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Life in Modern America

Chapter 2: The people and their origins


The beginnings
America can hardly be asked to look back at any great national military hero to revere.
Washington and Lincoln, and the Revolution and Civil War, are sometimes used to fill
unimportant gap. The things that really matter in American is the process by which millions of
people built their own society, developed the natural resources of their country, and produced
a political system.

The mythology of America is concerned with individual effort, enterprise, adventure, a practical
belief in equal respect for all people, equality of opportunity and fair reward for each person´s
work. America has always valued achievement and deliberately rejected hereditary privilege.

Modern Europeans are separated from their past by fundamental changes in their systems of
values, as they have to come to respect achieved success more than inherited privileges.

 The 1st settlement of North America from Europe was slow, hesitant and without a plan.
In 1497-8 John Cabot made 2 pioneering across the North Atlantic.
 On the 1st, in the ship Matthew, with a crew of 18, he reached islands
 The 2nd expedition sailed down the mainland coast to a point well south of what
is now NY. Cabot was financed by merchants in Bristol, and supported by the
English King Henry VII.

By this time, the Spanish and Portuguese had completed the conquest of Mexico and parts of
the southern continent.

During the 16th century Spanish explorers went all up along the western and southern coasts of
North America and up the rivers, and by 1600 had established scattered settlements.

 The 1st northern settlements were unsuccessful. Some French established themselves
on the Atlantic coasts of Florida but were wiped out by a Spanish naval expedition which
built a fort and founded the city of St. Augustine in 1565.
 Two attempts at colonising North America from England failed in 1580s.
 In 1607 a London merchants company gathered a group of men, some of them criminals,
who bound themselves to a period of indentured service. They landed a place which
they called Jamestown in what is now Virginia.
 The Jamestown settlers were followed by others in the next few years, including
families.
 Settlers were allowed to have their own land and learned to grow tobacco.

English puritans, now known as the Pilgrim Fathers lanced at Cape Cod, near Boston in 1620.
They had first left England, after conflict with the authorities over their refusal to comply with
current religious laws. They had a terrible hardship at first, and half of them died.

A year after they arrived, another ship came from England, and they celebrated this arrival with
a feast of thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving and Independence Day are the 2 occasions that Americans celebrate. These are
the main stages in their national, history, foundation and independence.

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1. Who was William Penn?


The last of the main foundations came in 1682. At this time the Quakers had
representatives in England of the puritan tradition. William Penn, a prominent English
Quaker, lead a group of religious sympathisers to settle in Pennsylvania. He had
arrangements for the location of land and a plan for a central town at Philadelphia.

2. Why the idea of migration to America was attractive?


Many wanted to escape from the oppressive religious and social atmosphere of England.
Most of them were Protestants not ready to accept the structure of doctrine and
religious practice of the Church. They came to America with the determination to build
a new society which was free of the bad elements of the old.

3. How were the early American communities?


They were religious, hardworking and serious. They were searching for a new freedom.
Their enterprise and their ideals have provided modern America with an inspiration
made the more lively by the fact that it is easy to concentrate in the favourable aspects
of their story.

4. When the colonist became independent?


In 1776, but they were still British in origin and outlook.

5. How was the economy of the south?


Rural economy and organization different from that of the northern states. They had
cotton plantations that demand labour. This was fulfilled by the trade in slaves brought
from Africa. They became necessary to the economy of the south.

6. Who were the red Indians?


By 1492, when Columbus crossed the Atlantic from Europe, all the Americans were
inhabited by the descendants of these original migrants from central Asia. The European
explorers called them red Indians.

7. When did the USA become independent?


In 1783. The territory of the new republic of the US extended as far as west as the
Mississippi, beyond this an area twice as big was part of the Spanish Empire. By 1850 all
had become part of the US.

8. Which was the rule that favoured northern England in 1921?


New rules restricted the number of immigrants allowed from each country. After the
1WW migration from Europe was on a smaller scale. But in the 2WW, doctors,
engineers, scientists and professors came for better jobs conditions.

9. Which were the nationalities that migrated to the USA since 1920?
Chinese, Japanese, Central America, Africa.

10. What was the problem with border between the US and Mexico?
In the boarder there are guards, but they don´t shoot, so is easy to cross. But is illegal.
Many are cough and send back.

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Chapter 3: The American Identity


The Europeans
About 3 quarters of all United States citizens are descended from people born in Europe and a
small number were themselves born in Europe.

People who are still strongly identified with a national origin other than north western European
are commonly called “ethnics”. There has been so much marriage outside the ethnic group that
not every person with a Greek surname can properly be regarded as an ethnic Greek. USA has
few people with direct ancestral links with Spain or France. The recent waves of Hispanics
moving to the USA have few directed links with Spain itself except the language and an adapted
Spanish culture.

There are still a few communities which maintain a distinct life within the American culture. An
example of this is the city of New Orleans, which keeps alive its French and Croele foundations.

America still reflects its British origins in ways which go far beyond the language. The older parts
of America cities look very like English towns. The legal system is derived from the English
system. They have the same system of measurements, miles, yards, feet and inches, and weight
in pounds and ounces (except for money).

