2009-2010 Research Paper Topics List

This list looks a little different than recent years – you’ll notice that some of the topics ask a question that you can answer with research.  My hope is that the answers you uncover will lead you to a strong thesis.  Some other topics ask you to “explore” or “compare.”  Please read the list carefully and remember that I will be happy to approve other topics from American History – e-mail me at marymacduncan@gmail.com.

I WILL BE UPDATING THIS LIST THROUGHOUT THE BREAK, SO COME BACK AGAIN FOR MORE GREAT IDEAS!

Are you interested in what America was like before the arrival of Europeans?  Investigate a NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE  in more depth.  You may choose any tribe or culture of North or South America; you might want to focus on one or more of the following themes:  art, agriculture, hunting and warfare, religion, architecture, government, etc.

Or:

• Compare and contrast Native Americans’ and Europeans’ relationship to the land.
• Investigate William Penn’s relationship with Native Americans through art and history.
• Compare and Contrast the Iroquois Confederacy with the U.S. Constitution.
• Compare “pop culture” myths about Pocahontas with the historical record
• Compare “pop culture” myths about the First Thanksgiving with the historical record
• Examine the effects the Indian Removal Act

Or:

• Look more closely at one or more important Native Americans.  If you choose more than one, you might choose to compare and contrast their background and accomplishments.

• Powhatan
• Squanto
• Massasoit
• Metacom
• Sequoyah
• Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa
• Pontiac
• Sitting Bull
• Osceola
• Chief Joseph
• Black Hawk

Are you a Francophile?  Then you might want to write about one of these FRENCH-FRIED TOPICS!

• Trace the rise and fall of the fur industry in North America, from the “coureurs des bois” to the “mountain men”
• Why did the French make such strong alliances with the Native Americans and what were the results?
• Why were thousands of French settlers forced to leave their homes during the Expulsion of the Acadians?
• Why is New Orleans a multi-cultural city?

Are you a REVOLUTIONARY?  Then you might like these topics about the American Revolution.

Was the American Revolution fought to protect Americans’ liberties, or their wallets?
Why were the writings of Thomas Paine so influential during the Revolution?
What drew the Marquis de Lafayette and Baron von Steuben to the American cause, and how did they contribute to the war effort?

Are you a budding ECONOMIST?  Then you might like one of these topics:

• What role did tobacco play in colonial economies?

Do you love POLITICS?  One of these topics might be for you!

• How did political parties get their start in the U.S., and when did today’s major parties first appear?

Do you love ABC-CLIO?  Me too!  Each of these topics is drawn from an in-depth resource on ABC-Clio that will help you get started analyzing key ideas.

• Why did Cahokia (a Native American metropolis) fall?
• What happened to the Lost Colony?
• How independent were colonial American women?
• What influence did war and the phenomenon of Indian captivity have on colonial literature and society?
• What caused the Salem witch scare?
• What economic impact did warfare have on the English colonies during the colonial period?
• How did the threat of a common enemy influence colonial political organization? Was Aaron Burr a Traitor?
• What role did European rivalries and alliances play in the American Revolutionary War?
• How did intercolonial and British-American relations change over time?
• What impact did classical Greek and Roman authors have on our nation's Founding Fathers?
• How did the U.S. government handle the issue of Native American sovereignty?
• How did white Americans depict Native Americans during the 19th century?
• What ideological justifications did Americans give for war with Mexico?
• Was the United States justified in annexing Texas and taking California from Mexico in its pursuit of manifest destiny?
• How did the U.S. government's definition of Indian territory evolve in the 19th century? What effect did the War with Mexico have on the American economy?
• What was the primary cause of the Second Great Awakening?
• What role did politics and slavery play during the Civil War?
• What was the primary reason for the Confederate defeat in the Civil War?
• To what extent do the "open frontier" and western expansion define American culture?
• What effect did European transportation have on the Great Plains Indians?
• What effect did westward expansion have on Native American lands?

Do you dig RELIGION?  Then one of these topics might be for you.

