Choose ONE of the following essay topics to write about. Your essay should be 4-5 paragraphs in length. You need to include an introduction and conclusion. You may use information from the textbook and the lecture note ONLY. DO NOT use outside sources. Plagiarism will NOT be tolerated.

1. Describe the plans for Reconstruction offered by Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Congress. What was the goal of each plan? How did each plan accomplish its goal?
2. What problems did blacks in the South face after emancipation? What attempts did the government make to solve these problems?
3. Discuss the various major strikes that occurred after the Civil War. Include the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the Homestead strike, and the Pullman strike. What were the similarities and differences with each?
4. What were the major technological advances of the post-Civil War era? How did these advancements contribute to the expansion of America’s Industrial Revolution?
5. One might say that the West actually consisted of three frontiers: the miners’, the cowboys’, and the farmers’. What problems did each of these groups face?
6. Describe the government’s policy toward Indians. How did this policy develop over the years, and what were the main factors that influenced its development?
7. Discuss how immigration to America changed in the latter half of the nineteenth century, and what was the response to that change?
8. Describe the explosive growth of urbanization in the late nineteenth century. What factors led to this growth, and where did the largest growth take place?