bode in the woods, robbing the rich but helping the poor. Many stories, some of which were contradictory to each other, were told with interest among the common people. This partly showed their grievance against the social injustice in John's time when social problems were serious.
King John also quarreled with the Pope. In 1205, the monks of Canterbury ventured to choose an archbishop without consulting King John. Having been chosen, the new archbishop hastened off for Rome to gain the Pope's confirmation. But King John forced the monks to elect his treasure archbishop. The Pope, however, rejected both the candidates and bade the monks to choose his favourite, Stephen Langton, as Archbishop of Canterbury. The enraged king drove the monks who had obeyed the Pope out of the kingdom and confiscated their lands. The Pope then retaliated against the king by placing England under, the interdict, that is to say, he ordered the clergy in England to close all their churches and suspend public services. King John was forced to give in. He not only agreed to accept the Pope's nomination of Stephen Langton but also promised to send a yearly tribute to the Pope. He even promised to hand England over to the Pope who would give it back as a fief. This would turn King John into a vassal of the Pope.
King John planned to whitewash himself with military victories. In 1213, he proposed a war against France so as to reconquer the lost territory. But the barons refused to follow him. In fact, they were planning to put an end to John's reckless and tyrannic behaviour. The Great Charter
The barons became more and more discontented with John's tyranny and misgovernment. In 1214, a number of them met and decided to compel the king to sign a charter containing the things that a king might not do. But John refused to sign it. The rebel barons raised an army and marched against him. When they reached London, the insurgent nobles found the gate wide open because many people supported the rebellion. The nobles and the king met at Runnymede, not far from London. On June I5, 1215, they forced King John to sign and swear to observe the charter they had prepared.
The Great Charter, or the Magna Carta, is a most important document in English history. It is as important to the English people as the Declaration of Independence to the Americans. It has been regarded as \corner stone\of English history. Some of its most important provisions are as follows:
1 )The king must promise to observe the rights of his vassals (barons) and the vassals in turn must observe the rights of their men.
2) The merchant is not to be deprived of his goods for small offenses, nor the farmers of his wagon and implements. No tax should be levied in the kingdom without the consent of the Great Council. 3) No free man shall be imprisoned or banished or punished in any way, unless convicted by a jury of his fellow citizens.
4) The king should permit merchants to move about freely and observe the privileges of the various towns.
The Great Charter was the first step of constitutional experiment and rule of law. It tried to establish a legal relation between the king and his barons by defining their respective rights and obligations. The Great Charter paved the way for the new-born bourgeoisie to get political power because it granted more power to the Great Council, which was the embryonic form of the English Parliament. The charter protected the rights of the erchant class. This facilitated the development of commerce and handicraft.
The Great Charter laid down the basic rules for the English and American legal system. It raised the problem of protecting life, property, and preventing possible abuse of power of the government. It tried to establish a due process of law for trials of criminal and civil cases.
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Judgments could only come after trials and no freeman should be punished by the law unless convicted by a jury of his fellow citizens. All these rules, designed to protect the privileged class at first, were later extended to the broad masses of common people and established the guideline for protection of civil rights in the Western World.
Though the Great Charter protected freemen who made up only 12% of the population, the serfs who made up the overwhelming majority of the population gained little benefit from it. But still the charter represented a turning point in the development of English history. The demand for a social order regulated by the law began to challenge feudal despotism. British constitution and the Parliament
There is no written constitution. A thousand years ago, before the Norman conquest in 1066, the Anglo-Saxon kings consulted the great council (an assembly of the leading men from each district) before taking major decisions.
Between 1066 and 1215 the king ruled alone, but in 1215 king john signed the Magna Carta (the Great Charter----the first constitutional paper), which gave some of his powers to the nobles. (This was the embryonic form of the English Parliament). In later centuries this was seen as the first occasion on which the king was forced to take advice.
In 1264 the first parliament of nobles met together. Since then the British constitution has evolved, in other words, it has grown up slowly, as a result of countless acts of parliament.
There have been no violent changes in the constitution since the ?bloodless revolution’/“glorious revolution” of 1688. Then, parliament invited William and Mary to become Britain's first constitutional monarchs. A constitutional monarch is one who can rule only with the support of parliament.
