This page shows a list of standards in the 8th Grade Social Studies public release collection at MSDE. 8th Grade Social Studies
Released Questions in Standard "6.0 Skills & Processes"
Select a question from the following list. The content of that question will be shown, and you can interact with it here.
This is test content.
Note: This set contains more items than what would regularly appear on an operational test. An operational EBAS would contain four 2-point items and one 4-point item.
Items that have student responses were field-tested on MCAP assessments and may or may not have been used operationally prior to public release.
This is test content.
Introduction
A student is researching the abolitionist movement for a class project. The compelling question is:
Was the abolitionist movement united or divided?
The student has found the following sources. Use the sources and source information to answer the questions.
Background Information
Between the 1830s and the end of the Civil War in 1865, the abolitionist movement in the United States and abroad focused on the ending of slavery. The movement included men and women of many races, as well as many religious leaders. Abolitionists used many different methods to achieve the same goal. They were a minority voice in the debate over slavery and were often met with violence, outrage, and disagreement.
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Source Information: Developed by the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, “The Anti-Slavery Alphabet” was intended to be read at home to children. It provided anti-slavery messages for each letter of the alphabet. Originally published anonymously, authorship was later given to Quaker sisters Hannah and Mary Townsend.
Source A
![Figure. Four big letters, A, B, C, and D, are shown. Under A, the text reads, A is an Abolitionist — a man who wants to free the wretched slave — and give to all an equal liberty. Under B, the text reads, B is a Brother with a skin of somewhat darker hue, but to our Heavenly Fathers [Gods] sight, he is as dear as you. Under C, the text reads, C is the cotton field to which this injured brothers driven, when, as the white mans slave, he toils from early morn till even. Under D, the text reads, D is the driver, cold and stern, who follows, whip in hand, to punish those who dare to rest, or disobey command. End figure description.](https://itempra.org/tmp/IMG-0-gP9IR.png)
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Source Information: Frederick Douglass was born enslaved but escaped and gained his freedom at age 20. He became a famous and popular anti-slavery speaker and writer. A disagreement between Douglass and his fellow abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison created a split among anti-slavery leaders. Some wanted to make slavery illegal in the United States while others wanted to secede from the Union. Douglass gave this speech in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 26, 1860, as part of a world tour to bring attention to the problem of slavery in the United States.
Source B
. . . Does the United States Constitution guarantee to any class or description of people . . . the right to enslave, or hold as property, any other class or description of people . . . ? . . . . [I]s the refusal to exercise the elective franchise [right to vote], and to hold office in America, the surest, wisest, and best way to abolish slavery in America? To these questions the Garrisonians [followers of William Lloyd Garrison] say Yes. They hold the Constitution to be a slaveholding instrument [document]. . . .
I, on the other hand, deny that the Constitution guarantees the right to hold property in man, and believe that the way to abolish slavery in America is to vote such men into power as well [as] use their powers for the abolition of slavery. . . .
But it has been said that Negroes are not included within the benefits sought under this declaration [in the Constitution]. . . . Its language is “we the people;” not we the white people . . . if Negroes are people, they are included in the benefits for which the Constitution of America was ordained and established.
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Source Information: This editorial comes from The Liberator, a leading anti-slavery newspaper written and edited by William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison called for the immediate emancipation of enslaved persons. Garrison believed that slavery should not be opposed through political or violent action but instead through persuading people about the moral and religious wrongs of slavery.
Source C
There is much declamation [discussion] about the sacredness [importance] of the compact which was formed between the free and slave states, on the adoption of the Constitution. . . . No body of men ever had the right to guarantee the holding of human beings in bondage [slavery]. Who or what were the framers of our government, that they should dare confirm and authorise . . . such a savage war upon a sixth part of our whole population? —They were men, like ourselves —as fallible [able to make mistakes], as sinful, as weak, as ourselves. . . .
It is said that if you agitate [provoke] this question, you will divide the Union. . . . You must perform your duty . . . to cease from giving countenance [approval] and protection to southern kidnappers . . . . Be assured that slavery will very speedily destroy this Union, if it be left alone; but even if the Union can be preserved . . . we say it is not worth a price like this, and that it is in the highest degree criminal for you to continue the present compact [the Constitution].
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Source Information: This painting, titled “Tragic Prelude,” was completed in 1940 by John Steuart Curry and currently hangs in the Kansas State House. The image shows abolitionist John Brown who, on December 19, 1858, organized 20 abolitionists to conduct a raid into Missouri territory. The group freed 11 enslaved persons, stole the owner’s possessions, and killed one man.
Source D
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source A.
Why might a historian question Source A’s usefulness for learning more about divisions among leaders in the abolitionist movement?
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Frederick Douglass encourages the use of the Constitution as a tool to end slavery.
Explain how evidence from Source B supports the statement.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
Select one detail from the Source Information that suggests that events of this time period impacted the information provided in the speech.
