O USA po angielsku

THE WAR FOUGHT BY THE AMERICANS FOR THEIR INDEPENDENCE IS CALLED THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION OR THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR WHILE THE BRITISH OFTEN REFER TO IT AS THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS SO?
In many British publications, as I tried to look up some information on the subject, I could hardly find anything about the American Revolution. In spite of that I found the list of the main ever-world-revolutions. Hence I could read about the English ‘Rebellion’, the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the French Revolution or the Russian Revolution of 1917. In contrast there was nothing about the American one. However, after having looked up the entry the American War of Independence, I was able to look through a vast number of facts on the topic. Well, it seems like the British have always considered this historic event slightly differently from how the Americans used to think about it. Undoubtedly, the problem – that still exists in the mentality of the both nations – will not disappear entirely.
At that time, America was one of the most precious pearls of the Great Britain: it was a main source of the rise of the economical and political power which made the Kingdom the most forceful nation in the world. After the Seven Years’ War during which defeating France was at the very high cost, the British expected more money from the colonies and, at the same time, wanted to keep a tighter hold on what they had won. Therefore they established many taxation restricts that were supposed to increase the British revenue. What is more, the British colonies in America – with the French ones as the neighbours – could have been extremely strategic for the significant Britain-and-France politics.
Not surprisingly, after the colonists became more and more united against the British trade policies and the Continental Congresses took place, the British Kingdom felt like the settlers wanted to wrench out the new lands, like the children desired of being independent from the remote control of their mother. The British considered this as the act of unlawful capturing its properties for which they should fight. Finally, the British call it the War of Independence because it appeared like a war; a war on which a lot of money was spent and during which many soldiers were killed.
On the other hand, for the Americans it was the revolution – the change of the way of living, the way of governing. They established the new constitution that made them the democratic nation, what was essential for the future economic and financial success. At the beginning, however, the purpose of the revolution, was not fighting for the freedom or the economical system but against the restrictions the British had put on the colonists. I believe that if the Great Britain and the colonists had come to an agreement on the taxation and the problem of the lack of any American representatives in the government, the Kingdom would have retained its colonies in America for many long years.
After all, it is hard to find any similarities between the American Revolution and, for instance, the French one. There were no mass executions or religion persecutions. Instead of these, there were a warlike fights and – in matters of religion – the leaders of America’s Revolution agreed to disagree. That brought the Americans to the state they were able to build a free society based on a law and order which makes the state stable and guarantees each citizen liberty and property.
The American Revolution or the War of Independence? The question won’t vanish until the British and the Americans declare their separate nationalities.


DO YOU THINK THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IS STILL VALID TODAY? WHY?
Mostly the Declaration of Independence is the list of complaints against the British Government. However, its prominence lies in the introductory part of the document. We can read there that governments are formed only for the benefit of the governed people. And in case the government does not serve the governed, the ruled people have the right to set up a new government and leave the old one behind. That principle is (or should be) valid today. It’s because it marks the eternal rule of freedom of the man and the order in the dependence between a government and a society. Further speaking, it leads to the human rights of life, liberty and the aspiring to happiness.
As the preamble says, all men are created equal therefore no other mankind or force – excluding the Creator – is allowed to violate the right to the equality. Today it appears like the Americans still remember about what they declared over two hundred years ago. I mean, if they did not, would they have attacked Serbia endangering the innocent people for being killed? Would they have done this, if they did not respect this declared, sacrificed and everlasting law of the liberty and the equality as the sense of human being?


WHAT IS THE MERCANTILIST SYSTEM?
The mercantilist system embodies the policy of discouraging imports and encouraging exports and planning artificial restraints on commerce to prevent money from going out of the country. It measured the wealth of the country by the amount of gold and silver it contained, which it aimed to increase at the expense of other countries.
Towards the end of the 18th century, when the policy obtained in Britain, heavy duties were put on the importation of French wines and silks and other commodities – generally importation was discouraged. What is more, Adam Smith, the originator of modern economics, observed six principles by which mercantile system proposed to increase the amount of gold and silver in any country. The first two considered importation. These were:
· restraints upon importation of those foreign goods for home consumption as could be produced at home (the Navigation Acts might be exemplar);
· restraints upon the importation of goods of almost all kinds from those particular countries with which the balance of trade was supposed to be disadvantageous.
The other four principles were related to the encouragement of exports. They were achieved:
· by drawbacks of home manufactured goods subjected to duties on exportation, and foreign dutiable goods imported for immediate re-exportation;
· by bounties to support new or developing manufacturers such as were supposed to be especially meritorious;
· by commercial treaties;
· and finally by the establishment of colonies in distant countries from the supposed advantage of enforcing them to buy British commodities in exchange for their own.
The mercantilist system, which was to expand British shipping and production, may be regarded as a obvious form of economic nationalism. To a great extent the system assumed that revenge from abroad would not be possible. However, the reaction against the system which tried to restrict colonies to the provision of raw materials and the absorption of British manufactured goods was one of the purposes of the American Revolution.