1. Compare and contrast the Spanish and English conquest of the New World. Your answer should at a..

1.

Compare and contrast the Spanish and English conquest of the New World. Your answer should at a minimum address how Spanish and English colonists dealt with indigenous peoples; to what extent, or in what ways religion influenced each nations’ colonial endeavors; and how the colonial societies established by Spain and England differed from each other. Feel free to reflect on other issues as well in your analysis of the colonial projects of these two European powers. Your answer must cite material from the primary sources, lecture and Davidson textbook.

 

2.

Reflect on the ways in which social, racial, political, and religious conflict changed the thirteen mainland British colonies from the period 1607-1750. In your answer spend some time evaluating how these different conflicts might have made the thirteen colonies different than Great Britain itself, and speculate on the connections between the divisions present in the colonies and the eventual war for independence in the 1770s.

3.

Evaluate whether or not the American Revolution was a “radical” event. Your answer should first define what the word radical means to you and then explain the arguments for or against the idea of the Revolution as radical. Your answer needs to evaluate the political aspects of the Revolution, as well as social or cultural aspects (for example, ideas about gender or race).

 

4.

Would you have voted to ratify the Federal Constitution of 1787? In writing your answer, be sure to evaluate both sides of the issue, taking into account the varied perspectives of different economic classes, races, or social groups. Your answer should also draw upon material relating to the political conflicts of the 1790s, which in many ways were a continuation of the political arguments present during the process of ratifying the Federal Constitution.

5.

Evaluate the ways in which the United States was transformed by the War of 1812, which ended in 1815. Your answer should draw upon material from the era spanning the presidencies of Jefferson through Jackson, and should look at economic, political, social and cultural changes that accelerated after 1815. Were these changes all positive? Why or why not?

 

6.

Describe the proslavery view of white Southerners in the years after 1815. What were the most important causes or origins of this view, and how did proslavery ideology impact the politics and society of the slave states? Your answer should also analyze how pro-slavery Southerners were challenged by slaves, free African-Americans or others in the U.S. at the time. What were the results?

 

7.

Explain how the slave states and free states were becoming more different in the 1830s, 40s, and 50s. Your answer should draw upon economic, religious, political, and cultural differences from the primary source documents as well as the Davidson text. Given the differences between the two regions, was a Civil War inevitable? What ties still bound Americans together during this period?

 

8.

Address what is meant when historians call the Civil War a second American Revolution. Your answer should define the term revolution in terms of political, economic, racial, or social change, and whether or not your definition applies to the Civil War.