Transcript Document

WRITING A DBQ:
*
AP U.S. History
1
What Is a DBQ?
• An essay question that asks you to take a
position on an issue that has several
possible answers
• No “right” or “correct” response
• You must craft a thesis based on your own
knowledge and your interpretation of the
evidence presented
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DBQ Documents
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Charts, graphs, and maps
Newspaper articles/editorials
Speeches
Letters
Diaries
Laws
Treaties
Executive orders
Editorial cartoons
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Prompt Analysis Format
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The Question
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Read the question carefully,
then think about the following:
What is the essence of the question?
Is it a yes/no, “to what extent,” or “compare
and contrast” question?
Does it have more than one part?
Are there bullets provided?
Is there a choice of responses?
5
Sample DBQ: Multipart Question
Discuss the changing ideals of American
womanhood between the American Revolution
(1770s) and the outbreak of the Civil War.
What factors fostered the emergence of “republican
motherhood” and the “cult of domesticity”?
Assess the extent to which these ideals influenced
the lives of women during this period.
In your answer be sure to consider issues of race
and class.
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Key Terms
Discuss the changing ideals of American
womanhood between the American Revolution
(1770s) and the outbreak of the Civil War.
What factors fostered the emergence of “republican
motherhood” and the “cult of domesticity”?
Assess the extent to which these ideals influenced
the lives of women during this period.
In your answer be sure to consider issues of race
and class.
7
Date Parameters
Discuss the changing ideals of American
womanhood between the American Revolution
(1770s) and the outbreak of the Civil War.
What factors fostered the emergence of “republican
motherhood” and the “cult of domesticity”?
Assess the extent to which these ideals influenced
the lives of women during this period.
In your answer be sure to consider issues of race
and class.
8
Date Parameters (continued)
• Does the question state specific dates? What
are they?
• If no specific date parameters are given, set
ones of your own
• List presidents of the period
• Put the question in chronological context of
the events and culture of the period
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Construct a Database
• Use a database to organize outside
information you know that may be relevant
to the question
• Write down headings on the back of your
test booklet
• Create the database before you read the
documents
• Next, read the documents and add any other
info to your database that occurs to you
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Analyzing the Documents
• A document is not a fact, but a piece of
evidence to interpret
• Point of view is crucial
• Does the document support or refute your
thesis?
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Analyzing the Documents:
SOAPS
• S subject
What is being discussed?
• O occasion What is the context of events?
• A audience To whom is the message
directed?
• P purpose What is the recommended action
to the reader?
• S speaker What/who is the source?
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Analyzing the Documents:
APPARTS
• A=Author: Who created the source? What do you
know about the author? What is the author’s point
of view?
• P=Place and time: Where and when was the
source produced? How might this have affected the
content of the source?
• P=Prior knowledge: Beyond information
about the author and the context of its
creation, what do you know that would
help you further understand the source?
13
Analyzing the Documents:
APPARTS (continued)
• A=Audience: For whom was the source created?
How might this affect the reliability of the source?
• R=Reason why: Why was this source produced? How
might this affect the reliability of the source?
• T=The main idea: What point is the source trying to
convey?
• S=Significance: Why is this source important?
Ask yourself, “So what?” in relation to the
question asked.
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The First Paragraph
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Insight: analysis, perspective, point of view
Make a strong first impression
Provide analysis of the question
The reader should know your position on
the question unequivocally after the first
paragraph
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The Thesis Statement
• A positive assertion regarding an issue
about which reasonable people may hold
different opinions
• Answers the question in one sentence
• Use your notes and database to organize
your arguments
• Don’t discuss the documents in the order in
which the DBQ presents them
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The Body of the Essay
• Provide factual support for your thesis
• Stay focused on the question
• Don’t just write down everything you know
about the topic
• Chronological sequence is more important
than precise dates
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The Body of the Essay
(continued)
• Stick to the facts; don’t editorialize
• Make sure that each point you make
supports your thesis
• Include outside information
• Cite a majority of the documents
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The Conclusion
If time permits, write a conclusion that
provides the following information: if my
thesis is correct, then ________ is true.
An example: If the Navigation Acts were not
economically oppressing the colonists, then
we must look elsewhere for the basic causes
of the American Revolution.
