Topics for Comprehensive Essay (55 Points)

History 252/Kilgroe Spring 2006

1. Immigration and Ethnicity, 1880s-2006

Trace the impact of immigration in the growth of an ethnically diverse society from the late nineteenth century to the present [Include phases of immigration (who came, when and why); xenophobic (nativist) opposition to immigrants; Periods of national crisis affecting immigrants and immigration (WWI & WW II,); Legislation related to limiting certain groups of immigrants or removing obstacles to immigration (National Origins Acts; 1965 Immigration Act; 1988 Immigration Act); Recent trends related to immigration issues (California’s Proposition 187/Current debate over immigration].

2. The Search for a more Equitable Society, 1865- Present

In the past, gender and race have been impediments to the full realization of a more democratic society. Choose one of the following groups, Women or African-Americans, that best exemplifies the changes that have taken place in American society since 1865 (For African-Americans from slavery to the modern day Civil Rights movement; For women from Progressive activism to the Women’s Liberation movement); Focus on specific obstacles to change --social, cultural, legal, political, economic: Means of overcoming inequality (Legislation, Judicial Decisions, Civil Disobedience); Recent Trends: Race [Affirmative Action (Proposition 209; Michigan Law School)] Women (Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act; Title IX; Glass Ceiling)]

3. Wars and Society 1914-1945

Historians have called the twentieth century the century of total war. Discuss the impact of World War I and World War II on U.S. foreign policy, its position in international affairs, and on American society, Reasons why the United States entered the First World War; the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; the impact of the Versailles Treaty and the Russian Revolution; the lessons of the First World War; Specific differences between Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt in America’s entry into World War II and the conduct of the war; What impact do wars have on American society? In what way do wars strengthen the power of the federal government, stifle dissent, affect the economy, and bring about changes in society? Focus on factors that influence foreign policy—presidents, congress, and public opinion.

4. Federal Government and Democracy, 1865-2005

Americans have long struggled over what role the federal government should play in a democratic society. Depending on the party in power, the federal government has shifted from supporting laissez-faire capitalism to the modern welfare state, from protecting the rights of property to changes intended to redress economic, political, racial, and social inequities, from periods of significant reform—Reconstruction, Progressivism, the New Deal, the Great Society—to political retrenchment. Wars, economic downturns, natural disasters act to expand the power of the federal government. Presidents are often at odds with other members of the federal government, Congress, the Supreme Court, the federal bureaucracy. Select at least three examples demonstrating why the power of the federal government has either expanded or retracted .

Whatever essay you select, be specific. Identify leaders, significant events. Be sure to balance your essay in order to indicate changes over time.