American influence in modern Britain now is stronger than that of Britain in America. European
students pour across the Atlantic to take higher degrees, and there is a massive interchange of
university students. American jazz was taken all over Europe.

The constant flow of people both ways across the border between USA and Canada looks like
movement between the states than a process of migration.

The American Indians


They have resisted assimilations, and have preferred to keep themselves separate, with their
own distinct way of life modified by access to electricity, television and automobile.

There are about 1.5 million Amerindians and about half of them live in areas designated as
“reservations”. Others take part in the dominant economy, at various levels. There has been
some intermarriage. Many live by farming, or by making jewellery and ornaments which they
sell to tourist. The Indians in the reservations remain outside the mainstream of economic
development.

Black Americans
About 27 million people are descended from people brought across the Atlantic from Africa
between 150 and 300 years ago as slaves.

The colonists in Pennsylvania, NY and New England stayed out of the slave trade but they could
not stop the plantation owners of the South from buying slaves from Africa.

Towards 1800 the southern states stopped the trade and from then onwards no more slave
ships came in, except for a new which came illegally. Southern slavery was ended only with the
victory of the northern states in the civil war of 1861-5. The US constitution was amended so as
to outlaw slavery, and to grant automatic citizenship and the equal protection of the laws to any
person born in the United States.

Long after 1865 white people in most of the South were finding ways of excluding black citizens.

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 In 1896 the Supreme Court had ruled that if an education authority provided separate
schools for black and white children, there was no denial of the equal protection of the
laws provided that the separate schools were of equal equality.
 In the 1950s there were cases of southern black people being intimidated when they
came to register as voters, and there were separate schools, separate seats in local
buses and car parks. Black opposition to discrimination was led by the National
Association for Advancement of Coloured people.
 In 1954 the Court ruled that experience showed that separate schools could not be of
equal equality, so the “equal protection” clause of the 14th amendment could not allow
states to provide separate education.

Martin Luther King became the informal leader of active movements of non-violent protests
against racial segregations of all kinds, and he gained admiring support from white Americans in
the South as well as in the North.

When defenders of the white supremacist traditions of the South reacted violently against a
peaceful campaign for equal treatment, television showed the unpleasant scenes which they
provoked. The people soon learned that their actions were seen on tv, throughout the world
and that they brought shame upon their country.

Lyndon Johnson expanded his ideas and led Congress to pass laws to eliminate racial
discrimination.

 In 1969 Luther King was murder.


 By 1970 segregation and race discrimination in the South had ceased to be a special
problem. Blacks were registered as voters in the south in almost the same proportion as
whites. Soon many were elected to important offices in the southern states. Atlanta had
a black mayor.

The average earnings of blacks are relatively low, and they are in general the 1 st to become
unemployed. In the 1960s and for some time afterwards, the gap between white and black
earnings was narrowed, but recently the gap has remained.

“De facto residential segregation”. A hundred year ago, when the 1st waves of blacks moved into
the northern cities, white residents would move away from their homes when black people
bought or rented houses nearby. As the process continued, whole areas of cities would become
all black while others stayed white.

Discrimination against blacks now is illegal.

Hispanics
In 1985 there were in USA almost 17 million people of Spanish origin. There are several reasons
why Hispanics are classes as a distinct group.

1. The Hispanics have come, since about 1950 in very large numbers.
2. They remain in certain areas of the USA and this produce a change in the balance of the
population. Mainly in California and Texas. Most of NY´s Hispanics are from Puerto Rico.
3. They have tended to be slow to learn English, and to keep together in their groups.
4. They appear to be ethnically different from white or black Americans.

Local schools boards are faced with vast numbers of pupils who first come to school not knowing
any English, and there is a controversy about the best approach to their education.

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People of Puerto Rican origin are less favourably placed than the general population or than
other Hispanics. Over a 3rd of all Puerto Rican households are single-parents families. Among
them, unemployment is higher than among other Hispanics.

Asians
There are more than 4 million with origin across the Pacific, nearly all in China, Japan and the
Philippines. Some Vietnamese were brought to the US in a relief programme around 1975, when
communists´ takeover of their country seemed inevitable. Other later refugees, including boat
people.

Having first reached America´s west coast, the East Asians tend to stay in that area. This group
seems to be integrating itself quite smoothly with established American society.

A people on the move


In some states only 1 house in 5 has people living in it for more than 5 years. Some leave their
homes to change their economic situation, other go to better jobs or move because they have
been promoted. The idea of moving is so accepted that people tend to remain unattached to
the place where they had live. Americans accept the idea that is likely that they will move to
some other state during their lifetime.

The greatest migration of recent times has been to California. In 1950-1965 almost as many
people moved from east, north and south to California.

One thing that leads people to move in modern times is the desire for better climate, more
attractive scenery and more agreeable living.

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Chapter 4: The Forms of Government


General Principles
The political system has provided the rules for a society adapting itself to continuing rapid
change, to immigration, to the development of the west, to the absorption of new technology
and to economic growth. It has provided the means for USA to be a world power.

The form of government is based on 3 principles: 1) Federalism, 2) The separation of powers, 3)


Respect for the constitution and the rule of law.

Americans are subject to 2 governments: the states and the unions. Each has its own function.

