As described above, America declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776. However the countries were still connected through the Triangular Trade. The triangular trading system existed between America (known as New England), Great Britain and the African continent.
The trade consisted of England sending manufactured goods, such as textiles and rum to Africa. From Africa, slaves were sent to America. They would work on cotton plantations. From America, raw materials like sugar, tobacco and cotton were sent to England.
From 1803 on, a boundary line in America, called the Frontier, was being moved westwards, which caused the westward expansion. In conjunction with [dt.: im Zusammenhang mit] Manifest Destiny and the American Dream, the westward expansion is covered in detail below.
In the 1820s, the first rail lines were built to transport people and products, which became a good opportunity for farmers and manufactures. Later on, in the eastern Mississippi territory, the most important agricultural and industrial areas were connected through railroad lines. The 19th century is famous for its tumults, political reforms, expansion and the first industrial revolution. Especially with the invention of the railroad, industrialisation slowly began in America and with that the idea of the American Dream. A key figure in American industrial and economic growth was Henry Ford, who was born in 1863 in Michigan. He is responsible for the invention of the automobile (he produced the first Model T in 1908) which has had a huge impact on modern society.
The so called “Gilded Age” [dt.: vergoldetes Zeitalter] is known for a great number of inventions that mainly go back to the fabrication of the automobile and also various patents of telephones. The Gilded Age caused several million Europeans to immigrate to the States, but after World War I, the booming economy started to decline.
After World War I, the United States experienced huge and unprecedented political and technological developments as well as economic growth. This period, known as the Golden or Roaring Twenties, was characterised by modern and lavish lifestyles and was heavily influenced by Jazz music which was gaining popularity at the time. Radios and telephones were the most requested innovations.
In the 20s, the term “flapper girl” – meaning young, stylish party girl – became famous because the movement for women’s independence was on the rise and many women were now able to dance in jazz clubs, smoke in public and consume alcohol. Thanks to Henry Ford’s mass production of cheaper cars, the young generation was able to enjoy mobility and celebrated it to a great extent. The manner in which the generation of the Roaring Twenties dealt with the prohibition of the production, transport and sale of alcoholic beverages is perfectly illustrated in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby (1925). Besides being a love story, the bestseller highlights the upheavals and social debaucheries [dt.: Ausschweifungen] within the different classes, as well as the resistance towards social changes.
The new prosperous generation thought, acted, dressed in a manner that appeared scandalous to the more traditional older generations. F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of the novel Great Gatsby, personifies the cliché of the 20s generation perfectly as he had quite an affluent lifestyle which included an excessive consumption of alcohol and partying. Although Fitzgerald earned a lot of money through his literature, he and his wife were quite wasteful and often in debt. Alcoholism and his hectic lifestyle eventually resulted in mental health problems.
With the stock market crash in October 1929 the Golden Twenties came to an abrupt end because the stock prices collapsed on Wall Street. The so-called Black Thursday is probably one of the most momentous [dt: folgenschwer] stock market crashes in history. In the following months, many companies became bankrupt and a high unemployment rate and dismissals [dt.: Massenentlassungen] were some of the devastating consequences. This period in time is called the Era of Great Depression, and it is marked by high unemployment rates of 25%, low income prices and society as a whole suffering under the economic crisis. Especially famers were hit the hardest because of the stock market crash and the “Dust Bowl”, which describes years of drought and over-cultivation that severely damaged agriculture and ecology.
The conditions improved when President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the “New Deal” - a recovery program that consisted of economic and social reforms. Just when the United States had overcome the crisis in 1933, the next problem appeared. Right-wing movements and political parties gained steam and Adolph Hitler was elected as President of Germany.
In 1944, the US invaded France in order to attack Germany from the west. In the process of the invasion, Germany was defeated and split into a British, an American, a French and a Soviet part. Through the Marshall-Plan the States supported parts of former Germany to build up a well working economic system.
Being afraid that communism could spread westwars from Vietnam, the United States reinforced [dt. (hier): verstärken, verfestigen] capitalism in western countries. This, however, turned into a drastic conflict with the Soviet Union, which was a communist state. Furthermmore, the US supported southern Vietnam waging war against the communist northern Vietnam which was confederated [dt.: verbündet] with the Soviet Union. In the end, North-Vietnam won the war which was a hard stroke for the USA because of a high casuality rate [dt: Opferanzahl] and the pervasive idea of the Domino therory, namely that communism would spreas worldwide.
The Vietnam War hit America hard and many Americans were shocked about the images they later saw in the media. Even during the war, the young generation organised many demonstrations to stop the cruel fight.
On 21 October 1967, anti-Vietnam protesters gathered in Washington for the first national demonstration against the war. Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and his hippie followers even tried to levitate the Pentagon. Figures such as Malcom X also expressed their opposition to the Vietnam War.
The following quote is an excerpt from a speech delivered in New York City in November 1963 during which he puts violent resistance in relation to the Vietnam War: “If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.”
With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union came to an end and the US remained the world’s only super power.
Later on, the US focused on nuclear programs in North Korea, contemporary conflicts and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The wars in the Middle East were largely triggered by the events of 11th September 2001, when Al-Qaeda attacked the USA with hijacked planes [dt. (hier): Flugzeugentführung], mass murder and suicide bombings, and 2,977 people died. President George W. Bush declared the “War on Terror” after four aircrafts were hijacked and flown into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. The following quote is an excerpt from a speech by Bush on September 20th, 2001: “Our war on terror begins with Al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”
In the presidential elections in 2008, Barack Obama was elected and became the first African American president in American history. Obama is particularly known for improving the American health care system through government assistance programmes. On 8th November, 2016 Donald Trump, as the candidate for the Republican Party, beat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and became the next American President. Trump is famous for his slogan “America first” with which he gained support and strengthened the idea of American patriotism. In the following months, Trump’s election was debated controversially because intelligence agencies suspected that the Russian government might have influenced the presidential elections.
Die amerikanische Geschichte muss keinesfalls detailliert auswendig gelernt werden. Die genaue Beschreibung der geschichtlichen Hintergründe dient lediglich zum besseren Verständnis und soll hilfreich sein, um sich die fettgedruckten Begriffe besser einzuprägen. Der Text vermittelt hauptsächlich soziale Probleme sowohl innerhalb der amerikanischen Gesellschaft, als auch Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Amerika und dem Ausland. Beliebte Themen sind hierbei der Einfluss der Geschichte, unter anderem der Industrialisierung auf den Menschen und dessen Charakter (auch bezogen auf amerikanische Werte und die Metaphern „melting pot“ und „salad bowl“) oder auch die Rolle der USA global gesehen. Dabei wird sich entweder auf wichtige geschichtliche Ereignisse bezogen oder auf langandauernde Konflikte, die ihre Wurzeln in der Geschichte Amerikas haben. In der Regel sollen gesellschaftliche Probleme oder Hintergründe von Katastrophen diskutiert oder kommentiert werden, wobei 30-35 BE vergeben werden.