Download thesis ideas for American History

Research Paper Topics
American Government:
Electoral College – Support for or against - _____________________
Second Amendment: Why controversy? _____________________________
Fourth Amendment: privacy vs. need for public safety? ________________
Nineteenth Amendment: struggles of women to get it passed ________________
Eighteenth/ Twenty-First Amendments: Reasons for/ why repealed? ______________________________________
Chief Justice John Marshall, impact of his decisions ____________________
Reconstruction
Reconstruction – success/failure…
Fourteenth Amendment issues – state laws/court cases ______________________
Fifteenth Amendment issues, obstacles to _______________________________
Impeachment of President Johnson - justification and consequences of trial
___________________________
Political Impact of the Compromise of 1877 - ________________________
Plessy v. Ferguson, impact on Jim Crow laws - ____________________
How did the political agendas of the North & South differ? ________________________________________
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How did the North & South attempt to compromise & what were the effects? ________________________________________
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How did Lincoln’s agenda at the start of the war account for his post war policy of _________________________________
leniency toward the South?
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How did Reconstruction alter the relationship between the president & Congress in ______________________________
favor of legislative supremacy?
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How did Reconstruction affect African Americans? _____________________________________________________
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Why did many Northern politicians lose interest in securing African American __________________________________________
rights after 1868?
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How were civil rights gained during Reconstruction & dismantled after 1870? _______________________________________________
Industrial Growth
“Yellow journalism,” impact of - _________________________
John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and Cornelius Vanderbilt, clever entrepreneurs or unethical “robber barons?” - ________________________
Idea of corporate social responsibility, Gospel of Wealth _______________
Impact of late nineteenth century inventions - _____________________
Labor Union’s fight to for fair and equitable treatment ________________
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, impact of ___________________
Industrial Revolution, impact on role of women - ___________________
Children in the workplace, reforms - ____________________________
Knights of Columbus, the American Federation of Labor, and the International Workers of the World, impact of - _______________________
Eugene Debs, why called the “most dangerous man in America?”
________________________________________
Oil, Railroad, and Steel Industry, fair business practices? - _______________
In what ways was the Gilded Age an era of opulence and extravagance yet also a time of hardship and struggle?
Muckrakers, impact on business and politics _______________________
Panama Canal, impact on world trade - ___________________________
San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 – results/impact of __________________
Boss Tweed, impact of - ______________________________
A New Urban Culture
Push/Pull factors - ____________________________
Immigration, impact on cities - ____________________________
Immigration Policy, changes in - __________________________
(i.e. National Origins Act, Chinese Exclusion Act, Immigration law of 1917, etc.)
The Progressive Era
Muckrakers, impact on society - _________________________
Progressive reforms, impact on society - __________________________
Women’s suffrage, impact on America - ________________________
Native American attempts at assimilation, revitalization, and resistance?
Emma Goldman, Mother Jones, and Frances Perkins, role in Labor Movement - ________________________________________
Children’s Aid Society - _______________________________
How did the Muckrakers awaken the public to the growing social, economic, &
political inequities in the nation?
____________________________________________
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How did progressive reforms benefit society? ___________________________________________________________________
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Why did the Grange develop in the late 1800s? _____________________________________________________________
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How did the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson affect the Jim Crow _______________________________________
laws?
