南昌韩美美容医院: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

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 between
Britain and the colonies over disallowance(拒绝)of
measures passed by the popular assemblies, over
writs of assistance empowering the royal customs
officials to break into homes and stores, and over
judicial tenure (保有条件) in the colonial courts.
Subsequent decisions made in London forbade"for
the time being"western settlement beyond the
Appalachian divide (the Proclamation of 1763) ,
eliminated provincial paper currency as legal
tender, bolstered(支持) the customs department,and
enlarged the authority of the vice-admiralty
courts in relation to enforcement (实行) of the
Navigation Acts.
Taxation Without Representation When these
unpopular measures were followed almost
immediately by Parliament's placing taxes on
Americans for the first time in their history, the
result was an explosion that shook the empire to
its foundations. George Grenville, chief minister
from 1763 to 1765, did not father the idea of
American taxation; it had been"in the air"for
several years. But it was he who pushed the
controversial (争论的) bills through Parliament in
1764 and 1765. The Sugar Act of 1764, actually a
downward revision of an earlier Molasses(糖蜜)Act,
cut the duty on imported foreign molasses from
sixpence to threepence a gallon; but it was to be
vigorously enforced, and it was now called a
revenue measure rather than a law designed merely
to regulate trade. The next year Grenville secured
passage of the so-called Stamp Act, placing taxes
on all legal documents and on newspapers, almanacs
(矿石),and other items.Soon afterward came a third
law,the Quartering(宿舍分配)Act,a form of indirect
taxation that required American assemblies to
provide British troops passing through their
colonies with temporary housing and an assortment
of provisions."Taxation without representation"was
the central issue in the imperial rupture(破裂).It
raised a fundamental question concerning the
limits of parliamentary power that was debated
throughout the dozen or so years before the
declaration of American independence.
Although Americans complained about the stream
of British acts and regulations after 1759, they
now agreed that the constitutional issue of
taxation posed(出难题)the gravest threat of all to
their freedom as individuals. If it was legal to
take a man's property without his consent, as the
philosopher John Locke wrote in defense of the
Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England, then a man
could scarcely have any liberty remaining, since
property gave one a stake in society and enabled
one to vote. Americans felt confident that Locke
would have approved when they wrote in almost
countless documents and petitions (请愿) that
Englishmen--in England, in Virginia, or anywhere
else-- could be taxed only by their own directly
elected representatives.
When Parliament retreated in 1766,reducing the
Sugar Act to the level of a trade duty and
repealing(废止) the Stamp Act,it was responding to
retaliatory colonial boycotts(联合抵制) on British
trade goods, not to the justness of American
constitutional pronouncements. In 1767, Chancellor
(长官) of the Exchequer (国库) Charles Townshend
persuaded a Parliament already antagonistic (敌对)
toward the colonies to pass the Townshend Acts.
These levied (征收) new and different taxes on the
American colonists: duties to be collected at the
ports on incoming lead, paper,tea,paint,and glass.
Besides meeting other imperial expenses such as
the upkeep (维持) of the army in America, these
Townshend duties might go to pay the salaries of
royal governors and other crown(皇室)officials who
previously had been paid by the colonial
assemblies, which had used this power of the purse
to make the king's appointees (被任命者) somewhat
responsive(共鸣的,易感动的)to their wishes.A final
Townshend scheme reorganized the customs service
in America,establishing its headquarters in Boston,
where mounting friction between collectors and
townspeople led to the dispatch (派遣) of regular
troops to the city to keep order in 1768.
Resistance and Retaliation(复仇)
The new tensions subsided (平息) into a three-
year period of calm beginning in 1770, but only
because a second round of American reprisals(报复)
against English trade prompted the removal(解除)of
all the Townshend duties save the one on tea,which
was retained (保留) to show symbolically that
Parliament had not renounced its right to tax
America. Additionally,the British troops,popularly
known as"redcoats (从前的美国军人) , "had been
withdrawn from Boston following the embarrassing
and unplanned Boston Massacre (大屠杀) (1770) .
