Top 80 American History Essay Topics

Top 80 American History Essay Topics

To choose the best American history essay topic, you need to research thoroughly, be concise, and interesting. This is to mean that your topic will be specific, with a fair amount of area, and at the same time, be arousing enough to keep your audience glued. 

American history is long and complex. To fully understand it, however, we will have to divide it into the periods that changed, divided, and unified the United States into the nation we see today. By doing this we get to see some key highlightable moments that stand out above the rest. In this article, you are going to be informed of the top 80 history essay topics.

I suppose you are a student or a researcher, looking for a topic to write about from American history, what if I told you, not only will you get information on the best topics to write about in your history essay, but also you will gain access to our team of top researchers and writers who can do the writing for you?

How to Write a Good History Essay

As stated in the introductory overview, narrow topics rule in the discipline of history. The range your topic covers should be broad enough to include a meaningful subject and reflect on a significant matter, while at the same time small enough to avoid being lost in the vagueness. To address all that in a single sentence, choosing the appropriate topic for your history essay is the first step towards a good history essay.

Remember, in your choice for a history topic, focus on areas where you are absolutely certain that you will maintain an objective mind throughout your essay. Emotionally charged topics tend to bring out a subjective writer who aims at gathering facts together to push an opinion towards a historical event.

On the contrary, it would be a brave move to write a historical essay on an event that personally impacts you. If at all you trust yourself to hold on to the morality of unbiasedness, then a personally intriguing topic could push you to carry out a more informed and crafty historical essay.

American history is one that has brought out this side of research. A nation born from multiethnic interactions and years of strife and struggle. An American history essay is bound to harbor very many controversial topics. Some of these topics include the issue of racism and institutional segregation, the issue of the second amendment of the constitution, the matter of equal civil rights devoid of bias based on gender, sexual orientation, and skin color, and lately, the matter of socialism.

Following these tips, there are some key points that as a history essay writer you should pay attention to. Below are steps that if followed to the latter would enable a writer to prepare for a good history essay either on American history or any other history whatsoever:

• Understand your topic

Choosing a top historical essay topic is one thing but understanding it is equally important. Some students will pick a topic and jump directly into research. It is advisable to devote an ample amount of time to read, annotate, and understand the challenge your topic poses. After understanding your point of concentration, then you can move ahead and address the topic’s main issue in your history essay.

• Build a plan

In an essay writing plan, you are supposed to check for the things you can answer about this history topic without doing any additional research. Are there any issues, people, or events related to this topic? What additional issues or questions flow from this question? Are there any key figures or historians relevant to this topic? This plan allows you to easily execute your essay.

• Begin your research

This phase makes up the core of your content. Identify key terms and familiarize them with yourself. Locate all the information you can on this topic and arrange it in order of need. Note that some of the information you find might end up being unused. This should never be an issue.

• Develop a contention

All good history essays have a distinct and strong point of argument. This is your major idea, your focal point which not only answers the question your topic poses but also speaks your mind in brief words regarding the topic.

• Plan an essay structure

The essay structure marks the final phase of preparing for your essay. A history essay has three main parts. The introduction, the body paragraphs, and the conclusion. When structuring your essay, you determine how your paragraphs shall be harmonized in order to develop a logical progression.

After the preparation phase, it is time to delve into the actual writing. There are three phases in a historical essay, the introduction, the body paragraphs, and the conclusion. When writing, adhere to the following tips to a good history essay:

• Begin with a captivating introduction 

The introduction is the first appeal to the reader. It also serves as the section of contention, and further direction. To captivate your reader into reading further, you should take the introduction with a significant amount of gravitas. In this section be articulate, precise, and present a little context. Confidence is key to delivering a punchy introduction.  

• Write fully developed body paragraphs

The body paragraphs occupy the largest percentage of your essay. To develop complete paragraphs you are required to focus on a single topic in each paragraph. Treat that paragraph as an essay by itself. Go ahead and fully expound on the subject issue. Use an opening sentence, discuss the issue, and close with another sentence.  

