Essay on European Feudal Society and Early American Society

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Purpose

Your goal is to discuss European feudal society and explain how and why early American society greatly differed from it.

Structure of Your Paper

Write in the expository essay writing format.

Expository color code: Transitions: orange; State: blue, Elaborate: black; Illustrate: red; Exemplify: green; Introduction and conclusion: no colors

  1. Introduction: introduce the assignment to the reader; explain what you are doing.
  2. Body of the Paper: address the sub-questions below
  3. Conclusion: end with a brief paragraph that summarizes key points and concludes the discussion

The Overarching Essay Question

European feudal society and early American society were both agricultural societies from the Agricultural Era of history. However, European feudal society and early American society were completely different from each other. How were the basic structures of the societies so different and what key factors helped to make them so different? Consider the following subtopics in your essay:

  1. Discuss the European feudal society
  2. Discuss the social structure of European feudal agricultural societies.
  3. Explain the term social structure.
  4. Explain what the term classmeans.
  5. Explain the different classes in the society; include a diagram of the social structure and give estimates about the size of each class
  6. Explain the concept of social mobility and discuss the society’s belief about it. Explain in your discussion how the different classes thought about each other.
  7. Explain the system of ownership of land in the feudal system.
  8. Explain the duties and responsibilities that each main sub-group in the society had to the other sub-groups.
  9. Explain the types of dreams and hopes for the future the commoners could realistically have in feudal society.
  10. Explain the methods that the elites used to keep the lower classes in their place in society and to ensure that they would not revolt against the system.
  1. Discuss early American society
  2. Explain how the Americans changed the social structure of feudalsociety into a new form.
  3. Explain the key beliefs that drove the Americans to want to revolt from feudal England and change the shape of society.
  4. Explain the key, decisive action the Americans took that enabled them to change the society and social structure.
  5. Explain how they changed the social structure. Explain the different classes in early American society; include a diagram of the social structure.
  6. Explain how they changed theirthoughts about class. Discuss how the different classes thought about each other and how this differed from European feudal society.
  7. Explain their thoughts onsocial mobility and how this differed from European feudal society.
  8. Explain how the ownership of land in America was different from feudal Europe. Explain the factors that enabled the ownership of land to be so completely different in America.
  9. Explain how Thomas Jefferson’s vision for a society composed of independent, self-sufficient farmers could be realized in America. Explain how the average American’s dreams and hopes for the future realistically could have been completely different from the dreams of the commoners in feudal society.

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