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HIST 1302, Sec. 002

Lecture Questions

Spring 2009

 

Lecture 1:

Civil War and Reconstruction

What problems faced the American nation immediately following the Civil War?  How did those problems contribute to attitudes toward Reconstruction?  What impact did Reconstruction have on the South?  What brought an end to the Reconstruction era?

 

Lecture 2:

Westward Expansion

What motivated the U.S. government to promote western expansion in the late 19th century?  What motivated individuals to move west?  What problems and solutions arose with Manifest Destiny?  How and why did the frontier close?

 

Lecture 3:

Industrial Expansion

What factors contributed to rapid industrialization in the United States in the last decades of the 19th century?  What impact did industrialization have on the country?  Specifically, what changes did it bring about in the social structure and how did society explain those changes?

 

Lecture 4:

Urban Expansion

What factors led to the growth of urban areas in the late 19th century?  What consequences did urban expansion have?  What propelled activists to initiate urban reform efforts and how successful were those efforts?

 

Lecture 5:

Indian Policy

 

 

Lecture 6:

We’re Off to See the Wizard (In the Gilded Age)

Why was the late 19th century referred to as the “Gilded Age?”  What characteristics of a façade can you identify from that period?  How is The Wonderful Wizard of Oz a parable for this period?  What evidence is there that the United States was on the verge of a major social change by the end of the 19th century?

 

Lecture 7:

Imperial Expansion

What brought about a change in American attitudes toward foreign policy in the 1890s?  How did foreign policy fit into the context of other issues in post-Civil War society?  How were new interests in imperial expansion manifested?  What was the main impact of the Spanish-American War?

 

Lecture 8:

Progressive Era

What led to the emergence of the Progressive Movement in the early decades of the 20th century?  How did this movement mark a departure from 19th century society?  How did Americans react to Progressives?  How did they react to the “New York Catalyst?”

 

Lecture 9:

Progressive Reform

What effect did Progressive Reformers have on society?  How did reforms make government more accountable?  How did they require a more active government?  How do progressive reforms reflect both a liberal social agenda and a more conservative moral platform?

 

Lecture 10:

Progressive Era Diplomacy

How did foreign policies under Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson reflect new attitudes toward foreign affairs?  How did they reflect they progressive reform movement occurring simultaneously in the United States?  What impact might US foreign policy in the Progressive Era have on US actions in WWI?

 

Lecture 11:

World War I

How and why did the United States initially try to avoid becoming involved in WWI?  What prompted the US declaration of war?  What impact did the war have on the homefront?  How does WWI serve as a culmination of changes during the Progressive Era?

 

Lecture 12:

The Roaring ‘20s

Why is the decade of the 1920s defined as an era of transition from tradition to modernity?  How is it an era of contradictions?  What propelled new changes in the 1920s and how did society react?

 

Lecture 13:

The United States in the Great Depression

What caused the Depression of the 1930s?  How did the outcome of WWI have an effect decades later?  Why was the impact of the Depression so devastating and why did no one seem capable of fixing the nation’s problems?

 

Lecture 14:

Roosevelt’s New Deal

How did FDR bring new hope to the country?  How did his policies begin an era of recovery?  What was the most important legacy of the Depression and the New Deal?

 

Lecture 15:

World War II

How and why did the United States initially try to remain neutral in WWII?  What eventually pushed the United States into war?  How did mobilization for war become a fulfillment of Roosevelt’s New Deal policies? 

 

Lecture 16:

The United States Homefront

How did Americans react to the state of national emergency in World War II?  How did the home front reaction contribute to the war effort?  What impact did the war have on the home front?  What are some of the most significant changes American society experienced at that time? 

 

Lecture 17:

The United States and the Cold War

How did U.S.-Soviet relations in the final years of WWII contribute to conflict in the post-war?  How did immediate post-war concerns of the United States contribute to the emergence of the Cold War?  Why did the “Red Scare” evolve even though the U.S. appeared to be winning the Cold War by 1949?

 

Lecture 18:

The Rise of Suburbia

How did the early 1950s represent a period of rest and prosperity for the United States?  How did post-war domestic policies help to promote that sense of prosperity?  How did tensions surrounding foreign affairs begin to subside?

 

Lecture 19:

Space and Race in the Post-War

Why did many Americans begin to sense problems with American prosperity in the late 1950s?  How did the Cold War become incorporated into seemingly domestic issues?  How did the solutions for transportation problems become a model for other national dilemmas?

 

Lecture 20:

New Hope and Great Society

How did the Democrats recover political influence in the 1960s?  How did foreign events contribute to a sense of domestic crisis?  How did JFK’s response to domestic crises differ from Johnson’s?  Why are the legacies of these two presidents ironic?

 

Lecture 21:

The War in Vietnam

What were US motives in the Vietnam conflict and how did the conflict evolve into a full-scale war?  Why was it so difficult for American leaders to pull US troops out of Vietnam?  How did domestic issues intersect with war politics?  How and why did Americans become disillusioned with the Vietnam War?

 

Lecture 22:

The Nixonian Paradox

How did domestic issues intersect with war politics during Johnson’s and Nixon’s administrations?  How did Nixon intend to end the Vietnam War and why did the war continue for four more years after his election?  How did Nixon’s Détente policies eventually succeed in ending hostilities? How did the Watergate scandal come to dominate Richard Nixon’s legacy?  To what extent was the scandal connected to Nixon’s policies in Vietnam?  How did Nixon’s presidency contribute to a growing crisis of self-confidence in the 1970s?

 

Lecture 23:

That ‘70s Show

How did the United States begin to suffer a crisis of self-confidence in the 1970s?  To what extent were US leaders to blame, and to what extent were they unfortunate victims of circumstance?  How did the political and social climate of the 1970s lead to changing political trends in the 1980s?

 

Lecture 24:

USA Today

How did Reagan shift American foreign policy?  How did the Cold War finally end?  What has been the importance of technology since the 1980s?  How did Cold War policies and globalization combine to produce a “terrorist culture?”