Possible AP US History Essay Prompts

Possible AP US History Essay Prompts

Possible AP US History Essay Prompts

I will select two of the following prompts for the final exam, and then you will have to respond to one of those two prompts. The prompts may be different for each exam period.

Period 1: 1491-1607
  1. Compare and contrast the British, French, and Spanish imperial goals in North America between 1580 and 1763.

Period 2: 1607-1754
  1. Some historians have argued that the development of differing economies shaped differing social structures in the English colonies in North America. Support, modify, or refute this contention using specific evidence.

Period 3: 1754-1800
  1. Evaluate the extent to which the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War, 1754–1763) marked a turning point in American relations with Great Britain, analyzing what changed and what stayed the same from the period before the war to the period after it.
  1. Some historians argue that Shays’s Rebellion tested the Articles of Confederation, which led to the Constitutional Convention and the call for a stronger central government. Support, modify, or refute this contention using specific evidence.
  1. “The United States Constitution of 1787 represented an economic and ideological victory for the traditional political elite.” Assess the validity of that statement for the period 1781 to 1789.

Period 4: 1800-1848
  1. Some historians have argued that an upsurge in democracy shaped American politics in the first half of the 19th century. Support, modify, or refute this contention using specific evidence.
  1. Analyze the impact the Market Revolution had on internal migration during the first half of the 19th century and the effect this migration had on the United States as a whole.
  1. Analyze the causes of growing opposition to slavery in the United States from 1776 to 1852. In your response, consider both underlying forces and specific events that contributed to the growing opposition.
  1. Analyze the changing ideals of American womanhood and to what extent these ideals influenced the lives of women between the American Revolution (1770’s) and the outbreak of the Civil War (1861). In your answer be sure to consider issues of race and class.

Period 5: 1844-1877
  1. Evaluate the extent to which the Mexican-American War (1846–1848) marked a turning point in the debate over slavery in the United States, analyzing what changed and what stayed the same from the period before the war to the period after it.
  1. Some historians argue that Manifest Destiny rekindled sectional tensions and led to the American Civil War that began in 1861. Support, modify, or refute this contention using specific evidence.

Period 6: 1865-1898
  1. For whom and to what extent was the American West a land of opportunity from 1865 to 1890?
  1. How were the lives of the Plains Indians in the second half of the 19th Century affected by technological developments and government actions?
  1. Analyze the impact of any TWO of the following on the American industrial worker between 1865 and 1900. Government Actions, Immigration, Labor Unions, Technological Changes
  1. Compare and contrast the ways that many Americans expressed their opposition to immigrants in the 1840s–1850s with the ways that many Americans expressed their opposition to immigrants in the 1880s–1900s.