Exam

In both short and long essays please respond to arguments that Takaki makes in "A Different Mirror" while also integrating material from lectures, discussions, and primary source documents.  This is an exam and not a paper--it shouldn't take you much more than 3 hours. You should treat this like an in-class exam with open books/notes using your notes, the documents, and your textbook (Takaki). Do NOT use wikipedia or any other internet sources.  

Please numbers your essays and please upload your exam as a SINGLE  word or pdf file. Please do NOT submit from your google docs, do NOT copy/paste, and do not use a remote drive.  Upload an actual file. 

Short Answers

Answer FIVE of the following in 1-2 paragraphs.  You should use Takaki and/or the documents we’ve read to answer these questions but you are not required to quote them like you are on papers.  This is an exam not a paper: treat it like an in-class open-book exam. Do NOT use outside sources.   (20 points each)

1. Why was Bacon’s Rebellion such a significant event in colonial America? And how does Takaki’s argument about the “giddy multitude” as he called it carry over to one of his larger arguments in the book?

Image: The burning of Jamestown, 1676.

2. Slavery is part of the fabric of the American continent dating back to 1619 in the English colonies. It was written in to the founding legal document  of the United States and would remain legal for the nation's first eight decades.  Yet there appears to have been some discomfort with the institution, even by some of those who practiced it and benefited from it the most.  "Founding Fathers" Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are  such an example.  Compare and contrast  Jefferson and Franklin's position on slavery.

Image: Jefferson and Franlin

3. Becoming American: According to Takaki, Eastern European Jews went through a process of “purification” and to become American meant to acquire “civility.” What is civility in this context and how is this similar to the experience of other immigrant groups such as the Irish?

4. What were the ramifications of the Mexican War for the "foreigners in their native land" as Takaki called it? How did it influence the issue of the expansion of slavery in the United States? 

1. How does Takaki's "master narrative" apply to EITHER of the following (choose ONE):

• Irish Immigrants (chapter 6) 
  
  OR


• Chinese immigrants (chapter 8)

Image 1: Cartoon, The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things.  Image 2: Cartoon, Pacific Chivalry

6. What was the relationship between the Black Codes and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution that were passed during Reconstruction? Please include a discussion on the issue of the role of the federal vs. state/local government.

Essay Question

Answer ONE of the following in 4-5 paragraphs.  You must use Takaki to answer this question but you are welcome to refer to documents we’ve read if it makes sense.  Do not use outside sources.  (50 points) 

1. It has been suggested in this class, by me as well as by your textbook, that the category of “race” is not an immutable physical construct but rather a relatively modern social contract that has evolved over the course of the last half-millennium according to historical developments. What historical factors led to the emergence of the “racial hierarchy” and a “caste labor system” in the British colonies and later United States?  Please make sure you use examples from Takaki or by referring to documents we’ve read. (Note that Takaki does not use to term “caste labor system” to refer solely to slavery but also when discussing “vaqueros,” Chinese and all “Calibans of color.”)

Image: Johann Heinrich Ramberg, Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban (left)  Dancing from the Tempest (ca. 1810)

1. How does Takaki utilize the terms “civilization” and “savagery” to tell the story of American history from “a different mirror?” Note that he presents these terms as “mirror images” of each other and the definition of one says a lot about the fear and self-identification of the other. Please make sure you present Takaki’s definition of these two terms in your response (that is what are the characteristics of civilization and what are the characteristics of savagery) and give at least TWO examples of ethnic or immigrant groups branded as “savage” and how this was used to justify unequal treatment.