Due on July 13 by 13:59 pm
For this essay assignment, you will need to select one or more primary sources that correspond to any of the historical periods that we will review in this class. You will then perform a close reading of that source or sources and write your essay with supporting examples. You will also use additional secondary sources to support your essay and for background information. Remember that sources similar to Wikipedia should be avoided.
The essay is to be typed, 4-5 pages in length, size 12 font, Times New Roman, double-spaced, and turned in on the due date. You must cite all sources according to the Chicago style format. http://www.citationmachine.net/chicago/cite-a-book
You will be submitting your paper to the corresponding Canvas module.
The analysis paper should begin with an introductory paragraph and a thesis statement. The introductory paragraph needs to be followed by several supporting paragraphs that answer the questions listed below and support your thesis statement.
Your analysis on the PRIMARY SOURCE must answer the following questions:
Clarify the historical context (author and audience, date, central issue) of the primary source. 1. What is the title of the primary source? Make sure to include the title of the document in the intro. 2. Explain the historical context of the primary source. 3. When was the document written? 4. Who is the author? 5. Who is the intended audience? 6. What is the central issue? 7. What does the document tells us about the historical era? 8. What is the author’s background or position in society? 9. What is the author’s bias? What does the author feel strongly in favor of or strongly against? 10. What does the primary source tell us about the historical era?
The essay must be in your own words and voice. If you need any help, feel free to ask me questions at any time.
Discussion1: FOCUS QUESTION
1) How did the Great Awakening challenge the religious and social structure of British North America?
The first printing press arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1638, at the recently founded Harvard College. It is hard to imagine that this wooden machine could wield enough power to change a culture and affect the history of a place and its people. By the mid-eighteenth century, the existence of printing presses in the colonies helped inform, entertain, and bring American colonists together culturally. We live in the world of instant communication, where the written word has the ability to be dispersed to millions of people instantaneously. However, the force of shared printed materials during the colonial period, and the ideas they conveyed, cannot be underestimated. The printed word provided wide public access to very powerful ideas.
Benjamin Franklin, thought of as the founder of the Enlightenment in America, famously believed in the ability of educated men to gain understanding of the natural world through scientific observation. Via his printing presses and publishing business, Franklin himself did much to spread Enlightenment sensibilities throughout the colonies in the form of a Farmer’s Almanac. The power of the press was also put to use in service of the spread of new religious ideas, such as those espoused during America’s first “Great Awakening,” a religious movement that caught fire in the colonies, in large part due to a literate population, receptive to learning about preachers who challenged the established British churches. They learned about those preachers and their sermons because of the growing access to printed materials from multiple sources, not just the established churches
DOCUMENTS
Document 1 is a video of the operation of a seventeenth-century printing press, a replica of the first printing press in the colonies, established at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1638. Imagine the time and effort to make even one copy of a newspaper or pamphlet and compare that with the ease of “Tweets.”
Document 2 is from Poor Richard’s Almanack. Benjamin Franklin began publishing the almanac, under the pseudonym Richard Saunders, in 1732. By 1753, the date of the attached excerpt, nearly every household in colonial America had a copy. The humorous sayings, advice, and educational information became part of the shared experience in the colonies, due to the availability of printed materials. The fact that Benjamin Franklin was the author and publisher of these almanacs helped spread Enlightenment sensibility, reason, and values.
Document 3 is an excerpt of a sermon given by Jonathan Edwards in 1741 that was later transcribed and distributed as pamphlets, allowing the words of Edwards to reach far beyond his congregation.
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Read Chapters 4-7 of the textbook.
2) Watch the YouTube clip Document 1,
3) Analyze Document 2, Poor Richard’s Almanack
4) Analyze Document 3, Sinners in the Hands of an angry GOD
5) Answer the questions that follow by Saturday by 11:59pm. You can post your comments to other students until Sunday by 11:59pm. Review the Welcome Message for more info on discussion requirements. Be sure to label your answers.
6) The discussion should reflect your own words. I use software to detect plagiarism, so do your own work and if you use ANY information from the internet it is better to be safe than sorry, so cite it. If you use the internet for help, with few exceptions like Wikipedia.org, questionable sources can be avoided by searching on reputable websites, especially those that end in .edu, .org or .gov. All other websites should be carefully considered and the information critically evaluated and questioned.
2 FOCUS QUESTION
What happened when the peoples of the Americas came in contact with Europeans?
The topic of European interaction with, and conquest of, the Americas is an important one. The two documents included in this exercise cannot possibly do the topic justice. However, they do offer a glimpse into the attitudes and experiences of both the Spanish and the indigenous people of Mexico at the time of the “collision of their cultures.”
