The following assignment is a group project with topics selected from the time period of 1820-1875. Seven groups will complete the areas:
· each member of the group will be responsible for one specific sub-topic within the assigned area of study
· each student will provide an oral presentation on the sub-topic
· each student will complete a 3-5 page research paper (thesis based; MLA documentation and bibliography required)


Topics:

1. Slavery/Abolition
a. Cotton is King
b. Dred Scott/ Lincoln, Douglas debates
c. Compromise of 1850/ Kansas-Nebraska/ Bleeding Kansas
d. John Brown- Martyr or Murderer?
e. The Collapse of the Union- The Election of 1860

2. Reform Spirit in America
a. Mentally ill- Dorothea Dix
b. Education
c. Women’s Rights- Seneca Falls Convention
d. Demon Rum- Prohibition
e. Flowering of American Literature

3. Manifest Destiny- Expansionism
a. Texas and the Mexican-American War
b. 54-40 or Fight- Polk

4. Issues of the West
a. Native American policy- Indian Wars
b. Development of Railroads- Transcontinental/Gold Rush/ Cattle industry

5. Utopian Societies
a. Second Great Awakening
b. Oneida Community, Brook Farm, Shakers
c. The Mormons

6. Immigration
a. Irish potato famine and the Know Nothing Party
b. German- failed revolutions
c. Chinese- mistreatment on the west coast

7. Economics
a. Industrialization/Manufacturing
b. Our changing economy

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