Ap Us History Free Response Questions Since 1971

AP US HISTORY FREE RESPONSE QUESTIONS SINCE 1971

XI. Expansionism 1890’s – 1914

1. United States foreign policy between 1815 and 1910 was determined less by

economic than strategic, moral, or political interests. Assess the validity of this

generalization with reference to at least TWO major episodes ( for example: treaties,

wars, proclamations, annexations, etc.) in the foreign policy of the United States

between 1815 and 1910. (80)

2. How and why did the Monroe Doctrine become the cornerstone of United States

foreign policy by the late nineteenth century? (85)

3. Both the Mexican War and the Spanish American War were premeditated resulting

from deliberately calculated schemes of robbery on the part of a superior power

against weak and defenseless neighbors. (86)

4. Compare the debates that took place over American expansionism in the 1840’s with

those that took place in the 1890’s, analyzing the similarities and differences in the

debates of the two eras. (92)

XII. The Progressives 1900 –1920

1. Analyze and evaluate Booker T. Washington’s program for American Blacks and

W.E.B. DuBois’s challenge to that program. (71)

2. Discuss the development of the women’s suffrage movement and account for its

success. (72)

3. The legal, political, and economic rights achieved by minorities and women in the

United States have come largely during periods of major reform movements, which

both helped the struggle of these groups and set limits to them. Assess the validity

of this statement for the history of one or more of these groups in the period 1830-

1920. (76)

4. Paradoxically, Darwinism provided a justification for both social conservatism and

social reform in the period from 1870-1915. Discuss this statement (77)

5. In American politics the most significant battles have occurred within the major

parties rather than between them. Discuss this statement with reference to the

periods 1850 –1861 and 1900 –1912. (81)

6. The Progressive movement of 1901 to 1917 was a triumph of conservatism rather

than a victory for liberalism. Assess the validity of this generalization. (87)

7. Analyze the ways in which state and federal legislation and