History 202D Final Exam Spring 2014 Geier

Essay Section: In two separate essays, answer Question A and Question B. The conventions of correct English Grammer. Be sure to answer all parts of each question, and strive for a balance of examples and evidence drawn from readings and in-class discussions.

Question A (30% of grade for this exam– Recommended time for this question is about 35 minutes).
Discuss the following question in relation to material covered in class discussions and in the assigned readings (including the Henretta text, the Thomas text, and the Vorenberg text).

In January 1865, just 3 months before the end of the Civil War, a group of African-American freedmen, in response to a question from field investigators for the Union Army indicated what they hoped to gain from emancipation in the post-war period: The way we can best take care of ourselves is to have land, and turn it and till it by our own labor–that is, by the labor of the women and children and old men. We want to be placed on land until we are able to buy it and make it our own. With this in mind, discuss (compare and contrast) the implications of Social Darwinism for how at least 3 (three) of the following people experienced the period after 1867 through 1896: (a) W.E.B. DuBois, (b) Booker T. Washington, (c) Ida Wells, (d) Suey Hin, (e) Alice Hamilton, (f) Jose Marti, (g) Zitkala-Sa, or (h) Horatio Alger. How did the ideology and popularity of Social Darwinism influence the rhetoric of reform? In what ways did Social Darwinism promote the ideal of individualism, and to what extent did it rely upon ideas of group identity? Support your answer with specific examples from readings and discussions.

Question B (30% of grade for this exam—Recommended time for this section is about 35 minutes).
Discuss the following question in relation to material covered in class discussions, and in the assigned readings (including the Henretta text and the Thomas text).

In 1902, American General Arthur MacArthur, responding to a Senate Committee investigating charges that his troops had committed atrocities against civilians in the Philippines, asserted I felt that we had attained a moral and intellectual height from which we were bound to proclaim to all as the occasion arose the true message of humanity as embodied in the principles of our own institutions. We are planting the best traditions, the best characteristics of Americanism in such a way that they can never be removed from that soil . Just a few years later, however, an African-American writer named Charles Chesnutt observed, I think it is exceedingly unfortunatethat the seat of [the U.S.} government should be located in the South. Inevitably, the whole machinery of government takes its tone from its environment. With this in mind, discuss the relationship between militarist imperialism and the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision. What institutions was Homer Plessy challenging and what came of his challenge? How did those institutions compare with the principles and priorities of the United States in the Philippines? How did the ideas expressed in the majority opinion of Plessy v. Ferguson compare with the ways in which advocates of imperialist expansion (such as MacArthur) described their motivations for and concerns about empire? Why was imperialism so popular during this period in the United States (1880-1914)? Support your answer with specific examples and evidence from the sources noted above.

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