Major Comparison – the Content

What Are Your Possible Topics to Compare? (This is repeated in the Instructions Link.)

Caution: You Must Use Only the Primaries and Textbook Pages Listed on this Webpage

Primaries You May Choose From and How to Cite These Primaries

Content from the Textbook Available to You from Unit 1 (1600s to 1763)

Essential Background from the Unit 1 Comparison

Content from the Textbook Available to You from Unit 2 (1763 to 1830s)

Content about Shays’s Rebellion and the Constitution

Content about Shays’s Rebellion, the Whiskey Rebellion, and the Constitution

Content about the 3/5ths Compromise in the Constitution and Missouri?

Content about the Missouri Compromise and the Development of North and South

Background on the Limitations of Slavery in the North and Expectations about New Territories - Information to Help with the Missouri Compromise

Areas Where the National Decision (Laws Passed by Congress) Was to Limit the Expansion of Slavery or the Expectation of the Use of the Land was for “Middling” Landholdings (not large plantations)

Background about Methods to Help Your Brain Focus

 

Reminder: the Comparison Topics and the Instructions are in the link above this link in the folder.

What Are Your Possible Topics to Compare? (This is repeated in the Instructions Link.)

Requirements for each of the things—all provided in this module--that you may compare:

·         You must use only the primaries listed on the Content webpage.

·         You must use only the exact pages in the textbook that are listed on the Contents webpage.

Caution:  If you used an incorrect page with a prior Comparison, you cannot use it now. Double-check your pages.

·         You compare an event or action from 1600s through 1763 to those equivalent events or actions from 1763 through the 1830s.

·         You must focus—to quote the Texas standard—“to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision making.”  Note: you will find background on the Texas standard in the Instructions link.
Tip: This may seem difficult unless you ask yourself what made history change from those two broad time periods and how much did individuals’ actions have to do with those changes. Sometimes things work well and sometimes they don’t and frequently human action or inaction makes that difference.

 

In each these 4 choices, you must meet all of the listed requirements above:

 

1.     Compare an issue with government (whether colonial, state, or national level) from 1600s through 1763 with an equivalent issue from 1763 to the 1830s “to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision making.”

2.     Compare an issue with individuals using the resources they had to try to solve a problem they faced from 1600s through 1763 with individuals’ equivalent issues from 1763 to the 1830s. What do those actions reveal about “consequences to ethical decision making.”

3.     Compare the North and South on an issue from 1600s through 1763 with an equivalent issue from 1763 to the 1830s. What do those actions reveal about “consequences to ethical decision making.”

4.     Compare a form of servitude in the period from 1600s through 1763 with equivalent issues from 1763 to the 1830s. What do those forms of servitude reveal about “consequences to ethical decision making.”

If you would like to suggest something else to compare that is equivalent work and uses the same textbook pages and the same primaries, send me an email proposing the question. Unless I fear there is not enough content for you to succeed, I will try to approve it. Caution: do not begin working on it until I approve.

 

Caution: You Must Use Only the Primaries and Textbook Pages Listed on this Webpage

For the Major Comparison, whichever Comparison Topic you select:

1.     You may only use the possible primaries listed below. They are placed immediately below this link. The section on primaries tells you how to cite the primaries with the simple method provided in this course.

2.     You may only use pages of the textbook that were listed for prior Comparisons.
All of those pages are listed below.

3.     You may only use the definitions and maps provided for the prior Comparisons. All of those are provided in this folder.
 If you decide to use either of these, you cite in this way:

-       A brief portion of a definition, you cite by writing the word Definition and then the word.
For example, if you decide to use a brief part of the definition of the word servitude, you would place this as the text for the endnote:
Definition: Servitude

-       The map of the Missouri Compromise, you cite by writing this as the text for the endnote
Map: Missouri

Primaries You May Choose From and How to Cite These Primaries

Primaries are documents written during the periods we have been examining. The Constitution is certainly a primary and it is visible immediately below this link. A folder contains the other primaries listed below.

 

You must compare an issue about two periods of time; therefore, you need at least one primary source from each of these time periods.
- 1600s through 1763

- 1763 through the 1830s (You may use a specific section of the Constitution as the primary for this time period.)

 

You can tell the date of the document from the first column—and the links in the folder are in the same date order. The second column is a brief description—and the links in the folder have the same description.

 

In citing your two primaries, you use the title in the third column to identify it. For the simple method to cite using Chicago in this course, you place the brief title and the page number as the text for the endnote. For example, if you wanted to cite the sixth document below (one with page numbers provided in the document), you cite by writing this as the text for the endnote:

Nat Turner, p. 3

 

If there is no page number in the document or no section number in the document,  you can click on File and the Print Preview to get an estimate of the page you want to cite.

