| The writing assignment for this course is a 5-7 page paper. Papers
must be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins left/right and top/bottom. You should
use a normal sized font (10 or 12 point). Please do not prepare an elaborate cover page or
use any kind of plastic folder or jacket. Simply type your name and course information in
the upper right hand corner of the first page, in the same way that I have done here.
Papers are due in class on 12/7. Late papers will be
penalized by 1 letter grade for each day, or portion of a day, late.
You may show me drafts of the paper any time before
then, which I will gladly critique and return to you within a day or so. For those of you
uncomfortable with paper writing, I strongly recommend this. Your final paper should be
closely proofread. Your grade will be adversely affected by excessive spelling and/or
grammatical errors.
If you go to the web site (TonyBall.com), and click on the
"Assignments" icon, you will see this document along with a link to
"Primary Sources" for each paper topic. Clicking "Primary Sources"
will send you to a list of primary sources which you must utilize in preparing your
papers. Clicking a particular document will bring that document up on the screen. You can
then read it or print it out for future reference. You don’t have to
use all the
documents; the list states which documents are relevant to which paper topics. In
addition, I am putting several items on reserve in the library downstairs.
These are listed under each paper topic; if I add more I will let you know
in class.
At the end of the paper you should provide a list of the sources utilized. If you have
used a primary source from the web site, simply cite that source in the same manner as it
appears on the list. For example, Richard Frethorne, Letter to His Parents (1623).
To cite other sources, refer to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, which I
have put on reserve in the library.
There are two types of additional research which you may need to do. First, you may
need to re-read specific parts of the textbook or other secondary sources to get
background information in your topic. Be very very very careful in utilizing secondary
sources. The purpose of this paper assignment is to get you to use historical evidence to
draw your own inferences and conclusions, not to rely on what another historian or writer
has to say. The most common reason for a low or failing grade on these paper
assignments is reliance on secondary rather than primary sources. You will definitely
receive a failing grade for plagiarism (i.e., passing off substantial portions of a
secondary source as your own writing).
You may also want to find additional primary sources. If you find these on the
Internet, be absolutely sure they are from legitimate sites and contain accurate and authentic
information. The sources that I am putting on the web pages and the materials on reserve
in the library should be sufficient for most of the topics. |
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| 3. Review the various slave narratives on-line
and on reserve in the library. To what extent do narratives published during the
18th and early 19th centuries present an accurate depiction of slavery and the slave
trade? What are some of the limitations of these narratives in understanding the
institution of slavery? How do other primary sources (official records, unpublished
correspondence, etc.) contribute to your understanding of the period? Primary Sources as
of 09/13/00: |
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John Barbot, Description of
the African slave trade (1682)
Reverend Peter Fontaine,
Defense of Slavery in Virginia (1757)
Slave Auction
Poster (1769)
Petition
of "A Grate Number of Blackes of the Province" (1774)
Thomas
Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1787)
Olaudah
Equiano, The Middle Passage (1788)
Alexander
Falconbridge, The African Slave Trade (1788)
Venture Smith, "A Narrative of the Life
and Adventures of Venture, A Native of Africa" (1798)
State v. Boon (1801)
Nat
Turner, Confession (1831)
Moses Roper Narrative (1837)
Runaway Slave
Poster (1847)
"Memoirs
of a Monticello Slave, as Dictated to Charles Campbell by Isaac" (1847)
National
Convention of Colored People, Report on Abolition (1847)
Solomon Northrup, Excerpts from Slave
Narrative (1853)
Benjamin
Drew, Narratives of Escaped Slaves (1855)
"Fredrick
Law Olmstead on the South" (1856 and 1860)
George
Fitzhugh, "The Blessings of Slavery" (1857)
Charles Ball, Excerpt from "Fifty Years
in Chains; or, the Life of an American Slave" (1858)
Rev. Josiah Henson, Excerpt from "Uncle
Tom's Story of His Life" (1877)
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| 5. Discuss the life of free African-Americans
in the United States between 1700 and 1850. What were some of the accomplishments of
the free African-American population? How were free African-Americans treated?
