Task: Using the information from the documents in part A and your knowledge of US history, write an essay in which you
Discuss the development of self-governing structures in the United States.
Specifically, answer whether or not this is truly a government for and by the people.
Describe the impact of political precedent on the evolution of self governing structures in the United States.
Specifically, describe the impact of documents such as the Constitution and various Amendments on the evolution of self-governing structures in the United States.
Guidelines:
In your essay, be sure to:
Develop all aspects of the task
Incorporate information from at least three documents
Incorporate relevant outside information
Support the theme with relevant facts, examples, and details
Use a logical and clear plan of organization, including an introduction and a conclusion that are beyond a restatement of the theme
Part A | Short-Answer Questions
Directions: Analyze the documents and take notes on how the document can be used in your essay.
Document 1
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The following resolutions were adopted at the recent Convention of the Western New York Anti-Slavery Society, held in Corinthian Hall: Resolved [Agreed], . . .That they who teach obedience to the Fugitive Slave Law, while they admit that the law is unjust, cruel and disgraceful, prove themselves destitute of moral principle, if not of moral sense, and they are to be ranked with the hardened and obdurate [heartless] creatures who, for a few paltry dollars, will perform the disgusting office of slave-catcher to the slaveholder. . . . Resolved, That we regard the Fugitive Slave Law of the last Congress as a conspiracy against the liberties of our country, which ought to be resisted at all hazards of property and life, by all who love God and revere [honor] the memories of our revolutionary fathers.
Source: Abolitionist newspaper The North Star, April 3rd, 1851
Document 2
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“We have reason to conclude that all peaceful beginnings of government have been laid
in the consent of the people…The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not be under the will or legislative (law making) authority of man… but freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society… A liberty to follow my own will in all things where that rule prescribes not, not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of another man, as freedom of nature is to be under no other restraint but for his rule…Despotical power is an absolute, arbitrary power one man has over another, to take away his life, whenever he pleases. This is a power, which nature does not give…”
Source: John Locke – Two Treatises of Government (1690)
Document 3
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In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are written below, the loyal subjects of our Lord King James, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain….Having undertaken…a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these words promise and combine ourselves into a civil political body, for our better ordering and preservation of our society in the New World …to enact.. just and equal laws, ordinances, acts…for the general good of the colony, which we promise… to be chosen by majority rule.
Source: Mayflower Compact, November 11th 1620
Document 4
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With violence and disturbance in the natural world, we see a constant effort to maintain an equilibrium of forces. Nature, like a loving mother, is ever trying to keep land and sea, mountain and valley, each in its place, to hush the angry winds and waves, balance the extremes of heat and cold, of rain and drought, that peace, harmony, and beauty may reign supreme. There is a striking analogy between matter and mind, and the present disorganization of society warns us that in the dethronement of women we have let loose the elements of violence and ruin that she only has the power to curb. If the civilization of the age calls for an extension of the suffrage, surely a government of the most virtuous educated men and women would better represent the whole and protect the interests of all than could the representation of either sex alone.
Source: Speech by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Women’s Suffrage Convention 1868)
Document 5
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… THE RIGHT TO VOTE
Our fathers believed that if this noble view of the rights of man was to flourish, it must be rooted in democracy. The most basic right of all was the right to choose your own leaders. The history of this country, in large measure, is the history of the expansion of that right to all of our people. Many of the issues of civil rights are very complex and most difficult. But about this there can and should be no argument. Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to ensure that right. Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes [African Americans].… This bill will strike down restrictions to voting in all elections—Federal, State, and local—which have been used to deny Negroes the right to vote.… To those who seek to avoid action by their National Government in their own communities; who want to and who seek to maintain purely local control over elections, the answer is simple: Open your polling places to all your people. Allow men and women to register and vote whatever the color of their skin. Extend the rights of citizenship to every citizen of this land.…
Source: President Lyndon B. Johnson, Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise, March 15, 1965
Part B | Essay
Directions: Write a well-organized essay that includes an introduction, several paragraphs, and a conclusion. Use evidence from at least three documents in your essay. Support your response with relevant facts, examples, and details. Include additional outside information.
Historical Context: The democracy of the United States has evolved throughout its history from a variety of different mechanisms. Between war, Amendments, legislation, and other acts, the definition of the ‘people’ that the government is by and for has changed drastically.
Task: Using the information from the documents in part A and your knowledge of US history, write an essay in which you:
Discuss the development of self-governing structures in the United States.
Specifically, answer whether or not this is truly a government for and by the people.
Describe the impact of political precedent on the evolution of self governing structures in the United States.
Specifically, describe the impact of documents such as the Constitution and various Amendments on the evolution of self-governing structures in the United States.
Guidelines:
In your essay, be sure to:
Develop all aspects of the task
Incorporate information from at least three documents
Incorporate relevant outside information
Support the theme with relevant facts, examples, and details
Use a logical and clear plan of organization, including an introduction and a conclusion that are beyond a restatement of the theme
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