AMERICAN PAGEANT QUESTIONS-All Chapters are aligned
with the 12th ed. Book
CHAPTER 2: THE PLANTING OF ENGLISH AMERICA
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What was the impact of England's defeat of the Spanish Armada?
What was the status of England as it began colonization?
How was the first permanent English settlement financed?
How were Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia similar? Different?
Why was it important that all English settlers in the New World retained the rights of
Englishmen?
6. How would one characterize the early years at Jamestown?
7. How did Captain John Smith "save" Jamestown?
8. What were the factors leading to the downfall of the Powhatans?
9. What was the impact of the tobacco industry on Jamestown?
10. Why was the House of Burgesses an important precedent in the American colonies?
11. Why was Maryland established? Who founded it (he had two names)?
12. Why was tobacco considered a poor man's crop?
13. Why was sugar considered a rich man's crop?
14. What was the Barbados slave code? How did it impact the Americas?
15. How did South Carolina prosper economically?
16. What were the major exports of the Carolinas?
17. Why was Georgia founded? By whom?
18. Why did Georgia grow slowly?
19. What were similarities/differences in the southern plantations colonies by 1750?
CHAPTER 3: SETTLING THE NORTHERN COLONIES, 1619-1700
1. What is the difference between Puritans and Separatists?
2. Why did King James I dislike the two groups?
3. What is the importance of the Mayflower Compact?
4. What advantages did the Massachusetts Bay Colony have on its arrival in the New World?
5. What type of government was established in Massachusetts Bay?
6. Why was Anne Hutchinson removed from Massachusetts? Roger Williams?
7. Why was Rhode Island established? Why was it unique?
8. What were the fundamental orders of Connecticut?
9. How were relations between the New England settlers and the Native Americans?
10. What was the significance of King Philip's War?
11. What was the New England Confederation? Why was it established?
12. What was the Dominion of New England? Why did colonist resent it?
13. Why did the Dutch settle in New Amsterdam?
14. How did the English come to rule New York?
15. Why did Penn establish Pennsylvania? What was unique about Pennsylvania?
16. What were similarities among the Middle Colonies? Differences?
CHAPTER 4: AMERICAN LIFE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
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3.
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What were a few of the notable characteristics of Chesapeake life in the seventeenth century?
What was indentured servitude? How did it work in the Chesapeake?
How did the headright system make some very wealthy?
What colony had the most people by 1700?
How did farmers respond to depressed prices of tobacco during the 1600s?
6. For most of the 1600s, who served as the labor force for the Chesapeake colonies?
7. What was most often the outcome for indentured servants in the 1600s?
8. What was Bacon's Rebellion? Its impact?
9. Where did the majority of African slaves end up in the 1600s?
10. Why did the American reliance on African slaves increase after 1680?
11. Describe some of the impacts of slave culture on American society?
12. Where was slavery the harshest?
13. Explain how racism became a central concept in the slave trade?
14. How did African slaves compare to indentured servants as a labor force?
15. How did slavery impact the social structure of the South?
16. What group made up the largest portion of the southern social ladder?
17. How would the typical colonial New England family be described?
18. Why were Southern women generally allowed to hang on to property titles?
19. Why weren't Northern women generally allowed to hang on to property titles?
20. How did New England society expand?
21. What was the purpose of the New England town meeting? Its impact?
22. What caused the Salem Witch Trials? The impact?
23. What was the basis of the New England economy? How did it compare to the Chesapeake
economy?
24. How did New England impact the settlement of the rest of the United States?
25. How did the lifestyle of the English colonists compare to their European counterparts?
CHAPTER 5: COLONIAL SOCIETY ON THE EVE OF REVOLUTION
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6.
What was the speed at which the colonies were growing by the American Revolution?
What was the impact of this growth in population?
What was the view of the Scots-Irish towards the English government?
What was the largest non-English ethnic group in the Americas by 1775?
What was the diversity of population in each of the three colonial regions?
How did the British react when several state legislatures attempted to restrict the importation
of slaves?
7. What profession led the political agitation before the Revolution?
8. What was the basis of the American economy before the Revolution?
9. What was the least important economic activity before the Revolution?
10. Why did American merchants come to resent the British during the 1700s?
11. What was the status of transportation during the colonial period?
12. What was the purpose of the Molasses Act of 1733? Why was this an important change in
policy?
13. Why were American taverns important during the colonial era?
14. What were the two major religions in America prior to the Revolution?
15. How did religion in the 1700s compare to religion in the 1600s in America?
16. What was the Great Awakening?
17. Who were some of the leaders of the Great Awakening?
18. What were some of the results of the Great Awakening?
19. What was the status of education in the colonies prior to the Revolution?
20. What was the background and impact of the Zenger trial?
21. What political principle did Americans come to cherish in the 1700s?
22. How did colonial legislatures come to control governors in the seventeenth century?
23. Who usually had the right to vote prior to the Revolution?
CHAPTER 6: THE DUEL FOR NORTH AMERICA
1. When was France finally able to join the scramble for colonies in North America? Why so late?
2. What type of government existed in New France?
3. Why did the population of New France grow slowly?
4. What was the primary economic practice in New France?
5. Why was the French and Indian War different from previous world wars?
6. Where did the French and Indian War begin?
7. What was the purpose of the Albany Congress of 1754? How was this different from previous
American actions? Outcome?
8. What were the peace terms after the French and Indian War?
9. How did the French and Indian War impact the American view of the British?
10. How did the British view Americans during the French and Indian War?
11 .What other changes took place in American attitudes after the French and Indian War? 12.
What did Chief Pontiac do that alarmed the British? Impact?
13. What was the Proclamation of 1763? How did Americans receive it?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit One) Chapters 2-6:
1. The defeat of the Spanish Armada is the turning point in world history. Assess the
validity of this statement.
2. To what extent did religious freedom exist in the Southern colonies?
3. The New England and Chesapeake colonies were both founded by the English. How had
they become such distinct settlements by the 1700’s?
4. Analyze the impact of religious dissent and demographic changes in the decline of
Puritanism
5. Puritanism bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Apply this generalization
using at least two specific events of ideas.
6. In the middle of the 17th century, Great Britain’s North American colonies were
predominantly racially white, ethnically English and religiously Protestant. Little more
than 100 years later those colonies had become markedly more diverse. Using your
knowledge of the period 1650 to 1775, analyze how new forces of race, ethnicity and
religion affected that society.
CHAPTER 7: THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION
1. When do many argue the American Revolution began?
2. What were the factors that separated the colonists from England?
3. What was mercantilism? Why was it established?
4. Under mercantilism, how did the average American compare to the average Englishman?
5. Why did Americans resent the mercantile system?
6. What was "salutary neglect?" When did it end?
7. Why did the British pass the Stamp Act?
8. What was American reaction to the Stamp and Sugar Acts?
9. What was the "Association?"
10. What was the Declaratory Act?
11. What is meant by "virtual representation?"
12. What were the Townshend Acts?
13. What caused the Boston Massacre?
14. What were the committees of correspondence?
15. How did Parliament think they had avoided "no taxation without representation" by passing
the Tea Act?
