Reflecting on the time periods and historical materials you have studied this semester, write a 500-600 word essay (approximately two double-spaced pages). Your essay must utilize content from at least HIS 315L Units 1-3 (post-Civil War through World War II), although material from Units 4 and 5 is also very welcome. In your essay, explore significant changes related to one of following Big Ideas:

1. America and the World: America's role in the world began on the periphery and has moved to take a central place.

2. Reform and Renewal: The Puritan mission to create a City on a Hill has been adopted in many forms throughout America's history, resulting in social and political movements that reinvigorate and often challenge Americans to reflect on their future.

Identify the Big Idea you have chosen to examine.
Write a paragraph that explains what the Big Idea means.
In your first paragraph, also list three major changes, events, “moments” or specific time periods from the course as a whole that demonstrate, and connect to, the Big Idea.
Write a paragraph for each of the three changes, events, “moments” or specific time periods and connect each one to the Big Idea. Each paragraph should explain the status or conditions at the time of your Big Idea and show how it reveals historical change. Be sure to use specific evidence