1. What belief motivated westward expansion between 1844 and 1877, and what methods did the United States use to acquire new territory?

2. Why did European immigrants come to the United States during this period, and how did native-born Americans respond to immigration?

1. How did westward expansion intensify sectional tensions over slavery?

2. What were the different positions on slavery held by slaveowners, abolitionists, and Free-Soilers?

3. What methods did opponents of slavery use to challenge the institution, and what approach did Congress take to address sectional conflict?

1. Why did Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 prompt Southern states to secede from the Union?

2. What were the major outcomes of the Civil War regarding slavery and the balance of power between federal and state governments?

3. What conflicts characterized the Reconstruction period, and how did these conflicts reshape American federalism?

1. What systems of control did White Americans establish to restrict the freedom and rights of African Americans after slavery ended?

2. How did sharecropping perpetuate racial and economic inequality despite the abolition of slavery?

3. What forms of racial violence and discrimination did freed African Americans face during and after Reconstruction?