Final Primary Source Essay

Final Primary Source Essay Instructions
Due Date: December 14, 11:59 pm. Submit as pdf via Canvas.

Essay Parameters
For this final writing assignment, you will write a 6 to 8-page double-spaced essay answering
ONE of the questions listed on page 2 of these instructions.
You must select at least (but not limited to) FIVE sources to analyze in support of your thesis answering
the question. Your source selections depend entirely on the available evidence at your disposal—the
Units 1-5 Primary Source Readers. Outside and internet sources are not permitted for this essay.
Students must cite their evidence use via footnotes (refer back to the instructions for Assignment# 2).

A Reminder About the Use of Lecture Material
You may also utilize your lecture notes to provide background and context for your analysis of sources,
but do be sure to paraphrase that material.
But your essay should not simply consist of recycled lecture material. Your success in this essay depends
on your ability as a historian to analyze original evidence in the service of answering a historical
question—how you do that is entirely up to you.

Avoid Plagiarism (Intellectual Theft)
Any evidence of group collaboration or plagiarism will result in a zero for this assignment.

Key Essay Elements
This essay should include a strong thesis statement answering the question (located in your
introductory paragraph), a body section through which you analyze your historical evidence to support
your thesis, and a concluding paragraph (more detailed explanation of essay organization located on
page 3 of these instructions).

The Questions (Choose ONE)

The Trajectory of U.S. Global Power
In your view, what were the most important events or developments that explain the transformation of
the U.S. into a global superpower from the 1890s to the 1960s? In identifying these key developments,
you must make sure to use the evidence to explain why these developments ultimately transformed the
U.S. into a global superpower.
The Shifting Opposition to U.S. Global Power
In your view, how did various political and intellectual criticisms of U.S. foreign policy change from the
1890s to the 1960s? In detailing the evolution of these criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, you must make
sure to explain why key sources articulated their visions of restrained, isolated, or retreating U.S. power
in the fashion that they did.
Democracy, Civil Rights, and U.S. Global Power
In your view, how did developments in U.S. foreign policy influence the ideas of observers and activists
about American democracy and civil rights at home from the early 1900s to the 1960s? In explaining how
different sources called for the transformation of democracy at home, explain how these ideas of civil
rights and democracy changed with the shifting circumstances of U.S. power abroad.
American Exceptionalism and the U.S. Role in the World
In your view, how did notions of American exceptionalism—those ideological conceptions of U.S.
institutions as unique and the U.S. as a “chosen nation” embarking on a preordained world historic
mission—influence both support for and criticisms of the U.S. role in the world from the 1890s to the
1960s? In explaining these contested views of American exceptionalism, be sure to explain how
developments in U.S. foreign policy influenced different observers’ views on America’s apparent (or
imagined) destiny.
The Threat of Militarism
In your view, why did different Americans at different historical moments express either fears of
militarism or a full embrace of military power and institutions from the early 1900s to the 1960s? In
examining your evidence, highlight why fearful Americans worried about the threat of militarism both
abroad and at home, while other voices saw military power ultimately as the key to global U.S.
superpower.