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谁有关于美国独立战争的文章,英文的,字越多越好啊!

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谁有关于美国独立战争的文章,英文的,字越多越好啊!
谁有关于美国独立战争的文章,英文的,字越多越好啊!
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
美国独立战争
The American Revolution, the conflict by which
the American colonists won their independence from
Great Britain and created the United States of
America,was an upheaval(大变动)of profound(深刻的)
significance in world history. It occurred in the
second half of the 18th century, in an"Age of
Democratic Revolution, "when philosophers and
political theorists in Europe were critically
examining the institutions of their own societies
and the notions(观念) that lay behind them.Yet the
American Revolution first put to the test ideas
and theories that had seldom if ever been worked
out in practice in the Old World--separation of
church and state, sovereignty(主权) of the people,
written constitutions, and effective checks and
balances in government.
A struggle to preserve and later to expand the
dimensions (限度) of human freedom, the American
Revolution was also an anticolonial movement, the
first in modern history. Before then,countries had
usually come into existence through evolutionary
(进化论) processes, the result of tradition and
history, geography and circumstance. The United
States, on the other hand,had a birth date,1776;it
was"the first new nation, "a republic born in
revolution and war, a pattern (模式) followed by
scores of fledgling (初出茅庐者)states since that
time,especially in the so-called Third World areas
of the globe since 1945.
For many nation-makers the American rebellion
has been a relevant revolution, offering insights
(洞察力) and parallels that have aided them in
their quest for self-determination. The
revolutionists of 1776 themselves accurately
predicted that the American Revolution would
inspire men elsewhere to secure freedom and
national identity in their own lands. As Thomas
Jefferson assured John Adams, "the Flames kindled
(点火) on the fourth of July"had spread over too
much of the globe ever to be extinguished by the
forces of despotism(独裁)and reaction(反动).
THE COLONIES IN 1763
No revolution,of course,can be fully exported.
A vast array of factors that include the political
and social backgrounds of a people will shape the
precise(正确的)course of any and all revolutions.
So it was in America, where the colonists were not
an alien people with a culture very different from
that of the motherland.They were for the most part
British in origin,English-speaking,Protestant(新教
徒),rural,and agrarian(土地的)in their principal
characteristics. They were proud of their Anglo-
Saxon heritage and of the empire of which they
were a part--proud,too,of the role they had played
in helping to seize Canada and to crush French
power in North America in the French and Indian
War(known as the Seven Years' War in Europe),which
ended in 1763.
At that time the colonists gave little thought
to cutting loose from their imperial moorings (停
泊处) . They considered the British political
system the best in Europe, noted for its
equilibrium between King, Lords, and Commons
assembled in Parliament. They imported British
books, furniture,and clothing;wealthy planters and
merchants imitated the manners of the English
aristocracy (贵族) . Even with the restrictions
imposed on their external trade by the Navigation
Acts--or perhaps because of them--they had
prospered in their direct economic intercourse
with Britain, the most industrialized country in
Europe. Nor was their trade rigidly confined(分娩
); they were also permitted to sell an assortment
(各色)of valuable products such as grain,flour,and
rice on non-British markets in the West Indies and
in southern Europe.
In 1763 the colonists were an expanding and
maturing(成熟)people;their numbers had reached a
million and a half, and they were doubling every
quarter of a century--multiplying like
rattlesnakes(响尾蛇), as Benjamin Franklin said.
If most provincials were sons of the soil,
Americans could nonetheless boast of five urban
centers, "cities in the wilderness"--Philadelphia,
Boston, New York,Charleston,and Newport.The cities
served as filters through which new ideas of the
European Enlightenment(启蒙)entered the colonies,
helping to generate an inquisitive(求知的)spirit
about humankind and the total environment.
Newspapers and colleges in the cities and towns
served as disseminators(传播者) of the thought and
culture of what was truly an Atlantic civilization.