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Prompt Analysis Format: Summary
1. What is the ESSENCE of the question?
2. What key terms need to be DEFINED?
3. Are the date PARAMETERS stated?
4. Construct a DATABASE
5. Analyze the documents (SOAPS or APPARTS). Always
take POINT OF VIEW into account.
6. Provide INSIGHT into the complexity of the question
7. Write a clear THESIS that answers the question in one
sentence
8. Provide abundant and appropriate factual SUPPORT for
your thesis
9. If time permits, write a CONCLUSION
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DBQ Facts & Tips
• Within the free-response section, the DBQ
counts for 50% and the other two essays
count for 25% each.
• You have 210 minutes to write the freeresponse section. That’s roughly 60 minutes
for the DBQ and 35 minutes each for the
other essays.
• Handwriting matters!
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DBQ #1
22
Question
Using information from the evidence (that
follows) as well as your knowledge of the
period, to what extent did the presidency of
Andrew Jackson bring about a social,
economic, and political revolution?
23
Prompt Analysis Format
Let’s apply the prompt analysis format to this
question.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
ESSENCE
DEFINITIONS
PARAMETERS
DATABASE
POINT OF VIEW
INSIGHT
THESIS
SUPPORT
CONCLUSION
24
What is the ESSENCE of the
question, and what kind of
judgment is it asking you to make?
Using information from the evidence (that
follows) as well as your knowledge of the
period, to what extent did the presidency of
Andrew Jackson bring about a social,
economic, and political revolution?
25
Does the answer have
more than one part?
Using information from the evidence (that
follows) as well as your knowledge of the
period, to what extent did the presidency of
Andrew Jackson bring about a social,
economic, and political revolution?
26
What key terms need to be
DEFINED?
Using information from the evidence (that
follows) as well as your knowledge of the
period, to what extent did the presidency of
Andrew Jackson bring about a social,
economic, and political revolution?
27
What are the PARAMETERS?
Using information from the evidence (that
follows) as well as your knowledge of the
period, to what extent did the presidency of
Andrew Jackson bring about a social,
economic, and political revolution?
28
Construct a DATABASE
SOCIAL
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC
29
SOCIAL
• Era of social reform
• Influence of Second Great
Awakening
– Prohibition of alcohol
– Indian removal
– Religious revival
– Education reform
– Prison
– Women’s issues
– Abolition
– Belief in the perfectibility
of man and society
– Labor reaction to the
Industrial Revolution
• Anti-intellectual
• Era of common man
• Frontier myth
• Utopian communities
Construct a
DATABASE
30
ECONOMIC
• The Bank War
– Nicholas Biddle
– Private profit and
accountability
– Removal of federal
deposits
– Pet banks
• Government responsibility for
prosperity
• Compromise Tariff of 1833
• Panic of 1837
• Specie Circular
• French debt question
– seizing French assets
Construct a
DATABASE
31
POLITICAL
• Caucus overthrown
• Nominating conventions begin
• Strong Executive
– Using presidential influence in Congress
– Jackson vetoes
– Nullification controversy
• Extension of suffrage
– Elimination of property and religious
restrictions
– Holding office
– More elective offices
– Humble appeal to voters
• Popular participation
• Mass rallies and movements
• Slogans
• Log cabin
• Man of the people
• Presidential electors
• Nullification proclamation and sectionalism
• Spoils system
• Influence beyond his terms
• BUS in politics
• Texas question
• Tyranny of the majority
• Belief in minimal government
• Jackson’s contradictory states’ rights and federal
supremacy positions
Construct a
DATABASE
32
Provide your INSIGHT
Using information from the evidence (that
follows) as well as your knowledge of the
period, to what extent did the presidency of
Andrew Jackson bring about a social,
economic, and political revolution?
