Unit 2 Exam: Part 1 (40 points)

Attached Files:

For Part 1 of the Unit 2 Exam, read the two documents attached above and examine the image located below and attached above. Using the documents, the image, and the textbook, write an essay (minimum 400 words) answering the questions listed below.

NOTE: Read all of document 1. Document 2 is 20 pages long, but you only need to focus on pages 5-10, especially the highlighted portions. Here is a youtube link to actor Mark Ruffalo performing the highlighted portions of the speech in document 2: https://youtu.be/zuGp-0G1p4M

Part 1 Questions: 

1. In document 1, how does Woodrow Wilson justify his support for American involvement in World War I?

2. In document 2, how does Eugene V. Debs justify his opposition to World War I?

3. What elements of the image above reflect the ideas presented in documents 1 and 2? How do you think imagery like this affected American perceptions about Germans and World War I?

4. Based on the textbook, as well as the documents and the image, explain why the United States intervened in World War I.

Image 1: World War I propaganda poster produced by the United States Army in 1918.

Unit 2 Exam: Part 2 (30 points)

Essay (30 points)

For part 2 of the Unit 2 Exam, choose ONLY 1 essay question from the list below, which covers chapters 18 and 19 in the textbook. Grades will be based on the content of the answer and must be more than 300 words in length. Direct quotes do not count toward the required word count.

Part 2 Essay Questions:

1 – In what ways was the Progressive era a period that saw both the expansion and the restriction of political and economic freedoms?

2 – Analyze the various roles women played during the Progressive era, from social reformer, to feminist, to suffragist. How did various women define freedom? Be sure to distinguish between different types of women and include the “Voices of Freedom” excerpt in your answer.

3 – Freedom of expression was given new meaning by labor in the Progressive age. Thinking back to previous chapters, compare the various movements to expand the meaning of freedom of expression—from the Alien and Sedition Acts to the abolitionists in the antebellum era—with the labor movement in the Progressive age. Use the “Voices of Freedom” piece.

4 – Compare the Populist and Progressive movements. Critically analyze why the Progressive movement seemed to have more success. What were the limitations of the Populist movement?

5 – Compare the presidencies of Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson. What made them Progressive presidents? Identify what you believe to be the most important pieces of legislation passed during each administration. Why are these so significant? Finally, be sure to indicate what each president did to expand the meaning of freedom for Americans.

6 – Explain how Americans used the language of freedom when discussing foreign policy. Look specifically at the foreign policies of Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson in your answer. Did the meaning of freedom change with each administration or stay constant?

7 – It is April 1917, you are a member of Congress, and President Wilson wants a declaration of war. Justify your vote for or against war with Germany.

8 – Examine the restrictions placed on freedom during World War I. Be sure to analyze Debs’s piece in “Voices of Freedom,” the Committee on Public Information, and “coercive patriotism.”

9 – Compare the political ideas of W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. What were the similarities (if any)? What were the differences?

10 – Examine and analyze Woodrow Wilson’s ideas about foreign policy. To what extent did Wilson put into practice his stated ideas?

Unit 2 Exam: Part 3 (30 points)

Essay (30 points)

For part 3 of the Unit 2 Exam, choose ONLY 1 essay question from the list below, which covers chapters 20 and 21 in the textbook. Grades will be based on the content of the answer and must be more than 300 words in length. Direct quotes do not count toward the required word count.

Part 3 Essay Questions:

1 – After World War I and more than twenty years of reform, Americans became much more conservative in the 1920s. In fact, Reinhold Niebuhr stated that America was “rapidly becoming the most conservative nation on earth.” Give examples that defend this perception of America as conservative in the 1920s.

2 – The 1920s are commonly referred to as the Roaring Twenties. Document who was and who was not “roaring” in the 1920s. Your answer ought to illustrate the dichotomy of the decade.

3 – The 1920s present a time when an entire people was grappling with massive technological and social change. Americans spent the decade seeking to adapt to the rise of a mass-production, mass-culture metropolitan world that had emerged seemingly overnight. Discuss the decade in these terms, describing the many ways in which Americans sought to deal with this change.

4 – Would you describe the 1920s as a decade that benefited women? Why, or why not? Remember to consider the experience of all women when composing your answer.

5 – The Great Depression came dramatically with the stock market crash, but the causes of the Depression had been planted well before 1929. Discuss what brought on the Great Depression and why Hoover was not able to properly address the crisis.

6 – Analyze how FDR oversaw the transformation of the Democratic Party into a coalition of farmers, industrial workers, the reform-minded urban middle class, liberal intellectuals, northern African-Americans, and the white supremacist South.

7 – How did the New Deal alter the role of the national government? In your answer, discuss specific New Deal reforms.

8 – Compare the New Deal reforms with those of the Progressive era. How did the New Deal reflect the reform traditions of the Progressive era? Be sure to include in your answer a discussion about Roosevelt’s key administrators.

9 – Thinking back to other labor struggles in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as the Homestead Strike, Haymarket Affair, 1902 Coal Strike, and Ludlow Massacre, how do the Memorial Day Massacre and the UAW sit-down strikes compare? Had organized labor become any more sophisticated over the years in its tactics? Had business or government become any more sympathetic?

10 – Even though there were no significant gains made in civil rights during the 1930s, there seemed to be an optimistic view among the black community. African-Americans were able to find help in the 1930s through the hope they viewed in the Roosevelt administration, their inclusion within the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and the Popular Front. Write an essay that elaborates on these three pillars, and discuss what each offered to the African-American community.