优质英美概况考试重点整理美国史

1、Unit 1 The United States of America1. The United States is bordered on the north bCanada, on the south by Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.2. Accordi ng to the text, the large territory of the con ti nen tal US is divided in to th

2、ree basic areas:A. The Atlantic Seacoast west to the Appalachians;B. The Mississippi River Basin;C. The Rockies west to the Pacific:Unit 2 American population3. The first blacks arrived in Jamestown in 1619 as indentured servants, but soon after 1619 they were brought to colonies asslaves.The blacks

3、 were formally freed in 1863, but continued to suffer the institutionalized segregation for about a century. Today many blacks still live in the south, some have entered the middle class, but on e-third of all black families still live below the poverty line.Chapter 5 The Confederation and the Const

4、itution1. Under the Articles of Confederation the national government consisted of only a legislature it had no separateexecutivea nd judicial divisi ons. The state gover nment was left the exclusive powers to regulate commerce antb tax their citize ns.2. The An tifederalists opposedthe con stituti

5、on and prefermd a moredecentralized federal system of gover nment.3. George Wash ington was elected unanim ously as the first US Preside nt 1i788. The first Vice-Preside nt was John Adams the first Secretary of Treasury was Alexander Hamilton and the first Secretary of State waThomas Jefferson4. The

6、 most glorious achieveme nt of Jeffers on as Preside nt was the Louisia na Purchase which was abouC28000 square miles. This Purchaseioubled the area of the the n Un ited States.5. The War of 1812 is also calledthe Seco nd War of In depe ndeneThis war lasted three years and en ded in ano ther America

7、 n victory. An importa nt result of the war was the stre ngthe ning of n ati on abnity and patriotism. And it was after this war that the US was able to make the cha nge of semi-colonialec onomy into a really independent natio nal economy.名词解释Confederation（邦 联）：A con federati on is a gover nment in

8、which the con stitue nt gover nments , called states in the US, create a central government by constitutional compact but do not give it power to regulate the con duct of in dividuals.问答1. What powers do the national government and the individual states have under the Articles of confederation?the n

9、 ati onal gover nment: con duct war & foreig n affairs; make commercial treaties;n egotiate with In dia ns; coin money & issue bills of credit the in dividual states: deal with foreig n coun tries; en gage in war; issue money & bills of credit; collect taxesChapter6 America n Expa nsion and the Civi

10、l War1. The esse nee of Monroe Doctri ne was which later became the cornerstone of the US policy.2.0reg on territory was settled betwee n Brita in and the Un ited States in 1846 .Its boundary on the north was fixed at the_forty-ninth_ parallel of north latitude.3.Under Missouri Compromise,Missouri w

11、as admitted as a_slave_state, but the balanee of political power maintained by admission of Maine as a free staten addition, slavery was to be prohibited in the rest of Louisiana Territory north of the line 36 30parallel.4.ln 1862, the federal government took two revolutionary measures (1) Homestead

12、 Act a nd (2) Emancipation Proclamation.5.ln July 1863 came the turni ng point of of the war atGettvsburqHere theCon federate army un der the gen eraR obert E.Lee was defeated.The battlefield was made a nationalcemeterywhere Lincoln gave his famous speech,thGettysburg Addresson November 19,1863.6.ln

13、 1865.the Thirtee nth Ame ndme nt to the US Con stituti on was adopted,which abolished slavery throughout the Un ited States.问答I. What was the Monroe Doctrine?The Monroe Doctri ne writte n by James Mon roe, declared in December of 1823, was a superlative U.S. foreign policy statement. It was precipi

14、tated by various independence moveme nts in South America and the U.S. gover nmen ts desire to discourage Europea n n ati ons from colo nizi ng the Americas, and a grow ing America n n atio nalism.The Monroe Doctri ne stated that Europea n n ati ons should not in terve ne in countries to the south o

15、f the U.S. Finally, it promised to stay out of foreign affairs.U.S. will not in terfere with Europea n affairs in Europe.The esse nee of the Doctri ne is“ America for America ns h ”teWhecame a corn erst one of the USforeig n policy.As the New World developed in the years ahead this doctri ne became

16、more meanin gful and was stre ngthe ned by a border in terpretati on to meet the n eeds of an en ergetic and ambitious Un ited States.名词解释I. Gettysburg AddressThe Gettysburg Address is a speech delivered by U.S. Preside nt Abraham Li neol n during the American Civil War on November 19, 1863 after th