A new mobility, together with a receptivity(接受能
力)to new ideas,was a hallmark(纯度检验证明印记)of
American society. It came about because of high
wages,cheap land,and an absence of legal privilege.
Americans were--except for their African slaves--
one of the freest people in the world.Another sign
of that freedom was their almost complete control
over their internal political and domestic affairs,
exercised largely through their popularly elected
lower houses of assembly (集会) , which in turn
served as nurturing ground for such future
Revolutionary leaders as John Adams,John Dickinson,
Thomas Jefferson,and George Washington.
Although the colonists had reached a high
level of maturity, there was not at mid-century a
meaningful American nationalism. The life and
institutions of the parent state continued to
provide the central focus of colonial culture. The
word American appeared infrequently; people were
more likely to describe themselves as English or
British,or as Virginians or Pennsylvanians.Nor did
the provincials display a marked degree of
intercolonial (殖民地间的) cooperation; their own
rivalries and jealousies over boundaries, western
land claims, and military contributions in the
imperial wars all tended to retard(使减缓)American
national feeling, as may be seen in the rejection
of the Plan of Union presented by Benjamin
Franklin to the Albany(美国NEW YORK州首府)Congress
in 1754.
Nothing, however, unites a people like a
commonly perceived (察觉) threat to their way of
life; and after 1763 the colonists felt endangered
within the empire.There is a real irony in the way
the American Revolution began, for the very
elements that had wedded the colonists to the
mother country--especially their political and
economic freedoms--were viewed in London as signs
that Britain had lost control of its transatlantic
dominions, that the colonists were fast heading
down the road to full autonomy or absolute
independence. Those sentiments,growing steadily in
the 18th century, crystallized (结晶) during the
French and Indian War when British officials
complained that Americans cooperated poorly in
raising men and supplies and in providing quarters
for British troops, to say nothing of trading
illegally with the enemy and generating friction
(摩擦) with western Indians over land and trade
goods.
Whatever the truth of these charges--and they
were partly true, if exaggerated--it was not
unreasonable after 1763 for Britain to ask more of
its prosperous dependencies. Britain's heavy
national debt and concurrent tax burdens stemmed
(阻止) partly at least from a series of 18th-
century wars that were fought to some extent for
the defense of the colonies. Nor was it wrong to
argue that a measure of reorganization in American
administration would lead to greater economy and
efficiency in imperial management. But Britain
embarked upon this course with a lack of
sensitivity, ignoring the concerns of its maturing
subjects, who were scarcely the children they had
once been.
In short, Britain's state of mind(meaning that
of its rulers and the parliamentary(议会)majority)
corresponded to its lofty status as the superpower
of Europe in 1763. It was said that the Pax Romana
would pale in comparison with the Pax Britannica,
which would bring a"prosperity and glory unknown
to any former age. "Britain no longer felt a need
for its former allies in Europe. For what nation
could now threaten it? It no longer required the
goodwill of its colonies, for France had ceased to
be a threat to the thirteen colonies,whose men and
other resources--although Britain scarcely
admitted it--had in fact aided the British victory
in 1763.
Britain's was a mentality unable to appreciate
the aims and aspirations (热望) of its colonial
people. Superpowers, all too often, are not much
given to introspection(内省) ,to questioning their
values and assumptions.And it had been a long time
since the British themselves had felt their
liberties threatened,either by a foreign danger or
by internal menace (恐吓) from a tyrannical ruler.
Thus, when Britain adopted a new imperial program,
the colonists were never meaningfully consulted.
Furthermore, Britain's tactics (策略) could hardly
avoid arousing the Americans. Having left the
colonies virtually alone for decades with a de
facto attitude of"salutary neglect, "the London
government now attempted too much too quickly.
THE GROWING FERMENT
Even before the termination of the French and
Indian War, visible indications had appeared of a
new direction in colonial affairs. Beginning in
1759, small-scale disputes broke out &n