Were there any differences between northern and southern states in their treatment
of this population? Primary Sources as of 09/13/00: |
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Account
of John Marrant, a Free Black, of the Great Awakening (1785)
Benjamin Banneker, Letter to
Thomas Jefferson (1791)
Black Laws of Ohio (1804)
Philadelphia
Blacks Support Cuffe’s African Colonization Plan (1815)
Augustine
Education Society, "An Early Negro Educational Society" (1818)
Abraham Camp, Letter to
Elias B. Caldwell, Secretary of the Colonization Society (1818)
John B. Russwurm,
"Colonization Endorsed" (1829)
James Thomas,
Attending School in Tennessee (1830’s)
Maria W. Stewart,
"A Little Better than Slavery" (1832)
Runaway Slave
Poster (1847)
National
Convention of Colored People, Report on Abolition (1847)
Harriet
Bolling’s Certificate of Freedom (1850’s)
Population Patterns
in the South: Whites, Slaves and Free Blacks, by State (1860)
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| 8. Utilizing the primary sources available to you,
describe what life was like along the Oregon Trail (1840's). What motivated families
to migrate west during this period? What explained the mass migration that began in
1843? How did this and other "pioneer" experiences shape American culture
and values during the 19th century? Note: For this paper, there are also two
important sources on reserve in the HCC Library: (Lillian Schlissel, ed., Women's
Diaries of the Westward Journey and Sanford Wexler, ed., Westward Expansion: An
Eyewitness History)
Primary Sources as of 09/13/00 (More
Forthcoming): |
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St.
Joseph Gazette, Oregon Emigrants (1845)
Elizabeth
Dixon Smith Greer, Journal (1847-1850)
Correspondence to
the Kansas Herald (1854)
Chief
Seattle, Oration (1854)
Catherine Sager
Pringle, Across the Plains in 1844 (1860)
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| 11. Consider American visual arts during the 18th and
19th centuries. How did changing themes and styles reflect changes in the broader
society? Warning: If you select this topic, DO NOT look
at the sample paper on American Art. It will only make your
task more difficult to come up with original ideas. Primary Sources as of 09/13/00: |
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Unknown
Artist, The Mason Children: David, Joanna, and Abigail (1670)
Joseph
Badger, Hannah Minot Moody (1758)
Charles Willson
Peale, New England Merchant (1765)
John Singleton
Copley, Portrait of Elizabeth, The Artist’s Daughter (1776)
Ralph Earl,
Gentleman with Attendant (c. 1785)
Ralph Earl, The Striker
Sisters (1787)
Charles Willson
Peale, Benjamin and Eleanor Ridgely Laming (1788)
Mather Brown,
Sir Richard Arkwright (1790)
Gilbert Stuart,
John Jay (1794)
Joshua Jackson, The
Westwood Children (c. 1807)
Samuel Lovett
Waldo, "Pat, The Independent Beggar" (c.1810)
Margaretta
Angelica Peale, Melons and Pears (1820)
Thomas Cole,
"The Clove, Catskills" (c.1827)
Alvan Fisher,
Waiting for the Stage Coach (1834)
Edward Hicks, The
Peaceable Kingdom (1846)
William Tylee
Ranney, Shad Fishing on the Hudson (1846)
George Caleb Bingham,
Boatmen on the Missouri (1846)
William Sidney
Mount, At the Well (1848)
George Caleb Bingham,
Country Politician (1849)
George Henry
Durrie, Winter in New England (1851)
Lilly Martin
Spencer, This Little Pig Went to Market (1857)
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| 12. What motivated John Brown and more radical
abolitionists in the years immediately before the Civil War? Why did the controversy
over slavery become violent during the late 1850's? What effect did the Dred
Scott Decision (1857) and the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) have
on the debate? Primary Sources as of 09/13/00: |
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William
Lloyd Garrison, from The Liberator (1831)
De
Bow’s Review, "The Stability of the Union," (1850)
Harriet
Beecher Stowe, from Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
"Fredrick
Law Olmstead on the South" (1856 and 1860)
George
Fitzhugh, "The Blessings of Slavery" (1857)
Roger
B. Taney, The Dred Scott Decision (1857)
Abraham
Lincoln, Debate at Gatesburg, Illinois (1858)
George & Mary
Mauzy, Letters on John
Brown (1859)
Henry David Thoreau, "A Plea
for Captain John Brown" (1859)
Declaration of
Causes of the Seceding States (1860, 1861)
Frederick Douglass, John Brown Oration
(1881) |
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