16. How was the Boston Tea Party a reaction to the Tea Act?
17. What did the British do in response to the Boston Tea Party?
18. What were the Intolerable Acts? Why were they so unpopular?
19. Why did the First Continental Congress meet? What did they accomplish?
20. What advantages/disadvantages did each side possess as the War for Independence began?
21. What percentage of Americans supported total independence?
22. What role did economics play in causing the American Revolution?
CHAPTER 8: AMERICA SECEDES FROM THE EMPIRE
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6.
What actions did the Second Continental Congress take in 1775?
What traits did Washington display as commander of the Revolutionary Army?
What was important about the colonial invasion of Canada in 1775?
When did England consider America to be in rebellion?
Why did the colonists delay declaring independence until July, 1776?
What were the three parts of the Declaration of Independence (read it from the back of your
book)?
7. Who proposed the idea of independence to the Continental Congress?
8. What were the major points of Thomas Paine's Common Sense?
9. What is a republic?
10. What percentage of Americans supported the revolution?
11. What were the characteristics of those who continued to support Britain?
12. What was the British military strategy early in the war?
13. What battle convinced the French that the Americans could win the war?
14. What was the impact of French assistance during the Revolutionary War?
15. Why did Native Americans generally support the British?
16. What battle effectively ended the war? How long did fighting continue after the battle?
17. What were the instructions given by the Continental Congress to American diplomats
working on the peace treaty with Britain? Did they listen?
18. Why were the British so generous in their peace terms with the Americans?
19. What happened to the Loyalists following the Revolution?
CHAPTER 9: THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION
1. What happened to the army officers who attempted to form the Society of Cincinnati?
2. What were some of the successes of the Revolution's emphasis on equality? Failures?
3. What happened to slavery in most Northern states following the conclusion of the war?
4. What was the role of women following the Revolution?
What was the importance of the state constitutions following the Revolution?
5. Why did the founding fathers avoid the slavery issue?
6. What were some of the reasons the American Revolution was able to avoid the violence
associated with the French Revolution?
7. What were some of the strengths of the nation as it became independent?
8. What was the compromise that needed to be reached for the Articles of Confederation to be
ratified?
9 ..What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
10. What was the Northwest Ordinance?
11. How did France and Spain treat the new nation in the 1790s?
12. What was the major debate regarding the effectiveness of the Articles?
13. What was Shay's Rebellion? Its significance?
14. Who were the leading men of the Constitutional Convention? What was the occupation and
social status of these men?
15. Why was the Constitutional Convention originally called?
16. What was the Great Compromise?
17. How did the founders decide the president would be elected? Why?
18. How did the founders deal with the slavery question?
19. What is the only branch of government directly elected by the people?
20. Why did many oppose the Constitution as it was originally written?
21. What were the Federalist Papers? Purpose? Authors? Significance?
22. Who were the men who opposed the Federalists? Why?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit Two) Chapters 7 to 9:
1. Some historians contend that the Constitution, by providing the structure of government
and powers necessary to perpetuate a strong union, “saved” the fledgling American
Republic from collapse and ruin under the Articles of Confederation. Evaluate this
argument utilizing your knowledge of the problems of the United States in the 1780’s
2. Analyze the degree to which the Articles of Confederation provided an effective from of
government.
3. Compare and contrast the government of the Articles of Confederation against the
Constitution in 1787. Were the changes in government proposed in the Constitution as
essential to the survival of the nation as the federalists argued? Was the government of
the Articles of Confederation a complete failure?
CHAPTER 10: LAUNCHING THE NEW SHIP OF STATE
1. Who made up the first cabinet? Was the cabinet included in the Constitution?
2. Why did European monarchs fear the example set by the United States?
3. Why was the Bill of Rights established? (Learn the first ten amendments).
4. What amendment is the states' rights amendment?
5. What were the major parts of Alexander Hamilton's economic program?
6. Why did Hamilton believe that the national debt was acceptable?
7. Which aspect of Hamilton's program received the least support?
8. What is the elastic clause? How did Hamilton use it?
9. What was the Whiskey Rebellion? Significance? How did it compare to Shay's Rebellion?
10. What was Jefferson's ideal American citizen?
11. What happened as a result of the disagreements between Hamilton and Jefferson?
12. As the French Revolution developed in Europe, what was Washington's policy towards the
Franco-American alliance?
13. What was the Neutrality Proclamation of 1793?
14. What actions did Britain take in the American West that threatened d the US?
15. What were the terms of Jay's Treaty? Response in America?
16. How did the United States receive access to the Mississippi River?
17. What was significant about Washington's Farewell Address?
18. What precedents did Washington set during his presidency?
19. Who were the candidates in the election of 1796? Who won?
20. What events led the United States and France into undeclared naval war in the late 1790s?
21. What was the XYZ affair? American response?
22. Why did Napoleon work out a peace agreement with America?
23. Why did Adams do his best to avoid war with France?
24. What were the Alien and Sedition Acts? How were they received by the Jeffersonians?
25. What were the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions? Authors? Why did they set a dangerous
precedent?
26. Explain the major differences between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans?
CHAPTER 11: THE TRIUMPHS AND TRAVAILS OF JEFFERSONIAN
DEMOCRACY
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4.
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6.
What was the major problem that Adams faced in the election of 1800?
Where did Jefferson receive a majority of his support?
How was Jefferson elected in 1800?
How could the year 1800 be considered a "Revolution?"
How did Jefferson's views change during his time as President?
What was Jefferson's attitude towards the Federalist's economic programs?
7. Why did Jeffersonians oppose the last minute judicial appointments?
8. Who was the chief justice who carried out Federalist programs for many years?
9. How was the precedent of judicial review established? Be able to explain this case?
10. What is the significance of Jefferson's failed attempt to impeach Samuel Chase?
11. How did Jefferson deal with the Barbary Pirates?
12. What was Jefferson's original goal regarding Louisiana? What did Napoleon offer?
13. Why did Jefferson have problems with the Louisiana Purchase?
14. What was the significance of the Louisiana Purchase?
15. What is impressment? What was the Chesapeake incident?
16. How did Jefferson deal with French and British infringements on American neutrality?
17. Why did Jefferson's actions fail?
18. What was Macon's Bill #2? Which nation was the first to accept the terms?
19. Which part of the nation made the strongest claims for war with Britain?
20. What were some of the other causes of the War of 1812?
21. Which side did the Indians fight with from 1812 to 1814?
22. Why did Federalist oppose the War of 1812?
CHAPTER 12: THE SECOND WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE AND THE UPSURGE OF
NATIONALISM
1. What problems did America face as it entered the War of 1812?
2. What were the reasons why the War of 1812 was one of the worst fought wars in American
history?
3. What was important about the Battle of New Orleans?
4. What did the delegates at the Hartford Convention call for?
5. What was the result of the Hartford Convention?
6. What were the results of the War of 1812?
7. What was the Rush-Bagot Treaty?
8. What were the ways the post War of 1812 nationalism manifested itself?
9. What was important about the Tariff of 1816?
10. What was Henry Clay's "American System?"
11. What was the reaction of the different parts of the nation to Clay's proposal?
12. What was the "Era of Good Feelings?"
13. What caused the Panic of 1819? Impact?
14. What was the Missouri Compromise? Tallmadge Amendment?
15. What constitutional interpretation did Marshall favor in his Supreme Court decisions?
16. Explain the court cases: Gibbons v. Ogden, McCullough v. Maryland, Dartmouth v.
Woodward, Cohens v. Virginia.