DOCUMENTS
Document 1 is the Spanish ‘Requerimiento.’ This Law of Requirement, composed by officials of the Spanish monarchy, was read under ceremonial fanfare wherever Spanish ships landed on American shores.
Document 2 is an excerpt from a compilation of oral histories that tell of the conquest of what is now Mexico, from the perspective of the Aztecs themselves. This second document poses many challenges to modern historians. The history of Mexico was passed along from one generation to the next through oral traditions, along with artwork from the period (reproduced in the document). An anthropologist from the mid-twentieth century set these histories to paper. Consequently, the written account, an important source for historians, was created hundreds of years after the original event, which makes historical analysis and interpretation more difficult.
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Read Chapters 1-3 of the textbook.
2) Read Document 1, The Spanish Requerimiento of 1510.
3) Read Document 2, Excerpts from The Broken Spears: The Aztec account Account of the Conquest of Mexico.
4) Answer the questions that follow by Saturday by 11:59pm. You can post your comments to other students until Sunday by 11:59pm. Review the Welcome Message for more info on discussion requirements. Be sure to label your answers.
5) The discussion should reflect your own words. I use software to detect plagiarism, so do your own work and if you use ANY information from the internet it is better to be safe than sorry, so cite it. If you use the internet for help, with few exceptions like Wikipedia.org, questionable sources can be avoided by searching on reputable websites, especially those that end in .edu, .org or .gov. All other websites should be carefully considered and the information critically evaluated and questioned.
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER IN THE DISCUSSION BOARD
1) What is a primary source? What is a secondary source? Are Documents 1 and 2 primary sources or secondary sources? How do you know?
2) What is the purpose of Document 1 and 2?
3) What role did religion play in the Spanish conquest of Latin America?
4) List 3 three pieces of useful information a student of Latin American History can gather from an analysis of Document 2.
DOCUMENT 1
Requerimiento of 1510
(Accessed from National Humanities Center, 2006/2011: nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/.)
On the part of the King, Don Fernando, and of Doña Juana, his daughter, Queen of Castile, and León, subduers of the barbarous nations, we their servants notify and make known to you, as best we can, that the Lord our God, Living and Eternal, created the Heaven and the Earth, and one man and one woman, of whom you and we, all the men of the world, were and are descendants, and all those who came after us. But, on account of the multitude which has sprung from this man and woman in the five thousand years since the world was created, it was necessary that some men should go one way and some another, and that they should be divided into many kingdoms and provinces, for in one alone they could not be sustained.
Of all these nations God our Lord gave charge to one man, called St. Peter, that he should be Lord and Superior of all the men in the world, that all should obey him, and that he should be the head of the whole human race, wherever men should live, and under whatever law, sect, or belief they should be; and he gave him the world for his kingdom and jurisdiction.
And he commanded him to place his seat in Rome as the spot most fitting to rule the world from; but also he permitted him to have his seat in any other part of the world, and to judge and govern all Christians, Moors [Muslims], Jews, Gentiles, and all other sects. This man was called Pope, as if to say, Admirable Great Father and Governor of men. The men who lived in that time obeyed that St. Peter and took him for Lord, King, and Superior of the universe; so also they have regarded the others who after him have been elected to the pontificate, and so has it been continued even till now and will continue till the end of the world.
One of these Pontiffs [popes] who succeeded that St. Peter as Lord of the world, in the dignity and seat which I have before mentioned, made donation of these isles and Tierra-firme to the aforesaid King and Queen and to their successors, our lords, with all that there are in these territories, as is contained in certain writings which passed upon the subject as aforesaid, which you can see if you wish.
So their Highnesses are kings and lords of these islands and land of Tierra-firme by virtue of this donation: and some islands, and indeed almost all those to whom this has been notified, have received and served their Highnesses, as lords and kings, in the way that subjects ought to do, with good will, without any resistance, immediately, without delay, when they were informed of the aforesaid facts. And also they received and obeyed the priests whom their Highnesses sent to preach to them and to teach them our Holy Faith; and all these, of their own free will, without any reward or condition, have become Christians, and are so, and their Highnesses have joyfully and benignantly received them, and also have commanded them to be treated as their subjects and vassals; and you too are held and obliged to do the same. Wherefore, as best we can, we ask and require you that you consider what we have said to you, and that you take the time that shall be necessary to understand and deliberate upon it, and that you acknowledge the Church as the Ruler and Superior of the whole world, and the high priest called Pope, and in his name the King and Queen Doña Juana our lords, in his place, as superiors and lords and kings of these islands and this Tierra-firme by virtue of the said donation, and that you consent and give place that these religious fathers should declare and preach to you the aforesaid.
