W STANACH ZJEDNOCZONYCH

• THE CONSTITUTION- written in 1787

• The USA has a FEDERALIST system.

• There are individual states, each with own government, and there is a:

• FEDERAL or NATIONAL government

• The constitution gives certain powers to the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, other powers to the STATE government and yet powers to both.

THREE BRANCHES of Government:

• LEGISTATIVE

• EXECUTIVE

• JUDICIAL BRANCHES

1. The LEGASTATIVE:

• Consist of Congress, which has two parts:

• The House of REPRESENTATIVE

• The SENATE

CONGRESS’S MAIN FUCTION:

To make laws

• 100 senators

• 435 representatives

2. The EXECUTIVE:

• The PRESIDENT is a head of the executive branch and country

• Administers the laws

• Consist of:

• DEPARTMENTS

• AGENCIES

Now is 14 DEPARTMENTS including:

• TREASURY

• STATE

• DEFENSE

• HEALTH

• HUMAN SERVICES

Each department have different responsibility.

3. The JUDICAL BRUNCH:

• Interprets the laws and makes sure that the new laws are in keeping with the Constitution

• Nine members

• There are several levels of federal courts (the Supreme Court- is the most important)

• Each branch are has certain control over the branches e.g.:

CONGRESS MAKES THE LAWS, BUT PRESIDENT CAN VETO OR REJECT A LAW AND THE SUPREME COURT CAN DECIDE A LAW IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

TWO MAIN POLITICAL PARTIES:

• THE DEMOCRATIC

• REPUBLICAN parties

Other smaller parties play little if any role.

• President does not have to be from the party that has a majority in Congress

REPUBLIC:

Tend to be more conservative and have more support among to upper class.

DEMOCRATS:

Tend to be more liberal and have to support among the working class and the poor.

• Many Americans worry about too much government interference in their lives

• Only 50 percent of people of voting age actually voted

• Today any citizen who is at least 18 age old can vote

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE- MIGRATION:

The United States has the third largest population . People from all around the world have come to United States and influenced its history and culture.

1. The Native Americans:

• The first people on the America continent came from Asia. They came across the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska at various times when the sea level dropped.

• First migration of the people might have been as early as 40 000 years ago.

• Once in America, these people migrated east across North America and south though Central and South America. There were about 10 million people in America alone and they had developed many different kinds of societies. These were the people who Columbus called ‘Indians’ (he thought that he is in East India)

• Today there are about 1,5 million Indians in the USA. Western states have the largest Indian population:

-California

-Oklahoma

-Arizona

-New Mexico

• One third of native Americans live in reservations , most of the others live in cities.

• Major problems:

-poverty

-unemployment.

2) The British:

• The British settled the eastern part of North America (in the beginning of 1660’s)

• By the time of the American revolution (1776) the culture of the American colonist was thoroughly British- with an American ‘twist’

• The British culture was the foundation on which America was built

• Many immigrants to the United States have come from the United Kingdom and Ireland

3)African-Americans:

• From 1620 to 1820 many immigrants come to USA against their will- those people were West Africans brought to work as slaves, especially on the plantations, or large farms of the South

• About 8 million people were brought from Africa

• Civil war in the 1820 ended slavery and established equal rights for black Americans

• Many states passed laws segregating and discriminating against black Americans. Civil right movement (1950’s, 1960’s) helped get rid of those laws

• Despite many changes black Americans are still much more likely than white Americans to be poor and suffer the bad effect that poverty brings.

• About 12% of American’s population is black

• Many black Americans live in the South and in the cities of the Northeast and Midwest

4)Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe:

• 1820-the number of immigrants coming to the USA become to increase rapidly

• Problems in Europe- poverty, war, discrimination, made people to left their country and opt for better opportunities in the United states

• For the first half-century people were from northwestern Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Norway,…)

• In the late 1840’s many Irish people emigrate to USA because of the widespread hunger

• During these years USA was expanding on Midwest because there was a lot of land available for farming. Many immigrants became farmers.

• German and Scandinavian influence is obvious in Midwestern foods and festivals.

5. Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe:

• 1870-1930- immigrants came from Greece, Poland, Russia

• They came to escape poverty and discrimination

• From 1900 to 1910 9 million people came to the USA

• During these period United States was changing form a mainly agricultural to mainly industrial country, immigrants made this change possible.

• In the 1920 discrimination and prejudice led to laws limiting immigration Immigration slowed down until 1960 when these laws were changed

5. Hispanic-Americans:

• People of Spanish or Spanish-American origin

• Some Hispanics live in areas that later became a part of the USA, many other immigrated to the United States

• Hispanics came from many different countries, especially large groups are:

-Mexican- Americans (Texas, California)

-Puerto-Ricans (New York)

-Cuban-Americans (Florida)

• Hispanics are one of the fastest growing groups in the United States population

7)Asian-Americans:

• In the 19^th century laws limited Asian immigration

• Asian met with discrimination

• Since the mid-1960’s with changes in immigration laws and with conflicts in Southeast Asia, Asians have been the major immigrant group (in the 1980’s half of immigrant were Asians)