- •Lecture 11 the general outline, including geography
- •11.1. General description: what comes to mind first?
- •11.2. Contributions to civilization.
- •11.3. Contributions to culture.
- •11.4. The American "melting pot of nations".
- •Lecture 12 the discovery of america, and the puritan experiment
- •12.1. The earlier history of America's discovery.
- •12.2. The British colonization of the new continent.
- •12.3. The beginning of Puritan America.
- •12.4. The theocratic experiment.
- •Lecture 13 american enlightenment
- •13.1. The beginning of the Enlightenment.
- •13.2. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence.
- •13.3. The American Revolution.
- •13.4. The War of Independence and after.
- •Lecture 14 the usa in the first half of the XIX century
- •14.1. The historical outline.
- •14.2. The Civil War in the usa (1861—1865).
- •14.3. The war and its outcome.
- •14.4. Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the usa.
- •Lecture 15 the reconstruction and after
- •15.2. More development.
- •15.3. Geography and a bit of economy.
- •15.4. Manufacturing of today.
- •Lecture 16 the usa in the XX century
- •16.1. The First World War.
- •16.2 The Great Depression and World War II.
- •16.3. After of the war: international politics.
- •16.4. After of the war: domestic affairs.
- •Lecture 17 the usa after 1950
- •17.1. The civil rights movement: 1950s — 1960s.
- •17.2. The Kennedy Administration and the Vietnam War.
- •17.3. The space programs.
- •17.4. From Reagan to Bush, Jr.
- •Lecture 18 ppolitical system. Parties. Leadership
- •18.1 The us political system.
- •18.2. Main political parties
- •18.3. Main political leaders.
- •18.4. Modern us policy.
- •Lecture 19 social issues, and education and science
- •19.1. Social issues.
- •19.2. Secondary education.
- •19.4. Notes on the development of American science.
- •Lecture 20 mass culture and the concept of americanization
- •20.1. America’s Global Role (political and economic influence)
- •20.2 America’s Global Role.
- •20.3 America’s mass culture.
- •20.4 The usa in the XXI century.
- •20.4.4.
- •Lecture 21 a tour of the english-speaking countries
- •21.1. Sightseeing in the United Kingdom.
- •21.2. Sightseeing in the usa.
- •21.3. The Republic of Ireland and Canada.
- •21.4. Australia and New Zealand.
14.4. Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the usa.
14.4.1. Abraham Lincoln is one of the great leaders in American history. A humane, far-sighted statesman in his lifetime, he became a legend and a folk hero after his death. Lincoln rose from humble backwoods origins to become one of the great presidents of the United States. In his effort to preserve the Union during the Civil War, he assumed more power than any preceding president. Necessity made him almost a dictator, but he was always a democrat. A superb politician, he persuaded the people with reasoned word and thoughtful deed to look to him for leadership.
14.4.2. Abraham Lincoln's ancestry on his father's side has been traced to a weaver who emigrated from England to Massachusetts in 1637. At an early age, his stepmother encouraged his quest for knowledge. Besides the family Bible, which Lincoln knew well, he was able to read the classical authors Aesop, John Bunyan, and Daniel Defoe. The biography of George Washington made a lasting impression on Lincoln, and he made the ideals of Washington and the founding fathers of the United States his own. At 23, Lincoln decided to run for a seat in the Illinois House of representatives. This was a logical step for Lincoln to take, for on the frontier a young man with ability and ambition could rise rapidly in politics.
14.4.3. He eventually became President of the USA and moved into the White House in 1861. Lincoln showed that he was going to be a strong president. By word and deed he became, to many people in the North, a symbol of the Union. Without this strong belief in the Union, the war could not have been won. Lincoln never lost sight of his responsibility to preserve the Union. Even the crusade against slavery remained a secondary purpose of the war. “What I do about slavery and the colored race,” he wrote, “I do because I believe it helps to save the Union.” Lincoln never recognized the Confederacy as an independent nation. He considered the Southern states only to be in rebellion against the federal government.
14.4.4. Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, by a half-crazed actor with pro-Southern sympathies, John Wilkes Booth. On that day, Lincoln and his wife, were to attend a performance at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Early that day, Lincoln held a Cabinet meeting at which Secretary of the Treasury McCulloch noted that he had never seen the president “so cheerful and happy.” Lincoln told his Cabinet about a dream he had had the previous night, which he interpreted to mean that a final victory was near. That night the Lincolns went to the theater as scheduled. At about 10:30 pm, Booth made his way into the box. Choosing a moment when all attention was fixed on the stage, he put a pistol to Lincoln's head and fired once. The President slumped in his seat, unconscious. Booth leaped to the stage, shouting “Sic semper tyrannis,” the Virginia state motto, meaning “Thus ever to tyrants.” He made his escape, but was killed while resisting arrest 12 days later.