USHAP Essay Questions
The College Board provides resources for many of the following essay prompts.
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_information/2089.html
I. When Worlds Collide (1492-1753)
1. “Geography was the primary factor in shaping the development of the British colonies in North
America.” Assess the validity of this statement for the 1600s.
2. Early encounters between American Indians and European colonists shaped those relationships among
the different cultures. Analyze how the actions taken by BOTH American Indians and European
colonists shaped those relationships in TWO of the following regions. Confine your answer to the
1600s.
New England
Chesapeake Spanish Southwest
New York and New France
3. Compare and contrast the British, French, and Spanish imperial goals in North America between 1580
and 1763.
4. Analyze the origins and development of slavery in Britain’s North American colonies in the period
1607 to 1776.
5. “In the 1600s the major issues of U.S. colonial history revolved around theological issues. In the
1700s, the major issues revolved around political issues.” Assess the validity of this statement.
6. Compare the ways in which ____ of the following reflected tensions in colonial society:
Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
Pueblo Revolt (1680)
Salem Witchcraft trials (1692)
Stono Rebellion (1739)
7. For the period before 1750, analyze the ways in which Britain’s policy of salutary neglect influenced
the development of American society as illustrated in the following:
Legislative assemblies
Commerce
Religion
8. Analyze the role of trans-Atlantic trade and Great Britain’s mercantilist policies in the economic
development of the British North American colonies in the period from 1650 to 1750.
9. Compare and contrast the ways in which economic development affected politics in Massachusetts
and Virginia in the period from 1607 to 1750.
II. Revolution (1754-1787)
1.
“Although the thirteen American colonies were founded at different times by people with different
motives and with different forms of colonial charters and political organization, by the time of the
Revolution the thirteen colonies had become remarkably similar.” Assess the validity of this
statement.
2. Analyze the way in which British imperial policies between 1763 and 1776 intensified colonials’
resistance to British rule and their commitment to republican values.
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3. “The American Revolution was about white Americans fighting against British imperial control in the
East and for their own imperialism in the West.” Assess the validity of this statement.
4. Analyze the political, diplomatic, and military reasons for the United States victory in the
Revolutionary War. Confine your answer to the period 1775–1783.
5. Analyze how the ideas and experiences of the revolutionary era influenced the principles embodied in
the Articles of Confederation.
III. Counterrevolution? (1787-1803)
1. Analyze the ways in which the ideas of the Enlightenment contributed to the origins of constitutional
government in the United States.
2. To what extent was the United States Constitution a departure from the Articles of Confederation?
3. “The Bill of Rights did not come from a desire to protect the liberties won in the American
Revolution, but rather from a fear of the powers of the new federal government.” Assess the validity
of this statement.
4. Analyze the ways in which the political, economic, and diplomatic crises of the 1780s shaped the
provisions of the United States Constitution.
5. Evaluate the relative importance of domestic and foreign affairs in shaping American politics in the
1790s. Account for the development of nascent political parties in Washington’s administrations, and
show the alignments that flowed from this factionalization.
6.
“Indeed what was most significant about the election of 1800 was that it was NOT a revolution.”
Assess this evaluation.
IV. Genocide, Slavery, and Capitalist Democracy (1803-1848)
1. Many historians label the War of 1812 as the Second War of Independence. Assess the validity of this
characterization.
2. What were the social, economic, and political results of the War of 1812, and how did the war reveal
sectionalism?
3. Analyze the ways in which the United States sought to advance its interests in world affairs between
1789 and 1823.
4. “John Marshall was second only to Alexander Hamilton in creating a strong, centralized federal
government.” Assess the validity of this statement with specific references to ____major Supreme
Court decisions during Marshall’s tenure (1801-1835) as Chief Justice.
5. “The United States displayed all the typical characteristics of a new nation during the early republic,
1789-1823.” Assess the validity of this view.
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6. How did ____of the following contribute to the reemergence of a two party system in the period 1820
to 1840?
Major political personalities
State’s rights
Economic issues
7. Compare and contrast the economic policies of Thomas Jefferson’s and Andrew Jackson’s presidential
administrations.
8. Although the power of the national government increased during the early republic, this development
often faced serious opposition. Compare the motives and effectiveness of those opposed to the
growing power of the national government in ____of the following.
Whiskey Rebellion, 1794
Virginia and Kentucky Resolution, 1798-1799
Hartford Convention, 1814-1815
Nullification Crisis, 1832-1833
9. In what respects did each of the following represent in their expressed opinions and actions the
viewpoint of the section of the nation from which he came?