 The states have, under the constitution, the primary function of providing law and order,
education, public health and most of the thing concern which concern day to day life.
 The federal government at Washington is concern with foreign affairs and with matters
of general concern to all the states, including commerce between the states. It has
extended its activities: It has been active in the fields of social service, education,
research, and regulation of business and of the ordinary productive process.

There are 2 parties: Democrats and Republicans.

At each level, in state and Union, there is a constitution which defines and limits political power,
and which provides safeguards against tyranny and means for popular participation. In each
state power is divided between 3 agencies:

 Legislature: law- making power


 Executive: the governor
 The judges of the State Supreme Court

Each state in divided into counties, which have their own powers. Within the counties the towns
have their own local governments, mainly as “cities”. City government, with elected mayor,
council and judges, reproduces the state pattern on a smaller scale.

The federal government also has 3 elements, the 3 are checked and balanced by one another.

 Executive: The president. He is the effective head of the executive branch of government
as well as head of the state. In November of each leap year (1984, 1988) a President is
elected to serve for exactly 4 years from a fixed day on the following January. A vice-
president is also elected. If a vice-president dies or resigns the Senate elects a new one.
 Legislature (congress)
 Judicial

Out of 19 men elected to the Presidency between 1840 and 1960, 4 were assassinated and four
died in office.

Until 1951 there was no limit to the number of foul -year terms which a person could be elected
President. In 1940 Franklin Roosevelt was elected for third term, and in 19f4 for a fourth. In 1951
a constitutional amendment set a limit of two terms— That is, eight years.

The Senate and the House of Representatives together form the Congress, which is the law-
making body. The President signs the laws. If he refuses, his veto can be overridden two-thirds
majority in both Houses. Elections for both Houses are held in November each even-numbered

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year when the whole House of Representatives is elected, to serve for only 2 years, while
senators are elected in rotation for six years.

The Senate embodies the federal nature of the Constitution, with two senators from each
state. Each state´s two senators are elected at separate elections. Each senator is elected by
and for a whole state, without geographical division.

The House of Representatives has a fixed number of seats (435). And each state has 1 seat for
every 1/435 share that it has of the whole US population. Avery ten years, after each census,
states with fast-growing populations are given extra seats at the expense of those with slow
growth like NY. 6 states are small and have only one seat in the House, the others are divided
into constituencies or districts, each of which is represented by the candidate who wins votes at
the election.

The Federal Constitution


It´s a short document, and some of it is vague and uncertain in meaning. It was written 200
years ago and the actual conditions and problems are very different.

The 1st article provides for the establishment of the legislative body, Congress, consisting of 2
Houses, and defines its powers.

The 2nd does the same for the executive, the president and there is also provision for a system
of federal courts.

The 5th article lays down the procedure for amendment, allowing either state or Congress to
take the initiative.

A proposal to make a change must first be approved by 2/3 majorities in both Houses of
Congress and then ratified by ¾ of the states.

The first ten amendments (1791) form the “Bill of Rights” and are an extension of the original
constitution. Two more were adopted in the next seventy years.

The Constitution of USA takes precedence over all state constitutions and laws, and over laws
made by USA Congress. The Constitution also includes a list of subjects concerning which
Congress may make laws and says that Congress has no other powers.

-Article One: Gives the list of the topics about which the Congress has authority to make laws.
They include defence and foreign affairs, citizenship and naturalisation, the regulation of
commerce with foreign countries and among states, and power to collect taxes to pay the
debts and to provide for the common defence and general welfare of USA.

The most important of these amendments are:

-The 1st: forbids Congress to make any law respecting an establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof. It also forbids any laws which might in any way take away
freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people to assemble peacefully and to
petition the government for a redress of grievances.

-The 10th: The power not delegated to the USA by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

-The 5th: Provides that no person shall private property be taken for public use without just
compensation.

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Chapter 5: Parties and Elections


The conventions
Party conventions are held, once every 4 years each time in a different city. These 3 days mark
the beginning of a period of about 3 months, in which each national party has a visible
existence and purpose.

After the candidates for the party´s nominations have been proposed, the state delegations
vote. If the 1st ballot, with every individual delegate´s vote counted, fails to give an overall
majority to any candidate, a second ballot is held, then if necessary a 3rd.

Once the party´s candidate for the presidency has been chosen, the convection has 3 more
tasks:

1. To prepare and agree a statement of the party´s policy or platform


2. To choose its candidate for the vice-presidency
3. To proclaim its unity behind the candidates and their platform

The new presidential candidate nominates his vice-presidential running-mate for the
convention to acclaim. He usually takes a day or so of thought and consulting before making a
proposal.

Almost every new President lacks experience both national and international. A new president
must obviously excel in the qualities of salesmanship and self-promotion. If he has been vice-
president he may be better equipped.

Elections for congress


The House of Representatives has general election at exactly 2 year intervals. In each even-
numbered year representatives must face first their party primary elections, then, if they win,
the general election in November.

If they are defeated, there is little chance of finding another set to win, except by moving
house, because by custom every number of the House of Representatives must be a resident
of his or her district.

About 50 seats in the House of Representatives are so certain to be won by Democrats that the
Republicans don´t run a candidate. Most of these seats are in the south or in central cities.