17. What was the Treaty of 1818?
18. What was the Monroe Doctrine? Causes? Reaction?
Possible Essay Topics (Unit Three) Chapters 10, 11 and part of 12
1. Compare and contrast the actions of Thomas Jefferson as president against the
philosophies that defined the Republican Party which he led. To what extent did
Jefferson abandon Republican philosophies and pursue policies as president that
contradicted the principles for which he had campaigned in 1800?
CHAPTER 13: THE RISE OF MASS DEMOCRACY (Andrew Jackson and the Rise of the
“Common Man”)
1. What were the characteristics of the "new democracy?" Where was it most popular?
2. Why did the growth in the new democracy take place in the 1820s?
3. Why did many Americans develop a hatred of the bank?
4. How did the Missouri Compromise lead many Southerners into politics?
5. What is a national nominating convention? Which party held one first?
6. Why did the election of 1824 go to the House? What was the outcome of their vote?
7. Why is the election of 1824 called the "corrupt bargain?"
8. How would one characterize Adam's presidency?
9. Why was the Tariff of 1828 a source of controversy?
10. What was the "South Carolina Exposition?" Author? Impact?
11. How could Jackson's election in 1828 be considered a revolution?
12. What is the purpose of the spoils system?
13. What was the Hayne-Webster debate? Peggy Eaton affair?
14. Why did Jackson veto the Maysville Road Project?
15. Why did the "nullification crisis" of 1832 erupt?
16. What region had the most support for the Tariff of 1833?
17. What was Jackson's response to South Carolina's nullification of the tariff?
18. What were the results of the nullification crisis?
19. Why did Jackson veto the recharter of the Bank of United States?
20. What were some of the innovations in the election of 1832?
21. How and why did Jackson weaken the bank after the 1832 election?
22. Why did Jackson remove Native Americans from their lands in the 1830s?
23. Why did Americans move into Texas? Under whom?
24. What was the reason for the Texan Revolution? What was the involvement of America in the
fighting?
25. Why did Jackson and Van Buren hesitate to recognize Texas?
26. What lead to the formation of the Whig party?
27. What happened to the American banking system under Jackson?
28. Why did the Whigs nominate Harrison in 1840?
29. What was the major issue in the election of 1840?
30. What were the characteristics of the major parties by the 1840s?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit Four) Last part of Chapter 12 and Chapter 13:
1. As white Americans expanded across the continent in the first half of the 19th century,
they regularly encountered and came into conflict with the Native American Population.
Based on your knowledge of the period 1800-1850, discuss the interaction between
whites and Indians in the period, focusing on the goals of the whites and various Indian
responses.
CHAPTER 14: FORGING THE NATIONAL ECONOMY
1. How would the life of a typical pioneer be described?
2. What was happening to the American population during the early 19th century?
3. What were some consequences of the growth of cities in America?
4. What is "ecological imperialism?"
5. What was Ireland's greatest export during the 1840s?
6. Why did the Irish tend to stay in the Eastern cities after their migration?
7. Why did native-born Americans tend to resent the Irish?
8. Why did the Germans come to the United States?
9. What was the typical life of the German settlers in the 18th century?
10. What was the name of the movement against the new settlers?
11. Who was the "Father of the Factory System?"
12. What were Eli Whitney's two contributions to the American economy?
13. Where was most of the cotton produced by the American South sold in the early 1800s?
14. How did the cotton gin allow American slavery to survive?
15. Who received most of the benefits of the early factory system?
16. Who invented the telegraph? Mower? Reaper? Steamboat?
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18.
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25.
What were the characteristics of the American work force in the early 1800s?
What was the importance of the landmark Commonwealth v. Hunt decision?
What was the "cult of domesticity?"
What were the characteristics of family life in the early 1800s?
What happened to the trans-Alleghany West after industrialization?
What were some of the major internal improvement projects of the era?
What began the "canal era" in American history?
Where were most early railroads in American history built?
How did the regions specialize in early part of the 1800s? Why?
CHAPTER 15: THE FERMENT OF REFORM AND CULTURE
1. What is deism? Who were some famous supporters?
2. How did religion by 1850 compare to religion of the original settlers?
3. What caused the Second Great Awakening?
4. Who were the leading preachers in the Second Great Awakening?
5. What were the results of the Second Great Awakening?
6. Where did Mormonsim develop? Who started it?
7. Why were tax supported schools established?
8. Why were women denied formal education?
9. Why did women most often become involved in reform campaigns?
10. What work did Dorthea Dix do?
11. Why did many Americans consume alcohol in the 1800s? What problems did it cause?
12. How did the economy emphasize gender differences?
13. What was the Oneida community?
14. What movement came to the forefront of society in the mid-1800s?
15. What is a utopian community? Examples?
16. Why did America lack in scientific achievement?
17. What was the Hudson River school?
18. What was the major work (and impact) of Washington Irving? James Fenimore Cooper?
Ralph Waldo Emerson? Nathaniel Hawthorne? Edgar Allan Poe? Herman Melville? Walt Whitman?
19. What is transcendentalism? Who were transcendentalists?
20. Who wrote "Civil Disobedience?"
CHAPTER 16: THE SOUTH AND THE SLAVERY CONTROVERSY
1. What happened to slavery as a result of the cotton gin?
2. What were the characteristics of the southern aristocracy?
3. What was the impact of plantation agriculture on the land?
4. What were the weaknesses of the slave plantation system?
5. What was immigration to the south limited?
6. Who made up a majority of the population of white southerners?
7. Who owned most of the slaves by the mid-1800s?
8. Who were the most pro-Union of the white southerners?
9. Why did slave-less whites support the slavery system?
10. What was typical of northern attitudes towards free blacks?
11. What happened to the South's economy based on the slavery system?
12. What was one of the most upsetting aspects of the slave trade and the theme of Uncle
Tom's Cabin?
13.
14.
15.
16.
Where were most slaves concentrated in the South?
What was life like for slaves in the South?
How did slaves fight the slavery system?
What are some examples of slave uprisings in the South?
17. What were views of the following people: William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Dwight Weld,
Frederick Douglass?
18. What was the first political party who focused on the issue of abolition?
19. What were the arguments of the South in favor of slavery? The North against slavery?
CHAPTER 17: MANIFEST DESTINY AND ITS LEGACY, 1841-1848
1. Why did John Tyler join the Whig party? Why did Whigs include him on their ticket?
2. What was the impact of Tyler's bank veto?
3. What were Tyler's views and actions on the tariff?
4. What were the causes and results of the American and British fighting in Maine in the late
1830s?
5. What were the arguments for and against annexing Texas? Why was it finally admitted?
6. What did the US base its claims for Oregon on?
7. Why did many US settlers head to Oregon?
8. What was the platform for Polk's democratic candidacy in 1844?
9. What was the area in dispute in Oregon? With whom?
10. What was the belief that God had ordained that America control the land from the Atlantic to
the Pacific?
