In 1777 the Marquis de Lafayette, a twenty-year-old French aristocrat, landed in America. He came partly to fight for a new and free society. But he came also to avenge the death of his father, who had died fighting the British in the French and Indian War.
Lafayette served without pay in the American army and became a major-general on the staff of George Washington. In the next four years he fought in many battles, proving himself to be a brave and determined soldier. He won Washington's respect and friendship and played a part in the final defeat of the British at Yorktown in 1781.
When the war ended Lafayette returned to France. There he continued to support American interests. When the French revolution broke out in 1789, political opponents had Lafayette imprisoned and took away his estates. But Lafayette‘s American friends did not forget him. In 1794 Congress voted him his unclaimed general's pay of S24.424. A few years later it granted him land in Louisiana.
In 1824 the now aging Lafayette returned to visit the United States. The American people greeted him as a hero, a living symbol of the birth of their nation.
COMPREHENSION CHECK
Task I. Find information on:
Samuel de Champlain, Rene La Salle, Pitt, minuteman; the Stamp Act; Boston Massacre; The Continental Congress; The Declaration of Independence, Treaty of Paris.
Task II. Match the words to their definitions.
1. a tribe a) a cone-shaped tent of skins or bark of the American Indians;
2. a tepee b) natural object, especially an animal, considered by Amerindians to have a close connection with a family group;
3. a totem c) a racial group, especially one united by language and customs, living as a community under one or more chiefs;
4. a conquistador d) a person who promised to work for an employer for an agreed number of years in exchange for food and clothes;
5. an explorer e) an elected representative from settlements along Virginia’s rivers, who advised the governor on the laws the colony needed;
6. an indentured servant f) a person who travels into or through a continent for the purpose of learning about it;
7. a burgess g) one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru (16th c.);
8. a pilgrim h) the head of the colonial government, chosen in most cases by the English king;
9. a protestant i) a member of a division of the Protestant Church who wanted simpler forms of church ceremony;
10. a puritan j) a person who protested against the teachings and customs of the Catholic Church and shared the ideas of religious reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin;
11. a governor k) one of a small group of English men and women who sailed across the Atlantic ocean in 1620 in search of religious freedom;
12. Society of Friends l) a part-time soldier in the American War of Independence who had promised to take up arms immediately – in a minute – whenever he was needed;
13. the Mayflower Compact m) the most important document in American history adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. It proclaimed the colonies “free and independent states”;
14. Thanksgiving Day n) a law passed by the British Parliament in 1765 to raise money to pay for the defense of colonies. According to it, the colonists had to buy special tax stamps and attach them to different legal documents and even to newspapers;
15. the Declaration of o) the agreement signed by all men on board the “Mayflower”, in which they decided to set up a government to make “just and equal laws” for their new settlement.
16. the Stamp Act p) an organized opposition to the Stamp Act, formed in 1765 by the representatives from nine colonies;
17. the Stamp Act Congress q) a public holiday in the USA celebrated on the 4th Thursday in November. The first people to celebrate this holiday were the Pilgrims. In November 1621 they gave thanks to God for enabling them to survive their first year in America;
18. a Minuteman r) a religious group that refused to swear oaths or to take part in wars and were opposed to violence under any circumstances.
Task III. Choose the correct date for each event.
1. The Pilgrim Fathers on board a) October 12, 1492
the “Mayflower” reached America;
2. Hernan Cortez attacked and b) November 9,1620
conquered the Aztecs;
3. The Jamestown settlement was founded; c) 1520s
4. Christopher Columbus landed on an d) 1607
island which he named San Salvador;
5. The House of Burgesses met e) November, 1621
for the first time;
6. Britain and France began f) 1681
fighting the Seven Years War;
7. The first celebration of Thanksgiving g) August 1619
by the Pilgrim Fathers;
8. Pennsylvania was founded by William h) 1756
Penn;
9. The British Parliament passed i) 1775
the Stamp Act;
10. The Peace of Paris was signed j) 1773
11. “Boston Tea Party” k) 1765
12. The representatives from nine colonies l) 1783
formed “The Stamp Act Congress” and
organized opposition to the Stamp Act;
13. The American War of Independence began; m) 1765
14. A group of colonial leaders formed n) May 1775
the first Continental Congress to oppose
British oppression;
15. The Declaration of Independence was o) October 19, 1781
adopted;
16. The British Army was surrendered p) September 1783
at Saratoga;
17. the second Continental Congress met q) September 1774
in Philadelphia;
18. British General Cornwallis surrendered r) July 4, 1776
to the American Army at Yorktown;
19. The Treaty of Paris was signed, Britain s) October 1777
recognized American independence.
Task IV. Match the names of people with their deeds.
