AP美国历史1

第三步确定文章主旨并列提纲

思路拓展的方法和之前讲过的论述题类似，从下面这个表格给出的角度思考：

根据这个材料题的内容适当做一些调整如下：

文章主旨建议:

Overseas expansion in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries cast a great influence upon the political, economic and social aspects of the American society, which gave rise to the different understandings of national identity and caused controversies over American imperialism between expansionists and anti-imperialists.

列提纲：

Introduction + thesis statement

The political,economic and social influence of overseas expansion shaped understandings of national identity and caused controversies.

Paragraph 1

The political influence:

Becoming the world power, Doc3,5+ Mahan’s book, “the White man’s burden”

Constitution, Doc2,6

Paragraph 2

The economic influence:

Commercial interests, Doc 3+ Big businesses, economic downturn, closing frontier

Filipino resistance,Doc7+ Roosevelt Corollary, Panama Canal

Paragraph 3

The impact on racial issues:

Distractions from the war, reduce racial prejudice, Doc 1+ World war I,II, civil rights movement

The race question, Doc 6+Jim Crow laws

Conclusion

补充强调一下7个材料至少用6个就可以。考试时审题，构思，列提纲建议用时15分钟。

第四步

写。

During the period of late 19^th century, the U.S. started to emerge as a world power by a “splendid little war” which is Spanish-American War. Even though the war only lasted for 4 months, it had much longer impact on the country’s history till the early 20^th century before World War I and even later as the war itself and actions that followed the war not only caused controversies over foreign policy, but also cast a great influence upon political, economic and racial aspects of the American society. Should United States continue the path on overseas expansion? Facing the new age of imperialism, the national identity of United States, a country which was born in a war against a major imperial power, was constantly questioned.

In the first place, the political influence of overseas expansion shaped different understandings of national identity between expansionists and anti-imperialists. Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote a book called “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783” in 1890 talking about the importance of naval power in achieving and maintaining influence on the world stage. The nationalist leaders, such as Theodore Roosevelt, were keen followers of this book. TR was an active expansionist who played a crucial role in fighting the Spanish-American war and securing control of the Philippines. He was motivated by strategic considerations like establishing a naval base in the Pacific. He also believed that the Constitution did not necessarily follow the flag as he mentioned in his speech to local leaders in Chicago in 1899 that “liberty” and the “consent of the governed” were just excuses for unwillingness or fear to undertake the task of governing the Philippines. What’s more, “The White man’s burden” which considered the inferior races would simply disappear in the struggle for the “survival of the fittest”, also drove United States to hold on to the Philippines, as imperialists considered the Filipinos utterly unfit for self-government, which was mentioned both in TR’s and William McKinley’s speech. They felt it was the duty for America to educate, civilize or uplift the Filipinos who otherwise would have anarchy and misrule. However, anti-imperialists argued that the Constitution should follow the flag because the country was born with the doctrine that all men are created equal and the government derive their powers from the consent of the governed, as mentioned in Professor Sumner’s and William Jennings Bryan’s speech. On its way to an empire, America would become another Spain, which definitely contradicted the ideals the founding fathers had for this republic as America was born fighting imperialism.

Secondly, the economic motives for obtaining new territories and markets were crucial for emerging as a world power, as the country would by all means try to satisfy its commercial interests. In the late 19^th century, America had already grown to an industrial power. Big businesses like Rockfeller’s and Carnegie’s were all at their peaks. However, at this time, closing frontier in the American West and the economic downturn such as the panic of 1893 pushed the desire for new markets for the growing output of consumer products and important raw materials from new territories. And United States was also competing with other empires for those new markets. As mentioned in McKinley’s speech, the United States would definitely not turn the Philippines over to its commercial rivals like France or Germany, and it would be cowardly to give them back to Spain, which indicated that the world had got into the situation of International Darwinism, and the survival of the fittest was also applied to the competition among nations. The biggest new territory for United States in the early 20^th century was actually Latin America. With TR’s “Big Stick” diplomacy and the Roosevelt Corollary, United States acted like a policeman in Latin America and also built Panama Canal which was a major priority for American commercial and industrial interests. However, As shown in the picture of the satirical magazine Puck,1904, it was much harder for United States to control the Philippines which was on the other side of the world. In fact Filipino forces continued to resist American control for decades.

Thirdly, overseas expansion also had impact on racial issues in the American society. African American editor E.E.Cooper argued in the newspaper article that the Spanish-American war would reduce racial prejudice as Black and White fought together for the same patriotic purpose. It makes sense because the war with other countries could always distract people from domestic issues, but the distraction was always temporary and the war could never solve the deep-rooted racial problems in America. In World War I and II, Blacks and Whites still fought in segregated units. Under Jim Crow laws, African Americans still did not have equal voting rights and suffered from high rate of lynching and all kinds of discrimination. Not until 1960s did racial segregation end and racial discrimination reduce due to the constant effort of civil rights movement. Moreover, the war could even make things worse. The anti-imperialists were worried that how United States could handle one more race question with so many already at hand. William Jennings Bryan’s campaign speech clearly showed his concerns about the race issues.

Overseas expansion forced America to confront the political, economic and even racial controversies and as it became a dominant player on the world stage, those controversies would keep shaping American society. 

补充建议

1. 和论述题一样没有字数要求，个人建议写到约700字。

2. 引用材料时融入到论述分析当中，不要机械地照抄。

3. 引用时不要写Document X，写作者名或标题。

4. 要有材料以外的例子

5. 用第三人称

6. 不需要高大上的词汇和语法

7. 最后一段结论可以不写。

最后福利依然是经典泛读历史读物推荐：America, Empire of Liberty, by David Reynolds. 作者是剑桥大学历史系主任，本书文字浅显易懂，尤其建议想冲5分的同学尝试一读，书中对历史脉络和重要事件的分析可以帮助各位考生更好理解史实，并提高阅读和写作能力。

“Empire, liberty, and faith: here are three big themes that

reverberate throughout U.S.history, each full of contradictions. Exploring them, teasing out those contradictions, is the task of this book.” 

Reference

AP U.S.history practice exam

Khan Academy U.S.history course

本文作者简介

席鹤

毕业于荷兰格罗宁根商学院，8年上海新东方学校资深出国考试培训师，新东方集团优秀教师，持TESOL国际英语教师高级证书，广泛涉猎美国历史阅读和研究，主授托福口语，SAT2/AP美国历史

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