APUSH/Darnell

Ch 33-34 Reflection: The 1980’s-Present

Domestic Policy

  1. Explain the Reagan Revolution by considering: What was Reagan’s message? Why was his conservative rhetoric right for the times? Who comprises the “New Right”? What is meant by the ‘Moral Majority”? What are examples of the Anti-feminist Backlash?
  2. What do the “War on Drugs” and the fight against HIV/AIDS say about American morality and the role of government in American social life?
  3. Describe Reagan’s economic policy: What is Reaganomics? How did he pay for the massive military build-up? In what ways does he weaken the liberal tradition of the New Deal and Great Society? What consequences did his economic policy have on American society?
  4. How did President George H.W. Bush slow the Reagan Revolution, paving the road for the rise of the ‘Religious Right” in the 1990s?
  5. Account for the change in racial/ethnic/native origin demographics in American society from 1980-2010.
  6. What led to the Democratic Party resurgence of the early 1990s? Despite this Democratic resurgence how did the Contract with America and welfare reform help the Republicans win a major landslide in 1994?
  7. What are the key characteristics of the “New Economy” emerging by the late 1990s?
  8. What is the goal of NAFTA and what are the conflicting perspectives about this economic policy?
  9. How did the Supreme Court narrow the impact of affirmative action programs in business and educational sectors?
  10. What do the Clinton administration scandals reflect about modern American political cynicism and partisanship?
  11. Create a VGO illustrating factors that triggered major economic surges in the 1990s and early 21st century. Compare the roles played by the government and private industries in spurring this economic growth. How are these efforts similar or different from the era of Big Business, Boom of the 1920s and Affluence of the 1950s?
  12. Create a VGO illustrating factors that triggered major economic declines in the 1990s and early 21st century. Compare the government’s response to these economic downturns to the Progressive, New Deal and Great Society reform eras. Notice any patterns of similarity or radical departures? How are TARP and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act similar or different from past government actions?
  13. In what ways are the elections of 2000 and 2008 historic?
  14. What were the goals and consequences of President George W. Bush’s “Compassionate Conservatism?
  15. Reconcile the rise of the Tea Party with the Occupy Wall Street movement in the early 21st century.
  16. Create a timeline reflecting American immigration history, including: The Great Migration, 19th Century Irish and German Immigration, Late 19th Century New Immigrants, Chinese Exclusion Act, Immigration Act of 1924, Immigration and Naturalization Act, 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act, The DREAM Act (Undocumented Immigrants). What trends of continuity and/or change can you identify?

Foreign Policy

  1. What were the Camp David Accords? Why are they historically significant?
  2. Cold War
  3. Make a list of the various methods the US government employed to contain Communism. Were these methods justified and successful? Why/why not? Support your answer with specific references to historical evidence.
  4. What is Reagan’s record in Central America, the Middle East and Caribbean? Does it reflect America acting as a beacon of hope or arm of empire?
  5. What was the Iran-Contra Affair and what does it reflect about the executive branch, even after the Watergate scandal?
  6. Account for the events/factors that ended the Cold War. Was George Kennan correct?
  7. Create a VGO comparing and contrasting the First Gulf War with the Korean and Vietnam Wars in terms of causes, course and consequences.
  8. How did Clinton help bring peace and stability to the Middle East and Balkan regions?
  9. What are the objectives of modern global terrorism? What factors contributed to the rise of global terrorism in the early 21st century?
  10. What is the Bush Doctrine and what have been the consequences of the United States’ “war on terror”? Do you think the pre-emptive strike policy is a justified method to safeguard democracy from religious extremism? Has it been successful?
  11. What is the Arab Awakening? Does the Arab Awakening signal a democratic revolution in the Middle East, and if so do you think it represents a shift toward stability in the region? Why/why not?

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