American History Questions

1.) Discuss the transportation revolution that followed the opening of the Erie Canal and the ways in which it influenced the American economy.

2.) Examine what was considered “women’s work” in the first half of the nineteenth century. What professions, if any, were readily available to women, and how did some individuals help push these boundaries?

3.)The Tariff of 1816 and the Panic of 1819 revealed deep sectional differences. Discuss those differences and what was done to bridge some of them. Were these efforts enough?

4.) Much has been made of the “corrupt bargain” of the 1824 election. Explain the events in question and discuss the merits of such a deal.

5.) Ultimately, the Jackson presidency was revolutionary. Discuss the major political changes brought about by Jackson’s administration.

6.) Why did President Jackson veto the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States?

7.) What was more important in creating the distinctiveness of the Old South, its economics or its culture?

8.) in what ways were the differences and divisions between the antebellum South and northern society expanding by 1860? Why?

9.) Why is having a high literacy rate, like the United States had during the first part of the nineteenth century, so significant to a country?

10.) What was the relationship between the women’s rights movement and the abolitionist movement? How did the issue of women’s rights help split the abolitionist movement? 

11.) Does Mexico deserve any of the blame for the Mexican-American War? Did the Mexican government feel it had any other choice but to pursue war?

12.) In 1844, John C. Calhoun, as Secretary of State for President Tyler, wrote that adding Texas as a slave state was necessary to keep the South in the Union.  Does evidence suggest that he was right?