HIS 108: History of the United States through 1865

Reading Assignments and Focus Questions

Goldfield, Chapter 13: The Way West, 1815-1850

Review Questions

How did economic and demographic pressures in the East spur Western migration?

Why was James K. Polk so eager to provoke a war with Mexico?

Goldfield, Chapter 14: The Politics of Sectionalism, 1846-1861

Review Questions

Why was the issue of slavery in the territories so contentious?

What factors contributed to the Republicans’ rise to political prominence?

Why were Southerners so alarmed by the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860?

Goldfield, Chapter 15: Battle Cries and Freedom Songs: The Civil War, 1861-1865

Review Questions

What were the North’s key advantages at the onset of the war?

What convinced Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation?

What was Grant’s strategy for ending the war?