Essays and Research Papers on U.S. History (1800s)

A 3 page essay that draws on Steven's Mintz's text Moralist and Modernizers to discuss the social climate of reform in the US during the antebellum era. The writer discusses how this climate influenced the Civil War. No additional sources cited.

This 3 page paper takes a look at the prohibition era and how the failure of the policy should provide lessons for the government today. The war on drugs should be halted as a results of lessons learned from that time period and human nature. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 6 page overview of world hierarchy as it has been shaped by key historic events. The author outlines the importance of the Industrial Revolution, nationalism, World Wars I and II, The Cold War, and numerous other factors in influencing world direction. The role of the “West” in that influence is emphasized. ...

This 5-page paper presents a view of the sacrifices made by women of the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War. The view is told mainly through the eyes of Mary Chesnut and her diaries, and the paper also discusses Chesnut's own contribution to the war effort and her stance on slavery. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

An 8 page overview of this critical period in history. The author outlines major historical events for these countries and emphasizes the importance of revolution, industrialization, and imperialism. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

A 6 page paper which examines how the late entry of Black soldiers into the Confederate military hampered the South’s ability to successfully fight the Northern Army. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

A 4 page overview of the years leading up to and following the Klondike Gold Rush. The author traces the various points of contact and contends that while the fur trade, whaling activities, and even a burgeoning salmon fishery led to more and more frequent contact between whites and indigenous inhabitant, that contact would ...

This 6 page report discusses European immigration to the United States in the 19th century and the conditions that encouraged "the wave." Bibliography lists only one source.

This 5 page report discusses the first chapter of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave and the story of Aunt Hester's beating. The point is made that His narrative clearly speaks to the abolitionist discourse of his day in that it demonstrates what was happening to an entire group of ...

A 3 page review of Edwin B. Coddington’s “The Battle of Gettysburg.” Bibliography lists 1 additional source.

A 4 page paper which two factors (conflicts between low-paid immigrants and blacks and discord among Republican/Democrat factions) that led to these bloody, four-day New York riots in July 1863. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

This 4-page paper focuses on Roger Daniels' piece, "The Rise of Anti-Immigrant Sentiment." The article discusses a variety of issues including why Americans felt threatened by immigration and how this hostility manifested itself.

A 5 page overview of the multiethnic environment which existed in the years following the Civil War. The author traces this environment to colonial times and relates how the end of the Civil War slowly translated into differences in regard to worker rights for the nation’s minorities. Bibliography lists 8 sources.

This 5 page paper explores the phenomenon and image of the American Cowboy. The image of the cowboy is examined from the earliest images to the modern reality of the cowboy. Examples, quotes offered. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

This 3-page paper covers the idea of sectionalism on a nationwide basis as one of the causes of the Civil War. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 5 page essay that discusses an exhibition being shown at the Chicago Historical Society, "A House Divided." This powerful exhibition succeeds in making Lincoln real for the viewer as a fellow human being. In so doing, the exhibit also serves to make "real" the suffering, the trauma and the incredible devastation of the American ...

A 9 page discussion of the tactics and weapons relied on by the North and the South during the American Civil War. The North had many advantages in that it had the industrial and infrastructural features to supply its technological needs during this turbulent period in U.S. history. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 4 page discussion of the many events and circumstances which combined to ultimately cause the U.S. Civil War. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set the stage for the war but subsequent events such as the war with Mexico of 1846-1848, the Secession Crisis of November 1860-April 1861, the annexation of Texas, the Wilmot ...

A 3 page research paper that uses Levine's 1992 text as a guide in discussing the principal reason behind the American Civil War. Levine demonstrates that given the inconsistencies between the regions in the antebellum North and South, war was inevitable and the slavery question could not have been decided any other way. Levine's scholarship ...

This 4-page paper concerns the Nat Turner Rebellion as told, in part in The Fires of Jubilee. The paper answers various questions about the rebellion such as, what characteristics of Turner led to it and was this the right path to take. Bibliography lists 1 source.

This 4-page paper focuses on the relevant issues that eventually led to the secession of the Southern states from the Union in the 19th century, as well as the development of the Confederate states and a Confederate constitution. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

This 4 page paper highlights differences between North and South when it coms to economics. Slavery is discussed. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

A 9 page examination of three critical approaches in Native American/White interaction: the approaches of Pontiac, Tecumseh, and Handsome Lake. This paper contends that despite varied and valiant efforts at maintaining their cultural integrity, each of these approaches failed in the face of the overwhelming tide of white's who flooded the country and ...

This 4 page paper abstracts the first five chapters of Henry Paoluccis' book, War, Peace and The Presidency. Additional analysis on the causes of World Wars one and two. Bibliography lists 1 source.

A 3 page paper which examines the conflicts between the North and the South as they relate to the Compromise of 1820 through to the Compromise of 1850. Bibliography lists 3 sources.