• How did many Americans’ beliefs change during the First and Second Great Awakening, and what social changes resulted?
• What role did religion play in the lives of African Americans under slavery?
• Why did Mormon pioneers settle in the Great Salt Lake Valley, what was their trip like, and what did they do when they got there?

Want to know more about YOUNG PEOPLE IN HISTORY?  Take your inspiration from the pages of our enrichment text: We Were There, Too!  It’s a great place to start your research on these topics.

• What happened to Eunice Williams when French and Indian forces raided Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1704?
• How did Olaudah Equiano, kidnapped from Africa in 1756, end up writing a best-seller?
• How did Phillis Wheatley become the “mother of black literature in America”?
• Trace the experiences of Joseph Plumb Martin through the Revolutionary War (7th graders only!)
• What adventures and experiences prepared young John Quincy Adams to be president one day?
• You’ve heard of Paul Revere, but have you heard of Sybil Ludington?  Research Sybil, Paul, and the other brave riders who
• How did young women like Lucy Larcom, Harriet Hanson, and Sarah Bagley cope with factory work in the 1830’s?
• How did John Manjiro, a poor Japanese peasant boy, end up being the first American ambassador to Japan?

Do you like to go “where no man has gone before”?  Then you might like to write about one of the following ADVENTURERS AND EXPLORERS?

• Cortes and the conquest of Mexico
• Pizarro and the conquest of Peru
• Coronado and the exploration of North America
• Ponce de Leon and the exploration of Florida
• The Columbian Exchange
• How did the expectations of Lewis and Clark differ from the reality they encountered on their expedition?
• How did Sacagewea and other Native Americans help the Lewis and Clark expedition to succeed?
• Compare and contrast reality vs. myth (one or more of the following):  Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Kit Carson, “Buffalo Bill” Cody, Annie Oakley,“Wild Bill” Hickock, “Calamity” Jane

Are you a MILITARY HISTORY buff?  Then one of these topics might intrigue you!

• Was the Mexican-American War “manifest destiny” or shameless land-grab?
• Trace the adventures of the warship U.S.S. Constitution from 1797 to today (you might want to ask Mr. Mike about this one!)
• The U.S. Marines hymn begins with the lyrics “From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli.”  What events do these words describe, and why are they important?

Do you like to learn about different cultures?  Then you might want to write about the contributions of one of these IMMIGRANT GROUPS IN AMERICA.

• What contributions did Chinese immigrants make to the Transcontinental Railroad and the Gold Rush?  Why did they come and what hurdles did they face?
• Unless you’re 100% Native American, your relatives were immigrants!  Research the reasons they left their home country, what their voyage was like, and what conditions they found when they arrived in America.  If you can’t find specific information about those relatives, research immigrants who made a similar journey.

Do you love the arts, literature, or philosophy?  If so you might want to write about one of these ARTISTS, WRITERS AND PHILOSOPHERS.  Find out what inspired them and how their work influenced American society.

• What do the cartoons of Thomas Nast tell us about America in the 1800’s?
• What do the life and writings of Henry David Thoreau tell us America during his lifetime?
• Explore the stories behind one or more poems written about the American Revolution:  Emerson’s Concord Hymn, Holmes’ The Last Leaf, Bryant’s Marion’s Men. Longfellow’s  Paul Revere’s Ride. 
• What do Whitman’s I Hear America Singing and Emerson’s A Nation’s Strength reveal about 19th century Americans’ self-image?
• What does our national anthem reveal about the War of 1812 and the making of one enormous flag?
• How did landscape artists like Thomas Cole and Albert Bierstadt show changing American attitudes toward nature in the 1800’s?
• What do the paintings of George Calem Bingham show about life in the American west in the 1800’s?
• What do the works of artists like John Trumbull, Gilbert Stuart, John Singleton Copley and Benjamin West reveal about America and Americans during the Revolutionary period?
• What do the paintings of George Catlin’s “Indian Gallery” tell us about Catlin, the Plains Indians he painted, and their relationship?

