APUSH

Extra Credit – First Quarter

For a maximum of five extra credit points, write a one-page single spaced paper addressing one of the topics below. You must use parenthetical citations to cite your sources. You will submit the paper to turnitin.com. A hard copy will not be accepted.

  • Compare the development and subsequent history of the Spanish in Mexico with that of the English in North America. Consider, particularly, the impact of the mestizo factor in Mexican history (a result of the intermarriage of Spanish and Indians), compared with the quite different pattern of English relations with the Indians in North America.
  • Discuss the different historical perspective obtained by considering the role of the Spanish borderlands of Florida, New Mexico, and California as part of the history of colonial America (as distinct from examining only the later English settlements along the Atlantic coast). How does our understanding of American history alter if we consider developments in these areas to be of equal importance?
  • Contrast the pattern of English colonization with that of Spain described in Chapter 1 (or perhaps, with that of France described in Chapter 6). Examine similarities and differences in motivation, population patterns, race relations, economic development, and the like.
  • Compare the legends of early English colonization with the often harsh realities: for example, the tale of John Smith and Pocahontas with the actual patterns of relations between whites and Indians in Virginia. Consider why many early settlers tried to paint a rosier portrait of the colonies than their actual conditions warranted (to satisfy investors and lure new colonists).
  • Contrast other English New World settlements, particularly in the West Indies, with those on the North American mainland. Note especially how in the West Indies, many white plantation owners became absentees who spent much of their time in England, whereas the North American colonies developed as more complete, autonomous societies. (South Carolina can be used as an example of a partially West Indian pattern in North America.)
  • Focus on Anne Hutchinson as a complex instance of religious, political, and perhaps gender-based dissent. Consider to what extent the hostility to her religious opinions might have been strengthened because she was a woman challenging the male religious and political establishment.
  • Compare the colonizing effort of the Dutch in New Netherland with that of their English neighbors. Note particularly how Peter Stuyvesant’s absolutist religious and political controls differed from the much looser quality of English colonialism.
  • Consider William Penn and the Quakers as a case study in religious influence on colonial origins, and compare the Quakers with the New England Puritans. Examine the influence on Pennsylvania of particular Quaker belief—such as each individual’s “inner light,” social equality, and nonviolence—as well as how circumstances altered the implementation of such beliefs.
  • Focus on the nature of colonial family life, particularly as it was affected by different demographic patterns (for example, frequent childbearing, frequent remarriage, and strong competition for women). A particular focus might be on attitudes toward children in an age of large families and infant deaths.
  • Focus on the slave trade from Africa, considering how it affected those Africans who were caught in it as well as their descendants. A particular question might be that of the survival of African cultural elements among the slaves.
  • Examine what happened to Africans that were imported as slaves to New World locations such as Brazil, Spanish America, the British Caribbean, and the French Caribbean. Compare that with what happened to Africans imported as slaves to England’s Chesapeake and southern colonies in North America.
  • Discuss women’s lives in the seventeenth century, including economic functions, religion, marriage, and child raising. The focus might be on the economic and social importance of women in agrarian colonial communities, as well as on the legal and political restrictions that kept them tied to men.
  • Focus on the issue of racial, ethnic, and religious diversity in the colonies. The discussion might emphasize the question of how diverse the colonies really were, since the ethnic groups were all northern European—except for blacks—and the religious groups almost all Protestant.
  • Select a particular colonial occupation and consider how the activities of those who performed it might differ from those of later, twentieth-century practitioners. Among the occupations that could be discussed in this way: farmer, merchant, lawyer, minister, printer, schoolteacher, and doctor. Benjamin Franklin as printer might form a good focus, with further emphasis on how he combined this role with so many others, such as scientist, politician, and diplomat.
  • Compare the image of the typical early French colonizer (the fur-trading voyageur or Jesuit priest) with the image of the typical Spanish colonizer (the conquistador) or English colonizer (the Puritan or tobacco planter). Consider how these images reflect the nature of each nation’s colonial effort.
  • Approach several of the chapter’s issues from a Canadian viewpoint—especially that of a French-Canadian. Point out how the survival and growth of the aggrieved French-Canadian community reflects the losing side of the struggle for North America and discuss whether English-speaking North Americans might have ended up in the same condition had France won the French and Indian War.
  • Focus on the Indian factor in the French Empire and the French and Indian War. Examine French relations with the Indians compared with British (and perhaps Spanish) and consider why most Indians supported France against Britain.
  • What shaped the European alliances that formed during the eighteenth century? Why did France and Britain clash frequently? Why did France and Spain become allies a number of times? Why was Portugal no longer a major power in colonial affairs or the world?
  • Examine the Seven Years’ War in Europe. Assess William Pitt’s statement that “America was conquered in Germany.” How much did the battles and conflict in the Old World shape the fighting in the New World?
  • Focus on one of the dramatic episodes of the early revolutionary struggle: The Stamp Act crisis, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, or Lexington and Concord. Discuss how the particulars of the event (for example, rock throwing at British soldiers, dumping the tea) fit into the larger political context of the movement toward Revolution.
  • Discuss the role of African Americans and Indians in the Revolution, both in support of the Patriot cause and as Loyalists drawn to back the British. Consider the tensions and contradictions in the Patriots’ language of rights and liberty in relation to their treatment of slaves and others whom they did not consider part of their communities.
  • Reexamine the conditions and events leading up to the Revolution from a British perspective, including the system of mercantilism and the imposition of taxes. Discuss why the British might have thought they were being quite generous to the colonists (for example, in defending them from France almost for free) while seeing the Americans as ungrateful and hostile to all authority.
  • Consider the role of women in the American Revolution, including both their part in revolutionary events and the new understandings that began to develop regarding their public role as “daughters of liberty” and the questions that raised.
  • Discuss the reverence accorded the Constitution and the Founding Fathers in relation to the actual historical events of 1787. Examine particular provisions of the Constitution, and discuss whether they might have meant something different in the eighteenth century than they do today.
  • Examine the treatment of race and slavery in the Constitutional Convention (including how and why it was mostly but not completely avoided in the actual text). Consider the question of whether directly addressing the slavery question would have made the creation of a federal union impossible—and perhaps even led to the creation of a separate proslavery confederation in 1787.
  • Was George Washington uniquely suited to be a successful first president under the Constitution? How might the United States be different if Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, or Benjamin Franklin were the first president? Consider political ideas, economic issues, and foreign policy.
  • Consider whether the Hamilton-Jefferson conflict was just a normal political disagreement like those between later American political parties or whether it was a more profound ideological disagreement that really threatened to destroy the new government.