CHOOSING ESSAY PROMPTS

Due September 29/30

III. Key Concepts

The following prompts deal with key concepts of history (the “big picture”) as they connect to this unit. Choose any prompt relating to Chapter 9. Write a one sentence answer (ie: a clear and strong thesis) and then list 2-5 distinct topics of support; each of your topics of support should include 2-4 sub-bullet points of specific evidence that enforce each of your topics. Your responses should be bullet point outlines (not narrative paragraphs).

Bring a hard copy to class on the due date.

Concept - Change

9- Evaluate how views on slavery and events in the North help fuel the abolitionist movement.

10- How did the Gettysburg Address expand the purpose of the war (from the Union’s perspective)?

11- Describe the economic changes in the South during Reconstruction.

Concept - Continuity

9- To what extent did the Missouri Compromise give more power to the federal government (versus the states) in addressing the issue of slavery?

10- In what ways did African Americans who contributed to the Union war effort still face racism and hostility?

11- Compare and contrast the relationships between the federal and state governments in the South between Presidential Reconstruction to Congressional Reconstruction.

Concept - Causation

9- What impact did the Dred Scott decision have on African American rights?

10- President Lincoln said, “my paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery.” Given this objective, why did he sign the Emancipation Proclamation?

11- How did legalized segregation become part of the legacy of the Reconstruction era?

Concept - Consequence

9- Evaluate the effect of John Brown’s raid on tension between the North and the South.

10- Justify a position either for or against Lincoln’s suspension of the constitutional right of habeas corpus.

11- Evaluate the success of new governments in rebuilding the South in the late 1860s.

Concept - Significance

9- Why was the election of 1860 a significant event in the conflict over slavery?

10- Explain the significance of the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg.

11- Explain how the struggle for political control of the South ended with a return to “white man’s rule.”

Concept - Perspectives

9- Compare and contrast the sectional difference between North and South in the mid 1800s.

10- Evaluate the contributions women made to the war effort.

11- Discuss the ways in which former slaves exercised their rights in the early years of Reconstruction.