 

Date

Document Title and Brief Description of the Document

Brief Title for Citation

1660

Slavery and Indentured Servants  - It is a secondary source but it includes quotations from the law from 1660 through 1850.
Caution: Do not use the sections on laws after 1840.

Laws-Servitude

1780

Pennsylvania – An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, 1780

PA-Abolition

1787

Northwest Ordinance; July 13, 1787

NW-Ordinance

1789

Constitution for the United States

Constituion

1807

An Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves into any Port or Place Within the Jurisdiction of the United States, From and After the First Day of January, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eight

End-Slave Trade

1831

THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER, THE LEADER OF THE LATE INSURRECTION IN SOUTHAMPTON, VA.

Nat Turner

1841

Argument of John Quincy Adams, Before the Supreme Court of the United States : in the Case of the United States, Appellants, vs. Cinque, and Others, Africans, Captured in the schooner Amistad, by Lieut. Gedney; 1841  Note: This is later source than the 1830s, but as an ex-President and as a case that some of you may know, you may use it.

Adams-Amistad

 

 

Content from the Textbook Available to You from Unit 1 (1600s to 1763)

If you want to read dictionary definitions, you can find them beneath this link.

 

Use only the page numbers below to avoid problems. With additional settlement, the colonies in the South change:

 

Areas in Time Order

What You Read

What to Observe and How to Pay Attention to Terms

Servitude of Africans in English colonies in the South (about 1620 to 1660)

Chapter 2: “Africans in Early Virginia.”

 

What varied things happened to Africans sold in early Virginia?

 

Term: servant, see its use in Chapter 2: “Tobacco Boom.”

Servitude of English servants in English colonies in the South (about 1620 to about 1660)

Chapter 2: “Tobacco Boom” and “The Colony Expands” 

 

Chapter 3: “War in the Chesapeake”—but only for content about the years before about 1660.

How did availability of land at the end of their service change for English servants from early settlement to the 1660s?

 

Term: English servant or indentured servants in some locations is English servants—that is, from England.

Slavery of Africans in English colonies in the South (after 1660)

Chapter 3: “Systems of Slavery in North America.” Focus on the beginning of this section. Do not read about slavery outside of the South.

How did laws in the 1660s change what happened to Africans and African Americans in Maryland and Virginia?


Term: African Americans are people of African descent born in the English colonies on the Atlantic seacoast.

Servitude of English servants in English colonies in the South (1660s through Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676)

Chapter 3: “War in the Chesapeake”—but only for content about the years after about 1660.

What did the investigation say about these events and what happens to landless freemen? What happens about the slave trade and the planters (the owners of land)? The textbook makes some powerful statements at the end of that section. Notice carefully.

 

Term: freemen and landless freemen – English servants who had completed their term of service, with some having no land in return for their promised years of labor

Slaves (both Africans and African Americans) in the British# colonies in the South from 1720 and “throughout the rest of the century” – a phrase used in Chapter 3 in “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina” (In the 4th edition paper, that is on 79.)

Chapter 3: “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina,” focusing on African issues only. For the South Carolina variation including the Stono uprising, see the last 2 paragraphs in “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina.”

 

Chapter 4: “The Growth of the African-American Population.”

 

Do not read about slavery outside of the South.

 

Notice the differences in slavery even in the South.

 

Notice knowledge.

 

Notice worship.

 

Notice how they resisted slavery, including the Stono Rebellion.

 

Tip: Look at the bottom of this webpage in the chart. Notice what a small proportion of the population is African in 1660 and even in 1720.

“Non-landholding whites” in British# colonies in the South after 1720 – a phrase used in Chapter 3 in “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina” (In the 4th edition paper, that is on 79.)

Chapter 3: “Plantation Economies in the Chesapeake and South Carolina,” focusing on “non-landholding whites” only.

 

For the conditions of the Anglican Church, see Chapter 4:“Religious Diversity Before the Great Awakening” (In the 4th edition paper, that is on 91.)

 

For the absence of education for this group, see Chapter 4:“Education in the British Colonies.” Look for the phrase “large numbers of poor whites.” (In the 4th edition paper, that is on page 88.)

 

 

The term “non-landholding whites” is explained at the beginning of that section. Ask yourself if it means the same thing as “landless freemen” at the time of Bacon’s Rebellion.

 

Notice the South develops without needing ports. (In the 4th edition paper, that is on page 80.) Notice what that does.

