25 Possible Identifications
"Four Freedoms"
"New Woman"
Agricultural Adjustment Act/Administration (AAA)
Alfred Thayer Mahan
Alice Paul
Andrew Carnegie
Billy Sunday
Bonus Army
dust bowl
Emilio Aguinaldo
Fisk Jubilee Singers
Good Neighbor Policy
Hawley-Smoot Tarriff
Herbert Hoover
international Workers of the World (IWW)
Margaret Sanger
Munich Agreement
Pure Food and Drug Act
Sacco and Vanzetti
Samuel Gompers
Taylorism
Tenessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Triangle Shirtwaist Company
Volstead Act
W. E. B. DuBois
HIST 221: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN THE MODERN WORLD
FALL 2012 * MID-TERM STUDY GUIDE
I. THE READING MATERIAL
1. Review 16 Strauss Lectures (your notes & the website) and
Skim 9 Chapters in Schultz Textbook and 9 Chapters in Major
Problems. Only the material covered in class lectures and
discussion (and the documents assigned) will be emphasized in
the exam; of course, you are welcome to add material that you
read but that we did not cover in class if relevant; simply put,
show off!
Unit I: Jane Addams’ America, 1877-1918
HIST
Major Problems
Chapter 16
1: Reconstruction, 1865-1877
Chapter 17
2: Western Settlement & the Frontier
Chapter 18
3: Ind., Workers, & the New Immigration
Chapter 19
4: Imperialism & World Power
Chapter 20
5: The Progressive Movement
Chapter 21
6: America in World War I
Unit II: Hollywood’s America, 1918-1945
Chapter 22
7: Crossing a Cultural Divide: the 1920s
Chapter 23
8: Depression, New Deal, & F.D.R.
Chapter 24
9: The Ordeal of World War II
2. 5 Discussions
1. Immigrant Experience, 1880s-1890s: How did immigrants cope
with conditions as they found them in America’s brimming cities?
Did industry crush immigrants or provide them with new
opportunities?
2. U.S. Imperialism, 1890s-1900s: How could a nation with
democratic values and whose leaders had been championing
progressivism fight a colonial war? Was it for economic gain? Did
it grow out of concern for the Cuban people? Did “yellow”
journalists create a war hysteria to sell newspapers? Did it
happen by accident? Did the United States intend to exploit
weaker nations by creating an empire, or did it intent to “spread
the American dream” of self-determination?
3. Modernism v. Fundamentalism in the 1920s: Why was there a
great debate between modernists and fundamentalists in the
1920s about the future and who won it? Put in another way,
would you characterize this period primarily as the Age of Jazz
(modernists) or as the Age of Prohibition (fundamentalists)?
Were these two groups alike in any way?
4. (Online) Views on Roosevelt’s New Deal, 1930s: Did the New
Deal rewrite government’s contract with the people, or not? Put in
another way, did Roosevelt’s “radical surgery” on the U.S.
economy salvage and strengthen the American political and
economic system or did it irresponsibly expand the power of
government to the detriment of society?
a. Begin by reading the question and underlining key words;
make sure that you know what the question is asking. Then,
draw up a quick outline of your answer.
b. Use crisp and clear declarative sentences.
c. It will be to your advantage to mention as many relevant
names, events, documents, pieces of legislation, and other
specific facts as you can.
3. Other
a. Bring a watch to pace yourself.
b. Avoid eating a big meal before the exam.
c. Dress comfortably but not sloppily.
d. Get rest. If you cannot be well-rested, “trick yourself” into
being alert, e.g. walk/jog, shower, or play music before exam.
e. General study tip: study your condensed outline, flowcharts,
and/or flash cards but not all of your notes!
f. Try to leave a minute for yourself at the end of the exam to
make sure that you have answered all the questions.
g. Remember that the person grading your exam will be grading a
lot of exams. Make your penmanship legible and your writing
clear so as not to irritate this person.
h. For the 50 minutes that you are taking this exam, American
History from 1877 to 1945 should be the most exciting topic
that you have ever studied. Enthusiasm for the subject (even if
forced) will be one key to your success on the exam.
