Interpreting Documents
1. You can begin working on this activity at home and bring it with you to the first day of class.
2. We will go over it together in class. Feel free to add material to your answers during the discussion.
3. During the semester, use this sheet to help you complete the Document Based Questions (DBQs)
Defining Characteristics of Primary Source Documents _____________________________________________
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Examples of Primary Source Documents ________________________________________________________
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Reasons for Bias in Primary Source Documents ___________________________________________________
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Defining Characteristics of Secondary Source Documents ___________________________________________
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Examples of Secondary Source Documents ______________________________________________________
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Reasons for Bias in Secondary Documents _______________________________________________________
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Document 1
Essay question that accompanies this document: What forces led Americans to declare war on Britain in
1812?
In November 1811, the Committee on Foreign Relations in the U.S. House of Representatives reported on our
nation’s growing conflict with France and Britain. In the following excerpt, the report explains our complaints
against Britain. (From Annals of the Congress of the United States, Twelfth Congress.)
To sum up, in a word, the great causes of complaint against Great Britain, your committee need only
say, that the United States, as a sovereign and independent Power, claim the right to use the ocean, which is the
common and acknowledged highway of nations, for the purposes of transporting, in their own vessels, the
products of their own soil and the acquisitions of their own industry…..Great Britain, in defiance of this
incontestable (clear and certain) right, captures every American vessel bound to ,or returning from, a port
where her commerce is not favored; enslaves our seamen, and in spite of our (complaints and protests),
perseveres in these aggressions.
What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) _________________________________
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What is the bias of the author, as it relates to this essay question? What might account for this bias?
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Document 2
Essay question that accompanies this document: What led the Southern states to secede form the Union in
1860 and 1861?
These excerpts are from the Diary of George Templeton Strong, published by The Macmillan Company in
1952. Strong was a prominent New York attorney.
November 7, 1860. Lincoln is elected. Hooray……The next ten days will be a critical time. If no
Southern state commits itself to treason within a fortnight (two week period) or so, the urgent danger will be
past.
November 10……News from the South continues to be menacing and uncomfortable.
November 12. No material change in the complexion of Southern news. Unless writers of telegraph
items lie loudly, secession is inevitable.
November 15……We are generally reconciling ourselves to the prospect of secession by South
Carolina, Georgia Alabama, …..Florida, and perhaps Mississippi, too.
What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) _________________________________
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What is the bias of the author, as it relates to this essay question? What might account for this bias?
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Document 3
Essay question that accompanies this document: Explain the factors that caused so many people move to
colonial America. Is there an overall trend that can be observed?
Wives for the Settlers at Jamestown. Women from England are brought to Jamestown, Virginia to marry the
settlers and ensure the growth of the colony. (Engraving c. 1615)
What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary
and WHAT is it?)
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What is the bias of the author, as it relates to this
essay question? What might account for this bias?
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Document 4
Essay question that accompanies this document: Explain the factors that caused so many people move to
colonial America. Is there an overall trend that can be observed?
This excerpt is from James Truslow Adams’ book The Founding of New England, published in 1919 (Little,
Brown and Company, 1921, 1949; pp. 121-122). This book won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1922. In the
following excerpt, Adams is writing of the early migration to Massachusetts.
They came for the simple reason that they wanted to better their condition. They wanted to be rid of the
growing and incalculable exactions (oppressive demands) of government. They wanted to own land; and it was
this last motive, perhaps, which mainly had attracted those twelve thousand persons out of sixteen thousand
who swelled the population of Massachusetts in 1640, but were not church members….
What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and WHAT is it?) _________________________________
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What is the bias of the author, as it relates to this essay question? What might account for this bias?
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Document 5
Essay question that accompanies this document: What led the Southern states to secede from the Union in
1860 and 1861?
The results of the 1860 presidential election.
Candidate
and Party
Popular Vote
Lincoln (R)
1,865,6000
Douglas (D)
1,382,700
Breckinridge (D)
848,350
Bell (CU)
592,900
Electoral Vote
180
12
72
39
What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and
WHAT is it?) ___________________________________
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What is the bias of the author, as it relates to this essay question? What might account for this bias?
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Document 6
10,000,000
English Steel Production (in tons)
9,000,000
8,000,000
Essay question that accompanies this document: Evaluate
the positive and negative effects of the Industrial Revolution.
7,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
What type of source is this? (Primary or secondary and
4,000,000
WHAT is it?) ______________________________________
3,000,000
2,000,000
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1,000,000
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0
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1740
1796
1839
1854
1900
What is the bias of the author, as it relates to this essay question? What might account for this bias?
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