 

Notice worship. Reminder: The Anglican Church is the established church. If you don’t know what that is, ask.

 

Notice knowledge.

 

#The term shifts from English colonies to British colonies after 1700.

Essential Background from the Unit 1 Comparison

Students fail at understanding history because they start writing before they have read enough and even tried to figure things out. The remaining things on this webpage cover where students have frequently misunderstood.

Background on Forced Labor (Servitude)

 

Caution: There is a difference in labor (something most of us have to do for our daily bread and a roof over our heads) and forced labor. With forced labor:

  • You cannot stop.
  • You may be doing things that will kill you (as your textbook covers)
  • Your master gains from your labor and you gain only that you live another day. 

 

 

Background about Slavery of Africans in Africa by Africans

The content and the quotations in the second column on Slavery in Africa of the table at the bottom of this link are from the 3rd edition. To see that page, click here. (It is also used with a reading example provided in the Good Habits for Evidence link (next to the last page from the Rubric with Links or directly by clicking here).

 

This link also shows an example of how I label in the margins any words I have to do something with—including explain the content to another person. I was taught to do this kind of marking years ago by a community college professor. Although I marked this page very quickly, it is shows two basic principles of any information where you have to do something:

1) Read once, but mark the facts with labels so you can:

2) When you use your marked text, you not only save time but also begin to understand it better and catch your own mistakes.

Background about the Term English Servant (Indentured Servant)

In the textbook, the phrase used for indentured servants in some locations is English servants. What’s the word indentured mean with the word servant? Merriam Webster Online explains it is “a person who signs and is bound by indentures to work for another for a specified time especially in return for payment of travel expenses [like a trip across the Atlantic Ocean to Virginia] and maintenance [like something to eat and a roof over your head].”  To sign a document indicates the signer is a free person who agrees to the terms of the indenture. What’s an indenture? “to divide (a document) so as to produce sections with irregular edges that can be matched for authentication.” Think of it this way: when you tear paper, the ragged edge is unique.

Backgrounds You Can Observe in the Table

Notice these things:

 

In the table, the content and the quotations on Slavery in Africa are from the 3rd edition, which has a few more details. To see the page, click here.

 

Content from the Textbook Available to You from Unit 2 (1763 to 1830s)

The Comparison Topics from Unit 2 have been removed and all that remains is a general name for the content.

Content about Shays’s Rebellion and the Constitution

If you want to read dictionary definitions, you can find basic words at the dictionary provided in History Resources.
You must read the definitions of democracy and republic and what James Madison says about both.

 

Reminders:

·         These Shaysites who are losing their farms are also veterans of the American Revolutionary War who fought because they believed the British government was not protecting life, liberty, and property—to use John Locke’s 3 items.

·         Specie (coins of gold and silver) had always been in scarce supply in the colonies and it is still scarce in the new states. (Our phrase for this today is a “credit crisis” or “crisis of liquidity.”)

 

Parts of This Comparison Topic

What You Read

What to Observe and How to Pay Attention to Terms

Shays’s Rebellion 

Chapter 6: “Political and Economic Turmoil, including all of the parts

 

Notice the issues:

·         of the farmers

·         of merchants

·         of the state governments (who are they taxing and in what form do they want payment)

·         of debtors who could not pay and what sequence of events happen when a debtor can’t pay

 

Notice the reforms the farmers want, including:

·         About state government

·         About states printing paper money and passing tender laws (settling debts by giving goods—such as grain--to the creditor, not gold or silver coins).

 

Notice the rebellion cannot be stopped by the state government or the national/central government—both are powerless. Who does stop the rebellion?

Sections to Read from the Constitution

Use it online in this module. Read with care the clauses specified to the right.

Look for

·         Article 1, Section10 regarding what the states can’t do regarding tender laws and debts.

·         Article IV, Section 4 regarding dealing with “domestic violence” and what is guaranteed with “republicanism”

Sections to Read from the Textbook Explanation of these Things in the  Constitution

Chapter 6: “The Movement for Constitutional Reform”

Carefully read all of the pages to the end of the chapter looking for what the textbook authors say about the issues, the reforms, and about rebellion.

 

Tips:

·         Notice what Madison thinks.

·         Notice that “many Americans believed that the states—the small republics—had lost too much power [with this new Constitution]”
(In the 4th edition paperback, the page number is 163.)

 

 

Content about Shays’s Rebellion, the Whiskey Rebellion, and the Constitution

If you want to read dictionary definitions, you can find basic words at the dictionary provided in History Resources.
You must read the definitions of democracy and republic and what James Madison says about both.

