How did the role of the federal government in American life change between World War I and World War II (c. 1919-1941)? Who were the key players in this transition, and what were the key events? How might we understand and describe the shifting role of the federal government across time? How were the activities of the federal government related to the expansion or limitation of American freedom?
In formulating your answer, choose three different individuals/groups that we have discussed in the middle section of the course (modules 6-9). Explain how each of them defined, explained, and imagined the proper place of the federal government in American economics, culture, and society. You should also compare these contrasting views of the role of government. What were the points of agreement and disagreement? Could multiple perspectives coexist, or were they mutually exclusive?
Be as specific as possible, and be sure to use the assigned readings to defend your answer.
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Be as specific as possible, and be sure to use the assigned readings to defend your answer.
- Answers that are too short or too long (more than 50 words in either direction) will lose points.
- Your answer must quote and cite at least three different documents from the required reading for Modules 6 through 9.
- Your answer will be checked for plagiarism using Turn-It-In.
- Your answer should be based on material covered in class lectures and in the assigned reading for this course. DO NOT CONSULT OTHER SOURCES. I do not want to know what Google tells you about this topic. All the information you need to answer this question can be found in the assigned reading and in your class notes.
SOME TIPS ON FORMATTING AND LENGTH:
- 750 words is not much! It’s about three double spaced pages (1” margins, 12 point font).
- Be brief, especially in your introductory paragraph. Get right to your argument, don’t waste words describing everything we’ve covered in the course. There’s no need to make sweeping statements like “Since the beginning of U.S. history….”
- The prompt asks several different (but closely related) questions. You do not need to answer each and every one of them, but you should try to address most of them (at least in passing) in your essay.
- Suggested format:
- 75 words: Introductory paragraph that ends with a clear thesis statement (that is, your argument and your answer to the question asked in the prompt).
- 200 words: body paragraph 1, which should contain your first example and a quotation from your first document.
- 200 words: body paragraph 2, which should contain your second example and a quotation from your second document. A transition paragraph between paragraphs should address the similarities/differences between your first and second example.
- 200 words: body paragraph 3, which should contain your third example and a quotation from your third document. A transition paragraph between paragraphs should address the similarities/differences between this example and your first two examples.
- 75 words: a concluding paragraph that compares your three examples and reiterates (not word-for-word!) your thesis from the introduction.
- You MUST introduce and contextualize your quotes. We’ve read dozens of documents this term. You must tell your reader what document you’re quoting.
- GOOD: Southern African Americans had their own definition of freedom. “We claim freedom as our natural right,” black residents of Nashville stated in a petition, “and ask that in harmony and co-operation with the nation at large, you should cut up the roots the system of slavery.” As these petitioners noted, the work of freedom remained incomplete, even after emancipation.
- BAD: Southern African Americans had their own definition of freedom. “We claim freedom as our natural right, and ask that in harmony and co-operation with the nation at large, you should cut up the roots the system of slavery.”
The second example is extraordinarily confusing for your reader. Who are you quoting? Are these your words? Introduce your quotes, and then explain them in your own words.
You should also try to avoid extended quotations. In almost all circumstances, you shouldn’t be quoting more than one or two sentences at a time. When you’re trying to quote a longer passage, intersperse your own words as necessary. When I see paragraph-length citations I start to worry that you’re just trying to fill up space…
Historians use Chicago Manual of Style, Humanities format. Use footnotes, not parenthetical/in-text citations.
CITE THE DOCUMENTS FROM ERIC FONER’S VOICES OF FREEDOM AS FOLLOWS:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Home Life,” in Eric Foner, ed. Voices of Freedom, Vol. 2, 6th Edition (New York: W.W. Norton, 2020), 14-17.
- You do not need to cite my video lectures. Consider these to be common knowledge shared by the class.
- Submit your document as a Microsoft Word file – or a similar word processing file. Do not convert the file to a PDF.
- Late papers will lose 1/3 of a letter grade per 24 hours (i.e. A- becomes B+, C+ becomes C).
- Please include a word count on your paper.
Module 6 reading:
Document 126 – Woodrow Wilson, A World “Safe for Democracy” (1917)
Document 127 – Randolph Bourne, “War is the Health of the State” (1918)
Document 128 – A Critique of the Versailles Peace Conference (1919)
- Document 129 – Carrie Chapman Catt, Address to Congress Women’s Suffrage (1917)
- Document 130 – Eugene V. Debs, Speech to the Jury (1918)
- Document 131 – Rubie Bond, The Great Migration (1917)
Module 7 reading:
Document 118 – Manuel Gamio on a Mexican-Amerian Family and American Freedom (c. 1926)
Document 133 – John A. Fitch on the Great Steel Strike (1919)
Document 136 – The Fight for Civil Liberties (1921)
- Document 134 – Immigration Quotas Under the Johnson-Reed Act (1924)
- Document 138 – Congress Debates Immigration (1921)
- Document 140 – Alain Locke, The New Negro (1925)
- Document 141 – Elsie Hill and Florence Kelley Debate the Equal Rights Amendment (1922)
Module 8 reading:
Document 142 – Letter to Francis Perkins (1937)
Document 143 – John Steinbeck, “The Harvest Gypsies” (1936)
Document 144 – John L. Lewis on Labor’s Great Upheaval (1937)
Document 145 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Great Security for the Average Man” (1934)
- Document 146 – Herbert Hoover on the New Deal and Liberty (1936)
- Document 148 – Frank H. Hill on the Indian New Deal (1935)
- Document 149 – W.E.B. DuBois, “A Negro Nation Within A Nation” (1935)
Module 9 reading :
Document 150 – Franklin Roosevelt on the Four Freedoms (1941)
Document 151 – Will Durant, “Freedom of Worship” (1943)
Document 152 – Henry R. Luce, “The American Century” (1941)
- Document 155 – World War II and Mexican-Americans (1945)
- Document 156 – Charles H. Wesley on African Americans and the Four Freedoms (1944)
- Document 157 – Justice Robert A. Jackson, Dissent in Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Answer preview
Furthermore, President Franklin Roosevelt, in his Four Freedom Speech, addressed Congress revealing the need for having laws on internal affairs. Hence, his speech pushed for citizens’ freedom of speech, freedom from want, the liberty to worship, and freedom from fear. Roosevelt urged, “Our actions and our policy should be devoted primarily–almost exclusively–to meeting this foreign peril. For all our domestic problems are now a part of the great emergency” (Document 150). In this case, the president was worried that the national policies provided decent rights that respected other nations, and yet the United States internal affairs were in shackles. As much as the citizens had chosen to avoid war, the president needed them to be ready for tough situations. Hence, the federal government worked together with Mrs. Roosevelt
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