Suggested Readings & Study Questions

for Comprehensive Exams in U.S. History

Books 

COLONIAL/REVOLUTIONARY ERA: 

Bailyn, Bernard.  The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution  (1967).

Beard, Charles.  An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1913). 

Boyer, Paul, and Steven Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft (1974). 

Breen, T.H. Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of the Revolution (1985). 

Fischer, David Hackett. Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in Early America (1989). 

Jordan, Winthrop.  White Over Black:  American Attitudes Towards the Negro, 1550-1812 (1968) 

Kerber, Linda K.  Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America (1980). 

Kulikoff, Allen.  Tobacco and Slaves: The Development of Southern Culture in the Chesapeake Colonies, 1680-1800 (1986). 

McDonald, Forrest. Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution (1985). 

Morgan, Edmund.  The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop (1958). 

Rakove, Jack N. Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (1996).

Rediker, Marcus. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates, and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700-1750 (1987).

 Royster, Charles.  A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character (1979).

 Shy, John.  A People Numerous and Armed (1976).

Usner, Daniel, Jr. Indians, Settlers, and Slaves in a Frontier Exchange Economy: The Lower Mississippi Valley before 1783  (1992)

 Wood, Gordon. The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 (1969).

 _______.  The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1993).

THE EARLY REPUBLIC:

Banning, Lance. The Jeffersonian Persuasion:  Evolution of Party Ideology (1978).

Dangerfield, George.  The Era of Good Feelings (1952).

Elkins, Stanley and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism (1993).

Ellis, Joseph J.  Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (2000).

Horsman, Reginald.  The Causes of the War of 1812 (1969).

Larson, John Lauritz.  Internal Improvement: National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States (2001). 

McCoy, Drew R.  The Elusive Republic: Political Economy in Jeffersonian America (1980). 

Stagg, J.C.A. Mr. Madison's War: Politics, Diplomacy, and Warfare in the Early Republic (1983). 

Watts, Steven.  The Republic Reborn: War and the Making of Liberal America, 1790-1820 (1987). 

Wilentz, Sean.  Chants Democratic:  New York City and the Rise of the American Working Class, 1788-1850 (1984).

 JACKSONIAN ERA

John Ashworth, “Agrarians” and “Aristocrats”: Party Political Ideology in the United States, 1837-1846 (1983).

Don E. Fehrenbacher, The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States Government’s Relations to Slavery (2001).

Michael F. Holt, The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War (1999).

Daniel Walker Howe, The Political Culture of the American Whigs (1979).

Paul E. Johnson, A Shopkeeper’s Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837 (1978).

Lawrence F. Kohl, The Politics of Individualism: Parties and the American Character in the Jacksonian Era (1989).

James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988), pp. 3-233.

Edward Pessen, Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, Politics (1969).

Mary P. Ryan, Women in Politics: Between Banners and Ballots, 1825-1880 (1990).

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Age of Jackson (1945).

Charles Sellers, The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815-1846 (1991).

Carol Sheriff, The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862 (1996).

Christine Stansell, City of Women: Class and Culture in New York, 1789-1860 (1982).

Melvyn Stokes and Stephen Conways, eds., The Market Revolution in America: Social, Political, and Religious Expressions, 1800-1880 (1996).

Ronald G. Walters, American Reformers, 1815-1860 (rev. ed., 1997).

Harry L. Watson, Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America (1990).

Sean Wilentz, Chants Democratic: New York City and the Rise of the American Working Class, 1788-1850 (1984).

SECTIONAL CRISIS & CIVIL WAR

Abrahamson, James. The Men of Secession and Civil War, 1859-1861.

Donald, David Herbert. Lincoln.

Gallagher, Gary. The Confederate War.

Grimsley, Mark. The Hard Hand of War.

Hattaway, Herman, Richard Beringer, Archer Jones, and William N. Still, Why the South Lost.

Hattaway, Herman, and Archer Jones, How the North Won: A Military History of the Civil War.

Jaffa, Harry A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln and the Coming of the Civil War.

Jaffa, Harry. Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era.

McPherson, James M. For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War.

Potter, David M. The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861.

Tanner, Robert M. Retreat to Victory: Confederate Strategy Reconsidered.

Woodworth, Steven E. While God Is Marching On: The Religious World of Civil War Soldiers.

 GILDED AGE/PROGRESSIVE ERA

 Robert H. Wiebe, The Search for Order, 1877-1920.

 Nell Irvin Painter, Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877-1919.

 John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925.

 Lawrence Goodwin, The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America.

 David M. Kennedy, Over Here: The First World War and American Society.

 Samuel P. Hays, Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency: The Progressive Conservation Movement, 1890-1920.

 C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow.

