Learning Module 2 – Exam Study Guide

History 101 / Fall 2009[1]

General Information:

·         This exam will be on October 15.  My policy is no make-up exams.

·         There are two sections to the exam: An exam essay (30 pts) and an objective test (50 pts)

·         Bring a scantron (50 questions) for the objective section and a # 2 pencil for the objective section of the exam.

 

·         Use these guidelines for submission of the exam essay:

o   This is a “take-home” exam question.  This means that you write the essay before October 15 and submit it at the time of class.

o   You can also email the exam essay, but you must (1) submit the essay on or before 6 pm on October 15 and (2) include your full name and class in the subject box of the email.

·         Recommendations for Success:

 

o   A “practice quiz” is included in this study guide. It would be wise to complete this quiz to test your knowledge of the information from the textbook.

o   For the exam essay you should consider (1) organizing your thoughts and outline the information that you use for the exam essay, (2) contact Susan Oliver (soliver@cerritos.edu) if you are not clear about the exam question and/or the information, and (3) working on the ideas, outline and writing of the exam essay NOW, not on October 14.  In addition pay careful attention to the list of sources to use for the exam essay.

 

 


Exam Essay Study Guide

 

·         The exam essay is due at the time of the exam or by 6 pm on October 15  if sent by email

·         Typed essays are preferred, but if you decide to handwrite the essay be sure to (1) use black or blue ink and (2) make it legible to read: legible (careful handwriting) and large enough to be easily read.

·         To answer the exam question completely, your essay should range between 500 – 700 words (2 – 4 pages, typed, double spaced). 

 

Exam Question: Slavery: The Cause of the Civil War

Overview:  The central cause of the Civil War was the existence of slavery in a nation founded on the principles of natural rights, equality of all citizens, and each person’s liberty and/or freedom.  In this exam essay, you are to evaluate why slavery become central issue an escalating debate from 1830 to 1860.  

Exam Question: Evaluate the ways that (1) the actions of the abolitionist movement and (2) territorial expansion made the existence of slavery the central topic of debate between slaveholding states and non-slaveholding states between 1830 and 1860.

Historical Context: Slavery and Cotton: Refer to these pages to gain background information about the significance of cotton to the economy, which, in turn, expanded the need for slave labor.

1.      Chapter 9: The Cotton Kingdom; The Unfree westward Movement.

2.      Chapter 11: Cotton is King; The Second Middle Passage; Slavery and the Nation; The Southern Economy (p. 378-382)

3.      The Impact of the Louisiana Purchase: See TalonNet/Lessons/The Louisiana Purchase

4.      Slavery as a Political Problem: Lecture on Causes of the Civil War. Issue: need to keep a balance between slave and free states in the US Congress.   For an understanding of the process of territorial expansion see Chapter 13, pp. 441 – 453.

Abolitionist Movement and its Impact on the Issue of Slavery

·         Chapter 11: The proslavery argument, slavery and civilization,

·         Chapter 12: The Crusade Against Slavery.  Focus on pages 422 – 427.

·         Activity One: Justifying Slavery; Justifying Freedom.

·         Information from PowerPoint: Causes of the Civil War

Territorial Expansion:

Chapter 13:

·         Douglas and Popular Sovereignty (pp. 458 – 459)

·         A Dose of Arsenic (pp. 453 – 460)

·         Lincoln and Slavery (466 – 467)

·         Lincoln – Douglas Debates (Voices of Freedom)

·         Significance of Lincoln’s victory in 1860 in terms of slavery in the western territories.


Recommended Organization of Essay:

Introduction: Restatement of the question, brief overview of the contents of the essay; thesis statement.

Historical Background: Cotton and Slavery

Body Paragraphs – most of the essay should be devoted to these sections

Section one: Militant Abolitionist Movement.

·         Describe the change in the abolitionist movement after 1830 (Garrison, etc.)

·         Describe militant abolitionist movement’s decision to wage a moral argument about the existence of slavery.

·         The Southern response to the abolitionist movement’s approach: Proslavery argument (use Fitzhugh).  Provide an overview of the various approaches used in the proslavery argument and then focus on Fitzhugh’s approach.

·         The ideas expressed by Frederick Douglass (Activity 1)

·         Significance of the militant abolitionist movement to making slavery the central cause of the Civil War.


Section Two: Territorial Expansion:

·         The political problem of territory and slavery: See Causes of the Civil War

Chapter 13:

·         The meaning and impact of manifest destiny

·         The impact of the Mexican American War on the issue of slavery, e.g. more territory = increased stakes in the debate between the southern and northern states.

·         The compromise of 1850 – its key provisions and its significance (last compromise on slavery).

·         Define popular sovereignty and consider its impact on the debate, e.g. its appeal to southern slave-holding states.

·         Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858); Activity 2

Conclusion:

·         A summary of the impact of the abolitionist movement and territorial expansion on making the existence of slavery the central cause of the Civil War. 

·         An opportunity to offer your personal opinion about this historical time.

 


 Exam Study Guide: Objective Section

Information:

 

Assigned Pages in the Textbook

 

Chapter 9:

1.      Transportation revolution – especially the Erie Canal and Railroads

2.      Factory System: focus, workers

3.      Eli Whitney / cotton gin

4.      Impact of cotton/international trade

Chapter 11:

1.      Slave owners / 200 or more

2.      free blacks in the south

3.      Second middle passage

4.      Slave family

Chapter 12: Crusade Against Slavery to end of chapter

1.      Women’s Rights Convention / Seneca Fall

2.      Attitude of F. Douglass/woman’s rights

3.      Comparison of early abolitionist movement and the one that emerged in the late 1820s/1830s

4.      Attitude and role of William Lloyd Garrison

  1. Attitudes of militant abolitionists toward the Constitution, slaves; distribution of information

Chapter 13:

1.      Fruits of Manifest Destiny – Focus on the process of territorial expansions and the concept of Manifest Destiny

2.      Kansas Nebraska Act/Bleeding Kansas

3.      Dred Scott Decision

4.      Issue of Popular Sovereignty

5.      Wilmot Proviso

6.      Emergence/Election of Lincoln
The Impending Crisis


Chapter 14: All

1.      Advantages / disadvantages of North and the confederacy

2.      Technology and war; in battles and medical treatment

3.      Lincoln as wartime president: issue of constitutional powers, process of supporting abolition and issues the Emancipation Proclamation

4.      Locations of major battles – first two years; after 1863

5.      Contents and impact of Emancipation Proclamation

6.      Cotton Diplomacy – strategy for the confederacy

7.      The War: Black soldiers in Union Army

8.      Use of black troops, Sherman’s actions.

9.      Civil War / definition of freedom

10.  Lincoln and reconstruction.

 




[1] Created: October 7, 2009; updated: 10/8/2009