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Midterm Review Sheet
American Studies, Course Outline for Midterm Examination
Sections and Points:
Multiple Choice: 50 (50 Q's, one point each)
Essay: probably 20 pts. If a DBQ, may or may not include scaffolding.
Study Strategies Peculiar to this course:
Use the unit outlines as your guide; then consult the text and your class notes. Make sure you can go from larger heading to smaller example, and from smaller example to larger heading. For example: Give an example of the basic principle of Federalism. Or, alternatively, given a fact of government like “states can issue driver licenses,” identify the basic principle which it represents.
Go on-line and look at previous Regents exams. The answers are there, too! Note that a new essay format has been in effect beginning with the June 2001 exam.
After you fill out the unit outlines, make a set of index/flash cards - term on one side, definition on the other. Do this early and leave the textbook behind at some point.
Try to make your own essay questions and answer them. For thematic essays, use the course themes, then come up with two examples. For example: reform has been part of American life (course theme of democracy, increasing civil rights and a decent standard of living for all Americans). Select two examples of reform from American history. Examples could include: Early nineteenth-century reform, Progressivism [the New Deal, the Great Society - we didn't study these yet]. For each example, describe the conditions which made some people call for reform, describe the goals of the reform movement, and assess the success of the attempted reforms.
Practice the Take SIDES method (Select, Identify, Describe, Evaluate, Show Significance). Make sure you include the Significance of historical facts.
Review Outline:
American Beginnings, 1400s-1789
Pre-contact Native Americans (Four Indian themes and myths)
Diversity of colonies: New Amsterdam, New Spain, New England, New France.
Diversity within colonies: New Amsterdam and Functional Diversity
England's Colonial Success
French and Indian War (Last of the Mohicans)
American Revolution
Declaration of Independence (3 purposes), purpose of government, Enl influences
Slavery and slave trade
Interactions between Europeans and Native Americans (“middle ground” thesis)
US Government/Constitution, 1789 to the present.
Historical context and influences on the Constitution
Articles of Confederation, Iroquois League, Albany Plan of Union,
Northwest Ordinance
Preamble and Purposes of the Constitution
Structure and Function of The Three Branches of the Federal Government:
Legislative, Executive, Judicial
Basic principles: Popular Sovereignty, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, Federalism, Flexibility
Controversy and Compromises: Connecticut Compromise, 3/5 Compromise, Federalist/Anti-Federalist Debate (Hamilton and Jefferson)
Supreme Court Cases: Marbury, Gibbons, Schenck, Dred Scott, Plessy, Brown, Munn v. Illinois, Wabash St. Louis v. Illinois, In Re Debs, NJ v. TLO, Tinker v. Des Moines, Miranda v. Arizona
Growth and Limits of Democracy in Expanding America, 1800-1860s
Louisiana Purchase
Lewis and Clark Expedition
Jacksonian Democracy
Limits to Democracy: Native Americans, Women, Slaves.
Attempts to Expand Democracy (Reform): Seneca Falls, Abolitionism.
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1877
Sectionalism, Western Territories
Compromises: MoComp 1820, Comp of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854
Nullification, Secession
Why the North Won
Three Plans for Reconstruction: Lincoln, Johnson, Radical Republicans
Four Issues of Reconstruction
Reasons for the end of Reconstruction, Successes and Failures of Reconstruction
Wild West
Manifest Destiny
History and Myth: Cowboys, Buffalo Bill
Indian Wars: Battle of the Little Bighorn, Flight of the Nez Perce, Wounded Knee
Native American and Euro-American Interactions (Dances with Wolves).
Transcontinental Railroad
The Closing of the Frontier (Frederick Jackson Turner)
Industrializing America, 1865-1900
Rise of Big Business and Business Practices: Vertical/Horizontal Integration, etc.
Technological Advances, Inventions and Material Resources
Representative Entrepreneurs: Carnegie, Rockefeller.
Philosophy of Big Business: Social Darwinism, Philanthropy
Working Conditions and Workers' Responses (Unionization)
Relationship between Government and Big Business (court cases, laws)
Urbanization and Immigration
Progressivism and Reform; Four goals; Assessing the Success of Progressivism
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