Source Information: Frederick Douglass was born enslaved but escaped and gained his freedom at age 20. He became a famous and popular anti-slavery speaker and writer. A disagreement between Douglass and his fellow abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison created a split among anti-slavery leaders. Some wanted to make slavery illegal in the United States while others wanted to secede from the Union. Douglass gave this speech in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 26, 1860, as part of a world tour to bring attention to the problem of slavery in the United States. |
Part B
Explain how the detail you selected in Part A suggests that events of this time period impacted the information provided in the speech.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
John Brown was a violent abolitionist.
Explain how evidence from Source D supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source C.
What information raises concerns about Source C’s usefulness for learning about the variety of methods used in the abolitionist movement?
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The information provided in Sources A through D is credible. Use these sources to respond to the compelling question.
Was the abolitionist movement united or divided?
Develop a claim that responds to the compelling question.
- Explain how one source supports your claim.
- Explain how one source does not support your claim.
- Use details and examples from the selected sources to support your response.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is test content.
Note: This set contains more items than what would regularly appear on an operational test. An operational EBAS would contain four 2-point items and one 4-point item.
Items that have student responses were field-tested on MCAP assessments and may or may not have been used operationally prior to public release.
This is test content.
Introduction
A student is trying to learn more about how people have triumphed over tragedies. They are researching a revolt on a ship named the Amistad led by Joseph Cinque. The compelling question is:
What was the most significant factor that led to Joseph Cinque’s freedom?
The student has found the following sources. Use the sources and the source information to answer the questions.
Background Information
The Mende people live in Sierra Leone, West Africa. In 1839, Sengbe Pieh, a Mende man, was kidnapped from his home and sold to slave dealers. These dealers put him on a boat along with other kidnapped Africans and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to Cuba. Once in Cuba, they sold Pieh and 53 other Africans to two Spanish men. These men renamed Pieh with the Spanish name “Joseph Cinque,” bound him in shackles and forced him aboard a ship called the Amistad. They were headed for a plantation in the Caribbean where they would force the Africans to serve as enslaved labor.
However, the plan was interrupted when Cinque broke the lock on his chains and his shackles. He then organized a revolt, killed the captain and the cook, and took control of the ship. He demanded that the Spanish men sail them back to Africa.
Instead, they sailed north and ran ashore off the coast of New York. American sailors discovered the ship and took it to Connecticut. Slavery was legal in Connecticut at the time. The two Spanish men were freed, and the Africans were put in jail in New Haven, Connecticut. The question of what would happen to the Africans went all the way to the Supreme Court, who has the final authority on legal questions in the United States.
Key Term
• abolitionist ‑ a person who worked to end slavery in the United States
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Source Information: The New York Sun published this portrait and quote from Cinque, who did not speak English, in 1839. New York was a free state bordering Connecticut, a slave state. Many abolitionists in New York believed that the Amistad case could help their anti-slavery arguments.
A transcript of Cinque’s quote follows the original document.
JOSEPH CINQUEZ
The brave Congolese Chief, who prefers death to Slavery, and who now lies in Jail in Irons at New Haven Conn. awaiting his trial for daring for freedom.
SPEECH TO HIS COMRADE SLAVES AFTER MURDERING THE CAPTAIN &C. AND GETTING POSSESSION OF THE VESSEL AND CARGO
“Brothers we have done that which we purposed, our hands are now clean for we have Striven to regain the precious heritage we received from our fathers. We have only to persevere, Where the Sun rises there is our home, our brother, our fathers. Do not seek to defeat my orders, if so I shall sacrifice any one who would endanger the rest. When at home we will kill the Old Man, the young one shall be saved. He is kind and gave you bread, we must not kill those who give us water. Brothers, I am resolved that it is better to die than be a white man’s slave and I will not complain if by dying I save you. Let us be careful what we eat that we may not be sick. The deed is done and I need say no more.”
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Source Information: On March 9, 1841, Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story delivered the 7 to 1 decision in the Amistad case. This excerpt is from the Court’s majority ruling on the case.
Source B
On the 7th of January, 1840, the negroes, Cinque and others . . . filed an answer, denying that they were slaves, or the property of Ruiz and Montez. . . . They specially set forth and insist in this answer, that they were native-born Africans; born free, and still of right ought to be free and not slaves; that they were . . . unlawfully kidnapped, and forcibly and wrongfully carried on board a certain vessel [ship] . . . which was unlawfully engaged in the slave trade. . . .
Upon the whole, our opinion is . . . that the said negroes be declared to be free, and be dismissed from the custody of the Court, and go without [delay].
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Source Information: Many students and professors from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, worked on the Africans’ defense during the trial in 1840. This article was written during the 175th anniversary of the trial to honor the contributions made by abolitionists from New Haven. The article was published on March 7, 2017 and is titled “175 years later, the Amistad affair lives on in the Yale Library’s collections.” It includes an interview with Dr. Edward Rugemer who taught African American History at the university in 2016.
