1. Daniel Webster was a sectionalist in his early political career. What were the reasons for his transformation to a nationalist?
2. John C. Calhoun was a nationalist in his early political career. What were the reasons for his transformation to a sectionalist?
3. Discuss the Panic of 1819? Why did it happen?
4. Discuss the Compromise of 1820?
5. Why was the South fated to fight the Civil War?
6. Discuss the Peggy Eaton Affair and why it was so important to President Andrew Jackson?
7. Why was the South so upset over the Tariff of 1828 that it evolved into the Nullification Crisis?
8. Trail of Tears
9. Did Andrew Jackson exceed his constitutional authority during his presidency?
10. Emerson stated that "Mexico will poison us", what did he mean by that statement?
11. Henry David Thoreau argued and practiced Civil Disobedience to oppose the Fugitive Slave Law. How did he practice it and how has it been used by Gandhi in India and the Civil Rights movement in the 20th century?
12. President Polk proposed a very aggressive expansionist policy in the election of 1844. Please discuss and critique this policy's successes and failures.
13. President Millard Fillmore has been judged as a failure as President by many historians. Yet he was the one who was instrumental in achieving the Compromise of 1850 thereby avoiding conflict between the North and South. Please reassess his success or failure as President.
14. Bloody Kansas
15. Discuss the accomplishments and failures of the great compromiser, Henry Clay.
16. General Robert E. Lee is considered by many as the greatest general in the Civil War even though both his invasions to the North were failures. Please discuss how these 2 invasions failed and what part did Lee's decisions play in their failure.
17. What was the significance of Sherman's March?
18. The Civil War is considered the first modern war, why?
19. What role did the Lincoln play in devising a strategy to win the war?
20. Discuss the achievements and failures of Reconstruction?