Your exam must be turned in via canvas by thursday, october 13th at 11:59pm (online).

History 7- History of the United States, 1865 to the Present
Fall 2022
Open-Book Mid-Term Exam
Readings covered: The American Yawp, Chapters 15-22
This is an open-book examination, covering all of the material we have read in the textbook and the corresponding PowerPoint presentations since the beginning of the semester. It consists of one (1) essay, chosen from 5 possible questions.
Your exam must be turned in via Canvas by THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13th at 11:59pm (ONLINE).
Choose any of the following questions. Be sure to have a clear argument that you defend with relevant evidence. Organize your paper with a logical structure and use clear topic sentences and transitions to help your reader understand the logic of your organization. Edit your paper thoroughly to avoid errors and to improve readability. Give your paper a title that reflects your argument.
Grading criteria:
Argument: 25%
Does your paper have a clear, singular, specific argument that answers the question?
Evidence: 25%
Do you use all of the relevant evidence from the textbook and PowerPoints to defend your argument?
Organization: 25%
Does your paper have a logical structure and use clear topic sentences and transitions?
Clarity: 25%
Is your prose efficient, crisp and polished, free of excessive passive voice or distracting spelling or grammatical errors?
Your exam should not exceed four (4) double-spaced pages, excluding a works cited page. Students are expected to refer to the literature that we have read for the exam. You are welcome to use an outside source if it helps to strengthen your argument, but your main sources should be our textbook and the PowerPoints. All direct references to the literature must be properly cited (in MLA format).
Please DO NOT use materials from the Internet without clear identification of the source. Copying of texts from the Internet is considered plagiarism, (I have caught a number of students doing this), you will receive an F for your exam if you do so.
Essay Questions:
Answer one (1) of the following essay questions. You must address completely all aspects of the question asked. Your responses must be based on the relevant reading. The goal is to demonstrate that you have read the assigned material and understand key concepts. Remember to use specific evidence and/or examples to support your arguments. Opinions without evidence, however interesting, are not sufficient.
1. How had the United States changed in the fifty years since the end of the Civil War? What were the most significant differences in the lives of Americans over this span of time?
2. How did the Gilded Age force Americans to confront traditional understandings of freedom? Consider the role of industrialization, the labor movement, and progressivism.
3. In what ways was the United States an empire by the early 1900s? How did foreign interventions, the conquest of the American West, and immigration play into American imperialism?
4. How did United States foreign policy evolve from isolationism to its involvement in the Great War? What were the most important factors affecting this evolution?
5. The health of Americans was touched on in the reading at various times in the period from the Civil War to the first World War. How did industrialization and urbanization and episodes like the influenza pandemic impact how health was thought about in the United States?