If you do so, you will do well, and that which you are obliged to do to their Highnesses, and we in their name shall receive you in all love and charity, and shall leave you, your wives, and your children, and your lands, free without servitude, that you may do with them and with yourselves freely that which you like and think best, and they shall not compel you to turn Christians, unless you yourselves, when informed of the truth, should wish to be converted to our Holy Catholic Faith, as almost all the inhabitants of the rest of the islands have done. And, besides this, their Highnesses award you many privileges and exemptions and will grant you many benefits.
But, if you do not do this, and maliciously make delay in it, I certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter into your country, and shall make war against you in all ways and manners that we can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of their Highnesses; we shall take you and your wives and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as their Highnesses may command; and we shall take away your goods, and shall do you all the mischief and damage that we can, as to vassals who do not obey, and refuse to receive their lord, and resist and contradict him; and we protest that the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault, and not that of their Highnesses, or ours, nor of these cavaliers who come with us. And that we have said this to you and made this Requisition, we request the notary here present to give us his testimony in writing, and we ask the rest who are present that they should be witnesses of this Requisition.
DOCUMENT 2
Motecuhzoma Awaits Word from the Messengers, an excerpt from The Broken Spears, The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico.
While the messengers were away, Motecuhzoma could neither sleep nor eat, and no one could speak with him. He thought that everything he did was in vain, and he sighed almost every moment. He was lost in despair, in the deepest gloom and sorrow. Nothing could comfort him, nothing could calm him, nothing could give him any pleasure.
He said, “What will happen to us? Who will outlive it? Ah, in other times I was contented, but now I have death in my hart! My heart burns and suffers, as if it were drowned in spices…! But will our lord come here?”
Then he gave orders to the watchmen, to the men who guarded the palace, “Tell me, even if I am sleeping, ‘the messengers have come back from the see’.” And he gave this order, “Two captives are to be painted with chalk.”
The messengers went to the house of the Serpent, and Motecuhzoma arrived. The two captives were sacrificed before his eyes, their breasts were torn open, and the messengers were sprinkled with their blood. This was done because the messengers had completed a difficult mission. They had seen the gods, their eyes had looked upon their faces. They had even conversed with the gods!
When the sacrifice was finished, the messengers reported to the king. They told him how they had made the journey, and what they had seen, and what food the strangers ate. Motecuhzoma was astonished and terrified by their report, and the description of the strangers’ food astonished him above all else.
He was also terrified to learn how the cannon roared, how its noise resounded, how it caused one to faint and grow deaf. The messengers told him, “A thing like a ball of stone comes out of its entrails, it comes out shooting sparks and raining fire. The smoke that comes out with it has a pestilent odor, like that of rotten mud. This odor penetrates even to the brain and the causes the greatest discomfort. If the cannon is aimed against a tree, it shatters the tree into splinters. This is a most unnatural sight, as if the tree had exploded from within.”
“the The strangers’ bodies are completely covered so that only their faces can be seen. Their skin is white, as if it were made of lime. They have yellow hair, though some of them have black. Their beards are long and yellow, and their moustaches are also yellow. Their hair is curly, with very fine strands.
“As for food, it is like human food. It is large and white, and not heavy. It is something like straw, but with the taste of a cornstalk, of the pith of a cornstalk. It is a little sweet, as if it were flavored with honey; it tastes of honey, it is sweet-tasting food.
“Their dogs are enormous, with flat ears and long, dangling tongues. The color of their eyes in is a burning yellow; their eyes flash fire and shoot off sparks. Their bellies are hollow, their flanks long and narrow. They are tireless and very powerful. They bound here and there, panting, with their tongues hanging out. And they are spotted like and ocelot.”
When Motecuhzoma heard this report, he was filled with terror. It was as if he were conquered by despair.
Source:
Leon-Portilla, Miguel. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Beacon Press (Boston) 1992.