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How did attitudes toward women & minorities hurt labor unions in the late 1800s? ___________________________________
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How did the Industrial Revolution change America? __________________________________________________________
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How did the Industrial Revolution change the role of women in America? _________________________________________
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How did women’s suffrage affect America? _________________________________________________________________
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Why did the population of the U.S. double from 1880-1920? _______________________________________________
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How did rapid urbanization impact American life in the late 1800s? ______________________________________________
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How did progressives attempt to address problems linked to urbanization & industrialization? ________________________________________
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Why did the immigration law of 1917 develop and how was it different from the laws passed in 1882 & 1907? ___________________________
Becoming a World Power
Economic expansionism, driving force of American imperialism? - _______________________________
United States involvement in the Philippines, short/long-term effects -______________________________
World War One
Aerial Warfare - _____________________________
American Homefront:
A. U.S. mobilization - _____________________________
B. Civil Liberties, impact on - _________________________
C. impact on progressive reforms - ______________________
Armenian Genocide - _____________________________
Battle Communications - _____________________________
Black Hand - _____________________________
Edward Rickenbacker - _____________________________
Gallipoli, battle of - _____________________________
Herbert Kitchener, role of - _____________________________
Manfred von Richthofen - _____________________________
Medicine - _____________________________
Ottoman Empire, impact on - _____________________________
Schlieffen Plan - ____________________________
Spanish Flu Epidemic, impact on U.S. - ________________________
Trench Warfare, conditions of ____________________________
Somme, Marne, Verdun, battles of - _____________________________
United States, entrance into war - _________________________
United States, attempts at neutrality - _________________________
Woodrow Wilson, impact on peace settlement - _________________
Wilson’s Fourteen Points, impact on U.S. - _____________________
Weapons/Technology, impact of - _____________________________
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How did Congress receive Wilson’s Fourteen Points? _____________________________________________________________________-
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How did the U.S. mobilize & prepare for WWI? _____________________________________________________________________
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How did WWI negatively affect civil liberties? _______________________________________________________________________
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How did the war effort at home further & hinder the reform movement of the progressive era? _______________________________________
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How did the U.S. attempt to maintain neutrality & why did they finally enter the war? _________________________________________________-
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Why did Wilson want to have a say in the peace settlement after WWI? ________________________________________________________
The Roaring Twenties
Harlem Renaissance, impact on 1920s culture - ______________________
Prohibition:
A. contribute to organized crime? - ________________________
B. enforcement of, - _______________________
Temperance Movement, impact on women in society - _________________
Writers of the Lost Generation, role in 1920s - _________________________
Advertising and mass media, impact of - _________________________
U.S. economic/political involvement in Latin America - __________________
Open Door Policy, importance for the U.S. - _______________________
Red Scare, Scopes’ Trial, Sacco and Vanzetti case, Palmer Raids, impact on society - ______________________
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How did the works of the Harlem Renaissance affect the culture of the 1920s? _______________________________________
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How did African Americans express themselves during the Harlem Renaissance? _____________________________________-
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How did prohibition contribute to organized crime? ____________________________________________________________
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How did the Temperance Movement affect women in society? ______________________________________________________-
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Why did the Great Migration take place & How did it affect the country? ___________________________________________
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Why did the National Origins Act come about in 1924 & how did it change immigration law? _____________________________________
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How did the social changes of the 1920s cause conflicts among various groups of people in the U.S.? (Scopes Trial) ______________________________
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How did new 20s technology contribute to the expanding economy in the U.S.? _________________________________________________-
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How did writers of the Lost Generation react to American society of the 1920s? _________________________________________________
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How did advertising & mass media (movies & radio) affect America in the 1920s? ______________________________________________
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Why did the Red Scare and the ensuing Palmer Raids take place? ___________________________________________________
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How did the progressive movement continue into the 1920s & why did it decline? __________________________________________
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How did foreign policy in the 1920s foster international expansion of big business & movement away from military & political involvement in Europe?
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Why did the U.S. become economically & politically involved in Latin America?______________________________________________
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Why was the Open Door Policy important for the U.S.? ____________________________________________________
The Great Depression
Great Depression, impact on American Society - _______________________
Great Depression, reasons it started - __________________________
FDR’s New Deal, effectiveness - ___________________________
FDR’s New Deal, resistance to - ___________________________
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How did the Great Depression affect American Society? ____________________________________________________
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Why did the Great Depression take place? __________________________________________________-
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How effective was FDR’s New Deal? _____________________________________________________-
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How were women, African Americans, & Native Americans affected by the New Deal legislation & attitudes? _____________________________--
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How did people cope with the Great Depression? ________________________________________--
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Why were many opposed to FDR’s New Deal & how were their objections reconciled in the Second New Deal? _______________________________
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How did Eleanor Roosevelt affect FDR’s presidency?_____________________________________
World War Two:
Afrika Korps - ____________________________
Airborne:
- American - ____________________________
- British - ____________________________
- German - ____________________________
- Russian - ____________________________
Air Transport Command (U.S.) - _______________________________
Aleutian Islands - ____________________________
Alexandria Campaign and Italian Navy - ________________________
Allied Air Campaign in Europe 1943 - __________________________
Allied Commando Operations (Devil’s Brigade, Jedburghs, etc.) - _______________
Allied Conferences:
A. Tehran - _________________________________
B. Potsdam - ________________________________
C. Yalta - _____________________________________
D. Casablanca - ________________________________
E. Atlantic - _________________________________
F. Trident - _______________________________
American Military Units (Army Rangers, American Underwater Demolition Teams, etc.)