• Finish with an effective conclusion 

Finally, your closing remarks. To achieve a good conclusion paragraph, you first need to know its purpose. A perfect conclusion paragraph should first restate your history essay’s contention, then polish up an ending that summarizes your main points without bringing in new information.

Top 80 Essay Topics About American History

The list below contains the top 80 essay topics about American history that you can choose from:

1. The conflict between the Native Americans and the colonists.
2. The opposition of the Mormons.
3. The impact of Mormons to American society and western development.
4. The reasons for the American Revolution.
5. The factors leading to the American Civil War.
6. The cause of the Great Depression.
7. The effects of the Great Depression.
8. Reaganomics and the Great Depression.
9. The role of the USA in the First World War.
10. The role of the USA in the Second World War.
11. Did the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor push the USA into the Second World War?
12. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were unjustified.
13. How necessary was the Korean War to the United States?
14. The United States and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
15. The United States’ mistake with the Iraq War.
16. What were the American merits from the Mexican War?
17. Did America prove the Mexican Word?
18. The causes and effects of the Mexican War to America.
19. The role of women in the American Civil War.
20. The Cold War.
21. The reasons for the Vietnam War.
22. Was America justified to invade Vietnam?
23. The role of the anti-war movement in changing the opinions of the American government towards the war.
24. The influence of the media on public policy surrounding the Vietnam War.
25. The British colonization of North America.
26. The differences between the Northern and Southern colonies.
27. The lost colony of Roanoke.
28. The military crime of the Lai Massacre. 
29. How the United States became a superpower.
30. Is the United States’ status as a superpower under threat.
31. The creation of labor unions.
32. The influence of Martin Luther King on America.
33. The reasons for Martin Luther King’s assassination.
34. The effectiveness of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
35. The impact of John F. Kennedy on the United States.
36. The Mystery surrounding John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
37. How did the 9/11 tragedy change the outlook of the United States’ society?
38. Could the 9/11 attacks have been prevented?
39. The changes in the American security policies post 9/11.
40. The effects of 9/11 on American foreign policy.
41. The injustices suffered by Muslims post 9/11.
42. National Prohibition was a huge American mistake.
43. How did National Prohibition lead to an increase in crime and lawlessness?
44. Did the framers of the American constitution have the American people’s interests in mind?
45. The framers of the American constitution were more Aristocratic than Democratic minded.
46. The second amendment is the most controversial amendment in the American constitution.
47. How did slavery affect the American economy?
48. Should the government of the United States pay reparations to the African American families that suffered enslavement?
49. Slavery in America: how did it happen?
50. The effects of slavery on African American families.
51. Pre-Civil War conflicts over slavery: Nat Turner Rebellion.
52. Pre-Civil War conflicts over slavery: John Brown’s raid.
53. How did Dred Scott impact the issue of slavery?
54. The Pilgrims.
55. The influence of the Puritans to American society.
56. How were the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation remedies by the United States Constitution?
57. The main differences prior to the ratification of the constitution.
58. The outcome of the federalists versus anti-federalists.
59. The reasons behind Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.
60. The impact of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination on the reconstruction of the nation after the Civil War.
61. The impact electric power had on the American economy.
62. The challenges of developing inventions in the 19th century: (choose an inventor from the 19th century).
63. The impact of developing inventions in the 19th century: (choose an inventor from the 19th century).
64. The causes of the Harlen Renaissance.
65. The effects of the Harlem Renaissance.
66. The economic effects that led to the crash of the stock market in 1929.
67. Why the New Orleans flooding got so severe during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
68. The political impact Hurricane Katrina had on the United States.
69. How have the changes in women’s employment role in society in the 21st century?
70. Motivations towards the Oklahoma City Bombing.
71. Significant contributions made by women in the military.
72. How women in the military are overcoming discrimination.
73. Significant contributions made by African Americans in the military.
74. How African Americans in the military have overcome discrimination.
75. Was John F. Kennedy an effective president?
76. How does Barack Obama fit into American history?
77. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln should be equally held as America’s founding fathers.
78. The truth by Al Gore on the future of our environment and climate.
79. Why were Bill Clinton’s scandals so overlooked?
80. Jimmy Carter vs. Ronald Reagan: how the economy affected their campaign presidency and the results.