Internal migrations refer to the movements of people within the United States. These migrations have played a key role in shaping the western United States.

Evaluate the extent to which internal migrations influenced the western United States from 1840 to 1980.

Sample Essay

In the early 1800s most Americans knew very little about the land and people between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The public assumed that savage Indian tribes occupied a region the poet Walt Whitman described as “vast, treeless spaces.” Most Americans seemed content to leave the region to the roaming tribes of Indians and the vast herds of buffalo. But four events sparked a series of major internal migrations that dramatically changed the American West. The appeal of Manifest Destiny, the discovery of gold in California, the construction of the transcontinental railroads, and the widespread adoption of air conditioning in the Southwest dramatically transformed the population, economy, and political orientation of the western United States.

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During the period from 1870 to 1980, the United States developed a distinctive national culture.

Evaluate the relative importance of the causes of the growth of a national culture in the United States from 1870 to 1980.

SAMPLE ESSAY

Prior to the Civil War the United States consisted of a fragmented mosaic of regional communities. For example, New England and the Deep South both had distinctive regional identities. The Southern way of life featured a plantation economy based upon slavery while the New England way of life featured Puritan values and the beginning of an industrial revolution based upon factories and wage labor. During the century following the Civil War a combination of shared national crises, the creation of a standardized consumer economy, and the development of mass media galvanized a unified national identity. Although national emergencies such as the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II played important unifying roles, in the end the relentless expansion of mass consumerism and mass communications served as the primary causes of a shared national culture in the United States.

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The College Board has now released the free-response questions used on the 2019 APUSH exam. Here is a link that provides the full text of the DBQ for that year. Read the 7 documents and the following sample essay.

https://pub-309627a4b35a4d56b9c2c5dc71e64ebf.r2.dev/courses/AP%20United%20States%20History/2016/Free-Response%20Questions.pdf

DBQ

Evaluate the causes of the rise of a women’s rights movement in the period

1940 – 1975

INTRODUCTION: THESIS

Three powerful forces combined to cause the rise is a second wave in the women’s rights movement. First, economic disparities in salaries and discriminatory practices in employment fueled resentment among women workers. Second, demeaning experiences with male dominance and stereotyping in the peace, Civil Rights and Chicano movements radicalized a young generation of female activists. And finally, a growing sense of solidarity or “sisterhood” helped inspire a second-wave of feminists to initiate collective action on a broad range of issues.

INTRODUCTION: CONTEXT

American women have confronted inequality since Abigail Adams’ famous but futile admonishment to her husband the future President John Adams to “remember the Ladies.” The first feminist wave began with the Seneca Falls convention in 1848 and ended 72 years later with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment giving women the right to vote. Despite this landmark success, women continued to face widespread inequalities and discrimination.

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The College Board has now released the free-response questions used on the 2019 APUSH exam. Here is a link that provides the full text of the DBQ for that year. Read the 7 documents and then read the following sample essay.

https://pub-309627a4b35a4d56b9c2c5dc71e64ebf.r2.dev/courses/AP%20United%20States%20History/2019/Free-Response%20Questions.pdf

DBQ

Evaluate the extent to which the Progressive movement fostered political change in the United States from 1890 to 1920.

INTRODUCTION: CONTEXT and THESIS

The presidential election of 1896 led to the demise of the Populist Party. However, the party’s reform message did not die. The reforming spirit spread to cities where a new generation of well-educated middle-and-upper-middle class reformers focused on a broad range of unresolved problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, and immigration. Unlike the Populists, the Progressives did not initially form a third party. Instead, they embraced a widespread and multifaceted movement that rejected Gilded Age laissez-faire economic policies while attempting to build a just society and rejuvenate democratic institutions. Although the Progressives accomplished an impressive range of achievements, in the end they did not confront while supremacy and racial injustice.

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The College Board has now released the free-response questions used on the May 6, 2021 APUSH exam. Here is a link that provides the full text of the DBQ. Read the7 documents and then read the following sample essay.

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Evaluate the extent to which the growth of civil rights activism contributed to the changes in government actions from 1940 to 1980.

African Americans and middle-class white women became activists in civil rights movements that brought significant changes to government action during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Both groups used legal cases and nonviolent demonstrations to galvanize public support for watershed government actions. However, both groups also experienced disappointing setbacks.

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Evaluate the extent to which migration influenced the western United States from 1820 to 1898.

In the early 1800s most Americans knew very little about the land and people between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The public assumed that savage Indian tribes occupied a region the Walt Whitman described as “vast, trackless spaces.” Most Americans seemed content to leave the region to the roaming tribes of Indians and the vast herds of buffalo. But a series of events caused this view to dramatically change. The appeal of Manifest Destiny, the discovery of gold in California, the passage of the Homestead Act, and the construction of transcontinental railroads sparked a series of migrations that transformed the population and economy of the western United States.

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Evaluate the extent to which debates over slavery in the period 1830 to 1860 led the United States into the Civil War. (2019)

The period from 1830 to 1860 witnessed a series of historic debates over the morality, economic impact, and political consequences of slavery. Although moral and economic issues were important, the debates failure to resolve political issues led the United States into a bloody Civil War.

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 defused the political crisis over the status of slavery in the Louisiana Territory. The compromise resolved the immediate problems by maintaining a sectional balance of power in the Senate and by forbidding slavery north of the 36 – 30 line. However, the Missouri Compromise debates did not address the underlying cultural and economic differences between a Southern plantation economy that depended on slave labor and a Northern commercial economy that relied on free labor. As a result, increasingly contentious debates over the moral, economic, and political consequences of slavery repeatedly threatened to disrupt national unity.

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Evaluate the extent to which ideas of self-government influenced American colonial reactions to British imperial authority in the period 1754 to 1776. (2019)

Ideas of self-government played a decisive role in shaping colonial reaction to British imperial authority. Republican ideas based on the natural rights of the people provided revolutionary leaders with a language of liberty that expressed their growing opposition to British taxes. A commitment to self-government also overcame the opposition of Loyalists who valued tradition and allegiance to the Crown.

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