11. Who were the candidates in 1844? Issues?
12. What was the compromise over Oregon? Why?
13. How did Polk attempt to acquire California?
14. Why did the United States go to war with Mexico?
15. What were the "spot resolutions?" Introduced by whom?
16. What was the result of the Mexican-American War? Terms of the Treaty of GuadelupeHildalgo?
17. What was the Wilmont Proviso? Impact?
CHAPTER 18: RENEWING THE SECTIONAL STRUGGLE
1. What did national parties often do to maintain national unity in regards to the slavery issue?
2. What was the impact of the Mexican War on the slavery issue?
3. What were the beliefs of the Free Soil Party?
4. What does the term "popular sovereignty" mean?
5. What was the key issue in the election of 1848?
6. What event brought turmoil to the presidency of Zachary Taylor?
7. What type of people went to California?
8. Why did the Free Soilers condemn slavery?
9. Who was Harriet Tubman? What did she do?
10. What was Calhoun's plan to protect the South?
11. What was Webster's "Seventh of March" speech? Impact?
12. Who were the "young guard?" Views?
13. What were the major events during the debates of 1850?
14. What were the terms of the Compromise of 1850? Reaction from the North and the South?
15. What happened to the Whigs in 1852?
16. What happened in Nicaragua in the 1850s?
17. What Caribbean island did many Southerners want to acquire? Why?
18. What was the Ostend Manifesto?
19. How was slavery impacted by the push for a transcontinental railroad?
20. How did Douglas propose to address slavery in Kansas and Nebraska?
CHAPTER 19: DRIFTING TOWARDS DISUNION, 1854-1861
1. What was described in Uncle Tom's Cabin? Impact domestically? Impact abroad?
2. What was bleeding Kansas? Why did this occur?
3. What were the major events of "Bleeding Kansas?"
4. What was the Lecompton Constitution?
5. What did Buchanan decide in regards to the Lecompton Constitution?
6. What did the caning of Sumner exemplify?
7. Who were the candidates in the election of 1856?
8. What was the main platform idea of the Know-Nothings?
9. Why did the Republicans lose the election in 1856?
10. Explain the Dred Scott decision? Impact?
11. What caused the Panic of 1857? Impact?
12. What were the major points of the Lincoln-Douglas debates?
13. What was the goal of Harper's raid on Harper's Ferry?
14. What was the South's reaction to Harper's Ferry?
15. What were the political platforms of the candidates for office in 1860?
16. What were the results of the election of 1860?
17. How did the lame duck Buchanan act before Lincoln took office?
18. What was the Crittenden Compromise?
19. Why did the Southern states secede from the Union?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit Five) Chapters 14 to 19:
1. Analyze the ways in which supporters of slavery in the nineteenth century used legal,
religious, and economic arguments to defend the institution of slavery.
2. Assess the moral arguments and political actions of those opposed to the spread of
slavery in the context of TWO of the following:
 Missouri Compromise
 Mexican War
 Compromise of 1850
 Kansas-Nebraska Act
3. Discuss the impact of territorial expansion on national unity between 1800 and
1850.
4. In what ways did transportation bring about economic and social change in the US in the
period 1820 to 1860.
5. Analyze the effectiveness of political compromise in reducing sectional tensions in the
period 1820 to 1861.
6. Evaluate three of the following events and the role they played in the period before the
Civil War
 Missouri Compromise of 1820
 Kansas-Nebraska Act
 Dred Scott Case
 John Brown’s Raid at Harpers Ferry
7. Assess how Manifest Destiny in Combination with the slavery issue contributed to
session and the Civil War
8. Some historians argue that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War. Explain to
what extent you agree with this. (time period: 1846-1860)
9. The role and place of women in American society changed markedly between 1800 and
1860. Analyze the extent to which social, economic and political opportunities opened for
women in the antebellum era.
10. Identify and evaluate the impact upon American society of any two reform movements
which emerged from the ferment of the Second Great Awakening
CHAPTER 20: GIRDING FOR WAR: THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH, 1861-1865
1. Why did European powers favor war in America?
2. How did Lincoln approach the Ft. Sumter crisis? What action did he finally take?
3. What action did Lincoln take to persuade the Border States to remain in the Union?
4. What was the original goal in the war as stated by Lincoln?
5. What side did the Indians tend to side with?
6. What advantages did the South possess? Disadvantages?
7. What advantages did the North possess? Disadvantages?
8. What supposed asset for the South at the beginning of the war never materialized?
9. Why did the British refuse to break the Union blockade?
10. What event nearly pushed the Union and the British to war?
11. What actions did France take during the Civil War?
12. How did the concept of states' rights impact the Southern war effort?
13. How did the different presidents run their nations during the war?
14. How did the North get their troops? South?
15. What was the National Banking System?
16. What was the impact of the war on the Northern economy? Southern economy?
17. How did the North and the South pay for the Civil War?
CHAPTER 21: THE FURNACE OF CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865
1. What was the impact of the Battle of Bull Run?
2. What was the impact of the Peninsula campaign? How did it change Union goals?
3. What was the Anaconda Plan?
4. What the major events of the war at sea?
5. What was the importance of the Battle of Antietam Creek?
6. What were the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation? Was it constitutional?
7. What legally abolished slavery in the United States?
8. What was the impact of the Emancipation Proclamation on the war effort?
9. Did blacks served in the war effort? To what extent?
10. Why did Lee attempt to invade the North? Impact of Gettysburg?
11. What was the importance of Vicksburg? Sherman's style of warfare?
12. Who were the Copperheads? What was the Union party in 1864?
13. Who was the Democratic candidate in 1864? Republican/Union Party? Who won and why?
14. What was Grant's strategy to end the war?
15. What were the terms to end the war? What was the impact of the war?
CHAPTER 22: THE ORDEAL OF RECONSTRUCTION
1. What was the fate of the Confederate leaders after the Civil War?
2. What was the state of the postwar economy in the South?
3. What did emancipation mean to Southern blacks?
4. What was the Thirteenth Amendment?
5. What was the Freedman's Bureau? Accomplishments?
6. Why was Andrew Johnson included on the Republican ticket in 1864?
7. What was Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction?
8. What was the Wade-Davis Bill?
9. What was Johnson's plan for Reconstruction?
10. What were the black codes? Purpose?
11. How did the North view the black codes?
12. Why did many Republicans have a problem with the South regaining full rights?
13. What was Congressional Reconstruction?
14. What was the Fourteenth Amendment?
15. What was the basis of the battle between Johnson and Congress?
16. What was the Fifteenth Amendment?
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
Who were scalawags and carpetbaggers?
What were the accomplishments of the Radical Reconstruction state governments?
What was the Ku Klux Klan? What did they do?
Why was Johnson impeached?
What did Seward buy in 1867?
Why was Johnson acquitted in his impeachment trial?
