Friday, October 11, 2013

Take Home Midterm due Monday, October 14, 9:50 am


US History for International Students Fall 2013
Take-Home Midterm


Please write on 5 questions or topics. Spend 10 minutes on each. You have a total of 50 minutes to complete the exam. 

Questions that are lined out below were eliminated during our review session. Please do not answer questions that are lined out.

Closed book and closed note. You may use your books and notes to study before taking the exam, but once you begin the 50-minute exam period, you are on your honor to complete the exam without books or notes. Any hint of cheating will have consequences.
  
Please email your responses to me at pandrews@ndnu.edu no later than 9:50 am on Monday, October 14.

Because this is a take-home midterm, we will not meet for a class session on Monday.

The "non-written" portion of the midterm will take place on Wednesday, October 16 and will be based on your written responses.


1) Describe the civilizations of Native Americans prior to European contact. What common assumptions, or stereotypes, are challenged by our textbook?

2) Who were the first Europeans to arrive in what later became the United States? Where did they come from and what were their motives for migrating to the “new world”?

3) What was the difference between indentured servitude and slavery as it was practiced in the early years of North American colonization?

4) What was the role of Enlightenment ideas in the development of the American Revolution?

5) How did life change for Americans after the revolution? For whom did it change and for whom did it remain much the same?

6) What was the purpose of having a “separation of powers” in the new government of the United States?

7) What was the three-fifths clause?

8) Describe some of the first challenges of the new government once the Constitution had been ratified.

9) Describe the development of political parties in the United States through the antebellum period.

10) What was the significance of the Monroe Doctrine?

11) How did new processes of industrial production change the lives of people in the United States?

12) What were some of the responses of Americans to the challenges of industrialization?

13) Discuss the early history of anti-intellectualism in US politics.

14) Describe one of the religious sects unique to the United States.

15) How did the railroad boom of the mid-1800s affect growth and migration patterns in the United States?

16) Discuss one aspect of popular health, culture or entertainment in mid-19th Century America.

17) Why and how did the “peculiar institution” of slavery become entrenched in the South?

18) What was “nativism”?

19) Describe the notion of “manifest destiny.” What were its effects on European expansion on the North American continent?

20) Why is it ironic that 21st century Texans and other Americans try so hard to prevent Mexicans from crossing the border into the United States?

Monday, September 16, 2013

Schedule midterm through end of semester


USHIS, Schedule of Activities & Assignments: Midterm through Final Exam


October 21
The Civil War & Reconstruction
DUE:   EV Chapters 14, 15 & 16 – read the sections that pique your interest… spend no more than 2 hours reading

October 23
The West
DUE:   EV Chapter 17

October 25
Industrial America
DUE:   EV Chapter 18

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October 28
Immigration & the lives of immigrants
DUE:   EV Chapter 19

October 30
Progressive Era
DUE:   EV Chapter 21

November 1
Writing Workshop for Research Project
DUE:   TBA

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November 4
War & change
DUE: EV Chapter 23

November 6
War & Depression
DUE:   EV Chapter 24

November 8
America Post WWII
DUE:   WW Chapter 27

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November 11
The 60s and Civil Rights Movement
DUE:   EV Chapter 28

November 13
Primary sources of the Civil Rights Era
DUE:   Primary source reading posted to website

November 15
Primary sources of the Civil Rights Era
DUE:   Primary source reading posted to website

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November 18
A time of upheaval
DUE:   EV Chapter 29

November 20
Conservative politics in America
DUE:   EV Chapter 30

November 22
Perceptions of the US from abroad
DUE: Bring and be prepared to discuss an article about perceptions of the US held by people of other nations at the end of the 20th or early 21st century. Alternatively, you may have a conversation with someone who is from another nation on the same subject.

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November 25
Research project presentations
DUE:   Research Project

November 27
Semester review and preparation for the Final Exam
DUE:   Review all notes and readings

November 29 – Thanksgiving Holiday

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December 2
Research project presentations

December 4
Final Exam

December 6
The Present
DUE:   EV Chapter 31