Expansion and Conflict in Early America
The United States of America is often referred to as a young nation, but is it really? Can a nation spring full born into the world on a certain date? Certainly America famously declared itself an independent state in 1776, but as we shall see below, it has roots that go back long before that. Today the US prides itself on being a “nation of nations”. In the following section we will examine the way many cultures and peoples have contributed over the centuries to creating it.
Read more in Access to English: Social Studies, pp. 84-90. Then do the tasks in the textbook and on this website.
Visual Material
Going Further
Web resources
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Audio: Columbus - hero or villain? (BBC)
(bbc.co. uk) "Letter from America" by legendary BBC correspondent Alistair Cooke -
Audio: The Pilgrim Fathers (BBC Radio - In Our Time)
(bbc.co. uk) -
Digital story: The Puritans
(digitalhistory.uh. edu) -
Who Won the American Revolution?: Crash Course US History #7
(youtube.com) -
Animation: What you might not know about the Declaration of Independence (incl. tasks)
(ed.ted. com) -
Animation: The story behind the Boston Tea Party (TedED)
(ed.ted. com) -
Animation: The historical audacity of the Louisiana Purchase (TedED)
(ed.ted. com) -
Audio: The American West (BBC Radio - In Our Time)
(bbc.co. uk) -
Christopher Columbus Videos (History.com)
(history.com) -
Early America
(usa.usembassy. de) -
Archiving Early America
(earlyamerica.com) -
George Washington
(bbc.co. uk) -
Thomas Jefferson
(bbc.co. uk) -
Benjamin Franklin
(bbc.co. uk) -
The Civil War
(pbs.org)