Was Reconstruction effective?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit Six) Chapters 20 to 22:
CHAPTER 23: POLITICAL PARALYSIS IN THE GILDED AGE
1. Why did Grant win the election of 1868?
2. What was the "bloody shirt" following the Civil War?
3. Who was Boss Tweed? What happened to him?
4. What was the Credit Mobilier scandal? Other scandals?
5. Describe the events in the election of 1872.
6. What was the major cause of the Panic of 1873?
7. What were the arguments for and against "hard money" in the 1870s?
8. What party formed in protest to Republican "hard money" policies?
9. Describe the two major parties of the Gilded Era?
10. Who were the Stalwarts? Half-Breeds? What did they disagree on?
11. What was the major problem in the election of 1876?
12. What was the Compromise of 1877?
13. What was the significance of Plessy v. Ferguson?
14. By the end of Reconstruction, what means were used to disenfranchise African Americans?
15. What were the Jim Crow laws?
16. What was the Chinese Exclusion Act? Why was it passed?
17. Why was Garfield assassinated?
18. What was the Pendleton Act? Why was it passed?
19. Who was the only Democrat elected in the Gilded Age?
20. What were the major issues of the Cleveland era?
21. Why did Congress tend to hold the most control during the Gilded Era?
CHAPTER 24: INDUSTRY COMES OF AGE, 1865-1900
1. Why did private railroad promoters ask the US government for help?
2. How did the US government help railroad builders? Why?
3. Who provided the labor for building the transcontinental railroads? What dangers did they
face?
4. Who were some of the leading railroad tycoons?
5. What developments made railroads a more profitable business?
6. What impact did railroad development have on the nation?
7. How did railroad tycoons take advantage of the public?
8. What action did state and federal governments take to limit the power of railroads? How
effective were they?
9. What were some of the important inventions of the post-Civil War era?
10. Define: Vertical Integration? Horizontal Integration? Trust? Interlocking Directorate? Who
used each of the business organizations?
11. Why was steel important in the new industrialized nation? Who came to dominate the steel
industry?
12. Who bought US Steel?
13. Why did oil become important in the industrial age? Who lead the oil industry?
14. What were the benefits of the large trusts? Drawbacks?
15. What was the "Gospel of Wealth?"
16. How did the corporations interpret the 14th Amendment in regards to big business?
17. What was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act? Which group did it hurt the most?
18. What was the status of the South during the industrial age? Why?
19. How did the industrial age impact America?
20. How did the industrial age impact the American worker?
21. What actions did workers use to improve their conditions? What did business do to fight
back?
22. Describe the National Labor Union? Knights of Labor? American Federation of Labor?
23. What did the unions accomplish during the age of industry?
CHAPTER 25: AMERICA MOVES TO THE CITY, 1865-1900
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What factors attracted people to the city?
What were the characteristics of the new cities?
What was typical of the city slums?
Who were the "New Immigrants?" How were they different then the "Old Immigrants?"
Why did the "New Immigrants" come to America?
How well did the governments of the age deal with the problems facing immigrants?
What was the "social gospel?" What were the settlement houses and who led the movement?
Why did many "native" Americans resent the immigrants in the late 19th century? What
actions did they take?
9. What impact did Darwin have on modern churches?
10. What new developments in education took place after the Civil War?
11. What were Booker T. Washington's views on racial equality? What actions did he support in
light of his views?
12. What were W.E.B. DuBois' views on racial equality? What actions did he support in light of
his views?
13. What spurred the development of colleges after the Civil War? How did the curriculum
change?
14. Who were the leading journalists following the Civil War? What was their style?
15. List four of the authors of the time including their major works.
16. How did urbanization impact American families?
17. What developments took place in the development of the women's suffrage movement?
18. Who were the leaders of the Prohibition movement? What organizations did the form?
19. What did Louis Sullivan develop?
20. How did Americans entertain themselves following the Civil War?
CHAPTER 26: THE GREAT WEST AND THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION (ALSO
includes Farmers, Debtors Revolt’s, etc.)
1. What were the boundaries of the "great west?" Who or what lived there?
2. When did Native Americans surrender their land to Americans?
3. How were the Indian Wars following the Civil War different then the wars of the antebellum
era?
4. Describe the fighting between the Native Americans and the Americans.
5. What American advantages ultimately led to the defeat of the Indians?
6. Why were the Buffalo killed? What was the impact?
7. What book did Helen Hunt Jackson write? What did it discuss?
8. How did the Dawes Act of 1887 attempt to deal with the "Indian Problem?" What impact did
it have?
9. What was the typical life cycle of a mining town? What impact did the mining frontier have
on the country?
10. Explain the rise and fall of the cattle industry in the late 1800s.
11. What factors encouraged people to move to the frontier?
12. What environmental factors made Great Plains farming difficult? How did people deal with
these factors?
13. What was the significance of the Oklahoma "Sooners" rush in 1889?
14. What was the significance of the "closing" of the frontier?
15. Who expressed these ideas in a famous essay in 1893?
16. How did the farm turn into a "factory"?
17.
18.
19.
20.
Explain the cycle of debt that many farmers got into in the late 1800s.
Why did farmers become upset with business and industrial interests in the late 1800s?
Explain the origins of the Granger movement. Their successes? Failures?
What political party developed out of the farmer's discontent in the late 1800s?
21. What were the main parts of the Populist platform in 1892? Who was their candidate?
22. What happened at the Homestead strike in 1892?
23. How and why did J.P. Morgan help the country's currency problems in 1895?
24. What was "Coxey's Army?"
25. What happened at the Pullman strike of 1894? What was the significance of Cleveland's
actions and the Supreme Court decision In Re Debs?
26. What was the major issue of the election of 1896?
27. Why did McKinley win the election of 1896?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit Seven) Chapters 23 to 26:
1. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois represented two different points of view on
how to secure African American civil rights. Define the problems faced by African
Americans at the beginning of the 20th century and identify which path they chose to
seek their political and social freedom.
2. How did the characteristics and experiences of the “New Immigrants” compare to those
of the “Old Immigrants” who came before them?
CHAPTER 27: THE PATH OF EMPIRE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What were the economic reasons for expansion by the late 1800s?
What was Josiah Strong's rationale for expansion?
How did Alfred T. Mahan impact American expansion in the late 1800s?
What was James Blaine's policy in Latin America?
Why did American and Britain argue over Venezuela in the late 1800s? What was the
Resolution to the problem?
6. What were the arguments for and against the annexation of Hawaii?
7. What problems were developing in Cuba? Why was America interested?
8. How did the yellow press "manufacture" a war?
9. What was the Maine explosion? What was the result?
10. What were the arguments for and against was with Spain in 1898?
11. Why was the US involved in the Philippines? What were the results of the invasion?
12. What was the most dangerous factor during the Spanish-American War?
13. What did America gain as a result of the Spanish-American War?
14. What were the arguments for and against the annexation of the Philippines? Who lead each
side of the debate?
15. How did William Bryan work out a compromise in regards to 1898 Treaty of Paris?
16. How did the US deal with Puerto Rico?
17. What did the Insular Cases state about the legal status of the new acquisitions? Impact?
18. What was the Teller Amendment? What was the Platt Amendment?
19. How did the Spanish-American war change America?
CHAPTER 28: AMERICA ON THE WORLD STAGE, 1899-1909
1.
2.
3.
4.
How
Why
Why
How
did
did
did
did
the Philippines become a major headache for America?
the United States hold on to the Philippines?
Hay propose the Open Door Policy? What was it?
the US get "entangled" in China?