IV. TEST TAKING TIPS
1. Identifications: 12 on exam, must write 6 (30 points)
*Each identification should consist of a one to five sentence
description of the term. To receive all five points, you must describe
the item (where appropriate mention geographical place, date, and
people, movements, etc. associated with it) and give its historical
significance – that is, its relationship to the themes, events, and
issues we have discussed in class (for example, what caused it, what
did it cause, what larger phenomenon does it reflect, what long term
consequences did it have, etc.).
a. Do the ones you know first and then go back to the ones that
you don’t.
b. If you are stuck on an ID and you have some time, think about
the subject headings and themes that we covered; it might just
jog your memory about the ID.
2. Essay: 3 on exam, must write 1 (70 points)
*An “A” answer will address all aspects of the question, demonstrate
historical reasoning (change over time), incorporate proper
grammatical style, and utilize the pertinent readings. While there are
no absolute criteria for judging the answers, an “A" answer will not
overlook major related points covered in the lectures.
5. World War II and Four Freedoms, 1940s: How did the war
change Americans’ expectations of their nation’s role in the world
and how did transform the nation internally?
3. 2 Labs
1. Memoir: Jane Addams and Twenty Years at Hull House (1910)
Source: What do you believe motivated Addams to write a memoir
and what are the strengths & weaknesses of using a memoir as a
source for understanding history?
Historical Contribution: Based upon Addams’ work with immigrants
and their children at Hull House, do you understand Progressivism as
an inspirational movement to further the nation’s democratic ideals,
or was it an attempt at social control by self-important, moralistic
busybodies? Can it be both?
2. Film: Casablanca (1942) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Source: What do you believe the inspiration (whether by the
directors, producers, or writers) was for these two films? What are
the strengths & weaknesses of using film as a source for
understanding history?
Historical Contribution: In what ways did Hollywood, which was
experiencing its so-called Golden Age at the same time that the
United States was engaged in global war, represent or misrepresent
the values and beliefs of the American people that you understand
them to have been during the 1940s?
II. CHRONOLOGICAL PERIODS: You may want to look back on the various
film clips, photographs, Prezis, handouts, and other materials that I
introduced in lectures; these are all found on the Course Website.
1. Jane Addams’ America: The Gilded Age and Progressive Era
a. The United States at 1877 (Reconstruction Ends)
b. The Industrial Age, 1870s-1890s
c. Industrial Society in the North(East), South, and West
III. COURSE THEMES: In the end, you should organize your notes and your
thinking about all of this material around the two central themes of this
course so far:
1. Industrialization, Internationalism, and Social Reform
Question: What were the interconnected roles of industrialization,
internationalism, and social reform from the end of Reconstruction to
the end of World War I.
You might think about what these three themes meant to the different
groups that we have studied: Progressive reformers, Republican and
Democratic presidents, the industrialists, farmers, labor unions, women,
African Americans, Native Americans, among others.
d. Progressivism and Social Reform, 1890s-1900s
e. Internationalism, 1890s-1918
2. Hollywood’s America: 1920s, Great Depression, and WWII
a. 1920s: Prosperity and Change
b. 1930s: The Great Depression and New Deal
c. 1940s: War and Peace
2. Politics, Economics, and Culture over 3 Decades: 1920s,
1930s, 1940s:
Question: How did America’s experience of The Roaring Twenties in the
1920s, The Great Depression and New Deal in the 1930s, and the
Second World War in the 1940s impact United States politics,
economics, and culture? Were these three distinct periods or is there a
longer historical narrative that links these three decades together?
You might think about how freedom was understood at different
moments during this period: who had it, how did they define, was it
expanding out to new groups or being restricted, etc.