Second Exam: April 11, 2008

Sample Exam Questions

 

The exam will consist of three parts:  

        1. essay question (you may choose one of three or four questions to answer)

        2. brief identifications (you may choose three names/terms to identify, indicating the significance to Wyoming history 

        3. a question on the book, Letters of a Woman Homesteader

 

PART I: ESSAY QUESTION (You will be asked to choose one of three questions and write a well-constructed essay of no shorter than two handwritten pages in an exam book)

 

Sample #1:  What was the Johnson County War/Invasion?. Identify the various competing groups, explain their goals, and describe how the incidents influenced Wyoming history. Be sure to name at least four specific individuals involved in the incident.

 

Sample #2:  Who were the “Grand Old Men of Wyoming Politics”?  What influence did each have over the state political scene in the first 30 years of statehood?  An important feud between two of these men had a long-term impact on the state politics.  Who were the two “feuding” politicians?  What caused the feud?  What incidents, such as election for governor, furthered the feud?  How was the feud finally resolved?

 

Sample #3:  (WALL STREET, WATER) Your professor stated that during the decade of the 1920s, the Wyoming economy was anything but “roaring.”

            a). Describe the “economic bust” of the 1920s in Wyoming, indicating what factors might have led to such an economic condition.

            b). In what ways did environmental conditions (drought) affect the state’s economy in the 1920s?

            c). Many banks in Wyoming failed during the 1920s.  Why might this have happened?  How did the organization of the banks lead to this problem?  What about the influence of “rumors” on bank failures?

 

Sample #4: (WASHINGTON) What impact, if any, did Prohibition have on Wyoming in the 1920s?  What factors may have led to passage of Prohibition in Wyoming? What factors led to its repeal?

 

Sample #5: (DIVERSITY) What was the “Americanization movement”?  What role did Dr. Grace Hebard play in “Americanizing” Wyoming residents?  How successful were her efforts?

 

Sample #6: (WALL STREET, WASHINGTON) Teapot Dome was a celebrated “Presidential scandal” in the 1920s.  Identify the primary players in the incident and describe the history of the scandal. What role, if any, did Wyomingites have in the incident?

 

Sample #7: (ROAD TO SOMEWHERE ELSE)  According to author Rick Ewig in his Readings in Wyoming History article on the web, what important factors influenced the development of the tourism industry in Wyoming in the years between World Wars I and II?

 

Sample #8: (DIVERSITY) According to Augustin Redwine’s web article on Lovell’s Mexican Colony, why was the colony established?  What types of work did Mexican American workers do who lived in the colony? What eventually happened to the colony? Why?

 

Sample #9: (WILDERNESS) Identify the three “ideological positions” in environmentalism. Describe the primary principles of each.  Also, in reference to each, identify and describe the following:

a. at least one specific federal agency identified with each position

b. at least one specific individual in history identified with each position

c. at least one specific “identifiable groups” possibly associated with each position

 

Sample #10: (WILDERNESS) Describe how Yellowstone became a national park. What particular individuals played a role in the effort? (Include references to Thomas Moran, William Henry Jackson, as well as the Northern Pacific Railroad company).  What were the various motivations for creation of the nation’s first national park?

 

Sample #11: (WILDERNESS, WASHINGTON)   Describe the main issues of the Grand Teton controversy.  Identify at least one specific federal agency identified with each side of the main controversy involving Grand Teton National Park.  Identify at least one specific individual identified with each side in the controversy.  Identify at least one specific “group” associated with each side of the controversy.

 

Sample #12: (WOMEN) Based on your reading from Readings in Wyoming History chapters on the web, identify at least two women who held high elective office in Wyoming. How did each of them reach the position to which she was elected?  (Note: The two women this question wishes you to identify are Estelle Reel and Nellie Tayloe Ross—NOT Esther Morris).

 

Sample #13: (WOMEN) What conditions led to the election of Nellie Tayloe Ross as the first woman anywhere in the country to be elected governor of Wyoming in 1924?  What aspects of her administration, if any, distinguished her administration from those of male governors?  What happened to Mrs. Ross following her defeat for governor in 1926?

 

Sample #14:  (WALL STREET, SELF-IMAGE) How did Wyoming state government try to alleviate the bad economy in the 1920s and 1930s? How successful was it?

            a). What changes were recommended by the Griffenhagen company and how did Wyomingites respond to the recommendations?

            b). How was Wyoming’s tax system changed during the 1930s?  What was attempted, what “succeeded”, and in what ways did these changes influence the economy?

 

Sample #15:  (WALL STREET, WASHINGTON) Numerous “New Deal” programs were established by the Franklin Roosevelt administration in order to alleviate the adverse impact of economic depression. Select three New Deal programs and answer the following:

1. What effect did each of these New Deal programs have on Wyoming’s economy?

2.  What specific achievements did each of these programs have in Wyoming?

Sample #16: (WASHINGTON) With reference to the Mackey web article in Readings in Wyoming History, what industries were especially impacted by World War II?  Among state residents, what strategies were used ON THE HOMEFRONT to help win World War II?  Identify the various programs and explain how each impacted Wyoming residents during the war.

Sample #17:  (WASHINGTON, DIVERSITY) What was Heart Mountain Relocation Center?  According to the article on O'Mahoney and Relocation on the Readings in Wyoming History web, what views did Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney have about it?  Nels Smith?  What about the attitudes of local people toward having the camp in the area? 

Sample #18:  According to some historians, most notably Gerald Nash, the American West was “transformed” by World War II.  Based on your readings and class lectures, list the relevant characteristics descriptive of this “transformation” and explain whether or not Wyoming was similarly “transformed.”  Be sure to use concrete facts and examples in your answer.

Sample #19:  What was the "textbook controversy of 1947"?  Identify at least three individuals involved with it and describe their roles in it. What does the incident say about national events occurring at the same time?

Sample #20: Does Wyoming deserve the nickname, “The Equality State”? With reference to the articles in Readings in Wyoming History by Redwine, Moore and Ibach, Van Nuys, Bullock, Barrett, and Hallberg, how have Wyomingites reacted to various issues of ethnic diversity?  Why?

PART II:  SHORT ANSWERS.  Significant names of individuals and events will be listed. You will be asked to select three of the names/events and provide a brief identifying paragraph and a reference to the significance to Wyoming history.

 

PART III: BOOK QUESTION

            Question will focus on the main points in Stewart, Letters of a Woman Homesteader