5. Why was Roosevelt "kicked upstairs?"
6. What were the major issues of the election of 1896? Why did McKinley win?
7. What were Roosevelt's general ideas on foreign and domestic policy?
8. Why did many Americans push for a canal in Central America?
9. What was the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty? What was the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty?
10. How did the US intervene in Panama to get access to the canal route?
11. What was the Hay-Banau-Varilla Treaty?
12. How did the Panama Canal episode change US relations with Latin America?
13. What was the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine? What was its impact?
14. Why was TR involved in the dispute between Japan and Russia? What was the result of his
intervention?
15. What was the Gentlemen's Agreement?
16. What was the Root-Takahira Treaty?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit Eight) Chapters 27 and 28:
1. Why was the Spanish American War “a splendid little war” for the United States? What
effect did it have on American Society?
2. Analyze the responses to TWO of the following to Secretary of State John Hay’s view that
the Spanish American War was “a splendid little war”:
 Theodore Roosevelt
 Alfred Thayer Mahan
 Emilio Aguinaldo
3. Compare and contrast the foreign policies of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson
toward Latin America
4. Assess the importance of TWO of the following in the US decision to declare war against
Spain in 1898:
 yellow journalism
 US business interests
 Cuban Revolution
 Sinking of the Maine
5. Discuss the reasons for American Imperialism in the early 1900’s.
CHAPTER 29: PROGRESSIVISM AND THE REPUBLICAN ROOSEVELT
1. What was the history of reform in America?
2. What were the origins of the progressive movement?
3. Who were the muckrakers?
4. What evils did Riis expose? Steffens? Tarbell? Spargo? Sinclair?
5. How effective were the muckrakers?
6. Who were the progressives?
7. What changes in the political system did progressives push for?
8. How did Progressives take control of local and city governments? Where?
9. What was the verdict in Muller v. Oregon?
10. What was the status of the prohibition movement?
11. What were the goals of TR's Square Deal?
12. What happened in the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902?
13. What two laws were passed to limit the powers of the railroads?
14. What were TR's views on trusts? What was the first big trust to be broken up?
15. What was the impact of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle?
16. What actions did Roosevelt take to protect the environment?
17. How did TR change the presidency?
18. Why was Taft selected as president?
19. What was "Dollar Diplomacy?" Examples in action?
20. Why did the Republicans split during Taft's administration?
CHAPTER 30: WILSON PROGRESSIVISM AT HOME AND ABROAD, 1912-1916
1. Explain Wilson's rise in politics.
2. Who were the three candidates in 1912?
3. How did Roosevelt's and Wilson's versions of progressivism differ?
4. Why did Wilson win the election of 1912?
5. How did Wilson fight the tariff?
6. What was the Sixteenth Amendment?
7. How did Wilson deal with the banking issues?
8. What two laws did Wilson get through Congress to regulate the trusts? What did they do?
9. How did the Clayton Anti-Trust Act help labor?
10. What was "Moral Diplomacy?" Examples?
11. Why did the US get involved in Mexico in the 1910s?
12. What was the resolution to the Mexican-American disputes of the 1910s?
Why did the US later invade Mexico?
13. What was America's stance as World War I began?
14. How did the US become financially involved in the affairs of WWI?
15. What was the German reaction to the Americans financial connection to the Allies?
16. What happened to the Lusitania ?
17. What was the Arabic Pledge? Sussex Pledge?
18. Who were the candidates and what were the results of the election of 1916?
CHAPTER 31: THE WAR TO END WAR, 1917-1918
1. What was the Zimmerman note?
2. What finally pushed the United States into World War I?
3. What idealistic ideas did Wilson push in an attempt to unify America as it headed to war?
4. What were the Fourteen Points?
5. What was the Committee on Public Information?
6. How did WWI impact civil liberties?
7. What problems did the nation face as it headed into war?
8. What changes in labor patterns took place during WWI?
9. What was the Food Administration? Its leader?
10. How did the US pay for WWI?
11. How did the US raise troops to fight in WWI?
12. How did American fighters impact the war?
13. How did Wilson weaken his power before going to Europe for peace talks in 1918?
14. What was Wilson's major goal during the peace talks?
15. How did Wilson's Fourteen Points fall apart at Versailles?
16. Why did many Americans dislike the Treaty of Versailles?
17. As the Treaty began to falter, what action did Wilson take?
18. Why did Lodge and the Republicans oppose the Treaty of Versailles?
19. Why did the Versailles Treaty ultimately fail?
20. What was the importance of the election of 1920?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit Nine) Chapters 29, 30, 31:
1. To what extent did the roles of women change in the years 1880 to 1920?
2. What were the different responses in the African American community to the
establishment of Jim Crow segregation through legislation and custom in the American
South (1880-1910)?
3. What were the main issues, ideas, and events of the Progressive Era during the period
1900-1915?
4. Assess the contributions of TWO of the following to the influence and reforms of the
Progressive movement:
 middle class
 muckrakers
 philosophy of pragmatism
 presidential leadership
5. Progressives believed that greater democracy was the key to solving society’s problems.
Identify TWO problems that the Progressives addressed and for each, describe a
democratic reform that was designed to deal with the problem
6. Discuss how President Wilson could argue that his foreign policy was still committed to
peace after he asked Congress for a declaration of war
7. Assess the influence of the United States’ involvement in World War I on TWO of the
following:
 African Americans
 civil liberties
 women
 business
8. Compare and contrast U.S. foreign policy from 1914-1917 with U.S. foreign policy from
1801-1812.
CHAPTER 32: AMERICAN LIFE IN THE ROARING TWENTIES
1. What was the Red Scare of 1919-1920? Impact?
2. How did business people use the Red Scare?
3. Who happened to Sacco and Vanzetti?
4. What did the post-war KKK advocate?
5. What were immigration restrictions of the 1920s a result of?
6. What was the Immigration Act of 1924?
7. Who did the immigration quota system discriminate against?
8. Who resisted the Volstead Act?
9. How long did Americans assume Prohibition would last?
10. How did John Dewey impact American education?
11. What was the Scopes-Monkey Trial? Impact?
12. What were some of the reasons behind prosperity in the 1920s?
13. What was the main problem faced by American manufacturers in the 1920s?
14. What was Ford's chief contribution to the auto industry?
15. What was Frederick Taylor's contribution to American industry?
16. What were some results of the automobile revolution in America?
17. What was the impact of the radio and motion pictures?
18. What did the 1920 census reveal?
19. What did Margaret Sanger advocate?
20. How did the lives of women change during the 1920s?
21. What is jazz music based on?
22. What organization did Marcus Garvey found? What did it call for?
23. How would one describe the works and impact of Ernest Hemmingway? F. Scott Fitzgerald?
Sinclair Lewis?
