HISTORY 1B ESSAY QUESTIONS SPRING 09

Please select and answer no more than two of the questions from each group below You will be required to turn them in on the day of each exam. There is no minimum or maximum length for your answers. Each answer is worth 2 points each.

If you use a computer to prepare your answers please use Times New Roman 12

If you handwrite your answers, they must be easily legible to the instructor to be

accepted.

CHAPTERS 16-18

1. Discuss the rise of capitalist industry during the period from 1865-1900 and some of the major industries that developed to meet the needs of the growing economy.

2. Describe the fate of Indians west of the Mississippi from 1865-1900.

3. Why is the period from 1865-1900 often referred to as the “Gilded Age?”

In what ways was this description accurate and in what ways was it not?

  1. Describe the struggle of labor during the period 1865-1900. What organizations did workers establish? What successes and setbacks took place?

5. To what extent was the West a multicultural society in the latte nineteenth century?

CHAPTERS 19-20

1. Describe what happened during 1877-1900 to the political and social advances made

by African-Americans during Reconstruction

2. What major events took place during 1860-1900 that made the United States into an

imperialist world power?

3. How did farmers and westerners try to influence American politics in the

period from 1860-1900? Refer to at least two political movements or elections.

4. Discuss Presidential elections and the major differences between Republicans and

Democrats during the period from 1860-1912. Refer to at least two specific elections.

5. What major progressive legislation was passed during the administrations of

Theodore Roosevelt. and Woodrow Wilson?

CHAPTERS 21-22

  1. Discuss the new mass media and culture of consumption of the 1920’s
  1. Discuss some of the forms that opposition to changes in American society and culture took in the period of the 1920’s.

3. Discuss how the United States went from neutrality to participation in World War I

and the way dissent was dealt with both during and after the war.

4. Do you agree with the following statement: “While World War I was hailed by Americans as a war to make the world safe for democracy, the government attacked the civil liberties that made democracy possible?” Please explain your answer by citing events discussed in the text.

  1. Was Prohibition a success or a failure?
  1. How did conditions for minority groups change in the United States during the 1920’s?

CHAPTERS 23-24

1. Describe and explain the importance of at least one battle in the European theater

and one in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

2. Roosevelt’s New Deal is often described as providing the United States with the

three “Rs of relief, reform, and recovery. Give at least one example of a New Deal

initiative or program in each of these areas. Please also discuss how successful the

programs you select were in meeting their objectives.

3. Discuss American relations with Japan, England, and Germany from 1931-1941.

4. Discuss race relations in the United States from 1933 to 1945, focusing on the

treatment and struggle of Japanese-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and African-

Americans. Describe at least one major event of importance related to two of

these groups.

  1. Evaluate the following statement: Although the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is usually cited as the beginning of World War II, America was already at war at the time.

CHAPTERS 25-26

  1. What was the impact of the “Red Scare” on American life?
  1. What measures were taken by Truman to fight the Cold War, and were they successful?
  1. How did the Eisenhower administration respond to the legacy of the New Deal?
  1. What social problems were perceived to be serious during the 1950’s?
  1. What events propelled the Civil Rights movement forward during the 1950’s?

CHAPTERS 27-28

1. Discuss at least two of the major domestic accomplishments of the

Johnson administration.

2. Discuss the major civil rights leaders of the 1960’s and progress in civil rights

during that decade.

3. Discuss at least two major foreign policy accomplishments of the Nixon

administration.

4. What was the Watergate scandal and what impact did it have on American

politics?

5. Discuss the rise of Black Power in the 1960’s and the organizations which were

created as a result of this movement.

CHAPTERS 29-30

  1. Discuss at least two major accomplishments of the Reagan administration, one domestically and one in the area of foreign policy.

2. How successful was the Jimmy Carter presidency?

3. Discuss American involvement in Iraq during the administrations of George Herbert Walker Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

4. How did President Bush respond to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001?

5. Discuss at least two major accomplishments of the Clinton administration, one

domestically and one in the area of foreign policy.