3 In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson was presented an offer that he could not refuse: to double the territory of the United States, including the commercially important port of New Orleans, for just under $12 million. The Louisiana Purchase increased the physical territory of the United States by 828,000 square miles. The land stretched along the Mississippi River, from New Orleans up to what is now the Canadian border, and westward across the Rocky Mountains. But was the land fit for farming? And was there a passable land route across the continent to the Pacific Ocean? To obtain this knowledge, the president outfitted a company of men to follow the mighty Missouri River on its northwestern course through the center of the North American continent. The Corps of Discovery, led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and his Second Lieutenant, William Clark, charted previously unknown mountain ranges, such as the Rockies, encountered many Native American peoples, and meticulously recorded their discoveries of new species of plants and animals. The journals kept by Lewis and Clark, two entries from which are included here, are a treasure trove not only for historians but also for those who study animal biology, geography, as well as Native American culture.
DOCUMENTS
Document 1 sets the stage with a map of the journeys of the Corps of Discovery.
Document 2 includes two actual entries from the journals of Lewis and Clark, one from November 1805 and the other from March 1806. As primary sources, the journals of Lewis and Clark are rich with details about the time period, the places, and the thinking of the men who wrote them.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Read the textbook Chapters 8 through 10.
2. Look at Document 1 and read the two entries for Document 2, with special attention to
the image and caption in the entry from March 1806.
3. Answer the questions that follow below (Questions to Answer in the Discussion Board) by Saturday by 11:59pm. You can post your comments to other students until Sunday by 11:59pm. Review the Welcome Message for more info on discussion requirements. Be sure to label your answers.
4. The discussion should reflect your own words. I use software to detect plagiarism, so do your own work and if you use ANY information from the internet it is better to be safe than sorry, so cite it. If you use the internet for help, with few exceptions like Wikipedia.org, questionable sources can be avoided by searching on reputable websites, especially those that end in .edu, .org or .gov. All other websites should be carefully considered and the information critically evaluated and questioned.
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER IN THE DISCUSSION BOARD
1) What were the achievements and failures of Jefferson’s presidency?
2) Explain how the drawing and passage in Documents 1 and 2 serve as evidence of the scientific purpose President Jefferson had in mind for Lewis and Clark’s journey.
3) Look at the Map (Document 1). What is an important piece of information that the map offered explorers and travelers at the time?
4) What does the following passage from Document 2 tell us about the relationship Lewis and Clark had with Native Americans: “they gave us to eate Some fish, and Sold us, fish . . . roots three dogs and 2 otter skins for which we gave fish hooks principally of which they were verry fond”?
Document 1
(Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Source – Map of Principal Explorers’ Routes (1814): Library of Congress
Document 2
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, [Clark: Lewis and Clark make the Pacific Ocean] November 7, 1805
[Clark] November 7th Thursday 1805
A cloudy fogey morning, a little rain. Set out at 8 oClock proceeded on 2.5 miles on the Std Side under a high hill. Steep assent 1.5 miles and on the high Land on the Std. Side. Steep assent 1 mile on the Std. Sid high hill a thick fog. Can’t See across the Riv Opposite the lower pt. of an Isd.
West 2 miles on the Stard Side under a high hill and rockey 1 mile to the head of an Island Close under the Stard Side, Sept. by a narrow Chanel. 2 Canoes of Indians met us, and returnd. With us. A Island in the middle of the river, we followed those Inds. On the North Side of the Island thro a narrow Chanel to their village on the Stard. Side of 4 houses, they gave fish to eate, and Sold us fish Salmon trout, some Wapto roots and 3 dogs, the language of thoses people have a Similarity with those above. The women ware a kind of Strand made of the fur cedar bark but Soft in place of a tite pice of leather as worn by the women above, the men have nothing except a robe about them, they are badly made and use fiew ornements.
The womens petticoat is about 15 inches long made of arber vita or the white Cedar bark wove into a String and hanging down in tossles and tied So as to cover from their hips as low as the petticoat will reach and only Covers them when Standing. As in any other position the Tosels Separate. Those people Sold us otter Skins for fish hooks of which they wer fond.
We delayed 1.5 hour and Set out the tide being up & in the river So Cut with Islands we got an Indian to pilot us into the main chanel one of our Canoes Seperated from us this morning in the fot- great numbers of water fowls of every description common to this river.
15 miles to a white tree in a Stard. Bend under a high hill passed Several marshey Isld. On the Stard. Side opposite to which & on the Stard. Side is a village of 4 houses passed Several marshey Islands on the Lard st. an Indian village on one of those Islands. They came out and traded 2 beaver skins for fishing hooks and a fiew Wapto roots. The rivr. Very wide. The beaver Skins I wish for to make a robe as the one I have is worn out. To an old village of 7 houses under the hill Stard. Side. Several Slashey Isld. On Stard Side, we called and bought a Dog & Some fish.
