How did America Change Over the Span of a Couple of Centuries?

Term Paper Instructions:

Now is your chance to look back over a few hundred years of American history and try to make some sense of it all. You can think of this as a cross between an essay exam and a short term paper.
One of the important skills that we can sharpen through the study of history is pattern recognition -- learning to sort events into patterns and to filter out the background noise that makes events seem random. There's simply too much going on in history to focus on all of it at the same time. So I'm going to ask you to find a pattern -- or to put it another way, a storyline, and follow it through time.
Huh? Here's what I mean. Choose a particular topic that's of interest to you. It could be resistance to slavery, or the argument for/against slavery, or the impact of changing technology, or opportunities for women, or the role of the military, or the reform impulse, or religion, or the development of the system of government, or changes in political philosophy or political participation; or it could be something else. Think about that particular topic as a storyline in American history. Identify three events/people/turning points where that topic is especially interesting or important. Be sure to space those three points out over time (our course spans the colonial period, through the Revolutionary and early National eras to the Civil War / Reconstruction era -- your topic may not fit all those eras, but do try to spread out over a century or more). And then write an essay of about 4 pages in which you use those events or people to tell a story about how America changed (or didn't change) during that span of time. Not the story, just a story, centered on your chosen topic.
Still confused? Here's an example of a topic for the essay. Feel free to use it if you want:
An essay on "troublemaking" women and their impact on America. After a paragraph introducing the theme, stops along the way could be: Anne Hutchinson + Seneca Falls Conference + Harriet Beecher Stowe. To pull the pieces together, think about: How did America change over that span of a couple of centuries? Did these women reflect those changes, or help cause those changes? (Or did they do both?)
Cite our textbooks where appropriate; I'm especially interested in seeing you make use of primary sources, including quotes where appropriate. Again, I'm looking for the equivalent of around 4 pages, double-spaced. That could work out to around 750 to 1,000 words. I don't need any particular scholarly format, just make sure to cite your sources by page number. Don't use outside sources, such as Wikipedia. Especially Wikipedia. And obviously, don't plagiarize -- that could get you a zero for this assignment.
The course officially ends on Friday, October 5. However, I will accept late essay exams with a 5 point penalty until 11:59 pm on Saturday night, October 6. (Nothing will be accepted after that.)
Points possible: 100. Graded on the usual scale: 90% and up = A; 80% and up = B; 70% and up = C.
NOTE ON SUBMITTING: When you're ready to submit, click the "Submit Assignment" button at the upper right. My grading dashboard can automatically display Word and PDF documents so I can grade them. Other formats, like documents coming from the Mac word processor in the pages format, cause problems. So I request that submissions be converted to PDF or Word format, or simply pasted in as text. ALSO: If you are pasting your essay in, don't paste it into the little box that says "Comments"! Click the tab for Text Entry and paste into the big window.
The two textbook to cite from are, "Voices of freedom", vol.1 by Eric Foner and "Give me Liberty", Segull 5 edition by Eric Foner

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How did America Change Over the Span of a Couple of Centuries?
Voting in America
Almost every country in the world has had instances when there are certain issues or laws that prohibit a certain group of people from voting. The US, for example, has had voting rights issues since they became a republic. Apparently, they are still trying to eliminate some of the barriers that some states had enacted and adopted. Hurdles of sexism and racism are some of the most profound issues that dominated voting in the US. Voting in America was a privilege and not a right and it took several centuries and decades of protests and internal pressure before certain historic amendments were enacted. There were many legislative battles that were fought and a lot of blood was shed as some people tried their best to maintain the status quo. Even though the Declaration of Independence did acknowledge that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were absolute, this apparently applied to the white men only. African American, women, and other minority groups including the native Americans were never allowed to vote and it took several amendments to the constituthe tion before they were allowed to vote albeit with some restrictions. By focusing on voting and how it has evolved in America since the revolution, this article seeks to showcase the different timelines, important events, and people who spearheaded the changes.
After the revolution came to the writing of the American constitution and in this constitution, the African Americans were not considered equal to the white men. Apparently, as per the constitution, the African Americans were considered three-fifths of a person. They were not considered as full people and this meant that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness did not apply to them. However, two amendments that came up after the civil war ratified the constitution and made life a little easier for the African Americans. The 13th amendment which states “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (History.com). However, while this amendment did abolish slavery, it did not make it any better or easier for the African Americans to vote and hence created the need for another amendment which came up 5 years later. The 15th amendment went a step further and made life easier for the African Americans. It states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (History.com). This amendment gave the African Americans the right to vote and soon after it was adopted, a majority of African Americans voted the Republican Party into power in the South. However, before the end of the 1870s, the Republican Party vanished from the South and southern states nullified the 14th and 15th amendments thus strippi...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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How did America Change Over the Span of a Couple of Centuries?

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