Do you want to make the world a better place?  Then you might want to write about one of these REFORMERS OF THE 19TH CENTURY.  Investigate the conditions were they reacting to and the changes they were able to make.

• Dorothea Dix
• Horace Mann
• Sojourner Truth
• Frederick Douglass

Are you interested in WOMEN’S STRUGGLE to claim their rights as Americans?  One of these topics might be yours.

• How did women like Anna Green Winslow, Deborah Sampson and Margaret Corbin “serve their country” in the Revolutionary War?
• How did Elizabeth Blackwell become the first woman to graduate from an American medical school?
• How did the women’s rights movement evolve out of the struggle to end slavery?
• Investigate how the reformers at the women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls used the model of the Declaration of Independence for their Declaration of Sentiments
• Which American women had the vote BEFORE the 19th Amendment made it a nationwide right?

Do you like to travel?  If so, you might want to write about one of the following METHODS OF TRANSPORTATION.  Investigate the technology that made them possible and the way they transformed America’s way of life.

• Why were steamboats and canals so important to American expansion?
• How did the Transcontinental Railroad transform the west?
• How did mail get delivered in different periods of American history?

Are you SEA WORTHY?  Write about one of these great high-seas topics!

• What was it like to sail on an American whaling vessel of the 1800’s?
• Trace the exploits of  Blackbeard and other infamous rogues of “The Golden Age of Piracy.”  Why did people become pirates?  Why were they so feared?  What kind of “booty” did they go after?  How did civilians and the military combat pirates?

Are you interested in the history of your own backyard?  If so, you might want to write about one of the following aspects of LOCAL OR CALIFORNIA HISTORY.

• How did the Gold Rush transform California?
• What was life like in a California mission?

Are you interested in SLAVERY?  One of these topics might be for you.

• What was “triangular trade” and how did it help to keep slavery alive?
• What happened during the “Amistad incident” ?
• How did events like the Dred Scott case and the raid at Harper’s Ferry intensify the slavery conflict?
• Why did President Lincoln supposedly call Harriet Beecher Stowe “the little lady who made this big war”?
• How did Abolitionists use art and literature to protest slavery?
• Why did the conflict over slavery grow as the nation’s borders grew?
• What was it like to travel the underground railroad with Harriet Tubman?

Are you interested in leadership?  Then you might want to write about how these GREAT LEADERS OF THE PAST united their people.  Compare and contrast the biographies and achievements of one of the following pairs.

• Abraham Lincoln vs. Jefferson Davis
• Robert E. Lee vs. Ulysses S. Grant
• Thomas Jefferson vs. Alexander Hamilton

Or:

• Many historians have called Benjamin Franklin a “renaissance man.”  What are they talking about?
• Many historians have called Thomas Jefferson a man of great “contradictions.”  What were they talking about?
• Why is Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address considered one of the greatest speeches of all time?
• In your opinion, who were the top three greatest American presidents of all time, and why?

Are you interested in WORLD HISTORY?  Explore how events in American history were related to international events.

• Compare and contrast the American Revolution and the French Revolution
• Compare and contrast American Revolution and. the Mexican War of Independence
• Investigate the reasons African Americans returned to Africa, and whether their colonization of Liberia was successful.

Intrigued by the CIVIL WAR?  One of these topics might just be for you!

• Tell the story of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, an African American regiment which fought in the Civil War.
• Was Sherman’s March a brilliant victory or a brutal and unnecessary slaughter?
• How did Mathew Brady’s photographs document the brutal reality of the Civil War?

So you’re really interested in AMERICAN HISTORY AFTER THE CIVIL WAR?  Here are some great topics that are related to ideas we’ll study in class.

• African American Rights, from the Civil War to Today
• The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and Workers’ Rights
• How Abraham Lincoln, John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt and others established the National Park System

Here are some other great topics I haven’t categorized yet….

Important Decisions of the Supreme Court
Rebels With a Cause: What were Bacon’s Rebellion, Shays’ Rebellion, and the Whiskey Rebellion all about?
The History of Texas
The Oregon Trail

Remember, I will continue updating this list throughout the break, so come back soon!