IMAGINE that you are a student of history in the far distant future. Technology has developed to such a point that you may jump back in history to view events, people and places we have discussed this semester. For your final examination in this course, you have been instructed by your professor to travel to North American and to bring back TEN (10) items which best explain the development of the United States of America from pre-contact North America to 1877. These items can include anything–documents, artifacts, newspapers, people–which, for you, explains how the sense of nationhood developed in America.
Write an essay explaining your choices and how they symbolize the development of American nationhood. REMEMBER, before you discuss American nationhood, you must define it for your reader. Be careful not to just list the items; you must provide (1) an explanation of the item, document, artifact or person and (2) an explanation of WHY you choose it for your assignment. It is also possible to present a category symbolizes American nationhood; for example, a category of founding documents. The Key idea is to explain how the elements you have chosen lead to the development of a sense of state with common culture, language, view of the future, etc.
HINT: It is tempting to focus on the seminal documents of American history but consider the entire time period to Reconstruction; otherwise, your essay misses the key idea. Ask yourself the question: did Americans at the start of the Civil War consider themselves to be citizens of the United States of America or perhaps, citizens of their states or perhaps their region.
