An age of revolutions

Pages 182-183

 

Exercise 1

 

• The Agrarian Revolution → Mechanical horse-drawn reaper invented by Rev. Patrick Bell around 1828 in Scotland.

• The Industrian Revolution → Cotton factory in Preston, Lancashire in 1830. Private collection.

• The French Revolution → Eugène Delacroix, liberty leading the people 1830. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

 

Exercise 3

 

1. What changes were there in Britain at the end of 18^th century?

   Britain became an industrial country.

2. What cause this change?

   Since 1750 he increase of the population brought a higher need for raw materials therefore the production had to increase itself.

3. What did the Industrian Revolution' imply?

   The Revolution implied the modernization of technology , productive, and political structures; in addition to the new technological inventions it was set a new production system and new power and transport systems.

4. What were the most important inventions?

   The most important inventions concerned the production of raw materials for the everyday life of the new population. It especially developed the steel sector: the spinning-jenny by James Hargreawes and the water frame by Richard Arkwright, thanks to which the needs of men and women could be satisfied.

5. What fuelled these machines?

   Until now the machinery were powered by steam but the ever greater demand required the invention of new production methods such as steem power that James Watt patented in 1775 with the aim to use less fuel than the previous machinery.

6. What was the effect of Watt's invention?

   Watt's invention indirectly increased unemployment since new factories were built on coal and iron fields of Lancaster, Yorkshire, the center of Scotland and South Wales.

7. How did changes in trasport affect the Revolution?

   Gains were always cheaper and transports became more efficient since new roads were built.

8. What change occured in agriculture?

   Along with the Industrial Revolution, also ian Agricultural Revolution helds and it was fueled by new technological inventions.

9. What formes did the Agrarian revolution take?

   There was two principal formes: the enclosures of open fields and common land that gave room for more and larger clusters of farms. Even in the fields new techniques were introduced: the crop rotation and mechanization.

 

Exercise 4

 

• The Industrian Revolution implied new technologies, inventions, new sources of power and transport.

• As a result of the introduction of steam engine new factories were built on the coal and iron fields.

• These new factories allowed Britain to manufacture cloth more cheaply than elsewhere, but also put many people out of work.

• New waterways were built and road conditions were improved.

• The widespread enclosures of open fields and common land to make to make larger, more efficient farms.

• Improvements in the selective breeding of cattle to produce more meat and in farming techniques such as crop rotation and mechanization.

 

The American War of Independence

Page 196

 

Exercise 1

CARRY OUT a research project on the following themes and FILL in in the table below

 

