Chapter 13
1. How did western expansion become inextricably linked with sectional identity during the 1840s?
2. How and why did southerners change their position on slavery—first claiming it was a “necessary evil,” then defending it as a “positive good”?
3. Why did the United States fight the war with Mexico? What was the larger impact of this war?
4. How and why did divisions within American society during the 1850s bring the Second Party System to an end?
5. What choices were available to Americans in the election of 1860, and why was Abraham Lincoln’s victory significant?
Chapter 14
1. 1. Why did the North and the South choose the path of military conflict in 1861?
2. What were the stated war aims and military strategies of each side as the war progressed?
3. How and why did the Civil War become a “total war”?
4. What was the significance of emancipation toward the conduct and outcome of the war?
5. How and why did the North win the war in 1865?
Chapter 15
1. How did Presidents Lincoln and Johnson envision Reconstruction?
2. How and why did Republicans in Congress take control of Reconstruction?
3. Analyze and explain what African Americans expected and the realities they encountered during Reconstruction.
4. What was the southern response(s) to Reconstruction?
5. Analyze and explain the political crisis of 1877 and the end of Reconstruction.
6. What were the successes and failures of Reconstruction?
Chapter 16
1. How and why did the economic and social values of white Americans clash with those of Native Americans in the West?
2. How did the Industrial Revolution affect the settlement of the West?
3. How did mining, farming, and ranching shape the development of the West?
4. How did diversity both fundamentally define the West and become the source of conflict in western society?
Chapter 17
1. What factors led to the economic success of industrial capitalism in America after 1877?
2. How were business practices organized and new technologies harnessed in order to maximize profits in American history?
3. What were the working conditions of American industrial laborers?
4. How and why did American workers seek to improve their working conditions in the late nineteenth century?
Chapter 18
1. Explain the role of parties in domestic politics before 1900. What choices did the parties afford voters?
2. How and why did political affairs play a central role in American culture in the late nineteenth century? How did women participate in political culture?
3. Analyze and discuss the origins and aims of the Populist movement.
4. Describe the political structure in the South after 1877, and explain how blacks were gradually disenfranchised.
5. How and why did racial segregation intensify in the late nineteenth century?
Chapter 19
1. What enabled American cities to grow so dramatically during the nineteenth century?
2. How did industrialization affect urbanization?
3. How did class structure, ethnicity, and gender affect urban political affairs?
4. Describe the emergence of an urban culture with distinctive living and working patterns, civic and religious institutions, family life, and leisure pursuits.
Chapter 20
1. How did progressivism and organized interest groups reflect the new political choices of Americans?
2. Why did progressives believe in the ability of individuals to affect positive change? How has this idea manifested itself in political reform efforts?
3. What reforms did American women, urbanites, and African Americans seek?
4. Evaluate and explain how and why President Roosevelt expanded the federal government’s power within the economy.
5. How did President Wilson seek to accommodate his progressive principles to the realities of political power?
Chapter 21
1. How did economic interests affect American involvement in overseas expansion?
2. What were the causes and consequences of the Spanish-American War?
3. Explain and assess President Wilson’s attempts to reconcile America’s foreign policy with the nation’s political ideals.
4. Describe the American foreign policy that developed between 1877 and 1914.
Chapter 22
1. How and why did World War I begin?
2. Evaluate and discuss President Wilson’s decision to enter the war in 1917.
3. Why was World War I considered a “total war”?
4. How did the war affect economic affairs and social relationships in America?
5. How and why did President Wilson attempt to shape the Treaty of Versailles?
6. Assess and discuss the failure of the Settlement of 1919-1920 to achieve a lasting peace in America and in Europe.
Chapter 23
1. How and why did business and government become allies in the 1920’s? How did this partnership affect the American economy?
2. Evaluate and discuss American foreign policy in the 1920s.
3. Discuss the emergence of a mass national culture after World War I.
4. How and why did cultural conflict break out in response to the new secular values of the decade?
5. How and why did intellectuals, writers, and artists react to the postwar era?
Chapter 24
1. What were the origins and consequences of the Great Depression?
2. How did American families react to the deprivations of the Great Depression?
3. Describe popular American culture of the early 1930s.
4. Evaluate President Hoover’s response to the Great Depression.
5. How and why did the national election of 1932 mark a turning point in American politics?