The bill of rights (1689) was the first legal step towards constitutional monarchy. This bill prevented the monarch from making laws or raising an army without parliament?s approval.
Since 1689 the power of parliament has grown steadily, and the power of the monarch has declined to nothing. The great reform bill of 1832 and the second reform bill of 1867 enabled a very large section of the population to vote for its government.
Today every citizen aged eighteen or over has the right to vote. Questions for consideration
?1.What was the effect of the Renaissance in England?
?2.How had the English values changed under the influence of the Renaissance? ?3.What was the Roman Catholic Church like in the Middle Ages? ?4.What was the beliefs of the Puritans?(p.111-123) ?5.What was the effect of the Industrial Revolution? ?6.How did Britain expand its Empire abroad?
?7.What was the effect of the two World Wars on Britain?
Questions for lecture X
?1. Where is America situated? And is it favorable for human inhabitancy? ?2.Is China larger than America or not in terms of land-area? ?3.Does America have any colonies?
Volume II. An Outline Introduction to the United States of America Lecture X.
Position and Land-area of the United States of America
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?It is usually said that China is a big country abounding in natural wealth with a gigantic
population, however, it is not obviously aware that America has a vast territory and abundant resources but not densely populated.
?America is mainly situated in the northern temperate zone, which is an ideally habitual region North American
?The continent of North America encompasses 9,351,970 square miles. Its highest point is Mt. McKinley in Alaska, USA, at 20,320 feet above sea level. Its lowest point is Death Valley in California, USA, at 282 feet below sea level. North America's approximate population in 2002 was 494,394,000. North America includes Canada, the United States of America, Mexico, Greenland, the Caribbean islands, and the countries of Central America. North America is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the north by the Arctic Ocean, and on the south by South America. The longest river in North America is the Mississippi and Missouri, which runs through the USA for a length of 3,741 miles. North America's largest lake is Lake Superior (31,820 square miles) which sits astride the border between Canada and the United States.
Questions for lecture XI
?How many geographically-featured parts is Mainland America roughly divided, and what are they? ?What kind of impression have you got on America after we have talked by this lecture?
Lecture XI. Surface Regions and Landform of America 导 言
美国的小学生按传统都要学唱：
啊！美丽辽阔的山川， 一片金色麦浪， 在富饶的平原上， 耸立着庄严的山岗。 阿美利加！阿美利加！ 上帝恩宠之邦。 蒙神恩施博爱， 横贯东西海洋！ Three Basic Geographical Areas or surface Regions
?1.The Atlantic Seacoast (also called: Eastern Coastal) Plain and the Appalachian(s) Mountains (ref. to P.145)
?2.the Mississippi River Valley/Basin and
the Great Central Plain
?The Rockies to the Pacific Ocean/lower and gentler Coast Ranges.
River Vitality 0f Mississippi
?The Mississippi River is vital to the people of the basin. Over 18 million people rely on the Mississippi for water supply. Communities up and down the Mississippi use the river to discharge industrial and municipal wastes (as permitted by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency). Commercial navigation on the Mississippi River allows Midwestern farmers to ship grains to world markets, with over 60 percent of U.S. grain exports shipped via the Mississippi. The river generates close to $2 million annually from commercial fishing and over $1 billion from Upper Mississippi River recreation alone. Mississippi River basin
?The Mississippi river provides some of the most extreme examples of sediment related flooding
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within the United States.
?Since the Mississippi river's basin encompasses over a third of the United States and contains many poorly managed, sediment-laden tributaries, its sediment load is usually very high.
?Many communities in Louisiana which have grown up near the delta of the Mississippi have been \flooding and sedimentation for many decades. In some instances levee construction has become so extensive that the river's bottom may be ten or more feet above the average elevation of the surrounding community.
The 3rd Geographically Featured Part
?The Rockies to the Pacific Ocean/lower and gentler Coast Ranges.
The Rockies ( the Rocky Mountains)
2 regional terms in Mainland America
Yellowstone National Park
Ladies adventure bus toward Canyon
Questions for XII lecture
?How many sorts of climate does America have?
?What brings about the distinction of meteorological conditions of the country? ?How many natural disasters does America sustain?
