What have you learned about the people of the past by examining different historical issues/events/ideas? What do you think we can learn about ourselves, our country, or the world by learning about American history? What other new understandings or insights have you gained by learning about American history?

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American History since 1865

Write a 750-1000 word paper (3-4 pages) that examines at least three major issues, events, or ideas in American history since 1865. Use your textbook and any other quality, reliable sources to base your paper on, but the paper must be 100% your own original writing (will be checked with Turnitin.com). No quotations and any information from other sources must be paraphrased in your own words. Your paper should include the following:

Introduction – Give a general overview of the topic. End your introduction with a thesis/main idea statement that identifies your specific issues/events/ideas and what their overall impact was.

Main Paragraphs – Each main paragraph should identify and explain a specific issue/event/idea from American history and explain why it was important during that time period. Provide examples/details that show how that issue/event/idea shaped the lives of actual people in the past.

Conclusion – Restate the main idea of your paper. Then address these questions: What have you learned about the people of the past by examining different historical issues/events/ideas? What do you think we can learn about ourselves, our country, or the world by learning about American history? What other new understandings or insights have you gained by learning about American history?

Bibliography – List any sources you used for this paper. No specific number of sources required. No internal documentation required.

Demonstrate your understanding of key historical and structural implications that marginalized communities experience as they aspire to fulfill the Dream of Home Ownership. Critically analyze the cultural implication of race and gender in the Dream of Home Ownership for socially and economically marginalized communities.

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The Dream of Home Ownership on the Margins of American Life

Objectives:

Demonstrate your understanding of key historical and structural implications that marginalized communities experience as they aspire to fulfill the Dream of Home Ownership.
Critically analyze the cultural implication of race and gender in the Dream of Home Ownership for socially and economically marginalized communities.

Topic(s): Choose one to establish and support your thesis.

After the unit on the Dream of Home Ownership including Cullen’s historical sketch, Cisneros’ “A House on Mango Street,” and Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” engage one of the prompts or a combination of these avenues for discussion to formulate some insight about how the Dream of Home ownership is experienced by historically marginalized communities in the U.S.

The House on Mango Street underscores the challenges immigrant families face on their way to attaining a measure of the American Dream “in the land of opportunity” and demonstrates that there’s a great gulf of meaning between a house and a home. If “Home is where the heart is,” as Esperanza asserts, why is it difficult for Esperanza to find home on Mango Street? What social and structural factors contribute to her predicament? To what extent does the immigrant experience we encountered in The House on Mango Street extend the notion that the Dream of Home Ownership is inextricable tied to all other variations of the American Dream (i.e., the good life, upward mobility, equality) and why?

What is the current status of your topic in the United States? Are there current regulations, incentives, or policies that cover your topic? What is the current budget situation for your topic? Be very specific here and discuss the entire scope of your topic.

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Domestic policy

Instructions

For this assignment you have the opportunity to select one specific domestic policy topic. You can select a topic under one of the following categories: Education, Healthcare, Social Security, Environmental Policy, Tax Policy, Housing, or contact me for approval for a different umbrella. It needs to be a specific issue under one of those umbrellas. (For example: you can discuss Student Loans under Education or Medicare under Healthcare) Pick an area and then get really specific on your topic. You will be writing a sort of policy brief on one of these issues. Be sure to be as specific as possible and provide as much detail as you can. Have fun with this and make it something interesting! If you are unsure about your topic please run it by me first!

Part One (worth 15 possible points)

Introduce your topic. What is the brief history of the topic? How/when did it enter the policy debate? Why is it an important topic (aka why should I keep reading)? Should be answered in at least 1-2 paragraphs.

Part Two (worth 30 possible points)

What is the current status of your topic in the United States? Are there current regulations, incentives, or policies that cover your topic? What is the current budget situation for your topic? Be very specific here and discuss the entire scope of your topic (that is why it is important to narrow your topic as specific as possible). Should be answered in at least 3 paragraphs.

Part Three (worth 30 possible points)

What is the current debate surrounding your topic? What do the supporters argue? What do the opponents argue? How does this debate impact policy outcomes? How do outside groups influence the current debate (introduce both sides and how money plays a role)? What is public opinion on the topic? Hint: use open secrets Should be answered in at least 3 paragraphs.

Part Four (worth 20 possible points)

Based on the current political climate where do you see this area in the future? How will it evolve during the Biden administration? Is it on the Congressional radar? Should be answered in at least 2 paragraphs.

Part Five (worth 10 possible points)

Conclusion – tie it all together in one paragraph. Why is this important and what did you learn completing this assignment?

Describe some of the economic limits of the “Roaring 1920s.” Describe how an era that seemed so prosperous could help fuel the Great Depression, the leading warning signs that signaled some key underlying economic weaknesses, and the vulnerable position that many Americans placed themselves in by embracing the consumer economy of the 1920s.

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Potential Topic 1: Describe some of the economic limits of the “Roaring 1920s.” Describe how an era that seemed so prosperous could help fuel the Great Depression, the leading warning signs that signaled some key underlying economic weaknesses, and the vulnerable position that many Americans placed themselves in by embracing the consumer economy of the 1920s.

Potential Topic 2: Describe the experience of the Great Depression. Include the various factors that contributed to the Great Depression, the key events of that depression, and assess the federal response to the economic crisis by the Hoover Administration. Include the principles that guided Hoover’s policies and how Hoover’s policies evolved over the course of the depression.