33
READ and ANALYZE the
documents
DATABASE
INTERPRETATION
34
Document A
Source: Margaret Bayard Smith's Eyewitness Account of
Jackson's Inauguration (1829)
An almost breathless silence, succeeded and the multitude was still,—
listening to catch the sound of his voice, tho’ it was so low, as to be
heard only by those nearest to him. After reading his speech, the oath
was administered to him by the Chief Justice. The Marshal presented
the Bible. The President took it from his hands, pressed his lips to it,
laid it reverently down, then bowed again to the people—Yes, to the
people in all their majesty. And had the spectacle closed here, even
Europeans must have acknowledged that a free people, collected in
their might, silent and tranquil, restrained solely by a moral power,
without a shadow around of military force, was majesty, rising to
sublimity, and far surpassing the majesty of Kings and Princes,
surrounded with armies and glittering in gold…
35
Document B
Source: Margaret Bayard Smith's Eyewitness Account of
Jackson's Inauguration (1829)
The whole of the preceding day, immense crowds were coming into
the city from all parts, lodgings could not be obtained, and the
newcomers had to go to George Town…I was told the Avenue and
adjoining streets were so crowded on Tuesday afternoon that it was
difficult to pass…
No arrangements had been made [and] no police officers placed on
duty and the whole house had been inundated by the rabble mob…
The President, after having been literally nearly pressed to death and
almost suffocated and torn to pieces by the people in their eagerness
to shake hands with Old Hickory, had retreated through the back way
or south front and had escaped to his lodgings at Gadsby's. Cut glass
and china to the amount of several thousand dollars had been broken
in the struggle to get the refreshments, punch and other articles had
been carried out in tubs and buckets…
36
Document C
Source: Jackson Announces His Policy of Rotation in Office
(1829)
In a country where offices are created solely for the benefit of the
people no one man has any more intrinsic right to official station
than another. Offices were not established to give support to
particular men at the public expense. No individual wrong is,
therefore, done by removal, since neither appointment to nor
continuance in office is a matter of right. The incumbent became an
officer with a view to public benefits, and when these require his
removal they are not to be sacrificed to private interests. It is the
people, and they alone, who have a right to complain when a bad
officer is substituted for a good one.
37
Document D
Source: Letter from Mrs. Barney to President Jackson (1829)
The injustice of your new principle of “Reform” would have been
too glaring had it been at once boldly unfolded; and hence is it that it
was brought out by degrees. At first it was pretended that those only
who had made use of office as an engine for electioneering purposes
were to be “reformed away.” But when it was discovered that there
were in place very many of your own friends who had been guilty of
this unconstitutional impropriety; as you have been pleased to call it,
who, contrary to any feeling of gratitude or sense of duty, had stung
the bosom which warmed, and the hand which fed them, making use
of their office in the gift of Mr. Adams, as the means of furthering
your designs upon the Presidency to his exclusion, and that your rule
was a “two-edged sword,” which, if honestly borne, would “cut
upon both sides,” it was soon carefully withheld, and finally gave
way to a much more comprehensive scheme of reform.
38
Document E
Source: President Jackson's Veto Message Regarding the Bank
of the United States (1832)
A bank of the United States is in many respects convenient for the
Government and useful to the people. Entertaining this opinion, and
deeply impressed with the belief that some of the powers and
privileges possessed by the existing bank are unauthorized by the
Constitution, subversive of the rights of the States, and dangerous to
the liberties of the people, I felt it my duty at an early period of my
Administration to call the attention of Congress to the practicability
of organizing an institution combining all its advantages and
obviating these objections. I sincerely regret that in the act before me
I can perceive none of those modifications of the bank charter which
are necessary, in my opinion, to make it compatible with justice, with
sound policy, or with the Constitution of our country… In the
bearings of the act before me upon these points I find ample reasons
why it should not become a law.
39
Document F
Source: King
Andrew the
First (1832)
40
Document G
Source: South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification (1832)
We, therefore, the people of the state of South Carolina, in convention
assembled, do declare and ordain and it is hereby declared and ordained, that
the several acts and parts of acts of the Congress of the United States,
purporting to be laws for the imposing of duties and imposts on the
importation of foreign commodities, and now having actual operation and
effect within the United States, and, more especially, an act entitled “An act in
alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imports,” approved on the
nineteenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight and also
an act entitled “An act to alter and amend the several acts imposing duties on
imports,” approved on the fourteenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred
and thirty-two, are unauthorized by the constitution of the United States, and
violate the true meaning and intent thereof and are null, void, and no law, nor
binding upon this State, its officers or citizens; and all promises, contracts,
and obligations, made or entered into, or to be made or entered into, with
purpose to secure the duties imposed by said acts, and all judicial proceedings
which shall be hereafter had in affirmance thereof, are and shall be held
utterly null and void.