24. What is buying stock on "the margin?"
25. What was the economic impact of Andrew Mellon's stint as Secretary of Treasury?
CHAPTER 33: THE POLITICS OF BOOM AND BUST
1. What were some of President Harding's weaknesses?
2. What did Harding's economic policies stress?
3. How did the 1920s impact organized labor?
4. What did the Supreme Court decisions in Muller and Atkins involve?
5. Which non-business group made lasting gains from World War I?
6. Why did the US violate its isolation policy to get involved in the Middle East?
7. Why did Harding seize the initiative of international disarmament?
8. What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?
9. What was the impact of the Fordney-McCumber and Hawley-Smoot Tariffs?
10. What was the Teapot Dome scandal?
11. What was the focus of the Coolidge presidency?
12. How did Americans react to the Harding scandals?
13. What was the major problem of farmers in the 1920s?
14. How did Coolidge react to the farmer's problems?
15. Who benefited from the McNary-Haugen Bill? Norris-LaGuardia Act?
16. What was the split in the Democratic Party after 1924?
17. Who lead the Progressive Party in the 1920s? Why did they fail?
18. What were some exceptions to the American isolation of the 1920s?
19. How did European powers try to get out of their WWI debts?
20. How did America respond to their arguments? Impact of this action?
21. What board was set up to help farmers by Hoover's administration?
22. How did the Hawley-Smoot Tariff impact world economics?
23. What was a social impact of the Great Depression?
24. What was Hoover's stance on direct aid to the people as the Depression started?
25. How did Hoover try to solve the Depression?
26. What was the "Bonus Army?"
27. What did Japan do to leave the League of Nations?
28. What was the Hoover-Stimson Doctrine?
CHAPTER 34: THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What was the platform of the Democratic Party in 1932?
What does the phrase "100 days" refer to?
What was one surprising shift in the 1932 presidential election?
What did Hoover do as a lame-duck president?
What was the status of Congress as FDR took office? Unemployment in America?
What was the WPA? PWA? SSA? TVA? NRA? AAA?
Who was FDR's chief administrator?
What were the criticisms of the New Deal by Father Coughlin? Huey Long? Francis
Townshend?
9. How did the NRA begin to fail?
10. How did the AAA pay farmers not to grow crops?
11. What were the 20th and 21st Amendments, both ratified in the 1930s?
12. What caused the Dust Bowl? What was the impact of the Dust Bowl?
13. How did FDR deal with the Dust Bowl? Where did most Dust Bowl migrants settle?
14. What was the Indian New Deal?
15. Why was the TVA criticized?
16. What did the Social Security Act provide?
17. What did the Wagner Act of 1935 legalize?
18. What were the goals of the CIO?
19. What was FDR's court packing plan? Why did he come up with it? How was it received?
20. What prominent economist influenced FDR as the Great Depression continued?
21. According to the authors of the book and most historians, did the New Deal end the Great
Depression
CHAPTER 35: FDR AND THE SHADOW OF WAR
1. Why did FDR refuse to support the London Economic Conference?
2. What was the impact of FDR's retreatment of the London Economic Conference?
3. Why did FDR extend formal recognition to the Soviet Union?
4. Why did the United States promise the Philippines independence?
5. Why did FDR embark on the Good Neighbor Policy? What was the impact?
6. What was the Reciprocal Trade Agreement? Its impact?
7. How did the United States react to the aggresiveness by Germany, Italy, and Japan?
8. In the mid-1930s, strong popular support existed for which foreign policy law?
9. What were the Neutrality Acts and what was their impact?
10. What was the sequence of events regarding American arm's sales to warring nations?
11. What was the "Quarantine Speech" issued by FDR?
12. What was the result of the Munich convention?
13. What was the non-aggression treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union?
14. How did World War II officially begin?
15. Why did the United States choose not to bomb Nazi gas chamber during the war?
16. How many Jews did the United States save from Nazism?
17. How did Congress response to the fall of France in 1940?
18. What was the destroyer deal? Its impact?
19. What was the shift in public opinion towards the war in 1940?
20. Why did FDR run for a third term in 1940?
21. What was the lend-lease program? Its impact?
22. What did the United States do in response to Germany's invasion of Russia?
23. What was the Atlantic Charter?
24. Why did Japan believe it was forced into war?
25. Why was the attack on Pearl Harbor a surprise?
26. What was American public opinion towards war before Pearl Harbor? After?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit Ten) Chapters 32 to 35:
1. Explain why Congress passed immigration laws that enacted a quota system restricting
the number of immigrants who could come to the United States (1890 to 1925)
2. To what extent did the roles of women change in the years 1880-1920?
3. Discuss the Great Depression and its impact on American society.
4. Examine the period 1900 to 1929 as an era of social turmoil in the United States.
Identify specific conflicts, causes promoting those conflicts, and the impact of that
turmoil upon American society. Use two of the following areas as the focus of your
essay:
 Race Relations
 Role of Women in Society
 Prohibition
5. Discuss the factors that contributed to the rebirth and rapid growth of the Ku Klux Klan in
the early 1920’s
6. Analyze the role of TWO of the following in explaining the causes of the Great
Depression:
 farm problems
 income distribution
 world trade and finance
 government policy
7. Select TWO New Deal agencies or commissions and assess how well each satisfied the
three R’s of Relief, Reform and Recovery
CHAPTER 36: AMERICA IN WORLD WAR TWO
1. What military strategy did FDR favor? Winning Asia or Europe?
2. What was America's first major challenge when the war began?
3. What was the reaction of most ethnic groups in America to WWII?
4. Why were Japanese-Americans placed in concentration camps in WWII?
5. Which was the most prominent union to go on strike during WWII?
6. Why did most women leave the workforce after WWII?
7. What was the impact of WWII on African-American culture in America?
8. Why did the northward migration of African-Americans occur during WWII?
9. What was FDR's policies towards native Americans during WWII?
10. What happened to the national debt during WWII?
11. What battle turned the tide of Japanese advancement in the Pacific?
12. What was the US strategy for the war in the Pacific?
13. The conquest of which island made air raids over the Japanese mainland possible?
14. What battle in Europe was the end of Nazi advancement?
15. Why did the Allies postpone opening a second front until 1944?
16. What was a criticism of the unconditional surrender policy?
17. What was the importance of the Postdam? Casablanca? Teheran?
18. Who headed the D-Day invasion?
19. What was the main reason why FDR won election in 1944?
20. What was the focus of the 1944 democratic convention?
21. What was the primary reason the United States used the atomic bombs in Japan?
CHAPTER 37: THE COLD WAR BEGINS
1. What did Americans fear would happen after WWII?
2. How did the Taft-Hartley Act hurt labor?
3. What problem faced industry following WWII?
4. What were different factors that slowed the growth of labor following WWII?
5. What actions did Truman take to forestall the economic downturn?
6. Which group benefited most from post war prosperity?
7. What factors sparked the long economic boom from 1945 to 1970?
8. What region of the country saw its population grow the most following WWII? Why?
9. What were factors that lead to the growth to the suburbs in America?
10. What was the baby boom? How long did it last?
11. What problem will the baby boom generation cause as they retire?
12. How would the book describe Harry Truman?
13. Where did the origins of the Cold War originate?
14. Where did Stalin focus the Soviet's post war security?
15. Who bears the responsibility for starting the Cold War?
16. What was the earliest failure of the United Nations?
17. What did the Big Three powers agree to do about postwar Germany?
18. What did Truman do in response to the Soviet blockade of Berlin?
19. What was George Kennan's approach to fighting the Cold War?
20. What was the Truman Doctrine? What was it a response to?
21. What was the Marshall Plan? How effective was it?
22. Why did Truman recognize Israel?
23. What was NATO? Why did the United States join?
24. Why did the nationalists lose the civil war in China?
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
What did Truman establish to check for loyalty in the American government?
