Question: Compare women’s social roles before and after the American Revolution. In what ways did their economic and occupational status change? How did social expectations evolve in the decades after political independence?

1. Consider the selections from John L. O’Sullivan’s editorial on the annexation of Texas, published in 1845. What does it say about the attitudes held by many in the United States about western expansion? What does it say about AngloAmerican attitudes towards non-Anglo-American “others” in North America?

2. Some historians have described the expansion of popular politics in the Jacksonian era as the rise of a white man’s democracy. Who were the losers and who were the winners under that system? To what extent did American society as a whole democratize after the Revolution?

3. Examine the picture posted on the course Canvas comparing life on a slave plantation to life in industrialized Britain (Source 2). Do you think this picture accurately conveyed life on a slave plantation? How did the sentiments portrayed in this picture relate to Southern defenses of the slave system? How did it relate to southern states’ desire to secede?

4. In 1857, Hinton Rowan Helper wrote The Impending Crisis in The South. Helper’s book argued that at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence the North and the South were roughly equal in economic and cultural terms. However, his book goes on to outline the many reasons the North and South experienced regional differences. By drawing on Helper’s work(Source 3) as well as information from the second half of the course explain why the North and South differed politically, economically, and culturally.

5. Consider Angelina Grimké’s discussion of women’s rights and anti-slavery History 17A Final Exam Study Guide S22 2
(Source 4). How does Grimké see the relationship between the antislavery movement and the movement for women’s rights? How do Grimké’s opinions relate to other reform movements? (You should pick one reform movement to discuss.)

PART II: CUMULATIVE ESSAY QUESTION

1. Compare women’s social roles before and after the American Revolution. In what ways did their economic and occupational status change? How did social expectations evolve in the decades after political independence?

2. On July 4, 1776, residents of the thirteen United States changed from colonial subjects of Great Britain to prospective colonizers of the North American continent. Do you think this shift being British subjects to being citizens of the United States changed their approach towards colonizing the interior of the continent? Why?

3. The historian Edmund Morgan once argued that the paradox of American democracy was that Americans had bought their freedom with slave labor. If that was so, how central was African slavery in the growth and development of the United States from the colonial period through the Civil War?

4. Upon leaving office, George Washington advised America not to split into political factions. Do you believe that Americans followed his advice? How did political factionalism evolve during from the early republic through the
Civil War?

5. “In many respects, the Mexican American war played the same role in the lead up to the Civil War that the Seven Years War did in the lead up to the American Revolution. Each set the stage for a larger conflict to follow.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why? Which war do you think had a greater impact on American society?