BE SURE TO CAREFULLY READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS Primary source documents are windows into the past – the words provide access into the ideas and thoughts of those who lived the history being studied. In...

BE SURE TO CAREFULLY READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS

Primary source documents are windows into the past – the words provide access into the ideas and thoughts of those who lived the history being studied. In order to peer through that window, we need to understand the context for those words, what led to the issues they describe, what caused those involved to take the positions they promoted, and what happened that prompted the authors to put those particular words to paper.

Each chapter in the Foner, “Give Me Liberty” text contains a Voices of Freedom (VOF) and each VOF consists of two primary source documents that deal with aspects of a particular historical issue. Some of the VOF documents present contrary positions of a historical debate while others merely present diverse perspectives on an issue, an event or a policy. Read the chapter in which the VOF is contained in order to understand the context for the documents in the VOF.

TheSource Analysisis a 500-800 word (two to three pages double-spaced) analysis of the assigned documents (see below) as primary sources. You are not required to write 800 words but you may if you need to. Please do not exceed the 800 word limit.

Be sure that you:

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  Address each of the six main points below. Use a separate paragraph for each point.
  
  
  


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  Proofread and turn in a final clean version of the assignment.
  


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  Use examples from the documents (quotes) to support the points you make.
  
  


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  You do not need to cite sources for the Source Analysis assignments.
  
  
  

Your analysis should cover the following main points. The questions listed with each point are intended to guide your analysis, but as long as you address each of the main points, it is not required that you answer each of the"guiding" questions.

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  1. Context:


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    Guiding Questions
    
    
    
    • What is the context, time frame? What was going on at the time? What is the issue that concerns the authors?
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


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  2. Authors and Audience:
  
  
  
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            Guiding Questions
            
            
            
            • Who are the authors? What audience do they address?
            
            
            • Who is involved in this issue or debate? Who is affected by the outcome of the debate and how are their interests related to this issue? How are the authors of the documents affected by the issues represented in the documents?
            
            
            
            
          
          
          
          
        
        
        
        
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


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  3. Arguments:
  
  
  
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    Guiding Questions
    
    
    
    • Examine the positions taken by the authors of the documents and the arguments used to support their position.
    
    
    • To what position does each document adhere? Why do they take this position? What arguments are presented in support of the position and how to they dispel arguments of those with contrary positions?
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


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  4. Summarize/Compare the Documents
  
  
  
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    Guiding Questions
    
    
    
    • What do they say? How do they compare with each other?
    
    
    • Why did the textbook author, Foner, choose to put these documents together?
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


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  5. Notion of Freedom:
  
  
  
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    Guiding Questions
    
    
    
    • What version of “freedom” is being depicted by these documents?
    
    
    • How is “freedom” used in the documents? To justify a position? To validate a complaint?
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


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  6. Link to today:
  
  
  
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    Guiding Questions
    
    
    
    • How does this issue reverberate in American history? To what threads of our history and current times does the issue relate?
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

This week's VOF Source Analysis documents:

Letter by Joseph Taper and "Slavery and the Bible", Foner textbook, p. 420-421.