Unfortunately for the empire, those years were not
used to bring about permanent agreements between
Americans and Britons on such subjects as the
constitutional relationship between the colonies
and the mother country and what might be a
reasonable way for the provinces to share the
costs of imperial administration. In an atmosphere
of continuing suspicion and distrust, each side
looked for the worst from the other. Instead of
rescinding (废止) the remaining Townshend tax and
exploring inoffensive (无恶意的) methods of aiding
the financially troubled British East India
Company, Parliament enacted(法律制定的)the Tea Act
of 1773,designed to allow the company to bypass(绕
过) middlemen and sell directly to American
retailers (零售商) . It was hardly a plot(企图) to
persuade Americans to drink taxed tea at a low
price, but the colonists interpreted it in that
fashion.Everywhere there was opposition to landing
the dutied brew, and in the Massachusetts capital
the famous Boston Tea Party resulted in the
destruction by patriots (爱国者) of 340 tea chests
on ships in the harbor.
Parliament's retaliation against Massachusetts
was swift and severe: the so-called Intolerable(无
法忍受的)Acts closed the port of Boston,altered(改
变) town and provincial government,permitted royal
officials and functionaries(官员, 公务员) to go to
Britain for trial for any alleged (所谓的) crimes,
and provided for the quartering of troops once
again in Boston.The other colonies rallied(恢复)to
the defense of Massachusetts in a Continental
Congress that met in Philadelphia in September
1774 and denounced(公开抨击) the acts.Already some
colonial leaders were arguing that the old federal
conception of the empire would no longer protect
American rights and liberties, for Britain had
demonstrated(表示) its unwillingness(不情愿)to let
the colonists manage their own internal, domestic
affairs. Now,Thomas Jefferson,John Adams,and other
writers claimed that the empire should properly be
viewed as one in which each colony was the equal
of England in all respects, that the only tie with
Britain was through the king. Here, in sum,was the
Commonwealth idea of the 20th century, which now
unites such nations as New Zealand, Canada, and
Australia with Britain,an idea then rejected(拒绝,
驳回)by England.
Lexington and Concord
War clouds were gathering rapidly. The sending
of more than 3,000 British army regulars under Maj.
Gen.Thomas Gage to Boston further exacerbated(恶化)
the imperial rift (裂口) . When a column of these
troops under Lt. Col. Francis Smith moved into the
countryside to collect arms and munitions (弹药)
gathered by the patriot militia (义勇军) ,
hostilities (敌对) erupted (爆发) at Lexington and
Concord on Apr.19,1775. Soon afterward militia
contingents (分谴队) from places throughout New
England took up positions outside Boston, putting
the city under siege(围攻) . Forts Ticonderoga and
Crown Point in upstate(离海岸较远的) New York fell
to other rebel parties. The misnamed (起错名字的)
Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on Breed's Hill
across from Boston(June 17,1775) . Although Gage's
units dislodged (逐出) the rebels from their
advanced positions threatening the city, the
British casualties(意外) came to 42 percent of the
2,500 redcoats engaged, their heaviest losses of
the war. The Second Continental Congress, then
meeting at Philadelphia, took control of the New
England forces opposing Gage. The lawmakers chose
as commander of this"Continental Army"George
Washington, a 43-year-old delegate from Virginia,a
planter (拓荒者) and a ranking militia officer in
the French and Indian Wars.
RESOURCES OF THE OPPONENTS
Britain seemingly (表面上) had enormous
advantages in a war against its colonies. It
possessed(疯狂的) a well-established government, a
sizable(相当大的)treasury,a competent(能干的)army,
the most powerful navy in the world, and a large
Loyalist population in the colonies. By contrast,
the American rebels had no chief executive such as
the king, nor a cabinet whose members had assigned
responsibilities. In fact, the Americans had no
separate or independent departments of government
such as war, treasury, and foreign affairs until
near the end of the conflict. The Continental
Congress itself had as its rivals the 13 state
legislatures, which often chose not to cooperate
with their delegates in Philadelphia. Indeed,
Congress was an extralegal body, existing at the
pleasure of the states before the Articles of
Confederation (同盟, 联合者) were ratified in 1781.
American Advantages
The Americans, however,

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