Short Answer Questions: Period 9 (1980-present)
1. Use your knowledge of United States History to answer a, b, and c.
a) Describe ONE development that contributed to the rise of a new conservatism in the 1980s.
b) Describe ONE political or policy goal of this new conservative movement.
c) Briefly assess how successful the new conservative movement was at achieving this particular goal during the 1980s.
Learning Objective: POL-3
Learning Objective: POL-4
Learning Objective: WXT-8
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Interpretation
Key Concepts: 9.1.I
Key Concepts: 9.1.II
2. Use your knowledge of United States History to answer a, b, and c.
a) Briefly explain how the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center have changed U.S. foreign policy goals since the mid-20th century.
b) Describe ONE debate generated by the attacks on the World Trade Center.
c) Use ONE piece of historical evidence to support your description of that debate.
Learning Objective: POL-7
Learning Objective: WOR-7
Learning Objective: WOR-8
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
Key Concepts: 9.2.II
The growth of the American South and West, 1970-1990
A graph showing Sources of Immigration - 1995-2010
3. Use the images above and your knowledge of the history of the United States to answer a, b, and c.
a)Briefly explain the growth of the American South and West between 1995 and 2010 in terms of migration.
b)Briefly explainONEimpact of this growth in the American South and West between 1995 and 2010 onONE of the following:
- Politics
- The economy
- American culture
c)Describe ONE event or development between 1995 and 2010 to support your assertion in (b) above.
Learning Objective: ID-6
Learning Objective: ID-7
Learning Objective: PEO-2
Learning Objective: PEO-3
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
Historical Thinking Skill: Interpretation
Key Concepts: 9.3.II
Today, few of us seriously believe that we have the marketplace that American families deserve – or one that always works effectively and efficiently for financial institutions large and small…
There was a time when lenders competed straight up by offering products and services consumers could more easily understand and compare to one another. But in the years preceding the financial crisis, competition among lenders took a turn for the worse. Instead of looking to build financial products that are better and cheaper than competitors’ offerings, a number of lenders sought to bury risks and to move the true costs to the back end of the transaction with ballooning interest rates or payment obligations, unexpected fees, or hard-to-avoid penalties. Some of these practices still exist in the markets today. In this marketplace, American families can feel like they are rolling the dice every time they use credit, and they are left to hope that their credit product won’t put their economic security at risk. Unfortunately, millions of families have now seen first-hand how a credit product can explode, taking their life savings, their cars, or their homes, and leaving them in financial ruin.
From Elizabeth Warren’s testimony before the House
Financial Services Committee, March16, 2011
4. Use this passage and your knowledge of the history of the United States to answer a, b, and c.
a)Briefly explain the main point of this passage in terms of ONE of the following:
- The role of the federal government in regulating economic life
- Reform movements advocating change to the U.S. economic system
- The increase of economic inequality after 1980
b)Describe ONE similarity between Warren’s position, above, and the Progressives’position on financial reform between 1890 and 1920.
c)Describe an event or development between 1890 and 1920 to support your assertion in (b) above.
Learning Objective: WXT-6
Learning Objective: WXT-7
Learning Objective: WXT-8
Historical Thinking Skill: Comparison
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
Key Concepts: 7.1.II
Key Concepts: 9.3.I
5. Have students examine one of the historical monographs below (or some of your choosing) and determine one of the author’s historical arguments. Have them choose a passage that illustrates one of the arguments and write it using proper citation style and answer a, b, and c.
- Godfrey Hodgson, The World Turned Upside Down: A History of the Conservative Ascendancy in America, Houghton Mifflin, 1996
- Gil Troy,Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s, Princeton University Press, 2007
- William Julius Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor, Alfred A. Knopf, 1996
- Kevin Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism, Princeton University Press, 2007
a) Briefly explain the main point of the author’s historical argument in the selected passage.
b) Provide ONE piece of historical evidence that is not included in the passage and explain how it supports the historian’s argument.
c) Briefly relate the historian’s argument to one of the following themes
- Work, Exchange and Technology
- Politics and Power
Learning Objective: WXT-8
Learning Objective: POL-3
Learning Objective: POL-4
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Argumentation
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
Historical Thinking Skill: Interpretation
Key Concepts: 9.1.I
Key Concepts: 9.3.I