Source C
“It is a dramatic story that underscores [draws attention to] the federal government’s support for slavery,” Rugemer said. “But it also shows the resiliency [adaptability] of people to resist their oppression and the determination of the abolitionist movement to change society and convince people that slavery was an abomination [a disgrace].” . . .
Abolitionists, recognizing an opportunity to advance their cause, mobilized to help the Africans secure their freedom.
“Abolitionism was a growing movement when the Amistad case took place,” says Rugemer. “There was a growing network of activists who were devoting a significant amount of their time to the cause. The Amistad event happens, and they see it as a way to draw attention to the movement.” . . .
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Source Information: Kale was an 11-year-old African boy on board the Amistad. While in prison in New Haven, abolitionists taught him to read and write in English. This excerpt is from a 3-page letter he wrote to John Quincy Adams on January 4, 1841. Adams was a former U.S. president and lawyer who had been asked by leading abolitionists to defend the Amistad men in front of the Supreme Court.
Source D
I want to write a letter to you because you love Mendi people, and you talk to the grand court. . . . Mendi people been in America 17 moons [months]. We talk American language a little, not very good. . . . We want you to ask the Court what we have done wrong. . . . We want to be free very much. . . . If America gives us free we glad, if they no give us free we sorry—we sorry for Mendi people little, we sorry for America people great deal because God punish liars. . . . If Court ask who bring Mendi people to America, we bring ourselves. . . . Send us home. . . . We tell them there is one god. You must worship him. Make us free and we will bless you and all Mendi people will bless you. Dear friend Mr. Adams.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Part B
How might the intended audience you selected in Part A influence the information provided in Source A?
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Abolitionists used the Amistad case to further their cause.
Explain how evidence from Source C supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source D.
How might Kale’s perspective on the court case impact the information provided?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source C.
Select one detail in the Source Information that raises concerns about the usefulness of Source C as evidence for evaluating the abolitionists’ role in the Amistad trial.
Many students and professors from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut worked on the Africans’ defense during the trial in 1840. This article was written during the 175th anniversary of the trial to honor the contributions made by abolitionists from New Haven. The article was published on March 7, 2017 and is titled “175 years later, the Amistad affair lives on in the Yale Library’s collections.” It includes an interview with Dr. Edward Rugemer who taught African American History at the university in 2016.
Part B
Explain why the detail you selected in Part A raises concerns about using it as evidence for evaluating the abolitionists’ role in the Amistad trial.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source A.
Why might a historian question Source A’s usefulness in determining if the media helped Joseph Cinque gain his freedom?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The information provided in Sources A through D is credible. Use these sources to respond to the compelling question.
What was the most significant factor that led to Joseph Cinque’s freedom?
Develop a claim that responds to the compelling question.
- Explain how one source supports your claim.
- Explain how one source does not support your claim.
- Use details and examples from the selected sources to support your response.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
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Introduction
A student is researching the California Gold Rush. The compelling question is:
The Gold Rush: Was it worth it?
The student has found the following sources. Use the sources and source information to answer the questions.
Background Information
In 1848, John Sutter and James Marshall found flakes of gold in a stream while building a water-powered sawmill in California. News of the discovery soon spread and thousands of people came to California hoping to “get rich quick.” Between 1848 and 1853, the number of gold seekers increased from 4,000 to over 250,000. The Gold Rush peaked in 1852 and by the end of the decade, it was over. Most of the gold seekers were Americans and Chinese, but many had come from Europe and South America. The arrival of settlers and immigrants changed the makeup of the population of California and helped speed up the process of statehood. In September 1850, California became the 31st state to enter the Union.
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Source Information: Peter Burnett, the first Governor of California (1849 to 1851), delivered this speech in January 1851. Burnett was born in Tennessee, raised in Missouri, and eventually moved to the Pacific coast at age 36. Upon hearing about the discovery of gold, like thousands of others, he moved his family to California in 1848, hoping to find his fortune. In this speech he explains the impact of the Gold Rush on American Indians.
Source A
. . . We have suddenly spread ourselves over the country in every direction, and appropriated [taken] whatever portion of it we pleased to ourselves, without their [the American Indians ’] consent and without compensation [payment]. Although these small and scattered tribes have among them no regular government, they have some ideas of existence as a separate and independent people . . . They have not only seen their country taken from them, but they see their ranks [numbers] rapidly thinning from the effects of our diseases. They instinctively consider themselves a doomed race; and this idea leads to despair. . . . This leads to war between them and the whites; and war creates a hatred against the white man that never ceases to exist. . . .
That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected. While we cannot anticipate this result but with painful regret, the inevitable destiny [fate] of the race is beyond the power or wisdom of man to avert [stop].
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Source Information: Beginning in January 1849, Alexander Van Valen and four business partners set off on a journey from New York to California, a journey that would take 200 days. He left his wife and four daughters for over two years, hoping to find gold. While he made some money, he did not make as much as he had hoped and returned home to his family. This is an excerpt from a letter he wrote to his wife, Susan, on day 414 of his travels.