 Don H. Doyle, New Men, New Cities, New South: Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Mobile, 1860-1910.

 Alan Trachtenberg, The Incorporation of America: Culture and Society in the Gilded Age.

 Gunther Barth, City People: The Rise of Modern City Culture in Nineteenth-Century America.

 Matthew Frye Jacobson, Barbarian Virtues: The United States Encounters Foreign Peoples at Home and Abroad, 1876-1917.

 Patricia Nelson Limerick, The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West.

U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS SINCE 1898:

 William Appleman Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy. 1959.

 George F. Kennan, American Diplomacy, 1900-1950.  1951

 Mark T. Gilderhus, The Second Century: U.S.-Latin American Relations since 1889. 2000.

 Emily S. Rosenberg, Spreading the American Dream: American Economic and Cultural Expansion, 1890-1945. 1982.

 Michael J. Hogan, ed., Paths to Power: The Historiography of American Foreign Relations to 1941. 2000.

 Michael J. Hogan, ed., America in the World: The Historiography of American Foreign Relations since 1941. 1995.

 Dennis Merrill and Thomas G. Paterson, eds., Major Problems in American Foreign Relations, vo,l. 2: Since 1914, 5th ed.

 Louis A. Perez, Jr., The War of 1898: The United States and Cuba in History and Historiography. 1998.

 Akira Iriye, The Globalizing of America, 1913-1945, vol. 3 in The Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations. 1993.

 Walter LaFeber, America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-2002. Updated 9th ed. 2003. This volume also refers students to a website with many illuminating Cold War documents.

The Interwar Era, 1919-1941:

 Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform: From Bryan to FDR (1955).

 Alan Dawley, Struggles for Justice (1991).

 Lynn Dumenil, The Modern Temper (1995).

 William Leuchtenberg, The Perils of Prosperity (1958).

 Albert Romasco, The Poverty of Abundance (1965).

 Roderick Nash, The Nervous Generation (1970).

 David Levering Lewis, When Harlem Was in Vogue (1981).

 Robert McElvaine, The Great Depression (1984).

 Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. The Crisis of the Old Order (1957).

 Lizabeth Cohen, Making a New Deal (1990).

 Alan Brinkley, The End of Reform (1995).

 Steven Fraser and Gary Gerstle, eds. The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order (1989).

QUALIFYING EXAM QUESTIONS:   

Colonial/Revolutionary Era 

1.  Describe the world of the 17^th century New England Puritans.  What were their beliefs?  Why did they leave England for Massachusetts Bay Colony?  What did they hope to accomplish in the New World?  How did the dynamics of faith affect their New World existence, and religious conformity?  Be sure to include AND discuss the most important works on the nature of Puritanism? 

2. Compare the political evolution of the Jamestown colony to that of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  What were their political origins, how did they evolve, and how did their changes either mirror or contrast changes occurring in England at the same time?  Cover the development of the colonies only in the 17^th century (1600s) and provide relevant historiography.

3. What were the causes of the Salem Witchcraft episode of 1692?  Did the event reflect deeper economic, political, cultural, and societal rifts prevalent throughout the late seventeenth century, and if so, why?  Be sure to incorporate the relevant historiography in your answer. 

4. Describe the British "Old Colonial System" from 1650 to 1763.  What did the British system strive to achieve, what were its results, and how did it affect the relationship between the colonists and England?  Be sure to include AND discuss the most important works on the subject. 

5. Describe the events in the English North American colonies between 1763-1775 that led to the American War for Independence.  What were the colonial complaints or arguments, the British actions, and the colonial reactions that resulted?  Be sure to include AND discuss the most important works on the subject.

6. Did the ratification of the Constitution of the United States bring an end to the revolutionary era?  If not, why?  Be sure to include AND discuss the most important works on the subject.

The Early Republic 

1. Compare and contrast the Jeffersonian Republicans and the Hamiltonian Federalists.  Be sure to include the supporting historiography when discussing the domestic (including the Constitution, government including the military, economy and the bank) objectives of each.  To what extent was each able, when in power, to promote their objectives?

2. Explain whether the “Revolution of 1800” was the triumph of Jeffersonian Republicanism?  In doing so, be sure to compare and contrast Republican and Federalist visions of America.  Also be sure to include the supporting historiography when discussing the objectives of each and to what extent each was able, when in power, to promote their objectives?

3. Discuss the foreign and domestic events surrounding the Louisiana Purchase.  Be sure to offer relevant historiography as you describe the foreign and domestic political and constitutional ramifications!

4. Discuss the causes of the War of 1812?  Be sure to include AND discuss the events contributing to the war and the most important historical works on the subject.  This answer will include events, explanation of causes, and historiography! 