- ____________________________
American Homefront:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
K.
L.
American Civil Air Patrol and Civil Defense - ________________
American First Committee - ________________________
Automobile Industry, - ____________________________
British War Relief Society - _____________________
Censorship - ___________________________________
Children, impact on - __________________________
Eleanor Roosevelt - _____________________________
Hollywood Actors - ____________________________
Hollywood Film Propaganda - ___________________________
Professional sports, impact on - ______________________
Japanese Americans in detainment camps - __________________
Rationing, victory gardens, etc. - __________________________
M. Organizations (Stage-Door Canteen, United Service Organizations) - __________
N. Women, in work force - ____________________________
O. Disasters (i.e. Port Chicago Explosion) - __________________
American Segregation in Military - (i.e Tuskeegee Airmen, etc.) ___________
American Women in military (WASPs,WAC, WAVEs) - _______________
Anzio (battle of) - ____________________________
Argentina (role of) - ____________________________
Atlantic, battle of - ____________________________
Atlantic Wall - ____________________________
Atomic Bomb, reasons for use - ________________________
Atomic Bomb, (Manhattan Project, Alsos Mission) - ______________
Bataan Death March - ____________________________
Biological Warfare - _________________________________
Bombers:
- American - ________________________
- British - _____________________________
- German - ______________________________
- Japanese - ____________________________
Brazil, role of - ____________________________
British Special Operations Executive - __________________________
Charles DeGaulle - ____________________________
Charles Lindbergh - ____________________________
Chemical Warfare - ___________________________________
Children during WWII (evacuation of, displacement, etc.)
- ____________________________
Cicero (Elyesa Bazna) - ____________________________
Civilian Raids - (i.e. Baedecker, coventry) - __________________________
Coastwatchers (Australians/New Zealanders) - ____________________
Coral Sea , battle of - ____________________________
Cuba (role of) - ____________________________
Doolittle Raids - ____________________________
Douglas MacArthur - ____________________________
Dunkirk Evacuation - ____________________________
El Alamein, battle of - ____________________________
Eddie Slovik - ____________________________
Ernie Pyle - ____________________________
Erwin Rommel - ____________________________
Federal Bureau of Investigation - ____________________________
George Marshall - ____________________________
George Patton - _______________________________
German Abwehr (foreign and counterintelligence) - _____________________
German American Bund/Friends of New Germany - ____________________
German Espionage in America - ____________________________
German Luftwaffe - ____________________________
German U- boat Campaign - ____________________________
Heinrich Himmler - ____________________________
Hump, The (Himalayan Airlift) - ____________________________
India, role of - ____________________________
Iraq, role of - ____________________________
Irwin Rommel - ____________________________
Island Hopping Campaign - ____________________________
Iwo Jima, battle of - ____________________________
Jewish Brigade - ____________________________
Julius Rosenberg - ____________________________
Kamikaze Pilots - ____________________________
Karl Donitz - ____________________________
Katyn Massacre - ____________________________
Kursk, battle of - ____________________________
Laconia Affair - ____________________________
Lend-Lease Act - ____________________________
Merrill’s Marauders - ____________________________
Midway, battle of - ____________________________
Military Gliders, Allies - ____________________________
Military Intelligence - ____________________________
Navajo Code Talkers - _________________________________
Office of Strategic Services - ____________________________
Omar Bradley - ____________________________
Operation Barbarossa - ____________________________
Operation Cartwheel - ____________________________
Operation Cobra - ___________________________________
Operation Market Garden - ____________________________
Operation Overlord:
- Operation Neptune - ___________________
- Operation Pointblank - ___________________
- pre-planning, role of AAEEF - _____________________________
- airborne component - __________________________________
- technologies used - ________________________________
- deception (Operation Bodyguard) - _______________________
Operation Sea Lion - ____________________________
Operation Torch - ____________________________
Otto Skorzeny - ____________________________
Panama, role of - ____________________________
POW Camps - ____________________________________
Propaganda:
American - _____________________________
British - _____________________________
German (Joseph Goebbels) - _____________________________
Red Cross - ____________________________
Resistance Groups: (who was most successful ?)
