American History Since 1877
History question help
There are four sections in this exam, with four questions each. You are required to answer only one question in each section. Be sure to include as much information as possible to support your answer. Each answer should be 3-5 paragraphs in length. Be sure to cite your sources.
American History since 1877
Question 1
- Compare and contrast racial conflict in the South and the West.
- How successful were business people in overcoming the problems that confronted them in the last third of the nineteenth century?
- How did some urban housing reforms of the late nineteenth century eventually add to urban blight?
- Why was it so difficult to resolve such issues as the spoils system, the tariff, and bimetallism, which consumed congressional energies in the late nineteenth century?
Question 2
- Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of progressivism.
- In what ways were mobilization and the effort, in World War I, a fulfillment of the progressive legacy? In what ways did the war deny the basic tenets of progressivism?
- How did popular culture—whether in the form of best-selling novels, games, films, or radio programs—reflect and respond to the ravages of the Great Depression?
- Compare and contrast the Depression experiences of Mexican– and African-Americans. In your opinion, which group fared better?
Question 3
- Describe the major war aims of the Allied Powers.
- How did the war change the attitudes of women and minorities toward their status in American society?
- Many historians feel that Harry Truman as much as Joe McCarthy gave force to the postwar “Red Scare.” Explain why you agree or disagree.
- Compare the quality of life in the suburbs with the quality of life either on farms or in cities.
Question 4
- Compare the achievements and shortcomings of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.
- Defend or attack the use of civil disobedience as a strategy in the civil rights movement, using Martin Luther King’s early career as an example of the technique.
- Both Indians and Hispanics were hardly “monolithic” ethnic groups in American life. Explain how that led to a variety of responses to the activist currents of the 1960s and 1970s, among both Hispanics and Indians.
- Describe the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade; then defend or criticize it.
Answer preview
- How did some urban housing reforms of the late nineteenth century eventually add to urban blight?
The 19th century was a trying moment for the United States of America. The country was struggling with a great depression which almost paralyzed its economic progress, and at the same time, it was trying to get through another World War. In the 19th century, more people began crowding in the US cities. Majority of those people were thousands of immigrants who came to seek a better life than they left in their native countries. In New York City, the population was growing at a rapid rate, and the buildings which were once meant for single…
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