Great facts about America!
The Star-spangled banner
The name of the national anthem of the USA is the same as the headline of this text, ”The Star-Spangled Banner”.
The lyrics of the song goes like this:
Say can you see
By the dawns early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilights last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watched
Were so gallantly streaming
And the rockets red glare
The bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there
Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave
111
Fourth of July
As you perhaps already know ”Fourth of July” is the date for the national day of USA.
Many americans celebrate this special day. They do this in various ways. For example by raising the flag.
But why is this day more special than other days?
The fourth of July is the date when USA was ”liberated”. The country was no longer ruled by others. They became independent. The ”others” was the british empire. More known as the Great Britain.
This day is also known as ”Independence day”.
The ”declaration of independence” was signed on the fourth of July 1776.
13 american colonies were involved in this declaration. By signing they made it clear they would no longer accept being ruled by Great Britain.
The former colonies were transformed into states. The 13 stripes in the american flag represents these 13 original states. Later in time more states were formed. As you probably already know. (The 50 stars on the american flag represents the 50 states that USA consists of today1).
The 13 original states
These were the 13 original states that were formed through ”the declaration of independence”:
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina & Georgia.
The 14th state
Number fourteen in the row of states became Vermont. This happened on the 4th of March in 1791.
231
The gang war in Chicago!
The town of Chicago became the scene for a brutal gang war that took place in this town. There were several gangs involved in this war.
All of this took place in the 1920-1930’s. The country where it happened was (of course) USA.
They came from Italy!
Some of the gangs that became involved in this war had connections to Italy. Some of the people who formed these ”italian gangs” in the USA were immigrants from Italy.
But not the famous mafia boss Al Capone. He was born in New York in USA. But his parents were immigrants from Italy.
At least he had connections to Italy through his parents. Like probably more of the members of these gangs had.
The reason for the gang war!
The government decided for a prohibition against alcohol. It didn’t work. The alcohol selling was taken over by the criminal gangs. They made a lot of money from this selling.
The gangs also got in conflict with each other over who was going to do the selling of the alcohol. Since there was much money to make from it.
So the prohibition against alcohol was what made it possible for the criminals to take over the selling of the alcohol. But the real reason for the war was probably money.
221
The american civil war
The american civil war took place in the United States of America (USA) during the 19th century. The cause for the outbreak of the war was different opinions about the slavery that was a part of the american society in these days.
The slaves were brought to USA from Africa. This trade with slaves from Africa had been going on for a long time before this conflict started.
Who was involved in this war?
There were two parts included in this conflict. The northern states of America and the southern states of America. The northern states wanted to abolish the slavery and the southern states wanted to keep it.
Maybe the northern states were more developed and because of this was in lesser need of slave workers. They were perhaps able to replace some of the slaves with machines such as tractors and harvesting machines.
The southern states on the other hand might have been in greater need of slaves to ”get their work done”.
Therefore it might not have been a ”better way of thinking” in the northern states that led to their opinion about the slavery. But a lesser need for slaves because of a higher developed society. It was because of this easier for them to ”do right”. Maybe.
The Macahan family and the American civil war!
If you have seen the old TV-series ”How The West Was Won” you know that the American civil war was a part of the action in this series. At least a bit.
The cause for the Macahan family to leave their old home and start the journey towards a new home was this civil war.
279