1. Christopher Columbus a) one of the first explorers of Virginia, a person who gave the country its name in honor of Queen Elizabeth I;
2. Amerigo Vespucci b) in 1492 discovered American continent, although he genuinely believed it was Asia;
3. Hernan Cortez c) a Spanish conquistador who conquered the wealthy empire of the Incas of Peru in 1530s;
4. Francisco Pizarro d) a Spanish conquistador who conquered Aztecs in 1520s;
5. Jacques Cartier e) a French explorer who traveled along the valley of the Mississippi in 1670s and reached the Gulf of Mexico;
6. Sir Walter Raleigh f) an Italian explorer who described two voyages that he had made along the coasts of South America. He was sure that these coasts were part of a new continent;
7. Roger Williams g) the first Dutch governor of the New Netherlands who bought Manhattan from the Shinnecock people in 1626;
8. William Penn h) a Puritan minister, he and his followers set up a new colony, Rhode Island, where they promised its citizens religious freedom and separation of church and state;
9. Peter Minuit i) the founder and owner of Pennsylvania;
10. Samuel de Champlain j) a French aristocrat who became a major-general on the staff of George Washington;
11. Rene la Salle k) a French fisherman from Normandy who discovered the St. Lawrence River in 1526;
12. Samuel Adams l) the author of the Declaration of Independence, later the third American President;
13. George Washington m) the American ambassador to France, who persuaded the French government to join in the struggle against Britain;
14. Thomas Jefferson n) the commander of the American army in the War of Independence, later the first American President;
15. Benjamin Franklin o) a politician and a writer, who organized opposition in Massachusetts to the British tax laws, used “Boston Massacre” to stir up American opinion against the British;
16. Marquis de Lafayette p) from 1603 onwards, he explored the lands on both sides of the St. Lawrence River and set up trading posts there.
Task V. Complete the sentences with a suitable word in the correct form or a phrase. One word doesn’t suit anywhere.
import tax, indenture, peace term, to pursuit, representative, to sign, smuggling,
1. The French and Indian War was ended by the Peace of Paris which … in 1763. 2. It was easy for the colonists to avoid obeying Navigation Acts, partly because the long American coastline made … easy.
3. The new … made it more difficult for American merchants to trade at a profit.
4. The Continental Congress sent … to seek aid from friendly European nations – especially from France.
5. The Declaration of Independence claimed that all men had a right to “life, liberty and the … of happiness”.
6. When the British started to withdraw their forces from America, British and American representatives began to discuss ….
Task VI. Are the statements true or false? Correct the false ones.
1. Britain and France began fighting the Seven Years War (or the French and Indian War) in 1755.
2. To prevent war with the Amerindian tribes, King Charles II issued a proclamation in 1763 which forbade colonists to settle west of the Appalachians until proper treaties had been made with the Amerindians.
3. The “Stamp Act Congress” was formed by the representatives of nine colonies in 1765 in Pennsylvania.
4. The American War of Independence started in March, 1775.
5. In August 1775, a second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and began to act as an American national government.
6. The Declaration of Independence was written by George Washington, a landowner and lawyer from Virginia.
7. In the Treaty of Paris, which was signed in September 1783, Britain recognized her former colonies as independent states.
Task VII. Choose the right variant
1. In a) 1756, b) 1766, c) 1755 Britain and France began fighting the Seven Years War.
2. The French and Indian War was ended by a) the Peace of London, b) the Peace of Paris, c) the Peace of New York, which was signed in 1763.
3. The first Continental Congress was formed in 1774 in a) Philadelphia, b) New York, c) Boston.
4. The Continental Congress appointed a) George Washington, b) Thomas Jefferson c) Benjamin Franklin commander of the American Army.
5. The Declaration of Independence was issued on July 4, a) 1777, b) 1767, c) 1776.
6. The text of the Declaration of Independence was prepared by a) George Washington, b) Thomas Jefferson, c) Benjamin Franklin.
7. On October 17, 1781 British General Cornwallis surrendered to the American Army at a) New York, b) Saratoga, c) Yorktown.
Task VIII. Answer the following questions.
1. What were the causes of the French and Indian War?
2. What were the economic roots of the American Revolution?
3. What were the political reasons of the American Revolution?
4. What do you know about the Stamp Act?
5. Where and when was the “Stamp Act Congress” formed? What were its aims?
6. What was the aim of the First Continental Congress? Where and when was it formed?
7. How did Samuel Adams use the “Boston Massacre” to stir up American opinion against the British?
8. How did the American War of Independence start?
9. What people were called “Minutemen”?
10. What were the first steps of the second Continental Congress?
11. What principles did the Declaration of Independence state?
12. What were the major victories of the American Army in the War of Independence?
13. What document officially recognized the USA as an independent nation?
Task IX. Translate into English.
1. В поисках плодородной земли новые волны поселенцев постепенно отодвигали границу на запад, очень часто приграничные фермы и деревни были удалены друг от друга на много миль, так как поселенцы обходили земли, казавшиеся неподходящими для сельскохозяйственной обработки.
2. Купцы полагали, что новые пошлины на импорт затруднят получение прибыли от торговли, а остальные колонисты считали, что эти пошлины повысят стоимость жизни.
3. Во всех колониях торговцы и лавочники отказывались продавать британские товары до тех пор, пока не будет отменен Закон о гербовом сборе, а в Бостоне и других городах обозленные толпы нападали на правительственных чиновников, продающих гербовые марки.
4. 2 июня 1776 г. Континентальный Конгресс наконец сделал шаг, который многие американцы считали неизбежным: он порвал все политические узы с Британией и объявил о том, что «эти соединенные колонии являются, и по праву должны быть, свободными и независимыми государствами».
Task X. What have you learnt about…?
1. Colonial life in America in the 18th century;
2. the American War of Independence.
Task XI. Prove that…
1. The colonists were dissatisfied with the policy of the British Government.
2. The War of Independence was the only way for the colonies to become free and independent states.
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