Calhoun—The South
Clay—The West
Webster—New England
10. “Although historically represented as distinct parties, the Federalists and the Whigs in fact shared a
common political ideology, represented many of the same interest groups, and proposed similar
programs and policies.” Assess the validity of this statement.
11. Compare the expansionist foreign policies of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Polk. To what
extent did their policies strengthen the United States?
12. In what way did the early nineteenth century reform movements for abolition and women’s rights
illustrate both the strengths and weaknesses of democracy in the early republic?
13. “Although Americans perceived Manifest Destiny as a benevolent movement, it was in fact an
aggressive imperialism pursued at the expense of others.” Assess the validity of this statement.
14. “In the first half of the nineteenth century, the American cultural and intellectual community
contributed to the development of a distinctive American national consciousness.” Assess the validity
of this statement.
15. Discuss the impact of territorial expansion on national unity between 1800 and 1850.
V. Industrialism Triumphant (1840s – 1877)
1. Analyze the impact of the market revolution (1815-1860) on the economies of TWO of the following
regions.
The Northeast
The Midwest
The South
2. In what ways and to what extent was industrial development from 1800 to 1860 a factor in the
relationship between the northern and southern states.
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3.
“American reform movements between 1820 and 1860 reflected both optimistic and pessimistic
views on human nature and society.” Assess the validity of this statement in reference to reform
movements in THREE of the following areas:
Education
Temperance
Women’s Rights
Utopian Experiments
Penal Institutions
4. Compare and contrast the experience of slaves on tobacco plantations in the early seventeenth-century
Chesapeake region with that of slaves on nineteenth-century cotton plantations in the Deep South.
What forces transformed the institution of slavery from the early seventeenth century to the
nineteenth century?
5. Analyze the political, economic, and religious tensions between immigrant Roman Catholics and
native-born Protestants in the United States from the 1830s through the 1850s.
6. “Leaders during the 1780s appeared to dominate events, while events seemed to dominate leaders in
the period of the 1850s.” Assess the validity of this statement.
7. Analyze the social, political, and economic forces of the 1840s and early 1850s that led to the
emergence of the Republican Party.
8. To what extent did political parties contribute to the development of national unity in the United
States between 1790 and 1840?
9. Analyze how western expansion contributed to growing sectional tensions between the North and the
South. Confine your answer to the period from 1800 to 1850.
10. In what ways are the issues that led to the Civil War similar to those that led to the American War for
Independence?
11. What causes of the Civil War were resolved by the Civil War and Reconstruction?
12. Explain why and how the role of the federal government changed as a result of the Civil War with
respect to ____ of the following during the period 1861-1877:
Race relations
Economic development
Westward expansion
VI. The Corporatization of America (1870s-1900)
1. In what way did ____of the following affect the development of the West?
Introduction of barbed wire
End of the Indian wars
Building of the railroads
Introduction of McCormick reaper
2. “Although the economic development of the Trans-Mississippi West is popularly associated with
hardy individualism, it was in fact largely dependent on the federal government.” Assess the
validity of this statement with specific reference to western economic activities in the nineteenth
century.
3. For whom and to what extent was the American west a land of opportunity from 1865-1890?
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4. Evaluate Frederick Jackson Turner’s basic thesis about the beneficial influence of the American
frontier, particularly its democratizing influence, with specific reference to the treatment of Native
Americans, methods of land distribution, and the influence of railroad monopolies.
5. In the post–Civil War United States, corporations grew significantly in number, size, and influence.
Analyze the impact of big business on the economy and politics and the responses of Americans to
these changes. Confine your answer to the period 1870 to 1900.
6. Analyze the impact of any ____of the following on the American industrial worker between 1865
and 1900:
Government actions Immigration Labor unions Technological changes
7. Compare and contrast the attitudes of ____of the following toward the wealth that was created in
the United States during the late nineteenth century:
Andrew Carnegie
Eugene V. Debs
Horatio Alger
Ida M. Tarbell
Booker T. Washington
Upton Sinclair
8. “Both the Jacksonian Democrats between 1826 and 1836 and the Populists between 1890 and 1896,
desired to eliminate special privilege in American society. The Jacksonian Democrats succeeded;
the Populists failed.” Assess the validity of this statement.
9. Following Reconstruction, many southern leaders promoted the idea of a “New South.” To what
extent was this “New South” a reality by the time of the First World War? In your answer be sure to
address TWO of the following.
Economic developments
Politics
Race relations
VII. The Progressive Response (1900-1920)
1. “1870-1915 reflected American’s uneasiness over the transition from an agrarian to an industrial
society.” Assess the validity of this statement.