5. Discuss the consequences (NOT CAUSES) of the War of 1812?  How did the war create a sense of American nationalism and how was it reflected in American society?  Who benefited from and who lost out because of the conflict?  Be sure to include a discussion of the social/cultural, political, military, and economic changes that corresponded to the new sense of nationalism as well as the appropriate historiography!

Jacksonian Era 

1. The "market revolution" resulted in enormous changes in American life. As Charles Sellers writes "it ignited a generation of conflict over the republic's destiny. History's most revolutionary force, the capitalist market, was wresting the American future from history's most conservative force, the land.” As market revolution stressed Americans into unparalleled mobilization, both spiritual and political, the Hero of New Orleans found another commanding role."
2. Write an essay in which you define and describe the market revolution and discuss its impact on the economy, society, and politics. Be sure to incorporate relevant historiography in your answer. 
3. Write a historiographical essay in which you discuss the major interpretations of Jacksonian Democracy. How do the works you include help explain Jacksonian Democracy? How do those works reflect the times in which the authors wrote? 
4. During Andrew Jackson’s presidency some 46,000 Indians were relocated from east of the Mississippi to new territory west of the river.  Write an essay in which you describe and assess Jackson’s Indian policy (including consideration of his motives).  Include relevant historiography in your answer.     
5. One historian asserts that Jacksonian politics partly reflected a dispute between "aristocratic [and] democratic passions," but also "a serious policy debate about the future of the Republic and the nature of its society and economy."
6. How does the Jackson's Bank War illustrate this thesis? In your answer discuss Jackson's attitude toward banks and money, specific events in the history of the Bank War, and the consequences of the Bank War. Include in your essay discussion of relevant literature. 
7. Write an essay in which you discuss the differences that existed between Democrats and Whigs during the Age of Jackson. Your essay should include discussion of actual events and issues as well as differences in political philosophy and ideology. You should include discussion of historiography appropriate to the theme. 
8. Write an essay in which you discuss the development and evolution of presidential election campaigns as reflected in the elections of 1824, 1828, 1836, and 1840. Who were the candidates, what were the issues, and what methods were employed by the candidates? Why are each of these campaigns significant? Your answer should include and discuss relevant historiography. 
9. Nineteenth century America produced a variety of unique religious movements.  What factors in American life helped produce these unique movements?  Describe the historical origins and beliefs of the revival movement and other developments in American religion during this time. Include relevant historiography in your essay./
10. The period from 1830 to 1860 was one of social ferment. Write an essay in which you discuss the background of reform movements of that era. What do those movements tell us about the nature of American society during this period? 
11. Write an essay in which you discuss the rise of the women’s rights movement in the United States in the 19th century. What accounts for the origins of the women’s rights movement?  What were their goals? How successful were they? Include relevant historiography in your essay. 
12. Write an essay on the antislavery and abolitionist movements in the United States in the 19th century.  Who were they? What did they believe? What did they want to accomplish? What were their methods? How successful were they? Include relevant historiography in your essay. 
13. Historians have debated the nature of slavery and its impact on the lives of the slaves. Write an essay in which you discuss the historiography on the nature of slavery and slave life. Your essay should include references to specific authors and works, discuss their interpretations, and explain how those interpretations influenced future work. 
14. One historian has written that James K. Polk's presidency "raises fundamental questions concerning political success and its conditions. That singleness of purpose which made possible his presidential triumphs also exposed his administration to endless criticism. He pressed toward his goals, unmindful of consequences. So narrow and all-consuming were his policies that he was probably never fully conscious of the bitter sectional controversy which they created." Discuss this statement with regard to Polk. What were his accomplishments? What were the problems created by his policies. Include relevant historiography in your answer. 
15. Write an essay in which you review and assess the historiography of the Age of Manifest Destiny in the 1840s and 1850s. 
16.  How did sectional politics and the course of events from the Wilmot Proviso through the election of              Lincoln contribute to the outbreak of the Civil War? Include in your essay discussion of relevant literature. 
17. Discuss the major issues at stake in the Dred Scott Case and evaluate the Supreme Court's decision.

Old South 

1. Discuss slavery in the Old South, making sure to mention pertinent literature.

2. Discuss the historiography pertaining to the history of white society in the Old South. Which historians have placed emphasis on the planter class? Which on the plain folk?  What concepts shaped Southern society and culture, and what have historians said about them?

3. Discuss the life of the mind in the Old South, making sure to mention pertinent literature.

4. Discuss southern agriculture. What crops were raised, where, and how, and what were their significance? How did this change over time?

