History Essay Questions

There are four sections with four questions each .You are required to answer only one question in each section. Be sure to include as much information as possible to support your answer. Each answer should be 3-5 paragraphs in length. Be sure to cite your sources.

Please choose ONE of the following questions and respond with a long essay.  

1-How were the commercial incentives of Spanish, French, Dutch, and English colonists similar and/or different? 2-Compare and contrast Jamestown and the Massachusetts Bay Colony in terms of the reasons for their founding, types of settlers, early problems, and the reasons for successes and failures. 3-Explain why Britain's success in defeating the French empire laid the foundations for future failures in dealing with its colonial subjects. 4-Describe the different courses of the Revolutionary War in New England, the middle colonies, and the South. What role did the battles in each region play in the eventual American victory?

Please choose ONE of the following questions and respond with a long essay. 1-Which problems of the post-Revolutionary period and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation led to the adoption of a new Constitution? 2-What were Hamilton's basic economic and political goals, and how did he attempt to achieve them? 3-What was the significance of the Jeffersonian "Revolution of 1800" in relation to the new republican experiment and the fierce political battles of the 1790s? 4-What were the real causes of the War of 1812? Was the declaration of war a "mistake," or the result of deliberate policies by new American political forces?

Please choose ONE of the questions below and respond with a long essay. 1-What role did the West play in such crucial issues of the period as the tariff, internal improvements, and the expansion of slavery? 2-Discuss the role of Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster in the events and issues of the period 1815-1824. Is it valid to see Clay as spokesman for the West, Webster for the North, and Calhoun for the South? 3-What led to the rise of the spirit of "Manifest Destiny" in the 1840s and how did that spirit show itself in the American expansionism of the decade? 4-What major changes in American religion occurred in the early nineteenth century, and how did they affect American culture and reform?

Please choose ONE of the questions below and respond with a long essay.

1-How similar was the Compromise of 1850 to the Missouri Compromise of 1820? How did each sectional compromise affect the balance of power between North and South? 2-Explain the crucial role of Stephen A. Douglas in the political events of the 1850s. Why did Douglas's attempts to shove aside the conflict over slavery fail? 3-How did the Civil War change from a limited war to preserve the Union into a "total war" to abolish slavery? 4-Why did Reconstruction apparently fail so badly? Was the failure primarily one of immediate political circumstances, or was it more deeply rooted in the history of American sectional and race relations?