THIS IS A SAMPLE MIDTERM.  THIS EXAM WAS OFFERED FALL 2003.

 

 

History 151                                                   University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Fall 2003                                                                                 Professor Laura Lovett

 

Midterm Exam

 

Part I:  Identification Questions (20 %)

Please identify two of the following. Be sure to provide the historical context and significance of each term or phrase as part of your answer.

 

Dawes Act

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Chinese Exclusion Act

 

 

Part II: Quotation Identification (20 %)

Choose one of the quotations below and  (1) identify the author and source, (2) explain the historical context, and (3) explain its historical meaning or significance.

 

łThe problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line, -- the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in American and the islands of the sea.˛

 

OR

 

łA great many remedies are recommended for the ills that I speak of.  Let me deal with what seems to be most unimportant, -- the reduction of the hours to eight a day.  Men, women, ad children are working from ten to eighteen hours a day, and two million have nothing to do.  If four men, following a given occupation, at which they work ten hours a day, would rest from their labors two hours each day, the two hours taken form the labor of each, if added together, would give the tramp that stands looking on, an opportunity of stepping into a position at eight hours a day.˛

 

 

Part III:  Essay Question (60 %)

Please write an essay addressing the following questions. Remember to include and explain evidence from the textbook, lecture, other course readings to support your argument. Good historical arguments support their clams by referring to specific events placed in their historical context. This is your chance to demonstrate that you understand course materials and themes.

 

When Woodrow Wilson entered the Great War, he claimed that he sought to "Make the World Safe for Democracy." To what degree and for whom had democracy changed in the United States since the end of the Civil War?

In your essay, you may wish to consider issues such as the impact of industrialization, land allocation, American expansion and empire, as well as suffrage.