For this paper assignment, six essay questions are listed below. Select the one that you wish to answer. The essay should be a formal essay. You are expected to use your textbook (cite it whenever you use material from it) and any other supplemental materials you wish so long as they are NOT encyclopedias. The link for the free textbook is, https://openstax.org/details/books/us-history. Any source you use needs to be cited per APA or MLA guidelines. The questions will test how much you know about the subject matter of each of the questions and how well you are able to do research quickly to fill out your knowledge base.
You must use either the MLA or APA guidelines for writing formal papers. Follow this Link for access to the Purdue OWl to get information on both writing formats.
Note, the length of the essay should be from 4 to 5 pages. It can be longer if you feel that is necessary to properly address the question. Your grade is based on (1) content (2) analysis of the content or of the the argument you make if support of your position re each question, and (3) mechanics (i.e. spelling, punctuation, etc.). The essay is worth 100 points maximum.
Paper must be turned in to Canvas by May. 14th at the latest. Note, I cannot accept papers after the official close of the course.
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Paper Topics: Pick one from this list
Compare the Confederacy with the American colonies and their respect claims that were justified in separating from in the first case the British Empire and in the second case the United States. To what extent do you think southerners were correct in viewing the Civil War as a second American Revolution and to what extent were they wrong?
An ongoing theme in early American history was the issue of the rights of the federal government versus that of the states. Write a formal essay in which you trace this history including in your discussion such events as you think were most relevant regarding the tension between the southern states and the rest of the country?
The era of Jackson is said to have been a watershed moment in American history. Explain what Jacksonian Democracy was and how it differed from the way politics had worked in America prior to the time of Jackson? Was this a change for the better?
The treatment of native peoples from the period of colonization through the Indian Removal Act under Jackson and Van Buren has been a dark stain on American history. Write an essay in which you discuss the ways in which Native Americans were been dealt with by the American government from Washington’s administration to the removal of the native tribes from the Southeast. Do you think the government could have found another way to deal with the Indian issue or was the confiscation of native land inevitable and if so why?
Discuss the various ways in which slavery was actually practiced in the South during the antebellum period and how slaves resisted such treatment. Were the various slave rebellions at all useful in the struggle against the institution or did they only make things worse?
Discuss the similarities and differences between the North and South regarding social norms and cultural practices prior to the Civil War. Can you find any similarities between our own time and life during this earlier period?
Write an essay in which you discuss the Civil War itself and try to explain why it took the North so long to prevail against the South. Could the war have been averted and if so how?
Discuss the effort on the part of the federal government to reconstruct the South in the years after the Civil War. Was this effort on the whole successful or did it fail and if so how?
There were numerous reform movements during the Antebellum period. Pick one that you think is particularly interesting and explain how it came about and whether or not the reforms advocated by the group you chose were successful in achieving their goals.
