Explain the connections between Romanticism, Transcendentalism, the utopian movements, and the reform movements. What were the major reform movements? Who were major leaders? What did they accomplish? What are the causes of the Civil War? You may begin analyzing causes as far back as you would like (the first slaves arriving in Virginia, the Stono Rebellion, etc.), but you must begin discussing causesno laterthan the Mexican-American War, and you must end with South Carolina seceding.Make sure to discuss the crisis of the 1850s. Describe the major turning points of the Civil War. What are the major battles and why? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the South? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the North? Why did the North win? What is Reconstruction? What are the phases of Reconstruction? How does Reconstruction impact newly freed slaves? Why does Reconstruction end? What is the legacy of Reconstruction? Comprehensive Essay Question that Will be on the Final (This will be on the exam and you have to answer it): There are multiple turning points in history where major change takes place following an event or the rise of a person to power. Choose five turning points in American History from the beginning of European exploration to the end of Reconstruction in 1877. You MUST describe those five turning points and explain why you chose those as THE most important events for the first half of US History. These must be SPECIFIC. You cannot do an entire era or war. Think in terms of moments in time: one battle, one decision, one election, and so on. So if this was the second half of US history, you could NOT do World War II, but you could do Pearl Harbor.
