N a t i o n a l E c o n o m y

The USA is one of the most highly developed capitalist states. It leads the capitalist world in industrial and agricultural production, leaving the other countries far behind.

The United States owes its high level of economic development mainly to its great mineral riches. It has been able to use them for a long time without wars. No one of the world wars of the 20^th century took place on its territory. The US monopolies only became richer from the world wars.

The United States is rich in a variety of mineral resources. It is a world leader in the production of many important mineral resources, such as aluminium, cement, lead, phosphates, salt, uranium, and zinc.

Leading mineral-producing states are Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, important for petroleum and natural gas, and Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, important for coal, the Lake Superior area (Minnesota and Michigan) is important for iron-ore.

The country is rich in coal, iron, oil and natural gas and holds first place in the world for their production. It also has gold, silver, such non-ferrous as aliminium, magnesium, titanium. The state of Illinois is rich in coal. Coal is also found in many other parts of the country: in the Cordillera Mountains, in the state of Kansas, near Birmingham and Pittsburgh. The district near the Great Lakes is rich in iron too.

The oil fields are situated in California, Texas, Alaska and other regions.

Since the end of World War II the United States has exported raw materials, agricultural and industrial products.

Computers, and automatic systems characterize the advances in technology. The heavy industries are for the most part in the Middle West, in the region of the Great Lakes, around Detroit and Chicago, in the north-eastern states and near Birmingham. The automobile industry and all kinds of machine-building are highly developed especially in and near Detroit, in California and in the areas of heavy industry. Shipbuilding is developed along the Atlantic coast and also in San Francisco and Seattle on the Pacific coast. The textile industry is concentrated in the north-east, in Boston and other cities; but it is especially well developed in the South, where much cotton is grown, in the Mississippi valley.

The USA has a highly developed railway system. It also has the best system of roads in the world. The Great Lakes and the rivers, especially the Saint Lawrence River and the Mississippi, are used for transport. In recent years the growth of air traffic has been observed.

American agriculture produces more food products than any other country. Much of them are exported. The USA produces 52 per cent or more of the world’s corn, soybeans, edible vegetable oils, wheat, tobacco, rice, cotton, and barley. Animal husbandry is also developed in the country.

The United States harvests a lot of vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes and onions. Arizona, Florida, California and Texas are the major citrus-producing states. They grow oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lemons. Strawberries and apples are also produced.

The highlands in the west of the country are famous for their cattle farming. Poultry farming and vegetable-growing are concentrated in the countryside near all the big cities.

Q u e s t i o n s :

1. What does the USA owe its high level of economic development to?

2. What are the main mineral resources of the USA?

3. What have you learned about the agriculture of the country?

4. What is the US transportation system?

A b r a h a m L i n c o l n ( 1 8 0 9 – 1 8 6 5 )

On the 12^th of February 1809, a little boy was born in the backwoods of America, in the State of Kentucky. His name was Abraham Lincoln and he lived with his parents and his sister in a log hut.

Life was not very easy for the Lincoln family. The family was very poor. They moved several times and lived as pioneers in wild new country in Indiana and Illinois. In 1818 Lincoln’s mother died. His father was a poor farmer and the boy had to work much on their small farm. Abraham had little chance to go to school. With the help of his stepmother, he taught himself how to read and write. In all his life Abraham never went to school for more than a year. But he read a lot. “The things I want to know are in books”, he said.

Young Lincoln performed a variety of odd jobs. In the war against the Indians he served as a captain of the militia.

One day Abraham Lincoln bought a book about laws of England. He studied it every day, and his interest in law grew.

Once he passed a large open market place, and there for the first time he saw Negro men, women and children who were sold as slaves to white masters. He also saw how cruelly these poor slaves were treated. He never forgot it and he decided to help the slaves.

Later he became a lawyer and began taking an interest in politics. His life was interesting and useful. He knew how he could help people, he tried to use the law to defend them.

Lincoln was elected to the Illinois legislature and in 1846 to the US Congress. He struggled against slavery. He said that the black slaves of America must be free. He thought of a free country for all the people. And people believed in him. Lincoln became very popular. In 1860 he was elected President of the United States of America.

His ideas about freedom for the black slaves were supported by the industrial North. The slaves owners of the South who exploited those slaves were against them. So a war between the North and the South began. It was won by the North.

Lincoln made the famous Gettysburg Address (“government of the people, by the people, for the people”) and in 1863 he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, giving political freedom to three million blacks of the South. The Proclamation restored the anti-slavery clause, which had been cut from the Declaration of Independence.

In 1864 Abraham Lincoln was elected President again. But his enemies, who wanted to exploit the black slaves as before, could not let Lincoln continue his good work. A year later he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a popular young actor, during a theater performance at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.

Abraham Lincoln is well-known and loved by Americans for his honesty, intelligence, and humanity. Abraham Lincoln’s traditions live in the struggle of all progressive people in the USA.

Q u e s t i o n s :

1. How did he get his education?

2. Why did Americans love Lincoln?

3. Why is he popular and loved today?