Essay on an American History topic between 1865-1918

You must write an essay on a topic that uses between two and three primary sources written between 1865 and 1918 (i.e. between the beginning of Reconstruction and the end of World War I). Your essay should compare and/or contrast the documents you have chosen. You should use three primary sources.

While the documents will be the main sources for your paper and their analysis will form the core of your paper, you must also provide historical context for the documents. Such context will allow you to more accurately and successfully analyze the documents. You should use the textbook, American Yawp, and class lectures to understand the documents’ context. You are welcome to do additional research for this paper but are not required to do so.

First, you should pick a topic. One way to do this is to refer back to lectures or the textbook and identify major themes from this period in American history. I strongly urge you to pick a theme you find interesting as it will make this assignment more enjoyable.

Second, you should analyze the documents. You should review the relevant lectures and chapter in American Yawp to understand the documents’ context before doing this analysis.

Third, you should formulate a thesis or argument. You will probably come to some conclusions about your documents and their relationship. You should use your paper to argue that one or more of your conclusions are correct.

Fourth, write your paper. The purpose of your paper is to prove your argument. You should draw on context learned from the textbook and lectures and the documents themselves to craft your argument. However, most of your paper should be a discussion of the documents. A paper that mostly discusses context would do poorly on this assignment.