 

Parts of This Comparison Topic

What You Read

What to Observe and How to Pay Attention to Terms

Shays’s Rebellion 

Chapter 6: “Political and Economic Turmoil, including all of the parts

See the issues listed and reforms in the Comparison Topic above.

 

Focus on how the rebellion cannot be stopped by the state government or the national/central government—both are powerless. Who does stop the rebellion?

Sections to Read from the Constitution

Use it online in this module. Read with care the clauses specified to the right.

Look for Article IV, Section 4 regarding dealing with “domestic violence” and what is guaranteed with “republicanism.”

 

Search for the word excise tax. It is also defined in the online Constitution.

Sections to Read from the Textbook Explanation of these Things in the  Constitution

Chapter 6: “The Movement for Constitutional Reform”

Carefully read all of the pages to the end of the chapter looking for what the textbook authors say about things that were “too democratic” and “too much influence to the common people.”

 

Tips: Notice what Madison thinks.

Whiskey Rebellion

Chapter 7: “Expansion and Conflict in the West”

Look for the one-sentence introduction at the beginning saying it is an excise tax and then details on the rebellion

 

Note: The Stamp Act was a British excise tax.

Chapter 8: “Jefferson’s Revolution”

As part of reforms, it “repealed all excise taxes, including that on whiskey.” (In the 4th edition paperback, the page number is 209.)

 

Content about the 3/5ths Compromise in the Constitution and Missouri?

Reminder: Missouri is part of the territories acquired at the Louisiana Purchase.

 

Parts of This Comparison Topic

What You Look at or Read with Care

What to Observe and How to Pay Attention to Terms

Sections to Read from the Constitution

Use it online in this module. Read with care the clauses specified to the right.

Use the Sorted version of the Constitution to find Slavery. Read with Care the 1st 4 clauses on slavery. (For this Comparison Topic, do not use the fifth clause—the one from 1865.)

Notice the dates when those clauses are no longer protected from amendment.

Notice there is nothing stated about the right of expansion of slavery.

Sections to Read from the Textbook Explanation of these Things in the  Constitution

Read with great care Chapter 6: “The Executive, Slavery, and Commerce”

 

Focus only on slavery sections. Notice the deal-making.

Notice Table 6.1 Enslaved Population in the United States, 1790.

Caution: The North—not the South--will grow in population and number of states by 1820.

 

Notice all the clauses described.

Useful quotations and Cautions:

·         Do notice that counting 3/5s of the slaves for population gave “white southerners an unfair advantage” because “slaves…could not vote.”

·         “Northern delegates did almost nothing to promote the abolition of slavery” and see what they traded for a commerce clause.

(For all quotations, the page number is 164 in the 4th edition paperback.)

Louisiana Purchase

Look at Chapter 8: “The Louisiana Purchase” or just look at the information to the right.

Use the map in the module to notice the latitude (how far North) of the Louisiana Purchase.

Useful quotations:

·         Jefferson called this “the empire of liberty”

·         “A successful republic was dependent on broad property holding, for virtuous, independent, middling farmers made ideal citizens.” (Middling means of “average size or quality”—not a big planter with many slaves.

(For all quotations, the page number is 211 in the 4th edition paperback.)

Missouri Compromise

Read with great care

Chapter 9: “The Missouri Compromise, 1820”

Use the map in the module to notice the latitude (how far North) is Missouri in the Louisiana Purchase and what it is even with in the Northwest Territories. It also provides the quantities of states in 1820 and 1860 and the total population so you can see who is the majority.

 

Notice all of the Northern issues about representation.

 

Content about the Missouri Compromise and the Development of North and South

Background on this Comparison Topic: The textbook makes these two statements:

·         “The debates over slavery in Missouri in 1819 and 1820 were not between fervent proslavery advocates in the South. Neither of those had not yet been defined positions.”

·         “In a real sense, the debates over slavery in Missouri created ‘the North’ and ‘the South,’ uniting the new states of the Northwest with the states of New England, new York, and Pennsylvania, and forging a tighter alliance among the new states of the Southwest and Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia.

 

Reminder: Missouri is part of the territories acquired at the Louisiana Purchase.

 

Parts of This Comparison Topic

What You Look at or Read with Care

What to Observe and How to Pay Attention to Terms

Northwest Ordinance – at the end of the Articles of Confederation period

Look at Chapter 6: “The Northwest Ordinances of 1785 and 1787” or just look at the information to the right.

Use the map in the module to notice the latitude (how far North) of the Northwest Territories.

 

Useful quotations:

·         “Men were eligible to vote if they owned at least fifty acres of land.”