17、e northern victory at Gettysburg .It is regarded as one of the most sig nifica nt expressi ons of America n democracy. In just over two minu tes, Lin col n reiterated the prin ciples of huma n equality espoused by the Declarati on of In depe ndence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the

18、preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis,with a new birth of freedom,that would bring true equality5 to all of its citizens.Lincoln also redefined the Civil War as a struggle not just for the Union, but also for theprin ciple of huma n equality.Chapter 7 Reconstruction and the Birt

19、h of Us Imperialism1、The Rec on structio n Acts divided all the former confederate states, except Tennesseeinto five military districts and each was put under the control of a Norther n army officer. The officer had the power to keep order and to en force martial law if necessary.2、During the Recons

20、truction the Southern whites who supported the radical reconstruction and joined the Republican Party were called scalawagsThey were con sideredas traitors by the Souther n Democrats.3、The KKK, founded in Tennesseein 1866, was a secret society for resorting white supremacy and driving blacks out of

21、politics名词解释Open Door PolicyIn Si no-America n relati ons, Theodore Roosevelt pushed the so- called “ Ope n Door Policy ”hich demanded that all the imperialist powers should enjoy equal cha nee in China as freely as otheaggressors.Chapter 8 world war I and the depressi on1、The First World War was wa

22、ged between two groups of imperialist powers: theAllies and the Central European Power.2、The direct cause that made the US declare war on Germany in 1917 was the Germany unlimited submarinecampaign.3、The major triumph for Wils on at the Paris Peace Conference was the formatio n oftheLeague of Nation

23、s4、 The United States didn t join the League of Nations ItteaugSenaterefusedto approve the Treaty ofVersailles5、The Great Depressi on started with the sudde n collapse of thStock Market in New York in October, 1929. This economic distress extended to Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and South America

24、.名词解释：Roaring Twenties The ten years betwee n 1919 and 1929, usually called the“ Roari ngTwenties ”r the “ Jazz Age were a time of carefree prosperity, isolation from the world s problems, bewildering social change and a feverish pursuit of pleasure.问答题：1、Why did the US join the First World War so l

25、ate?First, the Un ited States was lack of military prepared ness whe n the war bega n.Another factor for the US to join the war was the American financial andin dustrial commitme nt to the Allied cause,Finally the factor that pushed the US into the war was Germany submarine campaig n aga inst mercha

26、 nt ships.2、What were the major contents and basic ideas of the New Deal? How do you comment on the New Deal?The aims of the New Deal were to raise commodity prices by limiting production,deval uing the dollar, maintaining high tariffs on foreig n goods, and to carry through a modest inflation by pr

27、oviding money at low rates of interest to farmers and to in dustry.For farmers, the Agricultural Adjustme nt Act was passed in 1933, which en abled the government, among other things, to pay grants to induce them to reduce the amount of products, which in cluded such commodities as cott on, wheat, c

28、orn, pigs, rice, tobacco, milk, sugar and others.In industry Roosevelt, by the National Recovery Act of 1933, was given power to control working conditions, and to fix minimum wages.Chapter 9 American During and After World1. The cash-a nd-carry policy allowed US citize ns to _sell_ certa in non pro

29、hibited goods to belligerent nations as long as those goods were not transported onAmerican ships.2. Stars Wars program was proposed by Preside nt _Reagan_ in _1983_ . The program seeks to con struct a defe nsive shield” aga inst incoming missiles. The shield would be made of laser and electro nic d

30、evices that would destroy such missiles laun ched to attack the US名词解释1. The Cold WarDuring the time 1945-1991, because disagreed about the configuration of the post-war world, especially about that of Europe, there was a continuing state of political and military tension between the powers of the W

31、estern world, led by the U.S., and the commu nist world, led by the USSR. The Cold War was ended with the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.2. The Truman Doctrinea policy by Truma n on Mar. 12, 1947 stat ing that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid ($400m) to preven

32、t their falling into the Soviet sphere. It was the start of the Cold War and the start of the containment policy to stop Soviet expansion. . It became the basis of U.S. Cold War policy throughout Europe and around the world.3. Marshall PlanThe econo mic equivale nt of the containment policy was pres

33、e nted by secretary of state George Marshall, called Marshall pla n. It was in operati on for four years beg inning in April 1948. the purpose of the pla n was to moder nize Europea n in dustrial and bus in ess practices using high-efficie ncy America n models, reduce artificial trade barriers, and