- Polish Underground - ________________________
- Dutch Underground - ________________________
- French Underground - _______________________
Rumania, role of - ____________________________
Saipan, battle of - ____________________________
Salerno, battle of - ____________________________
Siegfried Line - ____________________________
Spain, role of - ____________________________
Sullivan Brothers - ____________________________
Technology:
- Allied (torpedo, aircraft, radar, sonar, electronic countermeasures, barrage balloons,
cryptography etc.)
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
- Axis (V1,V2, A10 missile, enigma, torpedo, cryptography, Japanese Balloon Bombs, Bat,
Baka, etc.)
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
Switzerland, role of - ____________________________
U.S. presidents (future) during WW2 - ________________________
USS Indianapolis - ____________________________
Vichy France - ____________________________
Warsaw Ghetto uprising - ____________________________
Wernher von Braun - ____________________________
Why were isolationists & interventionists opposed & how did their division in public opinion shape the American response to events in Europe
&
Asia?
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How did minorities fight racism during WWII? _____________________________________________________
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How did the U.S. victory at Midway change the tide of the war in the Pacific? ____________________________________________
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How did the battle of Iwo Jima help end WWII? _______________________________________________________
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How did U.S. participation in WWII affect women & children at home? __________________________________________
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How did women & minorities contribute to the war effort? ____________________________________________
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How did the U.S. government convert the economy to war production? _____________________________________________
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How did the Marshall Plan help the U.S. implement its foreign policy following WWII? ______________________________________
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How did the bombing of Pearl Harbor convince isolationists to change their positions & strengthen the resolve of Americans to resist fascism?
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Why did Pearl Harbor get bombed? ______________________________________________
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Was WWII propaganda effective? __________________________________
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How did Japanese internment camps affect the Japanese-American family unit? _________________________________
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Why were the Japanese internment camps established? __________________________________-
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How were Holocaust refugees received in the U.S.? ___________________________________
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Why did the U.S. drop the atomic bomb on Japan? ___________________________________
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How did the population shift during WWII and how did it affect mobility, overcrowding, & social stress?
____________________________________
Additional Topics…
Some historians say that April 1865 in the most important month is US history. Prove or disprove this hypothesis. __________________The Industrial Revolution-how it transformed US culturally and socially____________________________________
Immigration (1900-1920) and Urban population growth The role it played in the Industrial Revolution_____________________________________________
Party Politics-the change of demographics in the parties from 1910-1930 ___________________________________
Was Teddy Roosevelt a radical or conservative? _____________________________________
Was Teddy Roosevelt the 1st Conservationist? _______________________________________
Did politics kill the Treaty of Versailles in America? _________________________________________
Could World War II have been prevented if the U.S. supported the League of Nations?__________________________________
Since the adoption of the 19th Amendment, does the idea of the “glass ceiling” still exist for women in the United
States?______________________
Red Scare-was it a legitimate cause ___________________________________________
Sacco Vanzetti Trial-How did it portray the tensions of the time period, Xenophobia and paranoia ____________________________________
Garvey MovementReflect on Black Nationalism/Separationism- ____________________________________________________
How the movement represented to frustration with the Federal and State Governments?
___________________________________________
Hoover-Was he a failure? ___________________________________________________--
Stock Market Crash of 1929/Dust Bowl- Which had a greater impact on the Depression
_______________________________________________
Was FDR to blame for the bombing of Pearl Harbor? ____________________________________________
Relocation of Japanese- Americans-Necessary? ________________________________________________
The US and the Holocaust
Did the US know about the Holocaust? ______________________________________________
Did the US try to stop the Holocaust? Why or Why not? ______________________________________________
Brown v. the Board of Education Topeka Kansas
Did it guarantee the quality of education ___________________________________________
Did it eliminate Separate but Equal? _______________________________________________
The Brown Decision or the March on Washington-Which one had a greater impact on the plight of African Americans?
EXPANSIONISM
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How did federal policies in the late 1800s adversely affect Native Americans? ______________________________________________
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Why were the Hawaiian Islands valuable to American interests in the Pacific? ____________________________________________