History of United States Foreign Relations

 

Fall 2005

 

Midterm Take-Home Exam

 

 

*      Due on Monday, October 24th (by 3:00 noon)

*      Write two (2) essays.  Together the two essays should be no more than 10 pages.

*      Avoid repetition in your various answers. 

Ř      Do not repeat arguments or re-use primary source analysis from your first paper. 

Ř      And do not repeat yourself in this exam.

 

 

PART A: Big Question

 

*      Write an essay in response to one of the following questions.

Ř      Use all relevant sources – relevant, that is, to your argument.

*      You must make reference to at least three (3) of the primary source documents.

Ř      Consider the question from a variety of perspectives: political, economic, cultural, ideological, etc.

*      You do not necessarily need to explore all of them fully, but make sure to include them if they are relevant to your thesis.

1.       How did territorial expansion affect U.S. relations and strategies abroad? 

2.      During the period from 1776-1865, was there an essential difference in the ways in which the U.S. conducted its foreign relations with Europe, Latin America, and Asia? 

3.      In what ways were attempts to create a coherent U.S. foreign policy complicated (or simplified) by the “package deal” of U.S. values?  You will need to establish what you believe this package-deal of U.S. values includes and how all the elements are inextricably linked together.

 

 

PART B: Primary Source Analysis

 

*      Write an essay analyzing at least two (2) documents that relate to one of the larger topics of the course.

Ř      You may, of course, include more than two primary sources in your analysis.

Ř      Connect your analysis directly to the relevant context of a larger question relevant to this course.

Ř      Make it clear how your approach to these primary sources can help the reader navigate historical debate on the topic.

 

 

Note: the following is a list, an incomplete list, of some possible frameworks that might aid you in analyzing sources.  Make sure that you find a way to put the documents in dialogue with one another; this may take a bit of critical and creative thinking.

Ř      Definitions: Any historical phenomena, especially perhaps those that include the behavior of more than one nation state, can be examined for its root causes and its consequences.

*      Causes

*      Description

*      Termination

*      Impact

 

Ř      Time Frames: Consider the time frame of an argument.  How far back does the author look for the “first cause”?

*      The Event

*      Social Time

*      Geographical Time

 

Ř      Sources: What are the sources of the various causes?  Where do the consequences manifest themselves?

*      Political

*      Economic

*      Military

*      Social

*      Cultural

 

Ř      Arenas of Action: In what “dimension” does each of the causes and consequences take place? 

*      Individual Motivations

*      Domestic Interests

*      International Options

*      External Determining Forces (such as “the logic of capitalism”)

 

Ř      Historiographic Traditions: What are the basic assumptions about the traditions of U.S. foreign relations?

*      Isolationism

*      Internationalism

*      Exceptionalism

*      Realism

*      Materialism