In this assignment, you will be constructing a brief essay on one of the following "controversial" topics. These prompts are designed to provide you with a topic with a clear thesis. Your assignment is not to do a book report on the issue, but to support or attack one side. I am available for consultation if you find this process difficult.
Choose only ONE:
1) Attack or defend Jackson's policy of Indian Removal.
2) Attack or defend the idea of states' rights.
3) Argue for one over-arching cause for the defeat of the South in the Civil War. You are free to acknowledge other supporting factors, but you must suggest why your main reason is of greater significance.
4) Argue for one over-arching cause for the failure of Reconstruction. You are free to acknowledge other supporting factors, but you must suggest why your main reason is of greater significance.
Your essay should be persuasive and needs to take a side on the issue. It is not enough to note that there are two sides and then explain them. I have deliberately provided you with controversial topics that lend themselves to argument.