2. To what extent did the role of the federal government change under President Theodore Roosevelt in
regard to TWO of the following:
Labor
Trusts
Conservation
World Affairs
3. “In understanding the nature of a reform movement it is important to know what it seeks to preserve
as to know what it seeks to change.” Compare the Populist and Progressive Reform movements of
the late 19th and early 20th centuries in light of this statement.
4. Analyze the roles that women played in Progressive Era reforms from the 1880s through 1920.
Focus your essay on TWO of the following.
Politics
Social conditions
Labor and working conditions
5. Analyze the effectiveness of Progressive Era reformers in addressing problems of the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. In your answer, focus on reform efforts in TWO of the following
areas.
State and federal government
The workplace
Living conditions in cities
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6. “In American politics the most significant battles have occurred within the major parties rather than
between them.” Discuss this statement with reference to the periods 1850-1861 and 1900-1912.
7. Analyze the relative influence of _______ of the following in the American declaration of war on
Germany in 1917.
German Naval policy
American economic interests
Wilson’s idealism
Allied propaganda
America’s claim to world power
8. “War has united Americans more closely than any other activity.” Discuss this statement and test its
validity by references to American history during the years 1812-1824 and 1912-1924.
9. Compare and contrast the foreign policies of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
10. Analyze the ways in which state and federal legislation and judicial decisions, including those of the
Supreme Court, affected the efforts of any _____of the following groups to improve their
position in society between 1880 and 1920.
African Americans
Farmers
Workers
11. Analyze the impact of technological innovations on the lives of TWO of the following groups.
Confine your answer to the period 1865–1920.
Factory workers
Middle-class urban residents
Midwestern farmers
12. Choose TWO of the following organizations and explain their strategies for advancing the interests
of their workers. To what extent were these organizations successful in achieving their objectives?
Confine your answer to the period from 1875 to 1925.
Knights of Labor
American Federation of Labor Socialist Party of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
VIII. Capitalism in Crisis (1920-1945)
1. How did TWO of the following help shape American national culture in the 1920s?
Advertising
Entertainment
Mass Production
2. “From the 1840s through 1920s, women’s activities in the intellectual, social, economic and political
spheres effectively challenged traditional attitudes about women’s place in society.” Assess the
validity of this statement.
3. Compare and contrast the ways that many Americans expressed their opposition to immigrants in the
1840s-1850s with the ways that many Americans expressed their opposition to immigrants in the
1910s-1920s.
4. Analyze the origins and outcomes of the intense cultural conflicts of the 1920s. In your response,
focus on TWO of the following.
Immigration
Prohibition
Religion
5. Analyze the ways in which the Great Depression altered the American social fabric in the 1930s.
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6. “Although American writers of the 1920s and 1930s criticized American society, the nature of their
criticism differed markedly in the two decades.” Assess the validity of this statement with specific
reference to writers in both decades.
7. “The proposals of the Populists as to how to handle the economic conditions of the early 1890s were
not enacted but these proposals provided the framework for the New Deal’s response to the economic
conditions of the early 1930s.” Analyze the validity of this generalization.
8. “Republicans have been the party of Big Business and depression; the Democrats have been the party
of the Common Man and of war.” State whether you agree or disagree with this statement and defend
your position with reference to two of the following events:
Panic of 1893 and Spanish American War
Panic of 1907 and World War I
Great Depression and World War II
9. “Despite superficial similarities, the domestic programs of the New Deal constituted a fundamental
departure from those of the Progressive Era.” Assess the validity of this statement.
10. Prior to American involvement in both World Wars, the United States went through an official policy
of neutrality. Compare the policy and its modifications during the period 1914-1917 to the policy of
its modifications during the period 1939-1941.
11. During the past four decades, historians have consistently rated Washington, Lincoln and Franklin D.
Roosevelt as the greatest presidents. Attempt an explanation as to why historians choose these
presidents, and make clear what you think is the criteria on which historians base their judgment.
12. Analyze the home-front experiences of TWO of the following groups during the Second World War.
African Americans Japanese Americans Jewish Americans
Mexican Americans
IX. Permanent War (1945-1965)
1. Presidential elections between 1928 and 1948 revealed major shifts in political party loyalties.
Analyze both the reasons for these changes and their consequences during this period.
2. Describe the factors that made possible, and the policies that were implemented to ensure, U.S. global
economic hegemony in the post-World War II period.
3. Compare and contrast United States foreign policy after the First World War and after the Second
World War. Consider the periods 1919-1928 and 1945-1950.