41
Document H
Source: President Jackson's Proclamation Regarding
Nullification (1832)
The ordinance is founded, not on the indefeasible right of resisting acts which
are plainly unconstitutional, and too oppressive to be endured, but on the strange
position that any one State may not only declare an act of Congress void, but
prohibit its execution—that they may do this consistently with the
Constitution—that the true construction of that instrument permits a State to
retain its place in the Union, and yet be bound by no other of its laws than those
it may choose to consider as constitutional…
But reasoning on this subject is superfluous, when our social compact in express
terms declares, that the laws of the United States, its Constitution, and treaties
made under it, are the supreme law of the land; and for greater caution adds,
"that the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the
Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."
Look, for a moment, to the consequence. If South Carolina considers the
revenue laws unconstitutional, and has a right to prevent their execution in the
port of Charleston, there would be a clear constitutional objection to their
collection in every other port, and no revenue could be collected anywhere; for
all imposts must be equal.
42
Document I
Source: Cherokee Letter protesting the Treaty of New
Etocha, 1836
By the stipulations of this instrument [Treaty of New Etocha], we are
despoiled of our private possessions, the indefeasible property of individuals.
We are stripped of every attribute of freedom and eligibility for legal selfdefense. Our property may be plundered before our eyes; violence may be
committed on our persons; even our lives may be taken away, and there is
none to regard our complaints. We are denationalized; we are disfranchised.
We are deprived of membership in the human family! We have neither land
nor home, nor resting place that can be called our own. And this is effected
by the provisions of a compact which assumes the venerated, the sacred
appellation of treaty.
We are overwhelmed! Our hearts are sickened, our utterance is paralyzed,
when we reflect on the condition in which we are placed, by the audacious
practices of unprincipled men, who have managed their stratagems with so
much dexterity as to impose on the Government of the United States, in the
face of our earnest, solemn, and reiterated protestations.
43
Document J
44
Write your THESIS
Using information from the evidence (that
follows) as well as your knowledge of the
period, to what extent did the presidency of
Andrew Jackson bring about a social,
economic, and political revolution?
45
SUPPORT your thesis
Using information from the evidence (that
follows) as well as your knowledge of the
period, to what extent did the presidency of
Andrew Jackson bring about a social,
economic, and political revolution?
46
DBQ #2
47
Question
Thomas A. Bailey writes that “Grant was an
ignorant and confused President, and his eight
long years of blunderland are generally
regarded as a national disgrace.” C. Van
Woodward describes the Grant years as “the
all-time low point in statesmanship and
political morality in our history.” To what
extent do you feel that these judgments are
correct?
48
Prompt Analysis Format
Let’s apply the prompt analysis format to this
question.
1. ESSENCE
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
DEFINITIONS
PARAMETERS
DATABASE
POINT OF VIEW
INSIGHT
THESIS
SUPPORT
CONCLUSION
49
What is the ESSENCE of the
question, and what kind of
judgment is it asking you to make?
Thomas A. Bailey writes that “Grant was an
ignorant and confused President, and his eight long
years of blunderland are generally regarded as a
national disgrace.” C. Van Woodward describes the
Grant years as “the all-time low point in
statesmanship and political morality in our history.”
To what extent do you feel that these judgments are
correct?
50
Does the answer have more than
one part?
Thomas A. Bailey writes that “Grant was an
ignorant and confused President, and his eight
long years of blunderland are generally
regarded as a national disgrace.” C. Van
Woodward describes the Grant years as “the alltime low point in statesmanship and political
morality in our history.” To what extent do you
feel that these judgments are correct?
51
What key terms need to be
DEFINED?
Thomas A. Bailey writes that “Grant was an
ignorant and confused President, and his eight
long years of blunderland are generally
regarded as a national disgrace.” C. Van
Woodward describes the Grant years as “the alltime low point in statesmanship and political
morality in our history.” To what extent do you
feel that these judgments are correct?
52
What are the PARAMETERS?
Thomas A. Bailey writes that “Grant was an
ignorant and confused President, and his eight
long years of blunderland are generally
regarded as a national disgrace.” C. Van
Woodward describes the Grant years as “the alltime low point in statesmanship and political
morality in our history.” To what extent do you
feel that these judgments are correct?
53
Construct a DATABASE
HISTORIANS CORRUPTION INEFFECTIVE?
