Any History Topic
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 four or more events/people/turning points where that topic is especially interesting or important. Be sure to space those 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 whole 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 + the “Daughters of Liberty” + 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?)
If you find yourself without enough material for 4 doublespaced pages, you can add another “stop” or two in your story (or if you’d rather, you can do a little outside research to bulk up your essay).
Again, I’m looking for the equivalent of around 4 pages, double-spaced. That could work out to around 800 to 1000 words (but don’t focus on word count or page length). Cite pages in our textbook where appropriate, my slides by chapter number, and any outside sources should be cited by title and page number or web address. (Try not to rely on Wikipedia — and for sure, don’t copy and paste from Wikipedia or anything else; that will get you an F for the paper.) I don’t ne
