Check the chapter learning objectives before and after you read the chapter.
1. Why did the North and the South choose the
path of military conflict in 1861?
2. What were the stated war aims and military
strategies of each side as the war progressed?
3. How and why did the Civil War become a “total
war”?
4. What was the significance of emancipation
toward the conduct and outcome of the war?
5. How and why did the North win the war in 1865?
1. How did Presidents Lincoln and Johnson envision Reconstruction?
2. How and why did Republicans in Congress take control of Reconstruction?
3. Analyze and explain what African Americans expected and the realities they encountered during Reconstruction. 4. What was the southern response(s) to Reconstruction? 5. Analyze and explain the political crisis of 1877 and the end of Reconstruction.
6. What were the successes and failures of Reconstruction?
1. How and why did the economic and social values of white Americans clash with those of Native Americans in the West?
2. How did the Industrial Revolution affect the settlement of the West?
3. How did mining, farming, and ranching shape the development of the West?
4. How did diversity both fundamentally define the West and become the source of conflict in western society?
1. What factors led to the economic success
of industrial capitalism in
2. How were business practices organized and new technologies harnessed in order to maximize profits in American industry?
3. What were the working conditions of American industrial laborers?
4. How and why did American workers seek to improve their working conditions in the late nineteenth century?
Explain the role of parties in domestic politics before 1900.What choices did the parties afford voters? 2. How and why did political affairs play a central role in American culture in the late nineteenth century? How did women participate in political culture? 3. Analyze and discuss the origins and aims of the Populist movement.
4. Describe the political structure in the South after 1877, and explain how blacks were gradually disenfranchised. 5. How and why did racial segregation intensify in the late nineteenth century?
1. Explain the role of parties in domestic politics before 1900. What choices did the parties afford voters? 2. How and why did political affairs play a central role in American culture in the late nineteenth century? How did women participate in political culture? 3. Analyze and discuss the origins and aims of the Populist movement.
4. Describe the political structure in the South after 1877, and explain how blacks were gradually disenfranchised. 5. How and why did racial segregation intensify in the late nineteenth century?
1. How did progressivism and organized interest groups reflect the new political choices of Americans?
2. Why did progressives believe in the ability of individuals to affect positive change? How has this idea manifested itself in political reform efforts?
3. What reforms did American women, urbanites, and African Americans seek?
4. Evaluate and explain how and why President Roosevelt expanded the federal government’s power within the economy.
5. How did President Wilson seek to accommodate his progressive principles to the realities of political power?
1. How did economic interests affect American involvement in overseas expansion?
2. What were the causes and consequences of the Spanish-American War?
3. Explain and assess President Wilson’s
attempts to reconcile
4. Describe the American foreign policy that developed between 1877 and 1914.
1. How and why did World War I begin? 2. Evaluate and discuss President Wilson’s decision to enter the war in 1917.
3. Why was World War I considered a “total
war”? 4. How did the war affect economic
affairs and social relationships in
5. How and why did President Wilson attempt
to shape the Treaty of
6. Assess and discuss the failure of the
Settlement of 1919–1920 to achieve a lasting peace in
1. How and why did business and government become allies in the 1920s? How did this partnership affect the American economy?
2. Evaluate and discuss American foreign policy in the 1920s.
3. Discuss the emergence of a mass national culture after World War I.
4. How and why did cultural conflict break out in response to the new secular values of the decade? 5. How and why did intellectuals, writers, and artists react to the postwar era?
1. What were the origins and consequences of the Great Depression?
2. How did American families react to the deprivations of the Great Depression?
3. Describe popular American culture of the early 1930s.
4. Evaluate President
5. How and why did the national election of 1932 mark a turning point in American politics?
1. How and why did the federal government American economic and political 1930s?
2. How did President Roosevelt respond depression, and why did he respond 3. How did the New Deal affect American during the 1930s and thereafter?
1. What were the key elements of American foreign policy prior to World War II?
2. How and why did
3. How did mobilization and war affect American society?
4. How did the Allies fight and win World War II? 5. How did American war aims affect plans for postwar settlement?
1. What were the origins of the cold war?
Explain its broad ideological, economic, political, and military components.
2. Analyze and discuss
3. What were the causes, conduct, and
consequences of the Korean War?
4. How did the cold war affect domestic
economic and political affairs in the 1950s?
5. How and why did civil rights emerge as a
national domestic issue after 1954?
1. Explain the record of American prosperity
during the two decades following World War II.
2. What were the changing roles of cities and
suburbs in American society?
3. Assess the validity of the “fifties” as
the historical norm of American life.
4. Evaluate President Kennedy’s New Frontier
platform.
5. How did President Johnson’s Great Society
program attempt to fulfill modern liberals’ agenda for reform?
1. How and why did
2. What was the relationship between American
domestic affairs and the conduct of the Vietnam War?
3. Discuss and analyze the origins, methods,
and ambitions of the student movement of the 1960s, and assess its effect on
American political, intellectual, and social institutions.
4. Why did racial and civil unrest turn
violent during the late 1960s?
5. What did the election of President Nixon
and the end of the Vietnam War signal about the nature of American politics in
the early 1970s?
1. How and why did
2. What effect did Nixon’s presidency have on
domestic politics?
3. How did expanding social activism lead to
a conservative reaction at the end of the decade?
4. Why did President Carter fail to develop
an effective style of leadership? How did foreign affairs affect his administration?
1. Explain how the domestic policies of
Presidents Reagan and Bush reflected the rise of conservatism.
2. How and why did the cold war conclude with
an American victory in 1991?
3. How did the end of the cold war
precipitate the reemergence of regional, ethnic, and religious conflicts in
4. How effective was the
5. How has the administration of President
George Bush confronted international security challenges?