American History

1. During the Reconstruction era (1863 – 1877) who were the Radical Republicans and what were their objectives in the South?

2. What were Black Codes and how did they help produce Jim Crow laws during the early 20th century?

3. Why was the period between the 1870s and 1890s known as “The Gilded Age”?  What problems persisted that demanded solutions?

4. How did World War I (1914 – 1918) originate and include multiple nations’ participation?

5. What was the Lusitania incident in 1915 and how did it impact U.S. involvement in World War I?  What other factors prompted the United States to enter the war in 1917?

6. Outline the strategies used by the United States to enlarge its empire in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

7. Outline the urban problems during the late 1800s that ignited reforms in public education for school-aged children.  Why was children required to “go to school” considered a healthier alternative than what too many children were doing during the Gilded Age?

8. During the Gilded Age, what was “cooping” and how were violent street gangs intersected with elected officials?

9. Explain the policies and objectives of the U.S. government during the Reconstruction (1863-1877). What legal and social factors most affected numerous ex-Confederates citizens and why?  

10. When were the largest numbers of Confederate monuments and memorials dedicated within one decade during the 20^th century?  Why were these monuments and memorials so popular in this specific decade? 

11. What factors during the early 20^th century made the Ku Klux Klan popular enough to attract 4% of U.S. citizens to become members?

12. What role did films play in perpetuating racial stereotypes during the 20^th century? 

13. How were African American voters affected by the Compromise of 1877?

14. What were the three U.S. Constitutional amendments added during the Reconstruction era and why were they in demand during the 1860s and 1870s?

15. How does the Gilded Age (1870 – 1900) compare to the current era (2000 – 2020)?  What problems from these two eras are similar?

16. Why was President Andrew Johnson impeached in 1868?

17. Why was there an 80%+ majority of Republicans elected to the U.S. Senate during the late 1860s?

18. Why did voter turnout decline in the early 1900s?

19. What were corporate “trusts” and how were they viewed by various U.S. citizens during the Gilded Age?

20. What were “political party machines” and what functions did they serve in urbanization and politics?

21. How does the Electoral College work?  How can a candidate win the most votes and still not win the Presidency?

22. Why was the “Credit Mobilier Scandal”?

23. Why did historians from the 1920s and 1930s apply the term “Gilded Age” to the 1870s – 1900 period in U.S. history?

24. What were “settlement houses” during the Gilded Age and how did they provide services to immigrants?

25. What new opportunities emerged for U.S. women during the Gilded Age?

26. Why did child labor decline in percentage between 1890 and the 1920s?

27. Why was compulsory or mandatory school for children instituted across the United States in the late 1800s/early 1900s?

28. What factors related to railroad growth affected various U.S. citizens during the Gilded Age?

29. Within 10 years (1870 – 1880), 25% of the total number of African American Senators in U.S. history were elected.  The remaining 75% of the total number of African American Senators in U.S. history were elected between 1966 and 2016.  Between 1881 and 1966, almost 100 years, no African Americans were elected to the U.S. Senate.  Why was this so? 

30. Consider what the 15^th amendment does not include and what additional voting rights were still demanded by citizens after 1870?  What happened by 1920?  

31. Consider how Abraham Lincoln’s assassination affected the outcome of Reconstruction.  Consider the power struggle that ensued and efforts from Democrat “Redeemers” to change to course of Reconstruction.

32. What were the four U.S. Constitutional amendments added during the Progressive era and why were they in demand between 1910 and 1920?

33. What factors prompted a dramatic decline in U.S. voter turnout or U.S. citizens showing up to vote in elections after the start of the Progressive era (late 1890s – 1920)?