Complete a researched critical essay of a minimum of 1,200 words on one of the four essay topics below.
Essay Topic I
Native Americans faced many injustices and challenges with the coming of the white man to America. Describe these injustices and challenges and the responses of Native Americans. Use details from
your text and from researched sources to support your perspectives. Include the contributions of Red Jacket, Tecumseh, and Petalesharo, among other Native Americans, as you analyze their
writings. As you explore pertinent contexts, be careful to use appropriate literary, political, and cultural terminology in your writing.
Essay Topic II
The early-American fiction writers Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe contributed significantly to the American literary canon with their unique
styles of writing and their varied literary themes and forms. Analyze and research their literary works to support your thesis on the writing styles, themes, and forms of Irving, Cooper,
Hawthorne, and Poe. As you explore pertinent contexts, be careful to use appropriate literary, political, and cultural terminology in your writing.

Essay Topic III
Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Louisa May Alcott were influential writers of the Civil War era; and this turbulent time in American history also gave rise to the slave narratives of
Frederick Douglass and Harriet Ann Jacobs. After analyzing and researching the writings of Douglass, Jacobs, Lincoln, Stowe, and Alcott, form a thesis that enables you to address Douglass’ and
Jacobs’ lives as slaves and Lincoln’s, Stowe’s, and Alcott’s influences in bringing the institution of slavery to an end. A thesis is one sentence of no more than 25 words, so choose your words
carefully because you must address both aspects of this topic in the one thesis. As you explore pertinent contexts, be careful to use appropriate literary, political, and cultural terminology in
your writing.
Essay Topic IV
The early-American poets contributed significantly to the new nation’s literary canon. Focus on the writings of the five later poets we have studied: William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. Analyze their poetry to determine the similarities and differences among their writings, and explore their unique
contributions to the literary canon. As part of the process, examine their lives for indications of the events, situations, acquaintances, etc., that may have influenced their poetry. As you
explore pertinent contexts, be careful to use appropriate literary, political, and cultural terminology in your writing