·         “New states would have equal status with the original thirteen.” In the future that status of being a state also means: 2 Senators + at least 1 member of the House of Representatives + the same number in the electoral college that determines the president.

·         “It prohibited slavery from the region forever.”

(For all quotations, the page number is 157 in the 4th edition paperback.)

Sections to Read from the Constitution

Use it online in this module. Read with care the clauses specified to the right.

Use the Sorted version of the Constitution to find

·         When, how, how many – House

·         When, how, how many – Senate

Sections to Read from the Textbook Explanation of these Things in the  Constitution

Read with great care Chapter 6:

“The Great Compromise”  and “The Executive, Slavery, and Commerce”

 

Focus only on representation

Notice all the clauses described in the above sections of the Sorted Constitution.

 

Louisiana Purchase

Look at Chapter 8: “The Louisiana Purchase” or just look at the information to the right.

Use the map in the module to notice the latitude (how far North) of the Louisiana Purchase.

Useful quotations:

·         Jefferson called this “the empire of liberty”

·         “A successful republic was dependent on broad property holding, for virtuous, independent, middling farmers made ideal citizens.” (Middling means of “average size or quality”—not a big planter with many slaves.

(For all quotations, the page number is 211 in the 4th edition paperback.)

Missouri Compromise

Read with great care

Chapter 9: “The Missouri Compromise, 1820”

Use the map in the module to notice the latitude (how far North) is Missouri in the Louisiana Purchase and what it is even with in the Northwest Territories. It also provides the quantities of states in 1820 and 1860 and the total population so you can see who is the majority.

 

Notice all of the Northern issues about representation.

 

Background on the Limitations of Slavery in the North and Expectations about New Territories - Information to Help with the Missouri Compromise

Two broad reasons for Northerners not wanting slavery to spread to new territories were:

1.     Some Northerners were opposed to enslaving anyone.

2.     Some Northerners did not care about slaves or African Americans in general, but did not want

-       To compete with slave labor (Example: if all you had to sell was your own manual labor, you would want to live where people were free.)

-       To compete in growing crops against the price of slave-produced crops. (Example: you would not want your own children to live as poorly as slaves did.)

 

Areas Where the National Decision (Laws Passed by Congress) Was to Limit the Expansion of Slavery or the Expectation of the Use of the Land was for “Middling” Landholdings (not large plantations)

 

Parts of This Comparison Topic

What You Look at or Read with Care

What to Observe and How to Pay Attention to Terms

Northwest Ordinance – at the end of the Articles of Confederation period

Look at Chapter 6: “The Northwest Ordinances of 1785 and 1787” or just look at the information to the right.

Use the map in the module to notice the latitude (how far North) of the Northwest Territories.

 

Useful quotations:

·         “Men were eligible to vote if they owned at least fifty acres of land.”

·         “New states would have equal status with the original thirteen.” Notice what being a state also means: 2 Senators + at least 1 member of the House of Representatives + the same number in the electoral college that determines the president.

·         “It prohibited slavery from the region forever.”

(For all quotations, the page number is 157 in the 4th edition paperback.)

Louisiana Purchase

Look at Chapter 8: “The Louisiana Purchase” or just look at the information to the right.

Use the map in the module to notice the latitude (how far North) of the Louisiana Purchase.

Useful quotations:

·         Jefferson called this “the empire of liberty”

·         “A successful republic was dependent on broad property holding, for virtuous, independent, middling farmers made ideal citizens.” (Middling means of “average size or quality”—not a big planter with many slaves.

(For all quotations, the page number is 211 in the 4th edition paperback.)

Missouri Compromise

Chapter 9: “The Missouri Compromise, 1820”

Use the map in the module to notice the latitude (how far North) is Missouri in the Louisiana Purchase and what it is even with in the Northwest Territories.

 

·         With the exception of Missouri, none of the Louisiana Purchase will have slavery.

·         That also means the South will not have additional slave-supporting Senators (2 per state) nor representatives in the House of Representatives nor more electors in the electoral college for all those potential states. Instead the North will.

Background about Methods to Help Your Brain Focus

There is a reading example provided in the Good Habits for Evidence link (next to the last page from the Rubric with Links or directly by clicking here).

 

This link also shows an example of how I label in the margins any words I have to do something with—including explain the content to another person. I was taught to do this kind of marking years ago by a community college professor. Although I marked this page very quickly, it is shows two basic principles of any information where you have to do something:

1) Read once, but mark the facts with labels so you can:

2) When you use your marked text, you not only save time but also begin to understand it better and catch your own mistakes.

 

 

Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2014

 

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu

Last Updated:

2014

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/