Source B
. . . I can now see that I have done wrong. I ought to have remained at home, and endeavored to [fulfill] my pledge to love, cherish and protect. I know that I have erred [done wrong], and hope you will pardon my misconduct and neglect, and may I never, (if permitted to return once more), be induced [persuaded] to follow the golden bubble again. At the time I thought I was doing for the best, prompted by the hopes of realizing a speedy Fortune, blinded by the dazzling prospects of obtaining a little Gold, slighted [wronged] her who it was my duty not to neglect and whom it was my good fortune to be connected with, though undeserving mortal as I am [I am not worthy], if you can pardon me this time, I shall feel grateful, and if it should ever be my lot, to visit a distant country again in hopes of bettering our condition in life, may we be united in the enterprise [pursuit], and perhaps success will follow the undertaking [venture], if not we can at any rate enjoy the pleasures of each others society. . . .
From your Affectionate Husband
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Source Information: This excerpt comes from the military governor of California Colonel R.B. Mason’s official report to President James K. Polk in 1848. In it he describes his two-month journey throughout the gold mines of Northern California and the observations he made. This report led to the sudden influx of people to California, later called the Gold Rush.
Source C
The most moderate estimate I could obtain . . . was, that upwards of 4,000 men were working in the gold district, of whom more than one-half were [American] Indians, and that from 30,000 to 50,000 dollars’ worth of gold, if not more, were daily obtained. . . .
The discovery of these vast deposits of gold has entirely changed the character of Upper California. Its people, before engaged in cultivating their small patches of ground, and guarding their herds . . . have all gone to the mines. . . . Labourers of every trade have left their work-benches, and tradesmen their shops; sailors desert their ships as fast as they arrive on the coast. . . . I have no hesitation now in saying, that there is more gold in the country . . . than will pay the cost of the present war with Mexico a hundred times over. No capital is required to obtain this gold, as the labouring man wants nothing but his pick and shovel and tin pan . . . .
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Source Information: German immigrant Charles Christian Nahl and his brother headed West around 1848 to make their fortune by mining gold. They were unsuccessful as gold miners but created a business as artists specializing in engravings, photographs, and paintings. The print entitled “A Road Scene in California” was made by Nahl in 1856 and shows American Indians, Chinese immigrants, settlers, and gold prospectors during the Gold Rush.
Source D
A Road Scene in California
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Alexander Van Valen regretted participating in the Gold Rush.
Explain how evidence from Source B supports the statement.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Do Source A and Source C provide similar or different viewpoints on the benefits of the Gold Rush?
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source A.
Why might a historian question Source A’s usefulness as evidence for determining how American Indians felt about white settlement in California?
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The arrival of settlers and immigrants changed the makeup of the population of California.
Explain how evidence from Source D supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
People in the 1850s were concerned about the fate of American Indians.
Explain how evidence from Source A supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
Why might historians question Source B’s usefulness for determining the long‑term impacts of the Gold Rush on California?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Do Source C and Source D provide similar or different explanations of who participated in the Gold Rush?
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source C.
Select one detail from the Source Information that indicates why a historian might use this source to learn about the Gold Rush.
The following is an excerpt from military governor of California Colonel R.B. Mason’s official report to President James K. Polk in 1848. In it he describes his two-month journey throughout the gold mines of Northern California and the observations he made. This report led to the sudden influx of people to California, later termed the Gold Rush.
Part B
Explain why the detail you selected in Part A indicates why a historian might use this source to learn about the Gold Rush.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The information provided in Sources A through D is credible. Use these sources to respond to the compelling question.
The Gold Rush: Was it worth it?
Develop a claim that responds to the compelling question.
- Explain how one source supports your claim.
- Explain how a different source supports your claim.
- Use details and examples from the selected sources to support your response.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is test content.
Note: This set contains more items than what would regularly appear on an operational test. An operational EBAS would contain four 2-point items and one 4-point item.
Items that have student responses were field-tested on MCAP assessments and may or may not have been used operationally prior to public release.
This is test content.
Introduction
After reading a book in which a country goes to war, a student started to think about the reasons that countries fight. The student had recently learned about the Mexican-American War, and decided to research it further. The compelling question is:
Was the goal of the Mexican-American War to expand slavery?
The student has found the following sources. Use the sources and source information to answer the questions.
Background Information
In 1846 President James K. Polk, a supporter of expansion and the idea of Manifest Destiny, sent a group of diplomats and U.S. soldiers to disputed territory north of the Rio Grande River (Rio del Norte in Spanish). The U.S. government wanted to settle the border dispute over the recently-annexed Texas, formerly a part of Mexico. The arrival of the diplomats caused a revolt. Mexican soldiers crossed the river and killed 11 U.S. soldiers. President Polk requested and received a declaration of war from Congress. After two years of war, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The treaty gave Mexico $15 million for the land that became California and New Mexico, and established the Rio Grande as the border between Texas and Mexico.