For election of senators, each for a 6 year term, the same general conditions apply, except that
although some states are nearly safe for one party, the other never fails to run a candidate. To
run a campaign, demands almost a whole year of electioneering activity, and most probably
the expenditure of several million dollars. But many voters, when they vote, pay more
attention to the candidate than to the party.

When there is a 2nd ballot it is usually held between the 2 individuals who have the largest
number of votes at the first. It´s only in the primary elections that a 2 nd ballot is used, because
in the formal election there is a rivalry only between the Democratic and Republican
candidates.

The position of senators or representatives, even if they have safe seats in Congress in never
really safe. In order to be elected, candidates must 1st win their party´s primary and then
defeat the other party, and they can never be sure that their party will choose them again.

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Chapter 6: How Government Works


The Balance
Under the Constitution, the President → is supposed to be the chief executive, while the 2
Houses of Congress→ form the legislature

This arrangement was made because the people who made the Constitution believed that it
was important to keep the powers of the country in separate hands.

Their idea was that → an elected Congress should make the laws.

→ and the President should carry them out.

The Constitution provided checks and balances between the President and the Congress,
which have helped to make it possible for President and Congress to work together.

Although there are only 2 parties, so that 1 party will almost always have a majority in each
house → This does not mean that there is straightforward two-party government (with a
government on one side backed by a solid majority and an opposition on the other side)

Sometimes the federal system → produces different majorities in the 2 Houses.

Sometimes the President is of one party → while the majority in one House of Congress (or
even in both Houses) is of the other party.

Even when the President is of the same party as the majorities in both Houses of Congress;
there is still no clear leadership of the party in power. ↓

This is because the party organisation nationally is so weak, and the party in power has not a
single agreed policy.

As members of Congress depend on the support of their local parties for their election (and as
the local parties have their own independent lives), there is little hope of imposing an effective
party discipline.

The main source of policy is → the President himself

He is in practice the main source of → important new laws.

The Constitution gives the law-making power to Congress but allows the President to

→ propose measures for Congress’s consideration

→ and to prevent a bill from passing into law by refusing to sign it.

(though his veto can be overriden by a two-thirds majority in both Houses)

The main interest in the law-making process is centred on:

 The President’s relations with members of Congress.


 His attempts to get a majority in each house for each of his proposals without
amendments which would distort his purposes.
 He may also try to ensure that bills proposed by congressmen do not pass in forms
damaging to his policies.

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*Although the Constitution gives the power to tax to Congress,

The President presents his annual budget (though Congress usually amends his proposals for
both taxation and expenditure)

The President at work


1. First of all he has his cabinet, consisting of the heads of departments (who under the
constituton may not be in either House of Congress during the time they are in office)
 The Secretary of State, who deals with foreign relations → is traditionally the most
important member.
 The Secretaries of Defence and Treasury are not far behind.
 There are 12 Secretaries + the Attorney General (concerned with legal questions); so
the cabinet is small.

The president recommends the appointment of cabinet members to the Senate and the Senate
may approve or disapprove of them. ↓

He does not necessarily choose party politicians for cabinet jobs.

Some people are appointed to these positions after:

 Having been elected members of Congress;


 Others are taken from state offices;
 Other from all kinds of positions (including jobs in business and in universities)

*A new President can choose his cabinet between the election in November and his accession
to office in January*

2. The President also has his own Executive Office, with more than a 200 staff, and close
to him the much smaller White House staff, headed by his own immediate assistants.
3. There are dozens of partly independent agencies, run by boards which do not take
exact instructions from the federal administrative hierarchy. ↓
In general these boards are appointed by the President, and subject to the Senate’s
confirmation (in the same way as judges), and their members hold office for fixed
periods.
The President’s power → to appoint people to federal offices (including judgeships,
subject to the Senate’s consent) is important for his relationship with the Senate. ↓
Presidents and senators, as well as representatives, can help or harm each other, and
as each side depends heavily on the other, each has a strong motive to cooperate with
the other.

Although every President’s power is limited and constraines, there are 2 sources of advantage
inherent in the position:

1st → the President is the only officer elected by the whole people.

2nd → through his office he is alone the representative of the whole nation, and profits from
the respect paid to that office.

When the President needs congressional support:

 He arranges consultations with leading members of Congress, in order to try to


persuade them to support his point of view.

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 These consultations very often lead → compromise positions, so that the President
and his assistants work together behind the scenes to arrive at plans which will be
likely to get majority support.
 A modern President → can also put his case directly to the people on TV. (a press
conference may be useful to him if he can use it effectively)

Congress at work
In providing for a bicameral legislature, the founders of the Constitution, ensure that
did not become a less powerful
→ the Senate
body than the House of
→ the upper House representing the states Representatives (representing the
people)

Although budget proposals originate in → the lower House, the Senate has an equal role in the
final decision of them.

The executive government, being based on the election of the President for fixed terms, is
independent of the lower House, which cannot remove it by a vote of confidence; on the
contrary, it is the Senate that has the power to confirm or reject the President’s proposals for
individuals appointments.

Every bill → must pass both Houses before it goes to the President for his signature which
converts it into an act.

