write a one-paragraph explanation for any 3 out of the 6 key
terms or people listed below. Your answers need to define and discuss the key terms or people
in the historical context of the topics we have covered in this course. Each answer is worth up to
40 points (120 points total).
1. Financial Crisis of 1837
2. The Gold Rush
3. The Fugitive Slave Law
4. John Brown
5. The Civil War
6. National Labor Union (NLU)
Part 2: Please answer any 1 out of the 3 questions below in a 2-to-2.5-page (500 to
700 words), double-spaced in 12-point font (80 points total).
1. What was Radical Reconstruction? What promises did it hold for freed African
Americans in the south? In what ways did white southerners resist Radical
Reconstruction and how did this resistance contribute to its failure? What were the
consequences for African Americans? Use evidence from Who Built America? Vol. 1 to
support your answers.
2. What actions did Susan B. Anthony and other women’s rights activists take to pursue
universal suffrage, along with other political, legal, and economic opportunities in the
1860s and 1870s? What kind of opposition did they face and why? Use evidence from
Who Built America? Vol. 1 to support your answers.
3. How do the events of 1877—including the end of Reconstruction and the Great Railroad
Uprising—relate to themes about race relations, social class and labor relations, and the
possibilities for collective action in earlier moments in American history that we have
discussed in this course? Are these themes still relevant today? Use evidence from 1877:
The Grand Army of Starvation and Who Built America? Vol. 1 to support your answers.
Part 3: Extra Credit (worth up to 20 extra points).
Write a 1-to-2 page double-spaced response based on your viewing
of Paul Robeson: Here I Stand that answers these questions: why did Paul Robeson (Rutgers
College, class of 1919) become a civil rights leader and a labor activist? How did communism
shape his politics? Why did Robeson remain steadfast in his beliefs despite his career suffering
by the late 1940s and 1950s? Are there other current actors, musicians, artists, or other
celebrities who are politically engaged like Robeson was?
Financial Crisis of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, Westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abounded. The panic had both domestic and foreign origins. Fiscal and monetary policies in the United States and Great Britain, the global movements of gold and silver, a collapsing land bubble, and falling cotton prices were all to blame. The system of international trade and finance established by American and British merchant bankers provides an important backdrop for understanding the cycles of boom and bust of the early-nineteenth century.
Hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ has been the topic of much debate over recent years in the UK due to the desire to exploit the UK’s significant onshore resources of shale gas . In this essay ‘government’ refers to the Conservative-led governing body of England. Current government policy is aiming to start shale gas fracking as soon as possible. There has been a lot of public opposition to the Government’s stance. Yet, the Government still stands by the belief that fracking will benefit the security of supply and promote the transition ‘to a low carbon economy’ . In this context, ‘adequately regulated’ is the situation where the UK’s regulations ensure that the safety and health of the environment and population will not be degraded in favour of the economy. This essay argues that fracking regulations in the United Kingdom seem procedurally adequate but are not substantively adequate for three key reasons. Firstly, the Government has framed their approach to fracking in a way that is virtually inaccessible to the British public. Furthermore, there is a serious lack of knowledge of the consequences of fracking upon the environment, and the information we do have leaves a lot of ambiguity. Lastly, it is important to analyse England’s substantive and procedural approach and compare it to that of Scotland.
The Government’s manipulation of regulatory ‘dexterity’ and regularity ‘domain’ to create the illusion of adequate fracking regulation
The Government has fought to emphasise the rigorous nature of the UK regulatory controls. However, it has also argued against the need for specialist regulation in this area. This reflects the Government’s strategies of regulatory ‘domain’ (looking at legislation in the abstract) and regulatory ‘dexterity’ (looking at legislation in detail). Framing involves ‘the social construction of reality’. It is an issue ‘which invites interpretation’ and ‘is likely to differ substantially depending on the interests of those involved’ . This underpins a key issue with fracking in the UK; regulatory ‘domain’ and regulatory ‘dexterity’ are ways in which the Government can ‘frame’ fracking issues in a way that promotes their aims, often at the expense of due process, the health of the environment and the health of the British public, as will be exemplified throughout this essay.
When applying arguments of regulatory ‘dexterity’, the Government places emphasis on the market-transforming potential of a new supply of shale gas . These arguments are used to promote fracking as a positive innovation that has different end products and new benefits compared with traditional gas production . The focus of the Government is to eliminate regulation that inhibits its development of fracking. It can therefore be argued that in doing so, the Government is not ensuring that fracking is adequately regulated as the focus is placed on speeding up the fracking process, rather than guaranteeing the protection of the environment and population’s health from the risks of