Each response should consist of an introduction with a thesis statement, supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion, all written in your own words. Each question should around 250 words.
Just make sure you comprehensively answer each question with a short introduction paragraph with a thesis that addresses the essay questions, some supporting paragraphs based on evidence from the readings or videos (with citations where possible), and a short conclusion.
1. In Commonwealth v. Pullis (1806), what were the main arguments the judge made in his instructions to the jury? What were the main arguments Chief Justice Shaw made in Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842)? How did his ruling differ from Commonwealth v. Pullis?
2. What role did theater, music, sports, and other forms of entertainment play in the lives of working people in the mid nineteenth century? How did these forms of culture reflect racial, ethnic, and class divisions in American society?
3. How did womens roles in the American workplace change by the mid-1800s? What options did women have in terms of employment? How did women assert themselves as social actors during these years?
4. What reception did Chinese immigrants receive from whites when they first arrived in San Francisco in the mid-1800s and how and why did white attitudes change? How did the work experiences of Chinese immigrants compare to those of the native-born whites, European immigrants, free blacks, and slaves in the 1800s? What were some key similarities and differences?
5. Some historians have argued that the Civil War marked the second founding of the American Republic. Assess the validity of this statement, being sure to back up your argument with facts from course readings.
6. What was Reconstruction? What promises did it hold for freed African Americans in the south? In what ways did white southerners resist Reconstruction and how did this resistance contribute to its failure?
7. How do the events of 1877including the end of Reconstruction and the Great Railroad Uprisingrelate to themes about race relations, social class and labor relations, and the possibilities for collective action in earlier moments in American history that we have discussed in this course? Are these themes still relevant today?