Any non-financial bill → May originate in either House, and sometimos parallel bills go
through the 2 Houses simultaneously

Many important bills are inspired by the President, but many originate with members of
Congress (and are usually described by the names of the people who proposed them)

When the 2 Houses disagree over the contents of a bill, they are represented equally on the
conference committee which tries to produce a compromise text on which the 2 Houses will
eventually agree.

One of the most important characteristics of the 2 Houses of Congress is that → they work
through committees of their own members.

The House → has about 20 permanent committees.

The Senate → has about 16.

 Each Senator is a member of one or two committees.


 All committees give seats to the parties in proportion to their strength in the House or
Senate.

The main function of the committees is:

 To enquire into each bill that is proposed and to recommend whether the bill be
accepted or not.
 To decide whether to recommend changes in its text before it goes to the main House
for discussion.
 Nowadays they undertake inquiries into all sorts of matters and they also examine the
working of the administrative machinery under the President.

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The chairman of each committee has enormous influence over the way the committee works.
In particular the chairman is mainly in control of the committe’s business.

*Hearings: people who are in position to give relevant advice appear before the committee to
make statements and to answer questions*

When a committe decides to hold hearings on a bill or other question it may very often → set
up a sub-committee for the purpose. ↓

The sub-committee then holds a series of sessions, at which it receives written statements
from people who wish to argue for or against a new policy.

The committes concerned with expenditure → divide into many sub-commites.

Each sub-committee makes itself responsible for looking into the whole pattern of government
expenditure in 1 particular section of the government’s work.

Most of the committes are concerned mainly with legislation, and every bill that is introduced
into Congress is sent straight away to the committee most appropiate to the subject matter of
the bill.

*Important bills inspired by the President have to go through the same process as others*

When the hearings are completed:

 The committee goes into executive session to decide on the disposal of the bill.
 This stage involves looking closely at the text and possibly amending it.

When a committee has completed its work on a bill:

 It reports it back to its House.


 In the House of Representatives the bil has to take its place along with many others
also reported out of committee (all waiting their turn for decision, with or without
debate)
 The arrangement of the business of the House of Representatives is controlled by
another committee called the Rules Committee.

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Chapter 9: Courts, Laws and Crime


The legal system
Each state has responsibility in its own territory. The federal courts — and hence the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, federal police and prisons — are involved only in matters outside the
individual states' jurisdiction and in cases arising under the U.S. Constitution.

Nearly all cases involving disputes about property or divorce, or murder, theft, assault or traffic
offences are dealt with by the relevant state's hierarchy of city, county and state courts, police
and prisons, in accordance with state law. Each state has a supreme court of appeal.

The legal system is based on Common Law, brought across from England. Anglo—American
Common Law is based on the supposed reasonable person's view of what is right and fair. Each
decision creates a precedent, and for any particular case a court must, as far as practicable,
follow a precedent set by a higher court's previous decision.

Most of the law in force is statute law, and the legislators have tried to ensure that the meaning
of the statutes is quite clear. However, there is still plenty scope for argument in courts about
the application of statute or common law to particular cases.

In some states, judges are publicly elected, in others they are appointed by state governors or
by special bodies such as judicial councils.

Some judges hold office for fixed periods, but others are installed for life or up to a retiring age.
Under this arrangement a group of people dissatisfied with a judge may collect signatures on a
'recall' petition, and if the signatures reach the required number the people of the stare (or
county) vote 'yes' or 'no to the question whether the impugned judge should be confirmed in
office.

Crime and Punishment


The outlawing of alcohol in 1919—33, known as the period of 'Prohibition', encouraged the
growth of a huge network of corruption and blackmail and gang rivalry, and when Prohibition
ended, the network of organised crime that it had fostered turned to other types of activity —
nowadays based on drugs as well as ordinary large-scale robbery.

Their empire runs from robbery and drug dealing through exploitation of permitted gambling in
Nevada and Atlantic City to legitimate business financed by illicit gains.

Robbery and acts of violence have increased in thirty years. In cities many people are afraid to
go out at night. In New York, when an ordinary traveller in a subway train shot some robbers
who were attacking passengers, and permanently injured one of them, he became a public hero
and a huge campaign was mounted in his defence when he was taken to court.

Although each state has full responsibility for its prisons, the 17th amendment to the U.S.
Constitution prohibits 'cruel and unusual punishments', and if any evidence suggests that a state
prison system may be breaking this rule an action against it may be brought in the federal courts.

Thousands of prisoners were being released prematurely, and judges were being encouraged to
try to avoid sentencing guilty people to imprisonment but to use alternatives, from community
service to probation at home under close supervision- Some counties in New York State have
used a new device, allowing people sentenced to Imprisonment to stay in their homes for fixed
periods instead, and providing them with electronic bracelets linked to a computer so as to
monitor their movements.

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Murder and Death Penalty


It is the highest in the big cities. In the 'liberal' climate of the 1960s some states abolished the
death penalty, while everywhere it was more and more rarely used. In 1968—75, no execution
was carried out anywhere in the US.

The number of murders had been growing fast and in 1975 passed 21,000 — three times as
many as twenty years before. Opinion polls were showing massive support for the return of the
use of capital punishment.

In 1975 the Supreme Court made a new ruling which allowed the death penalty to be used in
certain circumstances. Several others followed, and in the three years 1984—86 there were 57
executions, in a dozen states.