54
HISTORIANS
“Grant was an ignorant and
confused President, and his eight
long years of blunderland are
generally regarded as a national
disgrace.”—Thomas A. Bailey
“…the all-time low point in
statesmanship and political
morality in our history.”
—C. Van Woodward
Construct a
DATABASE
Arthur Schlesinger places him
among the failures in his 1948
and 1962 presidential ratings.
55
CORRUPTION
•
•
•
•
•
•
Civil Service Commission
Credit Mobilier
Tweed Ring
Whiskey Ring
Gold scandal
“Salary grab”
Construct a
DATABASE
56
INEFFECTIVE?
• Led nation through difficult
post-Civil War era
• Economic policies
• Vetoed Inflation Bill of 1874
• Signed Resumption Act
• Settled Alabama claims
• Prevented two potential wars
• Treaty with Hawaii
• Helped resolve 1876 election
• Appointed first Civil Service
Commission
• First steps toward building the
Panama Canal
• Enforced Reconstruction and
protected newly freed slaves
• Elected twice
Construct a
DATABASE
57
Provide your INSIGHT
Thomas A. Bailey writes that “Grant was an
ignorant and confused President, and his eight
long years of blunderland are generally
regarded as a national disgrace.” C. Van
Woodward describes the Grant years as “the alltime low point in statesmanship and political
morality in our history.” To what extent do you
feel that these judgments are correct?
58
READ and ANALYZE the
documents
DATABASE
INTERPRETATION
59
Document A
Source: President Grant's First Inaugural Address, March 4,
1869
The country having just emerged from a great rebellion, many
questions will come before it for settlement in the next four years
which preceding Administrations have never had to deal with. In
meeting these it is desirable that they should be approached
calmly, without prejudice, hate, or sectional pride, remembering
that the greatest good to the greatest number is the object to be
attained. This requires security of persons, property, and free
religious and political opinion in every part of our common
country, without regard to local prejudice. All laws to secure
these ends will receive my best efforts for their enforcement…
60
Document B
Source: President Grant’s Second Inaugural Address, 1873
The effects of the late civil strife have been to free the slave and
make him a citizen. Yet he is not possessed of the civil rights
which citizenship should carry with it. This is wrong, and should
be corrected —To this correction I stand committed, so far as
Executive influence can avail.
Social equality is not a subject to be legislated upon, nor shall I
ask that anything be done to advance the social status of the
colored man, except to give him a fair chance to develop what
there is good in him, give him access to the schools, and when he
travels let him feel assured that his conduct will regulate the
treatment and fare he will receive.
61
Document C
Source: Civil Rights Act of 1875
…all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be entitled to
the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities,
and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and
other places of public amusement; subject only to the conditions and
limitations established by law, and applicable alike to citizens of every race
and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude.
Sec. 2. That any person who shall violate the foregoing section by denying to
any citizen, shall, for every such offense, forfeit and pay the sum of five
hundred dollars to the person...
Sec. 4. That no citizen possessing all other qualifications which are or may be
prescribed by law shall be disqualified for service as grand or petit juror in
any court of the United States, or of any State, on account of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude…
62
Document D
Source: “Salary Grab”—Act of Congress, 1873
AN ACT
Making Appropriations for the legislative, executive and
judicial Expenses of the Government for the Year ending June
thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the
following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, out
of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the
service of the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred
and seventy-four, for the objects hereinafter expressed….
63
Document E
Source: Specie Resumption Act of 1875
To provide for the resumption of specie payments.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That the
Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and required…
to cause to be coined at the mints of the United States, silver coins
of the denominations of ten, twenty-five, and fifty cents, of
standard value, and to issue them in redemption of an equal
number and amount of fractional currency of similar
denominations, or, at his discretion, he may issue such silver coins
through the mints, the subtreasuries, public depositories, and postoffices of the United States; and, upon such issue, he is hereby
authorized and required to redeem an equal amount of such
fractional currency, until the whole amount of such fractional
currency outstanding shall be redeemed.
64
Document F
65
Document G
Source: Treaty of Washington, 1871
…Whereas differences have arisen between the Government of the United States and
the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, and still exist, growing out of the acts
committed by the several vessels which have given rise to the claims generically
known as the Alabama Claims.