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Source Information: This is an excerpt from a speech in Congress about a declaration of war against Mexico. Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan, a strong supporter of American territorial expansion, was a leading spokesman for the doctrine of popular sovereignty which said that the white voters in each territory should decide whether to permit slavery. Cass also opposed blocking the expansion of slavery into the territory gained from Mexico. On May 12, 1846, he discussed his thoughts about the disputed land with Mexico.
Source A
I have no doubt but the boundary of Texas goes to the Rio del Norte. But I do not place the justification of our Government upon any question of title. Granting that the Mexicans have a claim to that country, as well as we, still the nature of the aggression is not changed. We were in the possession—a possession obtained without conflict; and we could not be divested [deprived] of this possession, but by our own consent [permission], or by an act of war. The ultimate claim to the country was a question for diplomatic adjustment. Till that took place, the [possessive] right was in us; and any attempt to dislodge us was a clear act of war. . . . We have but one safe course before us. Let us put forth our whole strength. Let us organize a force, which will leave no doubt as to the result. Let us enter the Mexican territory, and conquer a peace at the point of the bayonet. Let us move on till we meet reasonable proposals from the Mexican Government; and if these are not met this side of the capital, let us take possession of the city of Montezuma, and dictate our own conditions.
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Source Information: In the 1973 book Mr. Polk’s War: American Opposition and Dissent, 1846-1848, historian John H. Schroeder characterizes President James K. Polk’s opinion toward U.S.-Mexican relations. This book was published during a time when American public opinion was deeply divided over U.S. involvement in war. The book aims to disprove the myth that Americans suspend political differences during wartime.
Source B
On Mexican affairs, Polk was equally aggressive. . . . While publicly committed to peaceful diplomacy, Polk maneuvered to ensure war if necessary to gain his objectives. Hoping to coerce [force] Mexico peacefully into recognizing the Rio Grande as the Texas border and ceding [giving] New Mexico and California to the United States, the administration worked through the channels of diplomacy. But Polk’s was a militant [aggressive] policy designed not to resolve outstanding issues like the claims question, but rather to use this dispute to achieve his territorial objectives, whatever the cost. If Mexico would not peacefully acquiesce in [agree to] Polk’s demands, then war would be the alternative. And the president did not shrink from war.
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Source Information: In March 1845 the U.S. War Department ordered Ulysses S. Grant to Texas. His troops fought in the war against Mexico. In his 1885 autobiography, Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, he reflected on the causes of the Mexican-American War.
Source C
The occupation, separation and annexation were, from the inception [beginning] of the movement to its final consummation [completion], a conspiracy [secret plan] to acquire territory out of which slave states might be formed for the American Union.
Even if the annexation itself could be justified, the manner in which the subsequent [following] war was forced upon Mexico cannot. The fact is, annexationists wanted more territory than they could possibly lay any claim to. . . .
We were sent to provoke [start] a fight, but it was essential that Mexico should commence [begin] it. It was very doubtful whether Congress would declare war; but if Mexico should attack our troops, the Executive could . . . prosecute the contest with vigor [strength]. Once initiated [begun] there were but few public men who would have the courage to oppose it.
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Source Information: On May 11, 1846, President James K. Polk delivered the following message to Congress. Polk, a southern slave-owner, supported the expansion of slavery westward. Polk began his speech by stating that he had tried diplomatic measures to resolve differences with Mexico for the past 8 months. Congress voted to declare war two days later by a vote of 174 to 14.
Source D
The Mexican forces at Matamoros assumed a belligerent [hostile] attitude, and on the 12th of April General Ampudia . . . notified General Taylor to break up his camp within twenty-four hours and to retire beyond the Nueces River, and in the event of his failure to comply with these demands announced that arms, and arms alone, must decide the question. But no open act of hostility was committed until the 24th of April. On that day General Arista, [Mexican commander] . . . communicated to General Taylor that “he considered hostilities commenced [started] and should prosecute [continue with] them.” . . . The cup of forbearance [patience] had been exhausted even before the recent information from the frontier of the Del Norte. But now, after reiterated menaces [repeated threats], Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood [killed Americans] upon the American soil. She [The United States] has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced, and that the two nations are now at war.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Mexico started the Mexican-American War.
Explain how evidence from Source D supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source C.
What information raises concerns about Source C’s usefulness as evidence for determining why the United States went to war with Mexico?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Select one detail from Source A that supports President Polk’s message to Congress in Source D.