In 1986 three-quarters of the states had laws allowing the death penalty. Meanwhile the number
of murders in the nation as whole had declined by a filth. 4.000 fewer people were murdered in
1985 than in 1982. In some death penalty states, most murders do not qualify for it.

Gun control
There is a high murder rate, due to the fact that handguns can be bought. Some states have
some restrictions on their open sale, some not.

About half the murders in America are committed with handguns.

The National Rifle Association is one of the most powerful pressure groups in the nation, with 3
million members. It is deeply conservative and dedicated to the principle that “the right of the
people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” These words are in the 2nd amendment to
the Constitution.

Guns for shooting birds and animal, and for protection against predatory human beings, are
symbols of the virility associated with the building of the nation.

USA is different from Europe. In the growth of crime in general it is worse. America shares with
Western Europe many of these features which seem likely to promote this growth, but crime
and violence are more glamorised in cinema and television in America than in Europe. In this
society go-getting self-reliance tends to be elevated into a virtue.

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Life in Modern America

Chapter 10: Education


Primary and secondary schools
Education is the most important factor in determining a person´s social role and economic
prospects.

 Universities were founded in the earliest days of the settlers who had come from
England. Harvard College was founded by religious refugees from Cambridge, only 15
years after the Pilgrim Fathers had landed.
 Religious bodies were very active in developing elementary and secondary schools.

The Federal Government has no power to make laws in the field of education, each state is
responsible within its own territory. The Federal Government can give financial help. The
Department of Health, Education and Welfare is responsible for these functions at federal level.
However, during the 1980s, federal government contributions were cut.

Each state has an educational administration and the state authorities lay down general
principles concerning the organization of schools and such matters as the ages of compulsory
education.

 Schools are provided and managed by local community boards of education.


 A large city has a board of its own, a board may cover the area of a county or of several
local communities.
 Most children attend mixed schools
 Education is nearly all parts of the USA is comprehensive.

Elementary education begins at 6. At this stage 4/5 of all the teachers are women and married.

The old rigid and authoritarian method of education were discredited in America a long time
ago. Education has gone to the direction of trying to make children happy and interested rather
than giving them actual instruction. The emphasis is on cooperation rather than competition
throughout most of this process.

Schools have been used to build up a sense of Americannes because for several generations
many children have had foreign-born parents. For many decades the school day began in the
classroom with the flag salute. In 1942 the Supreme Court ruled that no child should be obliged
to take part in the flag salute, and since then it has restricted this practice as well as religious
prayers.

The school bus is a long established institution. It´s painted yellow. When it stops, all other traffic
must stop.

School and home are closely linked and there is a sense of partnership between teachers and
parents. In some places it is the practice for the teacher to stay in the classroom for half an house
at the end of the school day, to be available for any parent who wishes to come to talk to her.

There is a strong tradition by which every school is closely identified with its community. In big
cities tradition has been weakened. The practice of busing children damages the link between
community and school.

The teaching profession isn´t quite so simply arranged. It may be difficult for a teacher to get his
or her qualifications from one state recognised in another state, as each state has its own
arrangements for training teachers.

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Life in Modern America

 Teacher for the younger children have often been trained in school of education from
the age of 18
 Senior teachers have normally completed university degrees

Teacher’s pay and prestige in relation to other professions is low in comparison with the general
standards of Europe.

 From the age of 11/12 to 18: High School. The first three years are called Junior High
school and the se senior classes are called Senior High School. This last may be separate
institutions due to the population.
 As full high school education up to the age of 18 is available to everyone, there is no
problem about gaining admission to a senior high school, though in some places there
are selective schools or classes for children who show special academic ability.

Once children have reached high school they are conscious of the need of obtain good marks in
their high school work if they wish to go on to a university of high reputation. Some universities
are very selective in their admission, while other will admit any students provided that they have
passed through all of the high school courses.

High school generally organised much activity outside the classroom: Orchestras and brass
bands. Every large high school has its football team and also for basketball, baseball.

Pupils don´t specialise in any particular direction, and they take classes in all kinds of subjects all
through the high school. They are given an immense choice of academic and non-academic
courses.

Sometimes pupils complain that the progress is very slow and that they don´t learn much, but
this is a factor connected with the inclusion of children of all level of academic ability in the same
school and in the same class.

Because many big city high school have a reputation for roughness, middle class parents are
anxious to place their children in schools in which a different atmosphere will predominate.

Higher Education
For a very long time America has led the world in higher education. In 1825 England still had
only 2 universities, Oxford and Cambridge. USA already had over fifty colleges for a small
population. Now, there are over 2.000 universities, colleges and other institutions with four year
courses leading to bachelors ‘degrees.

Nearly half of all people aged 19 are in full time education, but only half complete full 4 year
courses. Some attend junior colleges with 2 year courses, most start full 4 year degree courses.
Most students receive federal loans to cover part of the cost of their studies.

Most students aiming at bachelors ‘degrees take the 4 years (freshman, sophomore, junior and
senior) consecutively at the same institution, but some interrupt their courses.

For each state at the course it is necessary to gain adequate average grades over a number of
courses, and credits gained at one stage can be accepted for a later stage after an interval.

