AP US History question:

Compare the debates that took place over the American expansionism in the 1840s with those that took place in the 1890s, analyzing the similarities and differences in the debates of the two eras.

The primary difference in debate over expansion during these time periods was that the Civil War had come and gone--meaning in 1890 the debate was over whether new states would be slave or free, while in the 1890s it was about economic issues.