I have no doubt but the boundary of Texas goes to the Rio del Norte. But I do not place the justification of our Government upon any question of title. Granting that the Mexicans have a claim to that country, as well as we, still the nature of the aggression is not changed. We were in the possession—a possession obtained without conflict; and we could not be divested [deprived] of this possession, but by our own consent [permission], or by an act of war. The ultimate claim to the country was a question for diplomatic adjustment. Till that took place, the [possessive] right was in us; and any attempt to dislodge us was a clear act of war. . . . We have but one safe course before us. Let us put forth our whole strength. Let us organize a force, which will leave no doubt as to the result. Let us enter the Mexican territory, and conquer a peace at the point of the bayonet. Let us move on till we meet reasonable proposals from the Mexican Government; and if these are not met this side of the capital, let us take possession of the city of Montezuma, and dictate our own conditions.
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source D.
Select one detail that identifies the author’s perspective on slavery.
On May 11, 1846, President James K. Polk delivered the following message to Congress. Polk, a southern slave-owner supported the expansion of slavery westward. Polk began his speech by stating that he had tried diplomatic measures to resolve differences with Mexico for the past 8 months. Congress voted to declare war two days later by a vote of 174 to 14.
Part B
How might the detail you selected in Part A impact the information provided by the source?
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Ulysses S. Grant did not approve of the war with Mexico.
Explain how evidence from Source C supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
What information raises concerns about Source B’s usefulness as evidence for learning about American opinions about war?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Do Source B and Source D provide similar or different reasons for who was to blame for the start of the Mexican-American War?
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source A.
Select one detail from the Source Information that identifies Senator Cass’s perspective on the war with Mexico.
This is an excerpt from a speech in Congress about a declaration of war against Mexico. Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan, a strong supporter of American territorial expansion, was a leading spokesman for the doctrine of popular sovereignty which said that the white voters in each territory should decide whether to permit slavery. Cass also opposed blocking the expansion of slavery into the territory gained from Mexico. On May 12, 1846, he discussed his thoughts about the disputed land with Mexico.
Part B
Explain how the detail you selected in Part A might impact the information provided by the source.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The information provided in Sources A through D is credible. Use these sources to respond to the compelling question.
Was the goal of the Mexican‑American War to expand slavery?
Develop a claim that responds to the compelling question.
- Explain how one source supports your claim.
- Explain how one source does not support your claim.
- Use details and examples from the selected sources to support your response.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is test content.
Note: This set contains more items than what would regularly appear on an operational test. An operational EBAS would contain four 2-point items and one 4-point item.
Items that have student responses were field-tested on MCAP assessments and may or may not have been used operationally prior to public release.
This is test content.
Introduction
A student is researching the Lewis and Clark Expedition for a project. The compelling question is:
What was Sacagawea’s most important contribution to the Lewis and Clark Expedition?
The student has found the following sources. Use the sources and source information to answer the questions.
Background Information
In 1803, after purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France, President Thomas Jefferson asked Congress to fund an expedition to explore the American West. Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark led a group of about 35 men on this journey. Between May 1804 and September 1806, the Corps of Discovery, as the expedition company was called, traveled nearly 8,000 miles from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Ocean and back.
In April 1805, the Corps of Discovery proceeded up the Missouri River. The group included soldiers, civilians, and two newly-hired members—Sacagawea, a Shoshone Indian, and her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian fur trader.
Route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
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Source Information: This is an excerpt from Captain Lewis’ journal from May 16, 1805. The day before, the expedition was hit by a wind storm which flipped over their boat. The boat contained valuable scientific information gathered in journals as well as various other important provisions.
Source A
. . . In the evening our Instruments, Medicine, merchandise provision [goods] . . . were perfectly dried, repacked and put on board. . . . our medicine sustained the greatest injury, several articles of which were entirely spoiled, and many others considerably injured; the balance of our losses consisted of some garden seeds, a small quantity of gunpowder, and a few culinary [cooking] articles which fell overboard and sunk, the Indian woman [Sacagawea] . . . caught and preserved most of the light articles which were washed overboard . . . all matters being now arranged for our departure we lost no time in setting out.
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Source Information: This article titled “The Challenge of Sacagawea ” is from the State Historical Society of North Dakota’s website. In addition to offering news and events, this website has online exhibits about North Dakota’s past. Their mission is to “identify, preserve, interpret, and promote the heritage of North Dakota and its people.” The article was published in 2003 and the website is updated regularly.
Source B
Sacagawea wrote nothing herself. She was almost certainly illiterate. . . . Had Sacagawea recorded her own history it seems certain that our understanding of her would be significantly . . . different . . . The journal keepers . . . five of whose journals are extant [surviving] for the Sacagawea phase of the expedition, did not routinely report her activities. Sacagawea got noticed when she fed the expedition, when she became ill, . . . when her beads were needed for an economic transaction, when she showed extraordinary resourcefulness in a boat accident, and when she interpreted among her people the Shoshone. . . . She was mentioned . . . only a handful of times in the journals.