About 1/5 of college graduates continue with studies for masters or doctors degrees, in their
own major subjects or for professional qualifications in law, medicine, business, etc.

Most college’s students are in “public” institutions, a minority in “private” ones. Every state has
its own full university system, and in a big state there are many separate state campuses, general

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Life in Modern America

and special, at different levels. Most big cities have their own city-funded universities, in some
cases with several campuses.

The most prestigious is the University of California at Berkeley. It and the University´s campus
at Los Angeles, are the 2 major institutions in the California state system, but there are many
dozens of other campuses in that system.

The oldest, and the most prestigious, colleges are private. A few receive some state or city
grants. But in general they need to charge high fees for tuition.

Some of the best-know private universities are the oldest ones in the Northeast, known
informally as the Ivy League. These include Harvard, Yale and Princeton.

Until 1960 most of the private institutions were for either men or women only. In 1987 about a
hundred all female college were still resisting the trend change, defending their special role in
the educational system but suffering a decline in applications for admission. The number of
woman students had increased until by the mid- 1980 they outnumbered the men.

The individual young person knows that his or her prospects of success in life depend on
education more than on any other single factor. So there is an ever-increasing demand for
educational opportunities.

A new concern with the pursuit of excellence and a new insistence on high standards, both in
technology and in other fields, has lately brought some improvement to the system as a whole,
though surveys of the mid 1980s found that more than 1/10 of 17 year old could not read and
write well enough to write answers to a simple set of questions such as those on a job application
form.

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Life in Modern America

Chapter 11: Religion


Religion has survived the rise of technology and of material prosperity more strongly in America
than in the European homelands.

Religion in America has never been identified with an oppressive or dominant social class or set
of political institutions. The Pilgrim Fathers left Europe to be free to worship in their own way,
not as the established authorities told them to. The American mythology assigns its first place
to religious freedom and spontaneity. Most people want to identify themselves with dominant
values, and going freely to the church of one´s choice is a way of doing so.

America is remarkable now for its attachment to the principle of freedom of belief or disbelief.
As the early Americans had escaped from religious persecution in their old countries, so they
were determined that there would be no religious oppression in the new home they were
building,

When the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution was drawn up, it began in its very first
article by insisting that there should be no state religion, and complete freedom of belief and
religious practice or non-belief has been jealously protected by the Supreme Court.

Apart from Christmas, an ancient and customary mid-winter feast, there are no religious public
holiday and the Court have forbidden prayers in public schools.

Protestants
The people of the original thirteen states in 1787 were nearly all Protestants, as are nearly three-
quarters of the people now.

The Church of England has its counterpart in the closely associated American Episcopal Church
(sometimes called Anglican), which shares its theology and form of organisation — though
already ordained women priests while the Church of England did not.

Lately most of the Protestant churches (except the Baptists) have been losing members but they
have had more success than their British counterparts in keeping their congregations faithful in
going nearly every Sunday, nearly dressed, to well-appointed buildings where they join the
communal act of worship and meet their friends.

The biggest single Protestant denomination that of the Baptists, is strongest in the southern
“Bible Belt”, which stretches from Carolinas to Texas. Black and white Baptist congregations are
still mainly separate. Many black churches have been centres of the struggle for black people´s
right and interests, while most white congregations of the Southern Baptist Convention are
conservative in their politics and fundamentalist in basing their religion on the Bible.

Fundamentalists objects to the theory of evolution, as put forward by Charles Darwin. A major
aspect of such teaching concerns the origins of the planet Earth, and of the species which have
lived or still live on it.

Fundamentalist beliefs, Baptist, Pentacostalist and others, have provided the main inspiration
for the modern electronic evangelism. To the outside world, American Protestantism is best
known through its star performers, who have adapted developing communications technology
to religious purposes.

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Life in Modern America

Catholics
A quarter of all Americans are Catholics, almost all descended from immigrants from Catholic
countries. Catholics have always been conscious of the minority statues both of their religion
and of the ethnic group to which they belong.

The Basilica in Washington is the nation´s biggest church building and it´s surrounded by a
Catholic university and other institutions. They might admire Pope John Paul´s personal
charisma, but not his ruling on matters such as contraception and divorce.

A recent survey showed that ¾ of Catholics couples practice birth control, and almost half
marriages collapse. Many American Catholics want priests to be free to marry and want women
to be organized as priests.

 Less than half of all Catholics go regularly to mass.


 The number studying for the priesthood has fallen.

Mormons
The 19th century produced one enduring religion indigenous to America: Mormonism. Which is
the state religion Utah.

Mormons or “latter day saints” have a complete theology of their own, which is outside the
bounds of normally defined Christianity.

In 1827 Joseph Smith received some revelations, one in which he produced as “the book of
Mormon”, in 17th century English. Utah now has about a million Mormons and the numbers and
the numbers in other states have risen beyond 2 million.

Moslems
Their numbers are small but growing, sin 1960 about half a million immigrants have come in
from Moslem countries, particularly Iran.

Jews
Nearly all the 6 million Jews came to America before 1960, and about a ¼ of them live in and
around NYC. There are signs that the more “liberal! Synagogues have been losing members,
while the more “orthodox” have been gaining. It seems that a significant minority of the people
are being attracted to the more rigid and demanding forms of religion.