3 miles to a point of high land on the Stard. Side passed a Small Island on the Stard. Side the head of a large low marshy Island on the middle river about from 5 to 7 miles wide.
5 miles (lard side) to a point Stard. Side a deep bend to the Stard Side under a high mountain. Pine.
3 miles to a point on the Stard Side
[Clark]
A cloudy foggey morning Some rain. we Set out early proceeded under the Stard shore under a high rugid hills with Steep sassent the Shore boalt and rockey, the fog So thick we could not See across the river. two Canos of Indians met and returned with us to their village which is Situated on the Stard Side behind a cluster of Marshey Islands, on a narrow chanl. Of the river through which we passed to the village of 4 houses, they gave us to eate Some fish, and Sold us, fish, Wa Pa To roots three dogs and 2 otter Skins for which we gave fish hooks principally of which they were verry fond.
Those people call themselves War-ci-a-cum and Speake a language different from the nativs above with whome they trade for the Wapato roots of which they make great use of as food. Their houses differently built, raised entirely above ground eaves about 5 feed from the ground Supported and covered in the same way of those above, dores about the Same size but in the Side of the house in one Corner, one fire place and that near the opposite end; around which they have their beads raised about 4 feed from the flore which is of earth. Under their heads they Store away baskets of dried fish Berries & wappato, over the fire they hang the flesh as they take them and which they do not make immediate use. Their Canoes are of the Same form of those above. The Dress of the men differ verry little from those above. The womin altogether different, their robes are smaller, only Covering their Sholders & fallind down to near the hip- and Sometimes when it is Cole a piec of fur curiously plated and connected So as to meet around the body from the arms to the hips- (Their peticoats are of the bark of the white Cedar) “The garment which occupies the waste and thence as low as the knee before and mid leg behind, cannot properly e called a petticoat, in the common acception of the wore; it is a Tissue formed of white Cedar bark bruised or broken into Small Strans, which are interwoven in their center by means of Several cords of the Same materials which Serves as well for a girdle as to hold in place the Strans of bark which forms the tissue, and which Strans, Confined in the middle , hang with their ends pendulous from the waiste. The whoe being of Sufficent thickness when the female Stands erect to conceal those parts useally covered from familiar view, but when she stoops or places herself in any other attitudes this battery of Venus is not altogether impervious to the penetrating eyes of theamorite. This tissue is Sometims formed of little Strings of the Silk grass twisted and knotted at their ends” & c. Those Indians are low and ill Shaped all flat heads.
After delaying at this village one hour and a half we set out piloted by an Indian dressed in a salors dress, to the main Chanel of the river. The tide being in we Should have found much dificuelty in passing into the main Chanel from behind those islands (if) without a pilot, a lare marshey Island near the middle of the river near where Several Canoes Came along Side with Skins, roots fish & c. to Sell. And had a temporey residence on this Island. here we See great numbers of water fowls about those marshey Islands; here the high mountainous Countrey approaches the river on the Lard Side. Ahigh mountn. To the S W. about 20 miles, the high mountains. Courntrey Continue on the Stard Side about 14 miles below the last village and 18 miles of this day we landed at a village of the Same nation. This village is at the foot of the high hills on the Stard Side back of 2 small Islands it contains 7 indifferent houses built in the Same form as those above. here we purchased a dog Some fish, wappato roots and I purchased 2 beaver skins for the purpose of making me a roab, as the robe I have is rotten and good for nothing. opposit to this Village the high mountaneous Countrey leave the river on the Lard Side below which the river widens into a kind of Bay & is Crouded with low islands Subject to be covered by the tides- we proceeded on about 12 miles below the village under a high Mountaneous Countrey on the Stard. Side. Shore boald and rockey and Encamped under a high hill on the Stard. Side. opposit to a rock Situated half a mile from the Shore, about 50 feet high and 20 feet Diamieter. We with dificuelty found a place Clear of the tide and Sufficiently large to lie on and the only place we could bet was round Stones on which we lay our mats. Rain Continud. Moderately all day and Two Indians accompanied us from the last village, they we detected Stealing a knife and returned, our Small Canoe which got Seperated in the fog this morning joined us in the evening from a Large Island Situated nearest the Lard Side below on the high hills on that Side, the River being too wide to See either the form Shape or Size of the Islands on the Lard Side.
Great joy in camp we are in View of the Ocian, this great Pacific Octean which we have been So long anxious to See. And the roreing or noise made by the waves brakeing on the rockey shores (as I Suppose) may be heard distinctly.
Source: The Journals of Lewis and Clark, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, 1804-1806, Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8419/8419-h/8419-h.htm.
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