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Source Information: This painting, Lewis and Clark at Three Forks, was painted by Edgar S. Paxson in 1912. Paxson was an American frontier painter who documented the disappearance of the Old West and the mistreatment of natives. He knew many American Indians and was sympathetic to the poor ways they had been treated. His paintings presented a romantic, but sometimes inaccurate, view of western settlement. This painting shows Lewis and Clark to the left of Sacagawea and her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, to the right. In the painting, she is identifying American Indian hunting grounds at the Three Forks Rivers that led into the Missouri River.
Source C
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Source Information: This is an excerpt from William Clark’s journal from October 19, 1805, less than one month before reaching the Pacific Ocean. He describes the first interaction with the Umatilla Indians along the Columbia River in present-day Oregon. They were one of approximately 50 native tribes that the Corps met on their journey. After failed attempts to communicate, Clark entered their homes uninvited, emptied his pockets, and provided gifts to convince them of the expedition’s peaceful intentions, but could not persuade the men to come outdoors to talk.
Source D
. . . [T]he sight of This Indian woman [Sacagawea], wife to one of our interpreters, confirmed those people of our friendly intentions, as no woman ever accompanies a war party of Indians in this quarter— Capt Lewis joined us and we Smoked with those people in the greatest friendship, during which time one of our Old Chiefs informed them who we were from whence [where] we Came and where we were going giving them a friendly account of us, . . . I Saw Several Horses and persons on horseback in the plains many of the men women and children Came up from the Lodges below; all of them appeared pleased to See us, we traded some few articles for fish and berries, Dined, and proceeded on past a Small rapid and 15 Lodges. . . .
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition required extensive planning.
Explain how evidence from Source A supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
Why might a historian choose to use the State Historical Society of North Dakota's website for learning more about Sacagawea’s contributions to the Lewis and Clark Expedition?
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source C.
What information raises concerns about Source C's usefulness as evidence for learning about Sacagawea's contributions to the Lewis and Clark Expedition?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Do Source A and Source D provide similar or different evidence of the contributions made by Sacagawea to the Lewis and Clark Expedition?
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source D.
What does the Source Information reveal about the challenges that Lewis and Clark faced since they started their journey West?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Do Source B and Source C provide similar or different evidence of Sacagawea's value to the Expedition?
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Lewis and Clark's interactions with the Umatilla Indians were positive.
Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Part B
Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement using evidence from Source D.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The information provided in Sources A through D is credible. Use these sources to respond to the compelling question.
What was Sacagawea’s most important contribution to the Lewis and Clark Expedition?
Develop a claim that responds to the compelling question.
- Explain how one source supports your claim.
- Explain how one source does not support your claim.
- Use details and examples from the selected sources to support your response.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is test content.
Note: This set contains more items than what would regularly appear on an operational test. An operational EBAS would contain four 2-point items and one 4-point item.
Items that have student responses were field-tested on MCAP assessments and may or may not have been used operationally prior to public release.
This is test content.
Introduction
A student is preparing for an in-class debate on the causes of the American Revolution. The compelling question being debated is:
Was the British government justified in passing the Stamp Act?
The student has found the following sources. Use the sources and source information to answer the questions.
Background Information
Great Britain began establishing colonies in America in the early 1600s, with the first permanent settlement, Jamestown, being founded in 1607. By the 1700s, these settlements had formed into the 13 British colonies, which eventually became the original United States. In 1765, after the French and Indian War, the British Parliament (legislature) passed the Stamp Act, the first attempt by the British to directly tax the colonists without their consent. This was later called “taxation without representation.” It required all colonists to pay a duty, or tax, on every piece of printed paper they used. This included legal documents, licenses, newspapers, and even playing cards. The money from the tax was meant to help the British government pay the costs of protecting the American frontier on the western border. There was support and opposition to the Stamp Act from both the British and American perspectives. These disagreements over taxation would later contribute to the start of the Revolutionary War.
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Source A
The gentleman tells us, America is obstinate [stubborn]; America is almost in open rebellion. I rejoice that America has resisted . . .
The Americans . . . have been wronged. They have been driven to madness by injustice. Will you punish them for the madness you have occasioned [caused]?
. . . the Stamp Act [should] be repealed absolutely, totally, and immediately; that the reason for the repeal should be assigned, because it was founded on an erroneous [false] principle. At the same time, let the sovereign authority of this country over the colonies be asserted in as strong terms as can be devised [thought up], and be made to extend every point of legislation whatsoever: that we may bind [limit] their trade, confine their manufactures, and exercise every power whatsoever — except that of taking money out of their pockets without their consent.
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Source B
Parliament: Are not all the people very able to pay those taxes?
Franklin: No. The frontier counties, all along the continent, have been frequently ravaged [destroyed] by the enemy and greatly impoverished, are able to pay very little tax . . .
Parliament: Are not the colonies . . . very able to pay the stamp duty?
Franklin: In my opinion there is not gold and silver enough in the colonies to pay the stamp duty for one year.
Parliament: Do you think it right that America should be protected by this country [Great Britain] and pay no part of the expense?