5. Discuss the development of the South during the colonial period, making sure to mention pertinent literature.

Sectional Crisis and Civil War 

1. Discuss the causes and course of the Civil War.

2. Discuss the development of the sectional crisis from 1820 to 1860.

3. Discuss Abraham Lincoln and the coming of the Civil War.

4. Discuss the transformation of the Civil War from a limited struggle for limited goals into what Lincoln called “a remorseless revolutionary conflict.”

5. Discuss the motivations of Civil War soldiers.

6. In what ways did the Civil War change American society, culture, and politics? What aspects remained substantially unchanged by the war?

Gilded Age/Progressive Era 

1. Discuss the Populist Party's origins and influence.  In your discussion, summarize key historiographical developments.

2. Discuss the significant developments in U.S. race relations for the years 1877-1920.  In your discussion, summarize key historiographical developments.

3. Trace the key developments in the rise of U.S. cities and how they influenced American culture and society during the years 1877-1920.  Include key historiographical developments in your discussion.

4. Discuss the influence of the American West on U.S. history for the years 1877-1920.  Include in your essay key historiographical developments.

5. Define Progressivism and discuss how it influenced U.S. history through 1920.  In your discussion, trace key historiographical developments.

6. Discuss immigration to the United States and how it influenced politics, economics, and society for the years 1877-1920.  Include key historiographical developments in your discussion.

7. Discuss how World War I influenced the United States politically, socially, and economically.  Cite key historiographical developments in your discussion.

Modern U.S. Diplomacy 

1. Discuss and evaluate this statement.  "Some historians have argued that the story of U.S. foreign relations in the 20th century essentially is about ongoing efforts to apply the Open Door policy and the American liberal-capital system in as much of the world as possible."  Do you agree or disagree?  In general terms, explain why or why? Incorporate bibliographical/historiographical information when appropriate.

2. Discuss the origins, conduct, and consequences of "the New Diplomacy," focusing especially on the 1898 War with Spain and the aftermath. Incorporate bibliographical/historiographical information when appropriate.

3. Discuss the causes, conduct, and consequences of American involvement in the First World War. Incorporate bibliographical/historiographical information when appropriate.

4. Discuss the causes, conduct, and consequences of American involvement in the Second World War. Incorporate bibliographical/historical information when appropriate.

5. Discuss the origins of the Cold War in Europe, beginning with the collapse of the wartime alliance and concluding with the definition of the containment policy. Be able to identify the main issues in relations between the US and the USSR and to discuss the ongoing historiographical debate between traditionalists and revisionists.

6. Discuss the course of the Cold War in Asia, focusing on the causes and consequences of the Chinese civil war, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Incorporate bibliographical/historiographical information when appropriate.

The Interwar Era, 1919-1941 

1. President Wilson declared that the First World War was fought in order "to make the world safe for democracy". Following America's crucial role in achieving victory in World War I, explain whether or not this sentiment was reflected in the nation's response to any of the following situations: early Red Scare; Russian Revolution; Red Summer; organized labor; immigrants; women's rights; and farmers' needs. 
2.   The 1920s was often heralded as the "Age of Normalcy".  In what ways is this claim true?  In what ways is it false or misleading?  Support your argument with examples. 
3. Discuss the issue of immigration restriction of the 1920s.  What role did nativism and isolationism play in shaping America's immigration policy during the interwar period?
4. How did the prevalence of political corruption, corporate scandals, and organized crime generally affect American public opinion during the 1920s?
5. Discuss the rise of advertising and mass marketing during the 1920s. How did these innovations help transform America into a consumer society over the course of a decade?
6. What brought forth the start of the Great Depression? Why did the economci crisis continue beyond the Stock Market Crash of 1929?
7. A central belief among many Americans was that "the more government does, the less people do to help themselves." How did Hoover and FDR deal with this concept in their respective approaches to dealing with the Great Depression? 
8. How and why did the New Deal come to an end?  How can we evaluate whether the Roosevelt administration’s efforts were a success or failure?

Post-World War II 

1.    Describe the presidential leadership of Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.  Discuss their career backgrounds, political and economic philosophies, rise to White House, and their leadership only in regard to domestic issues. Include as many pertinent matters as possible.  Provide a reading list of about 10 books. 

2.  Describe the modernization of the South since 1945.  Identify and explain the principle reasons, whether political, economic, or social and cultural that account for its new prominence in American life.  Provide a reading list of about 10 books. 

3.  Identify and explain the major developments/themes in American life for the period since 1960.  What do you perceive as the major changes, political, economic, social and cultural, for that period.  How do you account for the rise of your chosen themes?  Include a reading list of about 10 books. 

4.  Write an essay setting forth the major economic developments of the United States since 1945.  What factors account for the developments and what are significant changes in American life due to economic forces? Include a reading list of about 10 books.