The legislative branch	The executive brach	The judicial branch
Congress: The United States Congress is the legislative body of the Federal government of the United States which is equivalent to Parliament in democratic systems. It is based in Washington and has two rooms.	President: He is the head of state and the head of the United States government. Appointment by election, the President is responsible for the executive functions of the federal government and is also the commander in chief of the US Armed Forces. It is considered one of the most powerful people in the world, as it is today at the helm of the only superpower. His role puts him to lead the country with the most expensive military apparatus in the world, with the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, as well as being in charge of the economy with higher real and nominal GDP. The election of the President takes place in an indirect way: the voters of each state elect 538 "electors," who in turn (gathered in the Electoral College, but each in the capital of the State for which they were elected) vote by secret ballot, President and Vice-President who accompanied him in the election campaign (forming the so-called "ticket"). The charge lasts four years and the XXII Amendment to the Constitution forbids anyone to be able to exercise the presidential office for more than two terms. Office and official residence of the president is the White House in Washington. The salary of the President amounted to $ 400,000 per year, not including other benefits, and is paid annually.	Supreme Court: It was established on the 24th of September 1789 as the highest US federal court. It is the only court specifically governed by the Constitution. Members of the Court are 9: a president, Chief Justice of the United States, and eight members, Associates Justices, appointed for life. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is of two kinds: original jurisdiction (jurisdiction at first instance) and appellate jurisdiction (competence able to appeal). The Original jurisdiction, the Court decides first and only instance of disputes specifically indicated by law, as is the case of ambassadors, consuls and foreign representatives as well as those in which a State is a party. In the appellate jurisdiction the court, however, decide on the appeal of a judgment rendered by a lower court, the limitations and exceptions provided for by Congress. In the appellate jurisdiction, the Court may decide on the request of a federal judge, called upon to apply a law, it has seen as conflicting with the Constitution, a federal law or a treaty signed by the Federation; from this point of view, the Supreme Court is the judge of the constitutionality of laws and respect the hierarchy of sources.
House of Representatives: Its organization and its powers are outlined in Article 1 of the US Constitution. Each state elects a number of representatives that is proportional to its population. The State which has more representatives is currently California (53 members). Since the 29th of October 2015, the president (speaker) is the Republican Paul Ryan, the minority leader Democrat Nancy Pelosi. It was intended as a "house of the people", which should have been faithful representative and interpreter of public opinion. The Chamber includes twenty standing committees, each responsible for a particular subject (eg finance, defense, justice, etc.). Each committee, in matters within its competence, preliminarily discuss the proposed law, and control functions on the executive's actions. The committees are chaired by a representative of the majority party. There are also a Committee on Intelligence and some joint commissions (which include members of the Senate), but are less important.	Cabinet: The Cabinet of the United States is the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and is composed of the President and the Vice President of the United States, by the secretaries of the Administration's 15 departments and some of the most senior officers. The Cabinet members are appointed by the president and then presented to the US Senate to be confirmed or rejected, after a vote made up of a simple majority. If approved, they sworn in and begin their duties at the helm of the 15 Administration departments. Apart from the Attorney General (Head of the Justice Department) and, previously, the Postmaster General, all receive the title of secretary, which is an equivalent of the title of Minister in most of Western democracies governments. The cabinet members are reporting directly to the President, which means that the president can remove them and replace them at its discretion. Its constitution dates back to the first US president, George Washington, who appointed a cabinet of four: the Thomas Jefferson State Secretary, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph.
Senate: Its organization and its powers are outlined in the Article 1 of the US Constitution. The Senate is chaired by US Vice-President of America; It shares with the House of Representatives the legislative power and the control functions of the work of the executive, but it also possesses some unique powers: the ratification of international treaties and the approval of the appointments of many officials and federal judges. Each US state is represented by two members; Therefore, the Senate is currently made up of one hundred senators. The District of Columbia and the territories have no representation in the Senate. Each senator is elected for six years. In the proceedings of impeachment (ie removal from office of an official or of a federal judge) is up to the Chamber the formulation of charges against the accused. If the accused is the President of the United States, the process is chaired by the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court.

 

 

Elections and voting: The US is a federal presidential republic consisting of 50 states and 1 district, the District of Columbia. Washington is the capital, where they perform public functions on two levels, the federal level and state. Powers of the federal and state functions are established by the Constitution.

The US President is not only the head of state, at the federal level exercises executive power, while the legislative power is entrusted to the two houses of Congress. The requirements imposed by the Constitution to propose their candidature as President are three: be at least 35 years of age, be a US citizen by birth, reside in the US for at least 14 years.

 

The right to vote belongs to all citizens who have reached 18 years of age and who are enrolled in the "election" lists.

 

The electoral system is indirect, that is, the President is not elected by the people but by 538 "electors" meeting in Washington. The number of "electors" chosen state-based, is the sum of deputies and senators from each state. The citizens express their preference for a candidate, but it really is not voted the single person but the group of "electors" associated with it. For popular votes (votes of citizens) it is not made a general count, but single, state by state, with a dry majoritarian system called 'winnertakes all'.

 

The candidate who has the most votes, even just one more than the other contenders, takes all the electoral votes of that state. An exception is the State of Maine and Nebraska, divided into constituencies with proportional system.

