Option 1:         From the 1880s to the 1910s, the United States grew into an industrial giant.  As the United States grew and expanded in North America and overseas, did racial attitudes play a role in American expansion?  Was the United States acting like an imperial power?  Did the United States become an empire?  Did race or racial attitudes and imperialism intersect?  How? Or How not?  

            In making your choice please consider the intellectual, social, and/or economic developments led to American expansion in the West and overseas.  In answering your question, you will be interpreting the reading found in The American Spirit.  Most of your research will be found in chapters 23, 24, and 27.  Chapter 27 focuses on American imperialism while the other chapters focus on race and industrial growth.  Other readings in the book may be used if you find them relevant.  You may look at pre-Civil War material such as Manifest Destiny and the Louisiana Purchase as part of the paper.  But, the focus must be on the 1880s to 1910s.

Option 2:         In examining the Women’s / Suffragette Movement (1848-1920), you should be looking at the struggle to obtain the right to vote and other basic rights.  Were there women who were against the movement to obtain the vote and why?  Were women powerless without the ballot?  How has suffrage changed the position of women?  How has the nation’s political agenda changed as a result of woman suffrage?  Given the forward-looking nature of the question, you may look beyond 1920.

            For your evidence, look at Chapter 28D.  You may find material in other chapters such as 15C and material on women and labour in other chapters.

Options 1 & 2: Explain your choices, backing up your points with quotes and examples from the primary documents found in The American Spirit textbook as well as from the lectures any relevant reading from the Oakes book: Of the People.  To write this paper, you should only use the two textbooks from the class.  Using other books or media are not necessary, but OK so long as you use the textbooks.

Guidelines:

1. Please write only about the question you have chosen.
2. Your paper must have an introduction (or introductory paragraph) and a conclusion.
   1. Say what your going to say (your question, the introduction)
   2. Say it (your argument supporting the introduction, the main body of the paper, using quotes from the text to support your argument)
   3. Say what you have said (the conclusion)
3. Your paper should be five (5) to seven (7) pages, double spaced, and typed, not including the bibliography on a separate page.
4. Important reminder:  This is not a research paper.  All the information that you need for this paper can be found in the sources that we have discussed and used in class.  You may use outside sources so long as you use the textbooks from class.