APUSH
Extra Credit – Third Quarter
For a maximum of five extra credit points, write a one-page single spaced paper addressing
one of the topics below. You must use parenthetical citations to cite your sources. You will
submit the paper to turnitin.com. A hard copy will not be accepted. The last day you may
submit your paper is Sunday, April 5 by one pm.
K 27

Examine Teddy Roosevelt as a central character in the events of the chapter: as
imperialist advocate, assistant secretary of the navy, Rough Rider, legendary war hero,
governor of New York, vice president, and then president.

Analyze the yellow press: explain what yellow journalism is, why it had such great
appeal and popular impact in the late nineteenth century, how it sensationalized and
distorted issues, how important it was (or was not) in really influencing President
McKinley and others.

Focus on Cuba and America: discuss why, from the pre–Civil War era forward,
Americans were concerned with Cuba; how they viewed the Cuban rebels; what issues
dominated American debates about Cuban readiness for independence (for example,
the Teller and Platt amendments); and what links developed to the subsequent history
of American-Cuban relations.

Examine Roosevelt’s theory and practice of the big stick in foreign policy, especially in
his relations with Latin America.

Examine the role of American missionaries in shaping U.S. foreign policy in this period,
especially in China.

Take up the question of gender in relation to American foreign policy and American
imperialism, particularly the idea that aggressive overseas action was one way for
men (including Theodore Roosevelt) to assert their masculinity in an era of growing
feminine influence in society and culture.
K 28

Consider one city or state as a case study in the actual conflicts and achievements of
progressivism.

Use excerpts from the work of some muckrakers, such as Lincoln Steffens or Ida
Tarbell, to show how journalists aroused public concern and promoted involvement in
progressive reform.

Discuss Roosevelt as both personality and progressive political leader.

Examine the rise of conservationism as a national concern to (a) Roosevelt’s concern
to preserve rugged American values and (b) the increasing needs of an urban populace
for escape and revival in nature.

Examine the critical role of women in progressive reform, and show how their efforts
were largely—although not entirely—focused and successful in areas that seemed
consistent with their social roles as protectors and nurturers of the family.

Discuss the contrast between Roosevelt’s regulatory New Nationalism and Wilson’s
more libertarian New Freedom in the campaign of 1912.
K 29

Examine Wilson’s complex personality and explain how it influenced both his great
successes and his failures in politics.

Examine Wilson’s idealistic approach to both domestic and foreign policy. Show how
he used his eloquence and moral appeals to arouse the public and achieve his goals at
home, and explain why this approach was not as successful abroad.

Explore the party platforms of the Republicans, Democrats, Progressive Party, and the
Socialist Party and other issues surrounding the election of 1912. Consider how this
election defined the vision of Progressivism.

Examine the events in Europe before and after the outbreak of World War I, and
discuss how both Germany and the Allies tried to influence the United States.

Compare and contrast Wilson’s and Roosevelt’s policies in Latin America. Consider
how each policy might have looked from a Latin American standpoint.

Examine the role of both British and German propaganda in the United States in the
years before American entry into World War I. Consider the extent to which these
attempts to shape American public opinion affected both official and popular views of
the two sides (including among different ethnic groups).

Consider women’s issues in relation to Roosevelt’s and Wilson’s progressivism,
especially such prominent figures as Jane Addams and Lillian Wald.
K 30

Explain the importance of Wilson’s definition of war aims. Show why his sweeping
declaration of the Fourteen Points stirred tremendous enthusiasm in both America
and Europe, where seemingly meaningless slaughter had dragged on for years.

Analyze America’s voluntary method of organizing for war (as opposed to the
governmental coercion of European wartime regimes). Show how the feverish
propaganda necessary for this approach caused war opponents to be treated as
traitors.

Examine Wilson’s negotiations at Paris. Point out how his own high idealism forced
him onto the defensive, since every practical compromise appeared to be a betrayal,
and how he came to focus all his hopes on the League.

Explain the defeat of the League and the treaty. Consider the way Lodge effectively
exploited Wilson’s weaknesses, especially his unwillingness to compromise what he
saw as absolute principles.

Analyze the treatment of war opponents, especially socialists and German-Americans.
Discuss whether stifling them was necessary for the war effort or whether it corrupted
the war to “make the world safe for democracy.”

Analyze the impact of the war on the labor movement and the rights of workers.