Why did southern Democrats split from the party in 1948?
What was Truman's Fair Deal?
Why did the United States get involved in Korea?
Why did Truman fire Douglas MacArthur?
CHAPTER 38: THE EISENHOWER ERA
1. Why were prospects for a democratic victory in 1952 poor?
2. Why was Richard Nixon selected as Eisenhower's running mate?
3. What did Eisenhower state he would do to end the war in Korea?
4. How did television impact electoral politics?
5. What was Eisenhower's greatest asset as president?
6. Who was Joseph McCarthy? How did Eisenhower react to him?
7. What was the impact of McCarthy's anti-communism crusade? When did it end?
8. What led to new militancy and restlessness among African-Americans?
9. What methods did African-Americans use to fight Jim Crow laws?
10. Why did the Supreme Court get involved in the civil rights movement in the 1950s?
11. What was the verdict in the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education decision in 1954? What
decision did it overturn?
12. How would Eisenhower's attitude towards racial justice be characterized? Examples?
13. What was the SNCC?
14. What was an economic problem of the 1950s?
15. What were Eisenhower's policies towards Native Americans?
16. What was the largest public works project under Eisenhower?
17. How did Ike react to the Hungarian revolution of 1956?
18. Who was the leader of the nationalist movement in Vietnam?
19. What was the 1955 Geneva Conference?
20. How did the US react to the 1956 Suez Canal crisis?
21. Where did the US engineer pro-American coups in the 1950s?
22. What was the "Eisenhower Doctrine?"
23. What was the US response to Sputnik in 1957?
24. What caused the 1960 Paris summit to be cancelled?
25. What may have tipped the scales for Kennedy in the election of 1960?
26. What were some of the new cultural characteristics of America in the fifties?
27. How would the literary movement of the 1950s be characterized?
28. How did the work force change in the 1950s?
29. What was the criticism of the consumerism of the 1950s?
30. How did sports reflect society in the 1950s?
31. Who wrote The Feminine Mystique? What was its impact?
32. What led to the rapid upsurge of employment by women following WWII?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit Eleven) Chapters 36 to 38:
1. How effective was Harry Truman’s foreign policy in dealing with the growing threat of
Stalinist Russia in the years 1945-1953?
2. At various points in United States History the traditional political rights associated with
American democracy have been suspended. Select two of the following topics to trace
the reasons for this temporary deviation from the ideal of American political liberty
 Red Scare of 1919
 Japanese-American Wartime Relocation
 McCarthy Era
3. Argue for or against this statement: “President Truman’s decision to use the atomic
bomb was completely justified.”
4. How did Truman’s Fair Deal go beyond the reforms of the New Deal of the 1930’s?
5. Analyze the impact of TWO of the following on American-Soviet relations during the
Truman presidency:
 atomic weapons
 Marshall Plan
 Berlin Blockade
 NATO
CHAPTER 39: THE STORMY SIXTIES
1. What became one of Bobby Kennedy's focuses as he became attorney general?
2. How did JFK choose to attack a sagging economy?
3. What was Charles DeGaulle's opinion of America?
4. What was the 1962 Trade Expansion Act?
5. What was JFK's "flexible response?" How was it received?
6. Why did America get involved in Vietnam?
7. What was the Alliance for Progress?
8. How did JFK react to the Soviet installation of nuclear weapons in Cuba?
9. What was the Cuban Missile Crisis? Results?
10. What was important about JFK's 1963 American University speech?
11. Why did JFK move slowly in the area of racial justice entering office?
12. When did JFK join with the civil rights movement?
13. How did JFK react to the Little Rock crisis?
14. Who led the government investigation into the Kennedy assassination?
15. Where did LBJ prove to be more successful then JFK?
16. What was the name of LBJ's domestic reform program?
17. What was the Tonkin Gulf Resolution?
18. Why did voters favor LBJ in 1964?
19. What were some of the programs started by LBJ's Great Society? Evaluation of their
successes/failures?
20. What was the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964?
21. What was the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965?
22. What amendment was passed to help blacks vote in the South?
23. What was the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
24. What was the significance of the Watts Riots?
25. Who were some of the influential black leaders of the sixties and how did their policies
differ?
26. What was the most serious blow to LBJ's Vietnam policy?
27. What happened at the 1968 Democratic convention?
28. Who was the third party candidate in 1968? Impact?
29. What did the major party candidates agree on regarding Vietnam?
30. What were some factors resulting in the upheavals of the sixties?
Chapter 40: The Stalemated Seventies
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What caused the economy to stagnate in the 1970”s?
What is détente?
What caused the Sino-Soviet split in the 1970’s How did the US use this to their advantage?
What communist countries did Nixon visit in 1972?
What did the ABM treaty and SALT do to aid in our relationship with the communist world?
Identify the importance of the following cases in the Warren court- Griswold v. Connecticut,
Gideon v. Wainright, Escobedo v. Illinois, and Engel v. Vitale. How did the Supreme Court
change in 1969?
7. How did Nixon expand Great Society programs?
8. What did Nixon do to aid the environment?
9. What impact did Rachel Carson’s book The Silent Spring have?
10. Who won the election of 1972?
11. What is the Watergate scandal? What is CREEP? How was Nixon involved?
12. Did the Constitution work in the Watergate scandal? What happened to Nixon?
13. What is the War Powers Act of 1973?
14. What happened as a result of the Arab oil embargo? What is OPEC?
15. Who was the only unelected President?
16. Who won the election of 1976?
17. What was the main goal of Carter’s presidency?
18. What happened in Iran to humiliate the US?
Chapter 41: The Resurgence of Conservatism
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What events or issues in the 1980’s signaled a triumph of conservatism?
What type of background helped Reagan get elected in 1980?
What is meant by supply-side economics?
What role did boll weevils (Southern Democrats) play in Reagan’s economic policies?
Did supply-side economics cure the economic ills of the US?
Explain how each of the following issues helped to renew the cold war-SDI (Star Wars) and
problems in Poland.
7. What is meant by the Teflon president?
8. Who are the Sandinistas?
9. Who ran against Reagan in 1984? Who was Geraldine Ferraro?
10. What is meant by glasnost and perestroika when dealing with the Soviet Union?
11. What is the Iran-Contra scandal?
12. What is the legacy of Reaganomics on the US?
13. Who was elected in 1988?
14. How did the cold war end in Europe?
15. What impact did these events have on China?
16. What caused the Persian Gulf crisis?
17. Why is the Americans with Disabilities Act important?
Possible Essay Topics for (unit Twelve) Chapters 39 to 41:
1. To what extent was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution a formal declaration of war against
Communist North Vietnam?
2. Analyze the ways that TWO of the following reformed United States society during the
1960’s:
 Great Society Legislation
 Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965
 Warren Court decisions
3. Explain how TWO of the following contributed to the social revolutions of the 1960’s:
 civil rights movement
 counterculture
 women’s movement
 war in Vietnam