Possible short essay topics:
- Why did England want colonies in America? According to the theory of mercantilism, what was the purpose of the American colonies?
- The process in which one is elected President of the United States, including the role of the electoral college and popular vote.
- The impact of the Great Compromise on how our government works today as a bicameral (Senate and House of Representatives) legislature
- How the invention of the cotton gin relates and connects all three themes of Antebellum America (westward expansion, industrialization, and slavery)
- The purpose of Ben Franklin's Join or Die political cartoon. During which conflict was it first published? What group used it during the Revolutionary period? Symbolism and meaning?
- The differing views of Democrats and Republicans during the Reconstruction era regarding civil rights.
- How Abraham Lincoln changed his views and stance on slavery from the time he was elected president in 1860 to the time of his death in 1865. Provide specific supporting details.
- Arguments for and against big business in American during the Gilded Age (post- Civil War era)
Unit 1: Early Exploration and Colonization (Chapters 1,2,3)
1. Christopher Columbus: Changing views of the 400th and 500th anniversary
2. Define colony
3. What was the Columbian Exchange?
4. What was the Jamestown colony?
5. Describe a representative government
6. Who were the Pilgrims? Why did they leave Europe?
7. What was the Mayflower Compact?
8. Who were the Puritans? Why did they leave England?
9. Define religious tolerance
10. Why were the Salem Witch Trials significant?
11. Define Proprietary colony
12. Define Royal colony
13. Who were the Quakers? Who was their leader?
14. What are several characteristics of the Middle Colonies
15. Define Mason-Dixon Line
16. Why was Georgia founded? Who was the leader?
17. What are several characteristics of the Southern colonies
18. John Smith
19. James Oglethorpe
20. Anne Hutchinson
21. William Bradford
22. Thomas Hooker
23. Jonathan Edwards
24. John Winthrop
25. Define Mercantilism
26. Balance of trade
27. Define Exports
28. Define Imports
29. Great Awakening; What was it ? What was its impact? Who was a leader?
30. What was the Enlightenment? Why is Ben Franklin the best example of an Enlightenment thinker?
Unit 2: The American Revolution and Formation of Early Government (Ch. 4, 5)
1. What was the French and Indian War? Why did it happen?
2. What was significant about the Albany Plan of Union?
3. Proclamation of 1763:
4. Define Sugar act
5. Define Stamp act
6. What does “No taxation without representation” mean?
7. Define Boycott
8. Who was Sam Adams?
9. Who was John Adams?
10. Who were the Sons of Liberty?
11. Join or Die political cartoon meaning
12. What happened at the Boston Massacre?
13. Why did John Adams defend the British soldiers?
14. Why did Britain impose the Intolerable Acts on the colonies? What were they?
15. Why are the Battles of Lexington and Concord important?
16. First Continental Congress:
17. Define Patriots
18. Define Loyalists
19. Who wrote Common Sense? What was its impact?
20. When was the Declaration of Independence made official?
21. Who wrote the Declaration?
22. What were the 3 main parts of the Declaration?
23. What are two reasons why American won the Revolutionary War?
24. George Washington
25. Thomas Jefferson
26. John Dickinson
27. John Hancock
28. Thomas Paine
29. Paul Revere
30. Caesar Rodney
31. What is a constitution?
32. Define the Articles of Confederation
33. What was the Constitutional Convention?
34. 3 branches of government and powers
35. Who was the father of the constitution
36. What is included in the New Jersey Plan? The Virginia Plan?
37. How did the Great Compromise solve the problem in #4?
38. Define the Three-Fifths Compromise
39. What’s the difference between Federalists and Antifederalists?
40. What are the Bill of Rights?
41. What freedoms are included in the 1st amendment? The 4th amendment?
42. What happened in the Tinker v Des Moines case? What was the result?
43. What happened in the Mapp v Ohio case? The result? What is the exclusionary rule?
Unit 3: Antebellum America: (Ch. 6-10)
1. Election of 1800- Name who won? Antifederalist or Federalist?
2. What was the Louisiana Purchase
3. What was the purpose of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
4. Who was the War of 1812 fought between? Why? Results?
5. Define manifest destiny
6. John O’Sullivan
7. California Gold Rush
8. Define Industrial Revolution?
9. Define capital; capitalist
10. Francis Cabot Lowell
11. Samuel Slater
12. Define factory system
13. What are interchangeable parts?
14. Who were the Lowell girls?
15. What is urbanization?
16. What is meant by division of labor?
17. Andrew Jackson
18. Define the Indian Removal Act
19. Define the Trail of Tears
20. Where did most immigrants come from between 1820-1860?
21. Where did they tend to settle?
22. How did immigrants affect American industry?
23. Who were nativists? Why did they oppose immigrants?
24. Define Abolitionists
25. Who was Frederick Douglass?
26. What is the underground railroad?
27. Why is Harriet Tubman called “Black Moses?”
28. Why was Uncle Tom’s Cabin important?
29. What was decided in the Dred Scott case?
30. Why was John Brown considered a martyr?
Unit 4- The Civil War and Reconstruction (Ch. 11, 12)
1. List some strengths and weaknesses of both the north and south at the start of the Civil War
2. What was Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation?
3. Colonel Robert Shaw
4. Why was the election of 1860 significant?
5. Why was Abraham Lincoln a changed at the start of his 2nd term?
6. Why is the 54th Massachusetts Regiment important?
7. Why was Gettysburg a turning point?
8. Pickett’s Charge
9. What important points did Lincoln make in the Gettysburg Address?
10. Jefferson Davis
11. Robert E Lee
12. Ulysses S Grant
13. How was the North different from the south after the Civil War?
14. Define Freedmen
15. Define Reconstruction
16. What was the Freedmen’s Bureau?
17. Define 13th amendment
18. Define Black codes
19. Define 14th amendment
20. Define 15th amendment
21. Who were the Ku Klux Klan? What was their goal?
22. Andrew Johnson
23. Lincoln’s 10% plan
24. Enforcement Act of 1870
25. KKK
26. Nathan Bedford
27. End of reconstruction- successes and failures
Unit 5: Post-Civil War America (Ch. 13, 14, 15)
1. Impact of the transcontinental railroad
2. Impact of the Bessemer process
3. Andrew Carnegie
4. John Rockefeller
5. Arguments for robber barons or captains of industry
6. Monopoly, horizontal and vertical consolidation
7. Social Darwinism
8. Gospel of wealth
9. Sherman Antitrust Act
10. Socialism
11. Reasons for labor unions
12. Membership and goals of the Knights of Labor
13. Membership and goals of the American Federation of Labor
14. Collective bargaining
15. What impact did strikes (Pullman, Haymarket, Homestead) have on the reputation of unions
16. Pull factors to the West- Pacific Railway Act, Homestead Act
17. Push factors to the West
18. Differing ideas of land ownership between Native Americans and Americans
19. Why did myths develop on the western frontier?
20. Turner Thesis
21. American Exceptionalism
22. Who were Populists? Goals?
23. William Jennings Bryan’s Cross of Gold Speech in 1896 election
24. How did the legacy of the Populists live on?
25. “New” immigrants; from where? Settlement? Ghettos
26. Chinese Exclusion Act, Gentlemen’s Agreement
27. How did cities grow? Challenges?
28. Tenements
29. Jacob Riis- How the Other Half Lives
30. Political machines and bosses
31. Boss William Tweed
32. Thomas Nast and the significance of his political cartoons
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