34、in still a sense of hope and self-relia nee. (The U.S. gave mon etary support to help rebuild Europea n econo mies to combat the spread of com muni sm.) the pla n had two major aims:(1)to keep com mun ists out of political power in Europe. (2)to stabilize the intern ati onal econo mic order in a way

35、 favorable to capitalism. It wasone of the first elements of European integration 问答I.What are the major forms of American Civil Rights Movement from 1955 to 1968?Can you give one specific examples?Boycotts;Sit-i ns;Mon tgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up he

36、r seat on a public bus tomake room for a white passenger,and then Parks was arrested, tried, and convi cted for disorderly con duct and violati ng a local ordinan ce.After word of this in cide nt reached the black com muni ty, 50 Africa n-America n leaders gathered and orga ni zed the Mon tgomery Bu

37、s Boycott to dema nd a more huma ne bus tran sportati on system.90% of Africa n America ns in Mon tgomery partook in the boycotts, which reduced bus revenue by 80% until a federal court ordered Montgomerys buses desegregated in Nov. 1956, and the boycott en ded.Chapter 10 The Federal System and Con

38、gress1. Federalism means the division of powers by a constitution between the central gover nment an dstate gover nmen t. It operates only on two levels, the n ati onal and the state . Un its of gover nment within a state enjoy n ondependentexiste nee.2. Separation of powers in the United States mea

39、nsnot only allocating legislative power to Con gress, executive power to Preside nt and judicial power to the Supreme Court, but also giving each branch constitutional and political independences nd checks and balances that en sure each of the three bran ches a sufficie nt role in the actionsof the

40、others.3.4.Accord ing to the Con stituti on, members of the House of Represe ntatives must be 25 years old and must have bee n citize ns for7 years. Sen ators must be at leas30 and must have bee n citize ns fo9 years.The Vice President is officially the presiding officer and is called the president

41、of the Sen ate. In fact he seldom appears in the Sen ate chamber in this role uni ess it appears that there might betie vote in the Sen ate. In such in sta nces, he casts the tiebreaking vote. To deal with day-to-day bus in ess, the Sen ate chooses thepresident pro tempore.名词解释1 federalism: This div

42、ision of powers by a constitution between the national gover nment and state gover nment.2 separation of powers: It means constitutional division of powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial bran ches回答冋题What are the three basic principles of U.S political system?The US political syste

43、m was established on the basis of the three main principlesfederalism, separation of powers, and supremacy of the constitution. Federalism is the division of powers by a constitution between the national gover nment and state gover nmen t. It should be observed that federalism operates only on two l

44、evels, the national and the state .Separation of powers means constitutional divisi on of powers betwee n the legislative, executive, and judicial bran ches. It means more than allocating legislative power to the Supreme Court. It also means giving each branch constitutional and political independen

45、ceand checks and balances that ensure each of the three branches a sufficient role in the actions of the others so that no one branch may domin ate the others. Supremacy of the con stituti on means that every American citizen is required to respect the Constitution and to obey the laws of the Uni te

46、d StatesChapter 11The Preside nt and the Judiciary1 By law any natural-born American citizen of and over35 years of age and ofbeing a reside nt with in the Un ited States for14 years can run for the preside nt .The duly elected and duly qualified preside nt-elect takes office on the 20th of January

47、following his election.2 The Supreme Court has the power to exam ine thbills passed by Con gress and policies made by Preside nt, and declare themnconstitutionala nd thusabolish them. Joh n Marshall, the most famous chief justice (1801-1835) in America history, called this power of in terpretati on

48、judicial review.3 There are three federal court levels: 1the district courts,2) the courts of appeal, 3) the Supreme Cour. All the judges of federal courts appo in ted by President with the consent of thdSenate The state court system also has a hierarchy of three levels: 1)superior couits, 2) appell

49、ate courts3)a state supreme court. The state court judges are usualfeylected The term of the county court judges is usually four years. And the judges in higher state courts usually serve eight or twelve years for one term.问答How is the presiden power limitedThe preside nt has no power to declare war

50、 on other coun tries. He can call Con gress into special sessi on and can adjour n Con gress, but he cannot dismiss Con gress. He cannot pard on the pers on who is impeached. All appropriati ons of the gover nment are legislated by Congress. The Supreme Court has the power to declare theeprdent s policy, even if it has