The first English settlement was made at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Desire for religious freedom was the reason that led the Pilgrim Fathers to leave England , in order to escape from the religious persecution of James I Stuart. On board the "Mayflower" they landed in in New England in 1620.

Life in the new colony was hard and half of the Pilgrim Fathers died during the first winter. Yet they were helped by some Native Americans who taught them how to grow corn and have a good harvest.

Hence the celebration of Thanksgiving, that originally lasted three days. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November throughout the States.

The colonists advocated the principle of "no taxation without representation". Yet the British government still declared its right to tax the colonies and the king George III had no intention of negotiating. So war broke out in 1775. The colonists were poor and badly organised, since the army was largely composed of volunteer farmers.

In 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th: this marked the birth of the USA.

The Boston Tea Party

In order to protest against the tax on

tea, a group pf colonists boarded a ship

in Boston harbour and threw all its

cargo of tea onto the water. This event,

ironically called the “Boston Tea Party”,

was the beginning of the revolution.

War broke out in 1775 with George

Washington as commander-in-chief of

the American forces.

All men are created equal.

They have a right to life, liberty and

the pursuit ofhappiness.

In 1776 the representatives of the colonies issued the Declaration of Independence.

In 1783 with the Treaty of Versailles the colonies gainedindependence from Great Britain.

Yet the British Empire found a new land to conquer: India.

All the thirteen colonies werelocated on the Atlantic coast.

DelawarePennsyvania

New JerseyGeorgia

ConnecticutMassachusetts

MarylandSouth CarolinaNew Hampshire

VirginiaNew York

North CarolinaRhode Island

The original flag had only 13 stars torepresent the first colonies.

There are 50 stars in the flag today torepresent the 50 states.

In 1860 the slavery question dividedAmerica. The new President Lincoln wasagainst slavery and his party wanted toabolish it, but the Southern States did notagree and separated from the Union, thuscreating a Confederation (South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas). In 1861 the Civil War began. The industrialised North had a better and largerarmy and defeated the South. Slavery wasfinally abolished with the EmancipationProclamation, that freed 3 million slaves.

The “western fever” began in C19 and led the pioneers to leave their farms in the East in search of better and cheaperland. This movement westwards wasalso a story of violence against the Indians. The pioneers introducedirrigation and crops in the greatAmerican desert. The Mormons wereable to transform the area of the Salt Lake Desert into a prosperouscommunity. Then they reachedCalifornia. After the discovery of gold in 1848, a real flood of immigrants wentthere in the hope of finding greatwealth.

President Wilson hesitated at first, butthe Usa entered the conflict in 1917 afterthe sinking of the passenger ship“Lusitania”, in order to grant peace and democracy in the world. As it wasnecessary to supply the allied countries, with food and equipment, the war period saw a considerable increase in the national output.

In the first 20 years of C20 over twelve million

immigrants arrived in America, mainly from Italy, Ireland and Central Europe. All of them passed throughEllis Island, an immigration

station in upper New York Bay, where they were inspected

before entering the country. These decades were a period of

economic development, butalso of confusion and

Prohibition.

After the crash of New York Stock Exchange in 1929, allthe world entered a period of serious economic crisis. When Roosevelt was elected in 1933, his first concernwas to put an end to depression by means of a programme of reforms called the “New Deal”.

He created new jobs advocating the buiding of newschools, airports and highways.

He provided insurance against sickness and old age.

Public housing projects were started.

During the second world war, the country reached newlevels of prosperity, as a consequence of the necessityfor American industry to supply the Allies.

But the fall of France, the entry of Italy into the war and the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbour changedAmerican opinion.

The USA joined the Allies in 1941. Roosevelt died in 1945 and the final act of the war was conducted byTruman.

The attack on Pearl Harbour (the Hawaii operation as it was called) wasmeant as a preventive action in order tokeep the American fleet frominfluencing the war in Asia.This attack came as a profound shock toAmerican people. Domestic support forisolationism disappeared and the USA took an active part in the war.

A great defender of black people, M.L. King was a clergyman and a leader in the African-American civilrights movement. In 1963, during the march on Washington, he delivered the famous speech “I have a dream”. One year later he received the Nobel Prize forpeace, for his work to end racial segregation and discrimination through civil disobedience and non-violent means.

He was assassinated in 1968.

Io ho sempre davanti a me un sogno. E’ un sogno profondamente radicato nel sogno americano, che un giorno questa nazione si leverà in piedi e vivrà fino in fondo il senso delle sue convinzioni: noi riteniamo ovvia questa verità, che tutti gli uomini sono creati uguali.Io ho davanti a me un sogno, che un giorno sulle rosse colline della Georgia i figli di coloro che un tempo furono schiavi e i figli di coloro che un tempo possedettero schiavi, sapranno sedere insieme al tavolo della fratellanza.

Io ho davanti a me un sogno, che un giorno perfino lo stato del Mississippi, uno stato colmo dell’arroganza dell’ingiustizia, colmo dell’arroganza dell’oppressione, si trasformerà in un’oasi di libertà e giustizia.Io ho davanti a me un sogno, che i miei quattro figli piccoli vivranno un giorno in una nazione nella quale non saranno giudicati per il colore della loro pelle, ma per le qualità del loro carattere. Ho davanti a me un sogno, oggi!

In 2009 the first black

American president

was elected, Barack

Obama.

In the picture, Mount

Rushmore,

representing four

previous presidents:

George Washington,

Thomas Jefferson,

Abraham Lincoln and

Theodor Roosevelt.

The dream wasfulfilled

Green day “21 guns”

Conosci il valore di ciò per cui lottiQuando non vale la pena di morire ?Ti toglie il fiatoe senti che stai soffocando ?il peso del dolore supera l'orgoglio ?E cerchi un posto per nasconderti?Qualcuno ha spezzato il tuo cuore?sei in rovina

Uno, 21 colpideponi le armiRinuncia alla lottaUno, 21 colpiAlza le mani al cielotu ed io

Quando sei alla fine della stradaEd hai perso il controllo di tuttoEd i tuoi pensieri ti opprimonoQuando la ragione trasforma la tua animaLa tua fede marcia su vetri infrantiE la sbornia non passaNulla viene eretto per duraresei a pezziUno, 21 colpideponi le armiRinuncia alla lottaUno, 21 colpiAlza le mani al cielotu ed io

Hai provato a vivere con le tue forzeQuando bruciasti completamente la casa e la dimora ?Sei rimasto in piedi troppo vicino al fuoco?Come un bugiardo che cerca il perdono da una pietra

Quando è il momento di vivere e lasciar morireE non hai un'altra possibilitàQualcosa è morto in questo cuore sei a pezzi.

Uno, 21 colpi,deponi le armiRinuncia alla lottaUno, 21 colpiAlza le mani al cielotu ed io.