4. The size, character and effectiveness of the organized labor movement changed significantly during
the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century. Apply this statement to ____of the following
periods:
1879-1915
1915-1935
1935-1950
5. While the United States appeared to be dominated by consensus and conformity in the 1950s, some
Americans reacted against the status quo. Analyze the critiques of United States society made by
____ of the following.
Youth
Civil Rights Activists
Intellectuals
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6. Why did periods of domestic political repression follow in the wake of both the First and Second
World Wars?
7. Identify and analyze the issues separating the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold
War as illustrated by _____of the following:
NATO and Warsaw Pact
Korean War
Berlin Wall
Nuclear arms race
8. Analyze the ways in which _____of the following contributed to the changes in women’s lives in the
United States in the mid-twentieth century.
Wars
Literature and/or popular culture
Medical and/or technological advances
X. Democratic Dissent (1954-1979)
1. Compare and contrast United States society in the 1920s and the 1950s with respect to ____ of the
following:
race relations
role of women
consumerism
2. Compare and contrast the issues which led to reform and the reforms which were introduced in two of
the following periods:
The Jacksonian Era
The New Deal Period
The Kennedy/Johnson years
3. How did the African American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s address the failures of
Reconstruction?
4. “Americans have learned that, when the nation is divided in its support of military activity, the social
fabric of a democratic society is weakened, which results in moral and ethical decline.” Assess the
validity of this quotation by using information from _____ of the following:
Mexican War
Civil War
World War I
Vietnam War
5. Explain the origins of TWO of the following third parties and evaluate their impact on United States
politics and national policies.
The People’s Party (Populists), 1892
The Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party), 1912
The States’ Rights Party (Dixiecrats), 1948
The American Independent Party, 1968
6. Discuss, with respect to _____ of the following, the view that the 1960s represented a period of
profound cultural change:
Education
Gender Roles
Music
Race relations
7. “American history reveals that government by the majority can be divisive and that the views of the
minority must be considered in executing policy.” Assess the validity of this statement for the periods
1793-1812 and 1953-1974.
8. Describe and account for changes in the American presidency between 1960 and 1975, as symbolized
by Kennedy’s “Camelot”, Johnson’s “Great Society”, and Nixon’s “Watergate”. In your answer,
address the powers of the presidency and the role of the media.
9. Compare and contrast the Cold War foreign policies of TWO of the following presidents.
Harry Truman (1945-1953)
Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961)
Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
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10. Compare and contrast United States foreign policy objectives and military strategies during the
Korean War and the Vietnam War.
11. Analyze the successes and failures of the United States Cold War policy of containment as it
developed in _____ of the following regions of the world during the period 1945 to 1975.
East and Southeast Asia
Europe
Latin America
Middle East
12. Analyze the ways in which the events and trends of the 1970s diminished the nation’s economic power
and international influence, and challenged American’s confidence in both.
13. Between 1945 and 1975 various groups in the United States engaged in protest. Analyze the reasons
that protest emerged in this period for TWO of the following groups.
African Americans College students
Latino Americans
Women
XI. The Conservative Restoration (1979-Present)
1. In what ways was the change in the political control of the federal government a result of economic
issues in _____ of the following presidential elections:
McKinley’s defeat of Bryan in 1896
Wilson’s defeat of Taft in 1912
Roosevelt’s defeat of Hoover in 1932
Reagan’s defeat of Carter in 1980
2. Compare and contrast the women’s rights movement of the 1840s-1860s with the women’s rights
movement of the 1960s-1980s.
3. “Landslide presidential victories do not ensure continued political effectiveness or legislative
success.” Assess the validity of this statement by comparing TWO of the following presidential
administrations.
Franklin Roosevelt (1936)
Lyndon Johnson (1964)
Richard Nixon (1972)
Ronald Reagan (1984)
4. “Shifts in party control of the presidency during the twentieth century have generally NOT brought
about shifts in domestic policy.” Assess the validity of this generalization.
5. “Social dislocations resulting from wartime conditions frequently bring lasting change within a
society.” Evaluation the relevance of this generalization of American society in the twentieth century
in view of the experiences of African Americans and women.
6. Explain the causes and consequences of TWO of the following population movements in the United
States during the period 1945–1985.
Suburbanization
The growth of the Sun Belt Immigration to the United States
7. Describe the patterns of immigration in _____ of the periods listed below. Compare and contrast the
responses of Americans to immigrants in these periods.
1820 to 1860
1880 to 1924
1965 to 2000
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