HIST 17B
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Winter 2017
Each student is required to write one 3-page paper. You have a choice whether to choose the
one that is due on February 6, 2017, OR the one due on March 8, 2017.
Option One due on February 6, 2017:
Today, the Second Amendment is a source of great controversy. Those who advocate
gun ownership without regulation point to this amendment and claim that the federal
government is prohibited from regulating firearms.
Those who favor gun control argue that the amendment was designed to assure that
states would maintain militias, not to protect personal arsenals.
Read and analyze the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution (p. A-18 in
the Appendix of your text book), AND the following quotation from President George
Washington.
“It may be laid down, as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every citizen who
enjoys the protection of a free government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even
of his personal services to the defence of it, and consequently that the Citizens of America (with
a few legal and official exceptions) from 18 to 50 Years of Age should be borne on the Militia
Rolls, provided with uniform Arms, and so far accustomed to the use of them, that the Total
strength of the Country might be called forth at Short Notice on any very interesting
Emergency.” – Sentiments on a Peace Establishment in a letter to Alexander Hamilton, May 2,
1783; The Writings of George Washington [1938], edited by John C. Fitzpatrick, Vol. 26, p. 289
Write a three-page paper that explains the reasons the second amendment was added
to the Constitution (in other words, what was happening in America that prompted the writers
to include it?).
In your opinion, which of the two opposing views (above) is more in agreement with the
original writers of the amendment?
Option Two due on March 8, 2017:
In addition to restoring the Union and destroying slavery, what other significant changes did the
war produce on the home front and in the nation’s capital? (See Chapter 15 of your textbook)
Write a three-page paper that addresses the economic, governmental, and social developments
that changed America.
You may wish to begin by explaining the impact of the war on the various regions of the country
(North, South, West). What regulations did Congress pass during the war, and what impact did
this have on the nation as a whole? How did the war change the two main political parties?
Who were the ‘Copperheads,’ and what was their position?
Include the changing roles of women and former slaves as a result of the war.