Instructions
Pick one (1) of the following topics. Then, address the corresponding questions/prompts for your selected topic. Use at least one (1) documented example of the corresponding primary source in your writing.
Option 1: The American System, Transportation, and Communication
Read the following primary source:
Link (website): Of Debates in Congress (Clay’s Debate of the American System in 1832) (Links to an external site.) (Click on “Next Image” to see all pages of the debate: pp.258-262.)
Then, address the following:
Describe the idea of Henry Clay’s “American System.”
Based on Clay’s economic vision of America, analyze how the American System would build the American market and economy?
Analyze the role of mechanization and communication in the American System.
Option 2: The Indian Removal Act of 1830
Read the following primary source:
Link (website): Transcript of President Andrew Jackson’s Message to Congress ‘On Indian Removal’ (1830) (Links to an external site.)
Then, address the following:
Evaluate the rationale that President Jackson used in the removal of the Native Americans from east of the Mississippi River. Did the removal have the intended impact?
Identify the responsibilities given to the President under the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
Compare Jackson’s actions toward Native Americans in the context of his First Inaugural Address with the path of events during the Trail of Tears.
Determine if the removal of the Native Americans from east of the Mississippi River violate the principles found in the Declaration of Independence?
Option 3: The Abolitionist Movement
Read the following primary source:
Link (website): Declaration of Sentiments of American Anti-Slavery Society (1833) (Links to an external site.) (Click on arrows to view all images of the document. Click on plus and minus signs to enlarge or reduce size of images.)
Then, address the following:
Assess if abolitionists were responsible reformers or irresponsible agitators?
Explain how abolitionists upheld the Declaration of Independence as the foundation of antislavery and abolitionist thought.
Assess the effect of the Gag Rule on the Abolitionist Movement.
Analyze how the women’s rights movement would gain momentum from the antislavery movement.
