modern united states history 1

Section I: Choose one of the following two questions for your first essay.

1.How have the New Deal, the Great Society, and the Reagan Revolution fundamentally transformed the role of the federal government?How and why have Americans’ expectations of and relationship to the federal government (be specific in terms of persons and groups) evolved between Hoover’s and Reagan’s presidencies?How have parties “realigned” in response to these political moments?Be specific in your responses and back them with concrete historical examples.

2.The post-Civil War period saw the rise of a large number of social movements that posed important challenges to American culture, society, institutions, and government. Write an essay that describes and compares the major objectives, strategies, and challenges of FOUR of the following movements and assess the extent to which these movements built on each other, challenged each other, and transformed American society.List of possible movements: Reconstruction, the Populists, the Progressive Movement, Labor Movements, Civil Rights Movements, Black Power Movement, Anti-War Movement, Women’s Movements, or New Right.

Section II: Choose one of the following two questions to answer in your second essay.

1.How did the Cold War shape American society, culture, and politics, from the late 1940s to the beginning of the twenty-first century?Discuss the domestic ramifications of this global struggle for the ways that different Americans thought about their nation, how they pursued their political and economic agendas, the level of success they achieved in pursuing those agendas.Consider political movements of the left and right, debate over war, over labor, the rights of different groups within society, over culture and society broadly, and over America and what it means.Be sure to use specific historical examples that reflect both foreign and domestic consequences.

2.Compare and contrast how the United States’ experience in the three following wars shaped American life at home, the domestic politics and foreign policy of the US, and conceptions of America’s ideological role in the world: World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War.You must address both foreign and domestic consequences when you discuss these three conflicts. Please see attached word document for essays instructions.