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History: Thematic Research Assignment

A guide to research on historical topics

Thematic Research Assignment

Your theme will be guided by the book you reviewed earlier in the course. If you haven't selected your book, the suggested themes listed below were copied from Professor Fujita's assignment. Topics within the themes are in parentheses. The following themes and topics are suggestions only and are not meant to limit your research to what is listed in this guide.

Thematic Research Assignment for HIST 281

HIST 281 Suggested Themes

  • Early Colonization (Roanoke Island, Jamestown, Plymouth Colony, any one of the original thirteen colonies, etc.)
  • The American Revolution (origins of the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, specific battles such as Lexington, Saratoga, Yorktown, etc., types of weapons, Native American allies, politics of the American Revolution, diplomacy during the revolution, e.g., French support, etc.)
  • The Constitution (the writing of the Constitution, key ideas in the Constitution, the Presidency, the Electoral College, Impeachment, the role of Congress, the role of the Senate, the selection of a bicameral Legislature, etc.)
  • Native Americans (specific tribe, treatment of Native Americans, attitudes about Native Americans, wars with Native Americans, etc.)
  • Slavery (origins of slavery in the New World, the African slave trade, attitudes about Black Africans, the issue of slavery in the U.S. Constitution, the benefits or negative aspects of maintaining slavery, the economics of slavery, the treatment of slaves, slave revolts, etc.)
  • War of 1812 (impressment and treatment of American sailors and citizens by the British, the war itself, specific battles, historical figures associated with the war such as James Madison, Dolly Madison, Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key, etc.)
  • American Presidents (Pick one from Washington to Johnson and write about a specific aspect of their lives or the presidency. Do not write a general biography.)
  • Westward Expansion (Mountain men and fur traders, Manifest Destiny, Mormons, some aspects of historical individuals such as Daniel Boone, Jim Bridger, Davy Crockett, etc. Some biographical information is okay, but papers should focus on something specific about the person. Example: Davy Crockett at the Alamo, etc.)
  • Role of Women in American Society (Pick a period such as Colonial America, the Salem Witchcraft Trials, the American Revolution. What was it like to be a typical woman during the period - education, marriage, children, etc.)
  • Mexican-American War (causes, specific battles, historical figures associated with this war, etc.)
  • The Civil War (Sectionalism, the relationship between the Federal Government and the States, the role of slavery, specific battles, weapons, historical figures associated with the war such as Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, George Custer, Frederick Douglass, Stonewall Jackson, etc. Do not write a general biography; pick something specific about the person, etc.)
  • Reconstruction (Federal policies and programs during the Reconstruction of the South after the Civil War, historic figures associated with the Reconstruction such as Andrew Johnson, Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, Edwin Stanton, etc.)

Thematic Research Assignment for HIST 282

HIST 282 Suggested Themes

  • The South after the end of Reconstruction in the 19th and early 20th centuries (The Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow segregation laws, Southern views of the Civil War and its meaning, the rise of the South economically and politically, etc.)
  • The West (reasons for westward expansion, Indian Wars, notable figures such as George Custer, Crazy Horse, Chief Joseph, Geronimo, etc, myths of the West, e.g., cowboys, gunfighters, etc.)
  • Industrialization (specific industries such as railroads, mining, oil, specific people such as John D. Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie, etc., Labor in America, unionization, anarchism, immigration from Europe or Asia, etc.)
  • American Expansionism and Imperialism (Spanish-American War, Annexation of Hawaii, Panama Canal, the Yellow Peril, Philippine Insurrection, etc.)
  • The Progressive Era (Progressivism and its meaning, leading Progressives such as Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, etc., Progressive policies, environmentalism, etc.)
  • World War I (Neutrality, submarine warfare, American propaganda, U.S intervention, campaigns and battles, individual units such as AEF, 1st Infantry Division, Marines, or individual soldiers such as General John Pershing, LTC George Patton, Sgt. Alvin York, Cpt. Eddie Rickenbacker, etc.)
  • The Twenties (The Jazz Age, urbanization, Women's rights, the Lost Generation, Prohibition and gangsters, economic prosperity, the stock market and financial speculation, the stock market crash of 1929, etc.)
  • The Thirties (The Great Depression, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, the New Deal, isolationism, preparation for war, etc.)
  • World War II (American diplomatic, economic, and military policies against Japan and Germany before 1941, the war against Japan, the war against Germany, the internment of Japanese-Americans, the atomic bombings of Japan, etc.)
  • The Cold War (The Atomic Age and its impact on American culture, the Red Scare, the Korean War, the Baby Boom, economic prosperity in the Fifties, social conformity vs. the Beatniks, the Civil Rights Movement, etc.)
  • The Sixties (Assassination of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., or Robert Kennedy and its impact, the Youth Culture and rebellion against conformity, the Vietnam War, Rock and Roll, drugs, the space race to the moon, etc.)
  • The Seventies (Nixon and Watergate, Roe v. Wade, popular culture, national malaise, Detente, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, Iran Hostage Crisis, terrorism, etc.)
  • The Eighties (Ronald Reagan and the New Conservatism, Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars), the Cold War heats up, the end of the Cold War, etc.)
  • The Nineties and Beyond (The Information Age, 9/11 and the War on Terror, The U.S. and China