Lecture XII Climate and Weather of Mainland America
?Mainland America is mainly situated in the northern temperate zone. But, owing to its large size and
varied landforms, it has different types of climate in different areas.
1. New England is dominated by the northern and oceanic climate, usually there would be several fierce blizzards every year
?Mid-Atlantic states, although the seasons are well defined, can sort out to be oceanic climate ?The south-east states ---- oceanic climate, are sometimes harassed by hurricanes in summer.
?The Midwest, states on upper-reaches of Mississippi, including the Missouri R. and Ohio River
valley----typical continental climate, troubled by another natural disaster “tornado” A few major cities of US
?The eleven stats of the Rocky Mountains have sharply different climatic conditions
?Boston----one of the oldest cities of America; ?New York----the largest (seaport) city of America
?Washington D.C. (District of Columbia)---- one of the neatest cities, situated on the traditional
dividing line (Potomac River), as the capital of the United States;
?Detroit ----the auto-capital of the U.S;
?San Francisco----the oldest city of the US (set up by Spanish colonists) ?Los Angeles----the largest city of US in terms of area.
Questions for lecture XIV
?Who were the forefathers/ancestor of Americans? ?How many races/nationalities are there in the US? ?Why is the US called a melting-pot?
?Who were the Pilgrim Fathers, and why they were given such a name?
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Lecture XIII People, Race and Ethnic Groups of America
?J.F.kennedy once said: The United States was “a society of immigrants, each of them had begun life anew……This is the secret of America; a nation of people with the fresh memory of old traditions who dare to explore new frontiers.”
?The United States is an/the largest immigration country; immigrations from Europe to America began more than 400 years ago.
?Who took the lead in immigration?
1.Spanish colonists took the lead and established a few outposts in what is now Florida in1500s; 2.Before long a French colony was founded in what is now Maine; 3.In 1607, Britain planted its first colony in what is now Virginia; ?Are these people were the forefathers of Americans?
In 1607, Britain planted its first colony in what is now Virginia; they set up the first colony, Named James-town Pilgrim Fathers
?In September, 1620, a group of 101 Puritans and some employees left Plymouth, Eng. And sailed for America in the ship named Mayflower.
?They worked out a solemn agreement, known as Mayflower Compact.
?They set up their first settlement which was called Plymouth, soon they built another, named Boston
Immigration Country---Melting-pot
?The United States is a nation of 100 ethnic groups.
?The majority---whites, taking up 85/78% of total population.
?All the others are called minorities, with blacks amounts to about 12%, Hispanics (Hispano/Espanoles/Iberico)10%, the rest are Asians, Africans ?Chinese Americans, some 2.8million 1) White People
The majority of Americans are white people who account for about 78% of the total US population. The white people are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from European nations. Most of them believe in Christianity.
The foundation of the United States was the 13 English colonies established by England before 1700. It was the 13 colonies that finally founded the United States. Most of the early immigrants from Britain, generally known as the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP), were \motherland because they refused to obey the roles of the Church of England and demanded freedom of religious belief for every individual. Their belief laid the foundation of the separation of church from the state in the United States.
New England, mainly populated by freedom-loving Puritans (including independents and other radical Protestants) in the colonial time, has been known as the cradle of American liberty.\1620, a group of English Puritans founded the Plymouth, colony in Massachusetts. They signed the MayfloWer Compact, which marked the beginning of a completely new system---self-government, based on equality and democracy. They held the first Thank-giving Day celebration to thank Cod. New Englanders, traditionally called Yankees, were regarded as representatives and defenders of the Anglo-Saxon culture that finally became the basis of American mainstream culture.
Many people from other European countries also immigrated to the English colonies of North America in the colonial time. In his famous pamphlet Common Sense Thomas Paine wrote, \not England is the parent country to America. These words encouraged more immigrants from other European countries to come to the United States.
Most of the early European immigrants fled their homelands to escape starvation and historical unrest. The old autocratic system in Europe deprived them of the basic human right and they were told to be subservient to the system they did not like. That is why immigrants from other European countries soon embraced the Anglo-Saxon culture and adapted with surprising speed to American society. Today
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