For Short Essay 2, you will explore the time period of the American Revolution and the forming of the New Nation. You will use one of the primary sources assigned in this module to guide your exploration of the time period. Recall, the primary sources assigned for this week are:
- Esther Reed, “The Sentiments of an American Woman," 1780
- Grace Growden Galloway’s Diary, 1778
- Hannah Griffitts, two poems about the Revolution, 1768-1776
- Women in South Carolina Experience Occupation, 1780
- Abigail and John Adams Converse on Women’s Rights, 1776
Once you select your primary source, you will pose three questions about the historical context based on your reading of your selected source. Your three questions should be about something related to that time period's context. What questions arose for you about the political, economic, military, cultural, or social aspects of the time when you read your source? This kind of questioning is modeled in this week's lecture.
When you have posed your three questions, you will write Short Essay 2. In Short Essay 2, you will address the following prompts:
- Introduce your primary source: who wrote the source? When did they write the source? What kind of source is it (letter, diary, article, etc.)?
- Introduce your three questions that you posed about the historical context.
- Briefly summarize your source. What is you source about?
- Answer your three questions using what you learned in American Yawp, chapters 5 and 6. Cite in-text evidence from American Yawp to support your explanation.
- Conclude your essay by answering the following question: Based on your readings, how did the American Revolution and/or the creation of the United States impact people's lives?
Short Essay 2 must be typed and submitted in a Word Document. This is an essay, so students should format, structure, and organize their ideas in a cohesive essay made up of paragraphs. The essay should be 500-800 words in length. Students must format their essay with MLA style page numbers and header. The essay must also be typed in Times New Roman 12-point font, double spaced. You may use this sample document as a template. Essays that do not adhere to the format guidelines will receive a 0, and they will not be accepted until they meet the format requirements. The late work policy will be applied here.
Finally, when you are citing from primary sources or American Yawp, use a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence where you cite the source. Use the source title and the year or the textbook title and chapter number.
For example: (Journal of Christopher Columbus, 1492) (American Yawp, Ch.5).
Primary Sources:
- Esther Reed, “The Sentiments of an American Woman," 1780
- Grace Growden Galloway’s Diary, 1778
- Hannah Griffitts, two poems about the Revolution, 1768-1776
- Women in South Carolina Experience Occupation, 1780
- Abigail and John Adams Converse on Women’s Rights, 1776.
Short Essay #3
In short essay 3, you will perform a close reading of one of the primary sources assigned for this week. Close reading is where a historian carefully scrutinizes a primary sources contents. In a close reading, a historian identifies the primary source's message or purpose, and analyzes how the message is being communicated or delivered. Using their analysis, they make inferences or provide insights about the time period. For short essay 3, select on the primary sources assigned this week. They include:- The Drunkard's Progress, 1846 by Nathaniel Currier
- The Fruit of Alcohol and Temperance Lithographs by Nathaniel Currier, 1849 - Click on the image to make it bigger
- The Bible and Temperance, 1836
- George Fitzhugh Argues that Slavery is Better than Liberty and Equality, 1854
- Mary Polk Branch remembers plantation life, 1912
- Proslavery Cartoon, 1850
- What is the source and who created it? When?
- Place the source in its historical context. What background information does your reader need to know to understand what is being communicated in the source? (Hint: depending on which source you select, you may want to explain a bit about religion and reform movements of the time, or about cotton, labor, and slavery during this time).
- What is the source's message or purpose?
- How does the source communicate its message? Analyze specific examples here.
- Based on your close reading, conclude by making an inference about this moment in time, or the people, places, institutions, or events that are being depicted in your source?