, and in 1879 they got their Constitution. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Founding Fathers || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The men who wrote the Constitution are called the Founding Fathers. Among them is Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the USA (believed to be the father of the nation) ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Confederacy || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">It was eleven southern states who broke out and made their own constitution that allowed slavery. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Civil War || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The North wanted to make slavery illegal and the South wanted it to be legal.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">President A. Lincoln started the Civil War to keep USA together (1861-1865 and cost more than 600,000 Americans) || || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">A pull factor in the USA which gave away free land. This land was originally inhabited by the Native Americans. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">- Started building roads and other infrastructure to get people working <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">- Public social welfare was introduced ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Homestead Act
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Depression || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">In 1929 the stock market crashed and the period during the 1930s is called The Depression because of unemployment and poverty. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The New Deal || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal where he “cleared the table of cards and dealt them out again”. This was to stop the Depression.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Cultural imperialism || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">A nation forcing its cultural values on to another, usually weaker, nation. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Melting Pot || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Everything is melted together. The idea of being American has been to adapt to American society by getting rid of much of one’s own cultural baggage. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Salad Bowl || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Immigrants live side by side with their own cultural identities, rather than being melted together. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Assimilation || Assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. It is opposed to affirmative philosophy (for example, multiculturalism) which recognizes and works to maintain differences. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Federal || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Is the national government. All of the states in USA are independent, but are supervised by the federal state. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Pschycology of abundance || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">USA has been a land of plenty and this kind of thinking has crept into American mentality. Americans are not generally prepared to limit their use of resources. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Individualism || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Being individual and relying only on yourself to survive. Building yourself up from the very bottom to a successful career.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">This thinking comes from the early settlers who managed on their own. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">- The House of Representatives <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">- The Senate <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">This branch’s job is to create laws. || Image sources: http://konradstankesmie.blogspot.com/2010/04/erling-fossen-om-hege-storhaug.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Freeman_homestead-certificate.jpg
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Volunteerism || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Being eager to help, often without rewards and this is common in USA. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Checks and balances || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The federal power in the USA is divided into three branches of government. They all check on each other so neither of them gets too much power. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Executive || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">One of the branches and is headed by a President, elected every four years. His job is to enforce laws. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Legislative || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Also called the Congress and is divided into
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Judicial || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Interpret laws. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Congress || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Legislative branch and it creates laws. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Bill of Rights || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Bill of Rights was introduced in 1791, and the aim was to specify the rights of individual citizens (among them are right to free speech, free religion and the right to own guns) ||