Title: Reading Check 5: Civil War in the West
Course: The American West: Power, Place, and Memory > Section: Week 7 · October 5–9, 2026: Civil War and Continental State-Building

Q: Why does a western frame change Civil War history?
- It removes slavery from the narrative
- It adds western battles to a fixed story
- It reveals land and governance struggles
- It proves the war concluded in 1863
A: It reveals land and governance struggles

Q: The phrase “continental state-building” directs attention to what?
- Only the conduct of election campaigns
- Expansion of federal administrative power
- Declining government capacity everywhere
- Private diary writing without institutions
A: Expansion of federal administrative power

Q: Which comparison best supports a Greater Reconstruction approach?
- Southern and western federal policies
- Two copies of an identical battle map
- Presidential biographies considered alone
- European economic statistics considered alone
A: Southern and western federal policies

Q: Name one piece of evidence from this unit and explain how its creator, audience, or collection context affects how a historian may use it.

Q: Make a one-sentence claim answering this unit question: How did the Civil War extend into the West, and whose freedom did wartime state-building secure? Then identify one limitation, uncertainty, or counterexample that keeps the claim from becoming too broad.