Potential Topic 3: Describe the federal response to the Great Depression with the New Deal programs of Franklin Roosevelt’s Administration. Include the strategies that guided New Deal policymaking, the key areas of New Deal reform, the various challenges that FDR faced with his New Deal programs, and assess the overall effectiveness of the New Deal and whether it ended the Great Depression.

Potential Topic 4: Describe the American experience in World War II. Please include the factors that prevented America’s involvement in the early years of the war and the single event that changed public opinion, the key domestic consequences of U.S. involvement and how that contributed to Allied victory in the war, and the events that made the World War II experience so horrific.

Potential Topic 5: Describe the Cold War era. Include how the United States and Soviet Union transitioned from allies to rivals, the key policies that guided foreign affairs in the Cold War era, and explain how those policies led to military interventions across the world. Please include the most significant of those military engagements.

Potential Topic 6: Describe the African American experience from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement. Include how the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was a result of the failures of Reconstruction almost a century before, how African Americans were discriminated against and suffered in the decades between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement, and how African Americans were able to lead a grassroots movement to promote federal legislation for civil and voting rights.

Potential Topic 7: Describe the contributing factors to the malaise that seems to define American society by the end of the 1970s. Include how the optimism at the beginning of the 1960s faded and provide a detailed description of the key social, political, and economic events that contributed to the growing distrust in American leadership and institutions by the end of the 1970s.

Potential Topic 8: Describe the most significant events and developments in recent U.S. History. Provide a background on those events and developments, the key details of those events and developments, and include how they continue to impact current events today.

Potential Topic 9: Select any primary source document from an Additional Resources folder from Weeks 9-15. Describe the nature of the document, its contents, what it communicates about that particular era, and how it enhances your understanding of that topic.

Potential Topic 10: How has your impression of history evolved over the course of the semester? What particular topics or historical issues have allowed you to reevaluate your understanding of how we study the past? How does this shape your thoughts on more current events?

Choose a “creation tool”. Research the court structure. Create a video that teaches others about the structure of the court system.

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American Government- the Structure of the Court System

Teach the Structure of the Court System
What ya need to do…
1. Choose a “creation tool”. Options are provided below. (Use Adobe Spark!)
   A. Apple Clips (If you have an iPhone or an iPad, this is an awesome free app from Apple!)
   B. Android options of Funimate or Magisto
   C. Adobe Spark

2. Research the court structure.
   A. This includes both Federal and State courts

3. Create a video that teaches others about the structure of the court system.
   A. This should be in your own words (AKA don’t read from a website)

Terms that must be included and explained
1. Original Jurisdiction
2. Appellate Court
3. Trial Courts
4. State Appeals Courts
5. U.S. District Courts
6. U.S. Court of Appeals
7. U.S. Supreme Court
8. Appellate Jurisdiction
9. Due Process
10 . Equal Protection

Write an essay on how women were treated in the civil war and more on the role women played in the civil war of 1950s-1960s

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The role that women played in the civil rights movement from the 1950s to the 1960s

Write an essay on how women were treated in the civil war and more on the role women played in the civil war of 1950s-1960s

Compare and contrast the settlement of the following colonies Virginia and Massachusetts bay. In your discussion, be sure to mention the nature of the colonies’ relationships with the local native American peoples they encountered and dealt with.

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Settlement of colonies

Compare and contrast the settlement of the following colonies Virginia and Massachusetts bay. In your discussion, be sure to mention the nature of the colonies’ relationships with the local native American peoples they encountered and dealt with.

Based on the historical facts given in this module, assess if the American Civil War was inevitable. Analyze if the United States Supreme Court can settle legal and moral issues through judiciary review. In your response, provide a documented example of a modern parallel of a legal or moral issue settled by the United States Supreme Court.

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Stepping stones to the Civil War

Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 12, 14
Lesson
Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)
Initial Post Instructions
For the initial post, pick three (3) of the leading causes of the American Civil War:

The Compromise of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Law 1850
Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852
The Kansas Nebraska Act 1854
The Dred Scott Case of 1857
The Lincoln Douglas Debates 1858

Then, address one (1) of the following for your selections:

1.Based on the historical facts given in this module, assess if the American Civil War was inevitable.

2.Analyze if the United States Supreme Court can settle legal and moral issues through judiciary review. In your response, provide a documented example of a modern parallel of a legal or moral issue settled by the United States Supreme Court.

Follow-Up Posts
Compare your selections and analysis of selections with those of your peers. If they chose different events, examine how yours are similar and/or different. If they chose the same events, build on their posts by providing additional information about the events that you have not already noted in your own post.

Text Book
https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/1-introduction

Links
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/brief-overview-american-civil-war

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=7&smtid=1

Explain how the American culture and society changed in the North versus the South during Reconstruction.

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Reconstruction of Compromise of 1877

Explain how the American culture and society changed in the North versus the South during Reconstruction.

Analyze if the South should have been treated as a defeated nation or as rebellious states. Explain how the American culture and society changed in the North versus the South during Reconstruction. Analyze the impact of the Compromise of 1877 that ended Reconstruction on African-Americans.

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Reconstruction and the Compromise of 1877

Address one (1) of the following for your selections:

Analyze if the South should have been treated as a defeated nation or as rebellious states.
Explain how the American culture and society changed in the North versus the South during Reconstruction.
Analyze the impact of the Compromise of 1877 that ended Reconstruction on African-Americans.