Hist Essay

Directions: This is an open book exam. As per the syllabus, this exam is worth 25% of your final grade.

Answer two (2) of the three numbered questions on the next page.

Both responses will include evidence from: 1) the OER textbook “Our Story;” 2) my lectures in Canvas; 3) a primary source document found in our Canvas class; and, 4) an article or essay found in our Canvas class. In addition, you may use one (1) outside, but academic, source provided that you exhaust the evidence from 1-4.[footnoteRef:1] [1: I cover what is and what is not an academic source is the video series “Doing History,” which was required viewing during the first week of the semester. ]

Use Times New Roman, 12 font.

Each response must be at least 500 words. Do NOT include a cover page, page numbers, or anything in the footer or header besides the citations.

You must cite using Chicago Manual of Style using footnotes.[footnoteRef:2] [2: I cover how to cite in the folder “Citing Historically” which is located in the How to Pass module, and was required reading during the first week of the semester. There is also the example essay in the page “Mental Illness and Sexual Assault,” which was required reading during the first week of the semester. ]

You will include a Bibliography at the end of each response.

As per the syllabus, failure to adhere to the minimum requirements will result in an earned grade of D or below.

In the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence you will find the phrase “All men are created equal.” In 1776 “all men” did not include women, slaves, free Africans, various immigrants, or landless people. Today “All men were created equal” is generally more expansive. Our idea of what that phrase means has thus changed over time. How did the phrase “All men are created equal” change from 1776 to 1877? And, why? Use three (3) pivotal examples.

Sacrifice is something that very few Americans today are familiar with, with less than 1% of the population willing to lay down their lives for this country -military service. Examine three examples of military service from the American War for Independence to the Civil War. Cover the whole period. Besides military service, what do those examples have in common regarding their ideas on “sacrifice”?

American history is women’s history and women’s history is American history. How have women sewn themselves into the fabric of the United States from its inception through Reconstruction? Cover the whole period. Use at least three (3) examples from different periods, eras, or events.

Bonus Question: Earn up to 10% bonus on your Final Exam grade through your answer to this question: Was Reconstruction a success? 250 words, cite CMS as footnotes, using evidence in our OER textbook (Our Story), my lectures, plus at least one other piece of evidence found in Canvas. NO OUTSIDE EVIDENCE IS ALLOWED.