And whereas Her Britannic Majesty has authorized Her High Commissioners and
Plenipotentiaries to express, in a friendly spirit, the regret felt by Her Majesty's
Government for the escape, under whatever circumstances, of the Alabama and other
vessels from British ports, and for the depredations committed by those vessels:
Now, in order to remove and adjust all complaints…the High Contracting Parties
agree that all the said claims, growing out of acts committed by the aforesaid vessels
and generically known as the “Alabama claims,'' shall be referred to a Tribunal of
Arbitration to be composed of five Arbitrators, to be appointed in the following
manner, that is to say: one shall be named by the President of the United States; one
shall be named by Her Britannic Majesty; His Majesty the King of Italy shall be
requested to name one; the President of the Swiss Confederation shall be requested to
name one; and His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil shall be requested to name one.
66
Document H
Source: U.S. business activity before and after Resumption Act,
67
Write your THESIS
Thomas A. Bailey writes that “Grant was an
ignorant and confused President, and his eight
long years of blunderland are generally
regarded as a national disgrace.” C. Van
Woodward describes the Grant years as “the alltime low point in statesmanship and political
morality in our history.” To what extent do you
feel that these judgments are correct?
68
SUPPORT your thesis
Thomas A. Bailey writes that “Grant was an
ignorant and confused President, and his eight
long years of blunderland are generally
regarded as a national disgrace.” C. Van
Woodward describes the Grant years as “the alltime low point in statesmanship and political
morality in our history.” To what extent do you
feel that these judgments are correct?
69
DBQ #3
70
Question
Using information from the evidence below as
well as your knowledge of the period, to what
extent were the social, economic, and political
changes in America during World War II
permanent?
71
Prompt Analysis Format
Let’s apply the prompt analysis format to this
question.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
ESSENCE
DEFINITIONS
PARAMETERS
DATABASE
POINT OF VIEW
INSIGHT
THESIS
SUPPORT
CONCLUSION
72
What is the ESSENCE of the
question, and what kind of
judgment is it asking you to make?
Using information from the evidence below as
well as your knowledge of the period, to what
extent were the social, economic, and political
changes in America during World War II
permanent?
73
Does the answer have more than
one part?
Using information from the evidence below as
well as your knowledge of the period, to what
extent were the social, economic, and political
changes in America during World War II
permanent?
74
What key terms need to be
DEFINED?
Using information from the evidence below as
well as your knowledge of the period, to what
extent were the social, economic, and political
changes in America during World War II
permanent?
75
What are the PARAMETERS?
Using information from the evidence below as
well as your knowledge of the period, to what
extent were the social, economic, and political
changes in America during World War II
permanent?
76
Construct a DATABASE
SOCIAL
ECONOMIC
POLITICAL
77
SOCIAL
• Casualties, both physical
and mental
• Displaced persons
• Impact on colonial
peoples
• African Americans
• Japanese Americans
• Women
• Demographic shifts
Construct a
DATABASE
78
ECONOMIC
• New weapons
• Expansion of government
powers
• Boom for business; full
employment
• Huge cost of war
• Dislocation of trade
• Property damage,
ecological damage
• Atomic power
• Military-industrial
complex
• Technological revolution
Construct a
DATABASE
79
POLITICAL
• The United Nations
• Polarization of the world,
Cold War
• Controls on civil liberties
• Four terms for FDR
• End to isolationism
(“non-entanglement”)
• Expansion of presidential
power
• Foreign aid
• Defeated powers
occupied
• Territorial changes
• War crimes trials
Construct a
DATABASE
80
Provide your INSIGHT
Using information from the evidence below as
well as your knowledge of the period, to what
extent were the social, economic, and political
changes in America during World War II
permanent?
81
READ and ANALYZE the
documents
DATABASE
INTERPRETATION
82
Document A
Source: Wilma Briggs, "A Farm Girl Plays Professional Baseball”
Had it not been for the war, I never would have played professional
baseball. That started because of the war. People didn't have money to
go places. Phil Wrigley of the Chicago Cubs was certain that all the
men would be drafted, and the major league ballparks would be
empty. That's the reason he started that league, the All-American Girls'
Professional Baseball League. So, because of the war, I got that
chance. That league started in 1943, and I joined it after high school in
1948. Had it not been for the war, that part of my life would never
have come to pass. And I think because I went out there and played
ball—I met a lot of people from all over the United States, Canada,
and Cuba, which I never would have done. I traveled, lived in the best
hotels, ate in restaurants, lived in private homes—that's an experience.