Analyze the impact of the war on women and African Americans. Consider the
significance of passing the Nineteenth Amendment.
K 31

Analyze the social turning inward of the 1920s as a disillusioned reaction to World
War I. Show how the rise of the Klan and immigration restriction especially reflected a
desire to preserve America against alien influences.

Discuss the Scopes trial as a focal point of the deep conflicts over religion and culture
in the 1920s.

Examine the economic and cultural consequences of the new mass-consumption
economy. Show how innovations such as credit buying, advertising, and automobile
travel weakened the old Protestant ethic with a new emphasis on pleasure and
excitement.

Explore the ideology and actions of the 1920s Klan. Consider similarities and
differences in relation to the Klan of Reconstruction.

Discuss the role of prohibition during the 1920s and its close relation to the rise of
organized crime.

Explore the complex and sometimes contradictory cultural values of the decade as
symbolically represented by Charles Lindbergh’s flight. Discuss how he symbolized
technological innovation but also individual heroism in an increasingly mass society.

Consider the role of both black and white artists in changing American culture in the
1920s. Consider where writers such as Fitzgerald and Hughes were reflecting similar
concerns, and where their outlook was different.
K 32

Explain the central features of Republican economic and political conservatism in the
1920s: probusiness government, hostility to progressive social and economic
regulation, and high tariffs to isolate the American economy from the troubled world
economy.

Contrast Warren Harding and his corrupt cronies with the upright Coolidge and
Hoover. Perhaps show how each of the three presidents represented a different
emphasis within the general political consensus of the probusiness 1920s.

Focus on Harding’s cronies and the Teapot Dome scandals.

Discuss the futile Democratic and progressive efforts of the 1920s. The focus might be
on the deep cultural divisions within the Democratic Party between urban immigrants
and the rural South, epitomized in the 103-ballot Democratic convention of 1924.

Examine Hoover’s career, from humane administrator to business organizer to hapless
president. Discuss why someone so successful proved so helpless in the face of the
depression.

Analyze the human consequences of the depression for both the unemployed and the
many others who feared unemployment and found their living standard severely
reduced.
K 33

Describe the impact of Roosevelt and the New Deal on deeply depressed ordinary
Americans, perhaps focusing on how Roosevelt revived spirits and restored faith in
the system, even for those who did not agree with all his programs. Include the
experiences of ordinary men and women in the 1930s.

Examine the goals and activities of the major New Deal programs. The relief-recoveryreform distinction is useful for sorting out the alphabet agencies, as is the distinction
between the early NRA-AAA approach and the later TVA–Social Security–Wagner Act
reforms. A unifying theme for the whole New Deal is the search to provide greater
security against the storms and uncertainties of unregulated capitalism.

Explain the various challenges to Roosevelt from both the popular demagogues and
the conservatives. Show how he skillfully “stole the thunder” from the former and
used the latter as political whipping boys.

Consider the experience of women in the depression and in the making of the New
Deal. Look at ordinary women in urban and rural areas, as well as more prominent
reformers and government figures.

Compare and contrast the images and activities of FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt. Show
how he pursued realistic political goals, while she took up the cause of the most
disadvantaged citizens.

Discuss the particular impact of the depression on women, families, and children.
K 34

Explain the causes of American isolationism in the 1930s: domestic depression,
disillusion with World War I, hostility to arms dealers, and other merchants of death.

Examine the erosion of isolationism in response to the aggressions of Benito
Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and the Japanese warlords. Show the transition in American
thinking from indifference to fear for democracy, as appeasement only fed the
dictators’ appetites.

Describe the fierce debates between internationalists and isolationists, especially from
1939 to 1941. The emphasis might be on Roosevelt’s carefully calibrated strategy of
increasing aid at each stage, but never so rapidly as to hand the isolationists a political
victory.

Discuss the Japanese-American negotiations and the conflicts that set the stage for
Pearl Harbor.

Focus on the merchants of death Nye hearings. Discuss how 1930s isolationism was
strongly aimed at the factors that had supposedly led the United States into World War
I.

Analyze the isolationist-internationalist debate, especially over lend-lease. Point out
the isolationists’ argument that such aid would inevitably lead to war and the
internationalists’ argument that helping Britain was the way to stay out of war.
Consider whether FDR acted wisely in moving the United States closer to involvement.

Discuss the causes of the Pacific war from the Japanese point of view. Consider
whether the war was inevitable.