FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE

History 232/Winter 2010

FORMAT: Two Essays, one short, one long


I. ESSAY ONE: SINCE THE MIDTERM (NEW DEAL TO THE 1970S) (40%)

The final exam will have one of the following essay questions:

1. What were the most important reforms of the New Deal? How effective were they in solving the problems of the Great Depression?

2. What lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the two landmark pieces of Civil Rights legislation?

3. Why was there so much radicalism in the 1960s?



II. ESSAY TWO: CUMULATIVE ESSAY (60%)
The final exam will have the following THREE essay questions. You will write on one of the three:

1. How did the U.S. change as a result of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, AND the War in Vietnam? Judging from the nation’s experience of war, can you make some generalization regarding the impact of war on a country?

2. Discuss the social and political transformation that the country went through during Progressivism, the New Deal, AND the changes associated with the 1960s. Which of these periods of reform ushered in the most profound social change? Which period resulted in the deepest political shift?

3. The idea of Upton Sinclair's _Jungle_ became a reality with the focusing event of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. President Roosevelt's idea of internationalism was made real by the event of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The idea of environmentalism in Carson's _Silent Spring_ became a reality with the focusing event of the Santa Barbara oil spill.

Discuss the relationship between ideas and events in causing historical change.