Write a 500-to-1,000-word argument-based essay in response to the following prompt: Physical Materials or Ideas: Based on US history in the early 1800s, were physical materials or ideas more impactful to people's lives? Pose a clear, strong argument and support it with examples from diverse groups of peoples alive during the early 1800s. A Note on the Terms -- Physical Materials and Ideas: Physical materials are any of the "things" that we can experience physically. Germs are experienced physically via health or sickness. Food, tools, clothes, shelter, technological developments, and money are physical materials, as are the land and our environment. Ideas would include social norms, cultural values, ideologies, religions/spiritual ideas, as well as ideas about race, gender, age, ability, etc.

Write a 500-to-1,000-word argument-based essay in response to the following prompt: Physical Materials or Ideas: Based on US history in the early 1800s, were physical materials or ideas more impactful to people's lives? Pose a clear, strong argument and support it with examples from diverse groups of peoples alive during the early 1800s. A Note on the Terms -- Physical Materials and Ideas: Physical materials are any of the "things" that we can experience physically. Germs are experienced physically via health or sickness. Food, tools, clothes, shelter, technological developments, and money are physical materials, as are the land and our environment. Ideas would include social norms, cultural values, ideologies, religions/spiritual ideas, as well as ideas about race, gender, age, ability, etc.