 

The candidate who fails to elect at least 270 "electors" goes to the White House. The "grand electors" in theory they should vote for the candidate they are associated. Every State has the right to have two "grand electors" most others, as many as the number of deputies sent to the House of Representatives. The number of representatives of the Chamber of Deputies varies depending on the population, the more the state is largest has representatives.

 

If no candidate for the office of President of a quorum, the final decision is made by the House of Representatives, which will choose the top three candidates who have attained the highest number of votes. Under this electoral system the winning candidate might not be the favorite by the majority of voters who voted.

 

A reference case happened in the elections of 2000. Al Gore, the Democratic candidate, had half a million more votes than George W. Bush (Republican Party), the votes of the Republican candidate, however, they were distributed more evenly in the different Member hence the number of electoral votes won by the Democrats were inferior.

 

State and local government: The local government of the United States of America is structured in various forms in accordance with the legislation of the individual states of the federation. In fact, every state has its own constitution which follows and always respects the Constitution of the United States, which is the basis of the whole of the US government.

 

Generally every US citizen is subject to three levels of "local government": that of the state (1st administrative level), one of the county (2nd administrative level), and that of the municipality (3rd administrative level). Each level has its own political system, subject to the limitations posed by the higher levels.

 

The multiplicity of local forms of government reflects the history of the country. The federal government was created by the former British colonies that were founded separately each other and were ruled independently of each other. Among these colonies were cities and counties with different levels of development and, consequently, with different administrative needs. The Constitutional Convention was then decided to maintain broad autonomy for the states and does not replace the various state systems with a unity government. With the expansion of the country, they were annexed the new states, whose law was modeled on that of the pre-existing state entities.

 

The state is the first level of local government in the United States. It is not exaggeration to say that the Governments of the States, on the daily lives of US citizens, an influence greater than that of the federal authorities. Every State has a written constitution, its system of government and its own code of laws. Each state constitution provides for the highest authority resides in the people and places certain principles-based government.

 

The differences between the laws of the various States can be substantial, even in matters as important as property, health, education and criminal law. Typical state powers are also internal communication, the rules that regulate business and public services, most of the criminal offense, or the working conditions within the state. The federal government requires that the states adopt a republican form of government, and not to pass regulations that are inconsistent with the Constitution or federal law, or with the treaties signed by the United States.

 

Like the federal government, state governments are made up of three branches: executive, legislative and judicial, which play, in principle, the same functions as their counterparts at the federal level. The state chief executive is the Governor, elected by direct universal suffrage, typically for four years (in certain states, the mandate of the Governor lasts only two years). All states have a state legislative body, which in all countries except one has two chambers, where the upper house is usually called the Senate and the lower House of Representatives, House of Delegates, or the General Assembly. An exception is Nebraska, which has a unicameral legislative body. In many states, the Senators have a four-year term, and the members of the lower house of two.

 

At least, every state has a State Police and its judicial system that, in general, from a lower level, consisting of the county courts and reaches up to a state supreme court (the courts names vary). In some states, judges are elected, in others they are appointed, as in the federal system.

 

The long-term impact of the Industrial Revolution

Page 191

 

Exercise: LOOK at the pictures and fill in the table with the benefits and drawback brought about by industrialisation and technological advances.

 

BENEFITS	DRAWBACKS
Life expectancy has doubled since the 18th century.	The new costs to the environment.
Ordinary people enjoy material comforts previously available only to the very rich:	The level of personal consumption grew and grew.
Free education for everyone.	The post-1950 economic boom accelerated a rise in greenhouse gas emissions and it caused a relatively impact on the atmosphere.
Extensive leisure.	A global population (over six bilion multiplies human) impact and the greatest effect on the climate comes from the 1 billion of us who are the Industrial Revolution's main beneficiaries.
Health services.
Social welfare benefits.
New species, crops and techniques were introduced into farming.