In 2000-2500 words analyze the development of one of the historical themes below as it relates to early American history:
American Exceptionalism: From the early colonial period Americans have developed a sense of their special place on the continent, as well as a unique sense of destiny. Analyze this phenomenon and address the following related questions:
-What role did the conception of Providence, or faith, play in the development of American exceptionalism?
-What role did the notion of a manifest destiny play in expressing notions of uniquely American progress?
-How has the idea of liberty contributed to the concept of American exceptionalism?
-How did Americans come to conceive of their country as an empire?
The Frontier: Western expansion and the formative forces which helped shaped American attitudes about themselves and their nation can be related to the spirit of the frontier.
-How did the journey west transform the pioneers who undertook it?
-What was one effect of the frontier and western expansion on the culture and/or society of the United States?
-Analyze one effect of western expansion on the environment of the frontier?
-Analyze one effect of western expansion on the Native Americans who occupied the frontier?
Role of Leadership: To what extent can effective leadership shape history? Focusing on the Civil War period, analyze whether this conflict can be explained as a failure of a 'blundering generation' of leaders, or other irrepressible historical forces.
-Analyze how/why the phenomenon of compromise failed to materialize in the early 1860s?
-Discuss the role of Union and Confederate leadership in the leadup to war?
-Consider the view that the persistence of slavery in America constituted an irrepressible force which caused the civil war?
-Analyze why the conflict over slavery erupted in war in 1860.
Regionalism: It has been argued that the United States is a country made of distinct nations. To what extent can we view early U.S. history through the prism of regional rivalries?
-To what extent is regionalism evident in early American history?
-Analyze an example of regional rivalry in American history.
-Analyze an example of regional cooperation in American history.
-Discuss some factors which contributed to the persistence of regionalism in early American history. Why did the U.S. simply not shed her regional eccentricities?
Biography and History: Analyze how studying the life and times of an individual can shed light on the history of their time period. Is biography an appropriate method of conducting historical inquiry?
-Using examples, analyze the degree to which an individual can shape, or is shaped by, historical forces.
-Analyze an example of a historical figure in early American history whose biography was shaped by historical forces beyond their control.
-Analyze an example of a historical figure in early American history who was able to impact the course of history.
-Discuss the relationship between an individual's life and times and their respective historical period.
Historical Imagination versus Historical Memory: Analyze the conflict between what American's know and remember about their history with what they imagine actually happened. Which force is more powerful in drawing the American historical narrative--imagination, or memory?
-Compare and contrast historical imagination and historical memory.
-Using examples, analyze how relying on historical imagination may distort the historical record.
-Discuss why it can be difficult to remain fully faithful to historical memory.

In 2000-2500 words analyze the development of one of the historical...