HIST-1301 6007 1 United States History to 1877

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You must choose one of the questions below to answer. Start a new thread for the question that you select. Please type the question first, and then type your answer. Your post should have between 100 and 300 words and be written in paragraph format; however, it is not merely the number of words that you write, but rather, the content in your post, that will determine your grade. Also, I grade for grammar and coherence. (Remember to check the rubric below on how I grade your discussion posts.) You should respond by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, October 28th. Your post will count for up to 40 points.

You must also reply to 2 classmates’ posts by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, October 30th. You must post before you will be able to read your classmates’ posts. Add to what your classmates have contributed (don’t simply answer “yes” or “no”, and don’t just say “I agree with what you said.”) Replies to classmates do not add to your discussion grade; however, failure to provide a quality response to 2 classmates will reduce your grade up to 8 points.

  1. Discuss the Lowell girls of Massachusetts as an example of a labor force utilized during the early nineteenth century. Is the use of women for labor and their treatment by management at the Lowell factory an example of empowerment of women or exploitation of women? Or both? Were women strengthened by the economic rewards of labor or victimized by a patriarchal management style? Connect this issue from the early nineteenth century to the ongoing debate in America regarding women in the labor force.
  2. Discuss the impact of nineteenth-century northern economic and social change on the issue of sectionalism. How did the construction of transportation networks during the nineteenth century promote a mutually beneficial, interdependent economic relationship between the Northeast and Northwest to the virtual exclusion of the South? How would industrialization, urbanization, and immigration impact the northern political agenda for the remainder of the nineteenth century?
  3. How did Manifest Destiny impact sectionalism in America? What positions did the Whig and Democratic parties take on the issue of westward expansion? Why? Did regional issues influence the level of support for Manifest Destiny? Why did the North tend to oppose westward expansion while the South tended to support it?
  4. Philosophers continue to debate the morality of civil disobedience. If one condones civil disobedience, does this principle invariably lead to anarchy, that is, lawlessness and political disorder, or is it possible to support the rule of law and still accept the moral legitimacy of civil disobedience? Another controversial issue that continues to divide supporters of resistance theory is the role of nonviolence. Must civil disobedience always be nonviolent, or can one legitimately use violence to further the ideals of justice and morality?