I think it gave me the courage years later to say, “I think I'll go to
college.”
83
Document B
Source: Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, lyrics, Rosie the
Riveter (1942)
Rosie's got a boyfriend,
All the day long, whether rain
Charlie.
or shine,
Charlie, he's a Marine.
She's a part of the assembly
line.
Rosie is protecting Charlie,
She's making history,
Working overtime on the
riveting machine.
Working for victory,
When they gave her a
Rosie the Riveter.
production “E,”
Keeps a sharp lookout for
She was as proud as she
sabotage,
could be.
Sitting up there on the
There's something true about,
fuselage.
Red, white, and blue about,
That little girl will do more
than a male will do.
Rosie the Riveter.
84
Document C
Source: That Damned Fence, anonymous poem circulated at the
Poston (AZ) Relocation Center
They've sunk the posts deep into the ground
They've strung out wires all the way around.
With machine gun nests just over there,
And sentries and soldiers everywhere.
We're trapped like rats in a wired cage,
To fret and fume with impotent rage;
Yonder whispers the lure of the night,
But that DAMNED FENCE assails our sight.
We seek the softness of the midnight air,
But that DAMNED FENCE in the floodlight
glare
Awakens unrest in our nocturnal quest,
And mockingly laughs with vicious jest.
With nowhere to go and nothing to do,
We feel terrible, lonesome, and blue:
That DAMNED FENCE is driving us crazy,
Destroying our youth and making us lazy.
Imprisoned in here for a long, long time,
We know we're punished—though we've
committed no crime,
Our thoughts are gloomy and enthusiasm damp,
To be locked up in a concentration camp.
Loyalty we know, and patriotism we feel,
To sacrifice our utmost was our ideal,
To fight for our country, and die, perhaps;
But we're here because we happen to be Japs.
We all love life, and our country best,
Our misfortune to be here in the West,
To keep us penned behind that DAMNED
FENCE,
Is someone's notion of NATIONAL
DEFENSE!
85
Document D
Source: GI Bill of Rights, 1944
AN ACT to provide Federal Government aid for the readjustment in civilian life
of returning World War II veterans.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the
“Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944”.
Chapter IV—Education of Veterans
Sec. 400. (a) Subsection (f) of section 1, title I, Public Law Numbered 2,
Seventy-third Congress, added by the Act of March 24, 1943 (Public Law
Numbered 16, Seventy-eighth Congress), is hereby amended to read as follows:
“(f) Any person who served in the active military or naval forces on or after
September 16, 1940, and prior to the termination of hostilities in the present war,
shall be entitled to vocational rehabilitation subject to the provisions and
limitations of Veterans Regulation Numbered 1(a), as amended, part VII, or to
education or training subject to the provisions and limitations of part VIII.”
86
Document E
A. Philip Randolph
87
Document F
88
Document G
89
Document H
Source: Harry S. Truman, Congressional Record, March 12, 1947
The peoples of a number of countries of the world have recently had totalitarian
regimes forced upon them against their will… I believe that it must be the policy
of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must
assist free peoples to work out their own destiny in their own way. I believe that
our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid, which is
essential to economic stability and orderly political processes.
The world is not static and the status quo is not sacred. But we cannot allow
changes in the status quo in violation of the Charter of the United Nations by
such methods as coercion, or by such subterfuge as political infiltration. In
helping free and independent nations to maintain their freedom, the United
States will be giving effect to the principles of the Charter of the United
Nations… The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining
their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the
world—and we shall surely endanger the welfare of our own Nation.
90
Document I
91
Document J
Source: Harry S. Truman, 1946
Sixteen Hours Ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on
Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base. That bomb had more
power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It had more than two thousand
times the blast power of the British ''Grand Slam'' which is the
largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.
The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have
been repaid many fold. And the end is not yet. With this bomb we
have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to
supplement the growing power of our armed forces. In their present
form these bombs are now in production and even more powerful
forms are in development.
92
Write your THESIS
Using information from the evidence below as
well as your knowledge of the period, to what
extent were the social, economic, and political
changes in America during World War II
permanent?
93
SUPPORT your thesis
Using information from the evidence below as
well as your knowledge of the period, to what
extent were the social, economic, and political
changes in America during World War II
permanent?
94