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Words and word combinations.
to appeal pursuit to repeal to set up
restriction on unified nation consent to handle
demand for authority mutiny to design
secession to balance order to set forth the need for security
to endow tidy results
Translate and learn the given word combinations, then read them fluently.
the restrictions on trade and industry, without their consent, with a demand for the complete submission, certain unalienable rights, the pursuit of happiness, the source of authority, all the ideas and ideals it embraced, which expresses peoples’ yearning to be free, with checks and balances, a clash of views in debate, on bargain and compromise.
Text
In 1774 the American colonies sent their delegates to a congress held in Philadelphia, which was one of the largest towns in the colonies. This congress appealed to the king to repeal the restrictions on trade and industry and not to tax them without their consent. The king replied with a demand for the complete submission of the colonies, declared their action a mutiny, and ordered his troops to put it down.
It was the beginning of the War of Independence (1775-1783).
Congress appointed George Washington Commander-in-Chief of the colonial forces. One colony after another proclaimed their secession from England.
On July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress issued Declaration of Independence, primarily written by Thomas Jefferson, a farmer and a lawyer from Virginia. This document declared that from that time “the United colonies” were “free and independent states” and named them the United States of America.
The Declaration of Independence set forth some of the principles of American democracy. The document says: “ that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness.” It affirmed the peoples’ right to set up their government and give it appropriate powers, thereby advancing the principle that the people itself is the source of authority, i. e. the concept of democracy.
After the War of Independence was over (1783) the United States was not one unified nation as it is today. Each new state had its own government and was organized very much like an independent nation.
Each made its own laws and handled all of its internal affairs. During the war the states had agreed to work together by sending representatives to a national congress. But this Congress had been given no authority to force any state to do anything. It could not tax any citizen. Only the state in which a citizen lived could do it.
Many Americans worried about the future. They believed that the Congress needed more power.
The Congress asked each state to send delegates to a convention in Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration of Independence had been signed, to discuss the changes which would be necessary to strengthen the Articles of Confederation.
In the course of the Convention the delegates designed a new form of government for the United States. The plan for the government was written in a very simple language in a document called the Constitution of the United States.
The Constitution set up a federal system with a strong government (See Ex. 7). They say the Declaration of Independence was the promise; the Constitution was the fulfillment.
Another basic foundation of representative democracy in the USA is the Bill of Rights adopted in 1791 (See Ex. 8).
Much can be said about the importance of the Constitution, but the following is the best. It was written by the Chairman of the Commission of the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, Chief Justice of the United States (1969-1986):
«Ever since people began living in tribes and villages, they have had to balance order with liberty. Individual freedom had to be weighed against the need for security of all.
The delegates who wrote this Constitution in Philadelphia in 1787 did not invent all the ideas and ideals it embraced, but drew on the wisdom of the ages to combine the best of the past in a conception of government of rule by “We the People” with limits on government to protect freedom.
This Constitution was not prefect; it is not prefect today even with amendments, but it has continued longer than any other written form of government. It sought to fulfill the promises of the Declaration of Independence of 1776, which expressed peoples’ yearning to be free and to develop the talents given them by their Creator.
This Constitution creates three separate, independent branches of government, with checks and balances that keep the power of government within the boundaries set by law. This system does not always provide tidy results; it depends on a clash of views in debate and on bargain and compromise.
For 200 years this Constitution’s ordered liberty has unleashed the energies and talents of people to create a good life».
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| The Petition of Rights | | | Exercise 2. Answer the following questions. |