Quakers
They have an immense importance in the history of America. They are also called The Friends
United Meeting. They have only 58.000 members.

In the 17th century its members suffered persecution in England for their obstinate insistence in
their own harmless practices.

They insist on the equality of people before God, and worship in meetings with no minister or
order of service, often sitting in silence for long periods. They abjure all violence.

In 1677 and 1680, the English king gave powers to group os Quakers which enabled them to
devise the 1st constitutions for the colonies of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

William Penn and his group founded the city of Philadelphia.

The ideal of the Quakers, including religious tolerance, were influential in the preparation of the
Constitution of USA.

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Life in Modern America

Chapter 12: Private Life


Home
When Americans are free, they concern themselves with their homes and with their activities at
home. Most people have an ambition to own their own house.

 Houses aren´t expensive in relation to their space and comfort by European standards.
 2/3 of all families own the houses in which they live, though many of the owners have
borrowed money on the security of their houses and their jobs in order to pay for them.
 As the suburbs grow, so the city centres tend to become mainly places business.
 In suburban areas, shopping centres consist of a group of fifty shops around a huge car
park; and the main unit or the shopping centre is usually a supermarket which stays
open very late at night.
 There is a growth of these establishments and decline of the small independent shops.
 Once Americans have reached home they are interested in working to improve it and in
making it as pleasant as possible
 They like to invite their friends to their homes even for Sunday breakfast.
 Parties for children and for grow ups are constantly occupying their leisure time.
 When a new family moves into a house, the neighbours will see if they can help them.
 The new suburb recreates the sense of community of the old country village. It´s a part
of a group of homes.
 The constant visits of friends and neighbours encourage people to display their
possessions. It´s not enough to have the usual machines and gadgets in the house, they
must have new ones and the best ones too.
 The acquisition of the latest dishwashing machine is followed by the air-conditioning
system, the swimming-pool; the added sun-room or covered terrace. But a family whose
income rises, looks for a better house, in a better district, with a better view.
 Today's job, today's home; today's friends and neighbourhood: all these are part of a
family's identity: Nothing is regarded as permanent.

Outside the home


 Cites visited by tourists have downtown areas and some other sections with the mixture
of culture and entertainment facilities usual in European cities, but most others are less
well equipped for the enjoyment of city life.
 There is no tradition of cafes with tables on the sidewalks.
 Bars and saloons are in general too unattractive to compete with people's homes as
social centres.
 There are plenty of agreeable restaurants where the food is good.
 City parks and riverside walks are now popular with joggers and cyclists.
 The movies have held their audiences among the younger generation. The growth of
television cut the movie audiences quickly until the 1960s.
 Movies, discos, bowling alleys and other indoor entertainments are not much
concentrated in the big city centres, but are scattered around the residential areas. It is
only the theatres, concert halls and museums that keep alive some semblance of city
culture.
 The arts are sponsored more by business than by government.

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Life in Modern America

 Group activity in support of causes is more developed in America than in any other
country, against pollution, noise, ugliness, in support of action to make the environment
more pleasing.
 Most towns were for a long time weak in music, theatre and the arts. But now the rest
of the United States has gone so far in material development
 And more and more communities have developed music and the theatre in a more
serious way.

Sports
 Football is derived from the British game of rugby which has been adopted in other
English-speaking countries but only in a few parts of Europe. The American form
requires very sophisticated equipment and considerable organisation. Apart from the
university teams there are many professional football teams. The rules are complicated,
and the game is inherently dangerous. The average football player looks formidable and
the team looks frightening.
Half an hour before the game begins, bands with majorettes begin marching and playing
music on the field. There are also cheer-leaders.
 The Americans have adapted the English cricket in form of baseball. This is a much
simpler game than cricket played in England.
 Golf has a special place for the game and also for its role in the worlds of business and
politics.

There are good municipal facilities for tennis and swimming. But many municipal swimming
pools are covered and in hot summers it´s not easy to find a place to swim outside.

There are pools as well as facilities for tennis, golf in private clubs, but the fees for membership
are very high.

Outside the build-up areas there are state parks or county parks. There is often an entrance gate,
with a barrier which may be closed at night. Some parks charge a few dollars for each car coming
in. The bigger parks have visitor-centres with guidebook, postcards, information of the history,
geology.

There is no informal access to the countryside is most of northern Europe. There are no
footpaths and no easily access to open river banks.

America was pioneer in setting up “National Parks” beginning with Yellowstone in 1872.

Holidays
Most working people take at least 4 weeks holiday each year, in addition to the few one-day
national holiday added to weekends. There is a tendency to split the main holiday into 2. Some
of the most ambitious work all the time and take no holiday at all. Some return to old homes, to
see old friends who have moved.

For those who travel for long days, there are motels besides the road. Some have self-catering
facilities. Second homes used for weekend and for holidays by the lake or the river are equipped
with boats. People who prefer mobility favour “campers”, enormous homes on wheels. Many
county, state and national parks have well-equipped camping facilities, better located than the
motels outside the park boundaries.

Whenever Americans go on holiday, one of their aims is to meet new people, make new friends
and share new experiences with them.

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