Make Sure Your Topic Is Focused!

Additional Topic Tips

 Make sure your topic is focused!

o Keep in mind that for the IA, you only have approximately 500-600 words to analyze the topic itself, everything else is used on analysis of sources, listing facts and all that…

o So you need to choose a topic that is narrow enough that you can adequately analyze/discuss it within that word allotment.

. At the same time, don’t choose a topic that is so narrow/vague that you will struggle to find resources.  Make sure your subject lends itself toward an analytical investigation both of the evidence and of the sources

o Interpretations, Interpretations, Interpretations!!!

o Incorporating historiography and analysis is key!

IB Civil War Unit Content:

United States Civil War: Causes, Course and Effects 1840-77 This section focuses on the United States Civil War between the North and the South (1861-1865), which is often perceived as the great watershed in the history of the United States. It transformed the country forever: slavery “disappeared” and the Northern success marked a victory for the proponents of strong central power over the supporters of states’ rights. It marked the beginnings of further westward expansion and transformed United States’ society by accelerating industrialization and modernization in the North and largely destroying the plantation system in the South. The war left the country with a new set of problems: how would the South rebuild its society and economy and what would be the place in that society of 4 million freed African Americans? These changes were fundamental, leading some historians to see the war (and its results) as a “second American Revolution”.

 Cotton economy and slavery; conditions of enslavement; adaptation and resistance such as the Underground Railroad  Origins of the Civil War: political issues, states’ rights, modernization, sectionalism, the nullification crisis, economic differences between North and South  Abolitionist debate: ideologies and arguments for and against slavery and their impact  Reasons for, and effects of, westward expansion and the sectional debates; the crisis of the 1850s; the Kansas– Nebraska problem; the Ostend Manifesto; the Lincoln–Douglas debates; the impact of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation; Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy  Union versus Confederate: strengths and weaknesses; economic resources; significance of leaders during the US Civil War (suitable examples could be Grant and Lee, Sherman and Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson)  Major battles of the Civil War and their impact on the conflict: Antietam and Gettysburg; the role of foreign powers  Reconstruction: economic, social and political successes and failures; economic expansion  African Americans in the Civil War and in the New South: legal issues; the Black Codes; Jim Crow Laws

Civil War Topic Ideas

 Role of Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions in Nullification Crisis and states rights’ position  Missouri Compromise  Nat Turner’s Rebellion  Nullification Crisis  John C. Calhoun’s role in Southern Succession  Wilmot Proviso  Compromise of 1850  Fugitive Slave Act  Underground Railroad  Significance of Harriet Tubman/Frederick Douglass to Abolitionist Movement  Abolitionist Movement/Rise of Women’s Rights Movement  Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin  Kansas-Nebraska Act  Bleeding Kansas  John Brown’s Raid at Harpers Ferry  The training and superiority of Southern Generalship  Political Generals  Progression of Lincoln’s views on slavery over time (during the war), etc.  Why McClelland Hesitated at Antietam  Why the Peninsular Campaign Failed  The Role of Attrition in Union Victories  Was the Anaconda Plan Successful?  Overconfidence at First Bull Run  Significance of the New Orleans Union Victory  How Ironclads changed Naval Warfare  The Morality of Sherman’s Campaign  The Andersonville Prison Camp  African American Confederate Soldiers  The Wisdom of Pickett’s Charge  Strategic Importance of Capturing Vicksburg  Punishment of Confederate Leaders  Importance of the Mississippi River  Defending Washington  The Importance of Blockade Runners  The fall of Richmond  Why the Oklahoma Cherokee Fought for the South  Advances in Military Technologies  Significance of Fort Monroe  Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation’s Effect on Northern Democrats  The Election of 1864  Lincoln’s Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction  The Diplomatic War with Britain  What diplomatic issues did the war raise? How did it impact international trade?  Why did foreign nations remain out of the American Civil War, unlike other civil wars in history?  Effects of Secretary of State William Henry Seward’s foreign policy  Consider how the Civil War expanded the powers of the federal government and how Abraham Lincoln defined his role as a wartime president  How did the Civil War impact state governments? Power of Congress?  Effectiveness of government in mobilizing resources to care for veterans after the war  Lincoln’s Suspension of Habeas Corpus  Civil War Amendments to the Constitution  Why Andrew Johnson was Chosen Vice President  Northern Draft Riots  Conscientious Objectors (Shakers & Quakers)  Profiting from the War  Immigrants Serving in Union Armies  Children’s participation in the Civil War  The Civil War in Art  Effect of the War on the Home Front  How the Civil War Split Families  Fort Pillow Massacre  African American Troops at Charleston  Plight of Liberated Slaves  Comparing Slave Emancipation to Russian Serf Emancipation  Status of Slavery in Border States  How the Civil War helped the Railroad Industry  The Development of a Federal Union  Carpetbaggers and Scalawags  Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address  The Gettysburg Address  Was Lincoln an Abolitionist?  The Confederate Constitution  The Civil War and the Federal Budget  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of Veterans  Does the Civil War fit the criterion of the "Just War" Theory?  Sample IA Research Questions:

 Civil War Examples o To what extent was the Mexican-American War an attempt to expand slavery in the western United States? o 'To what extent was the election of Lincoln more important than [another cause] in causing the secession of the southern states?' o Assess the successes and failures of President Lincoln as commander-in-chief during the Civil War.

 General Examples o Trace the development of socialism and anarchism in America from 1885-1910. How well did attitudes toward these movements reflect the national mood? o What effect did WWI have on the path to women’s suffrage in the United States? o How accurately did the media portray the chaos and complexity of the Watts Riots of 1965? o What were the contributions of Genghis Khan to the rise of Mongol Power? o In what ways did the New Deal’s Farm Security Administration use photography as propaganda to support its programs? o Why, and with what consequences for its citizens, was Dresden (any affected town could be substituted) bombed in 1945? o In what ways did the Chinese communists use the traditional art form of opera to promote their ideology during the cultural revolution o To what extent did the anti-communist policies of the United States contribute to the rise of the Taliban? o Analyze the European military alliances in the early 1900s and the role they played in the insurrection of WWI.