Franklin: That is not the case. The colonies raised, clothed, and paid, during the last war, near 25,000 men, and spent many millions.
Parliament: Do not you think the people of America would submit to pay the stamp duty, if it was moderated?
Franklin: No, never, unless compelled by force of arms . . . .
Parliament: What is your opinion of a future tax? . . . How would Americans receive it?
Franklin: Just as they do this. They would not pay it.
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Source C
It is a truth . . . that the people of [Britain] are involved in a debt under which they struggle. . . . From its enormity [the debt’s great size] many . . . have predicted the ruin of the nation. . . . The protection of America has, in no small degree, contributed to this burden of the mother country [Britain].
. . . America is of the utmost importance to Great Britain. A loss of it to the British crown would greatly diminish its strength . . . If America is of so much importance to her mother country; and if it is just and reasonable that she should contribute towards her own defense . . . will any be so absurd as to deny the reasonableness, the necessity, of the crown's having some certainty that she [the American colonies] will pay her proportion of aids [taxes] when requisite [required] and demanded. . . .
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Source D
[The idea] that no Englishman is or can be taxed but by his own consent as an individual: this is so far from being true . . .
It has been . . . [argued] that, though Parliament may have power to impose taxes on the Colonies, they have no right to use it, because it would be an unjust tax; and no supreme or legislative power can have a right to enact any law in its nature unjust: to this, I shall only make this short reply, that if Parliament can impose no taxes but what are equitable, and the persons taxed are to be the judges of that equity, [Parliament] will in effect have no power to lay any tax at all. No tax can be imposed exactly equal on all, and if it is not just, no power whatever can impose it, by which [logic], all taxation is at an end . . .
Source D - adapted
The idea that no English person can be taxed without personally agreeing to it is simply not true.
Some people argue that even if Parliament has the power to tax the colonies, it doesn’t have the right—because such taxes would be unfair. And since no government has the right to pass unjust laws, they say Parliament shouldn’t tax the colonies at all. Here’s my response: if Parliament can only make taxes that everyone thinks are fair—and the people being taxed get to decide what’s fair—then Parliament wouldn’t really have the power to tax anyone. No tax is perfectly fair to everyone. So if unfair taxes aren’t allowed, then that means no taxes would ever be allowed. That wouldn’t work either.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
Select one detail about Benjamin Franklin that may have influenced his viewpoint on the Stamp Act.
Benjamin Franklin was a leader in colonial politics and society. He served as a clerk [assistant] for the Pennsylvania legislature and postmaster of Philadelphia in the 1730s. Franklin became a spokesperson for colonial resistance to the Stamp Act. In 1766, while working in London , he was brought before the British Parliament to testify about the colonists’ attitudes toward the Stamp Act. This is a transcript of the questions posed by members of Parliament and Franklin’s answers.
Part B
Explain how the detail you selected in Part A may have influenced Franklin’s viewpoint on the Stamp Act.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Governing colonies has serious risks.
Explain how evidence from Source C supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
William Pitt supported strong British control over the American colonies.
Explain how evidence from Source A supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
Why might a historian use Source B as evidence of how colonial leaders responded to the Stamp Act?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source D.
Why might a historian question Source D’s usefulness as evidence of the colonial response to the Stamp Act?
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The information provided in Sources A through D is credible. Use these sources to respond to the compelling question.
Was the British government justified in passing the Stamp Act?
Develop a claim that responds to the compelling question.
- Explain how one source supports your claim.
- Explain how one source does not support your claim.
- Use details and examples from the selected sources to support your response.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
Select one detail from the Source Information that suggests that events of this time period impacted the information provided.
Benjamin Franklin was a leader in colonial politics and society. He served as a cleark [assitant] for the Pennsylvania legislature and postmaster of Philadelphia in the 1730s. Franklin became a spokesperson for colonial resistance to the Stamp Act. In 1766, while working in London, he was called before the British Parliament to testify about the colonists’ attitudes toward the Stamp Act. This is a transcript of the questions posed by members of Parliament and Franklin’s answers .
Part B
Explain how the detail you selected in Part A suggests that events of this time period impacted the information provided.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
What perspective is shared by the member of British Parliament (Source A) and the colonial leader (Source B)?
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source D.
How might the author's perspective impact the information provided in the pamphlet?
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source C.
Why would Joseph Galloway publish his article under the fake name, Americanus?
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage.
Select two pieces of evidence from Source C that show Britain's need to maintain control over their American colonies.
It is a truth . . . that the people of [Britain] are involved in a debt under which they struggle . . . . From its enormity [the debt's great size] many . . . have predicted the ruin of the nation . . . The protection of America has, in no small degree, contributed to this burden of the mother country [Britain]. . . . America is of the utmost importance to Great Britain. A loss of it to the British crown would greatly diminish its strength . . . If America is of so much importance to her mother country; and if it is just and reasonable that she should contribute towards her own defense, . . . will any be so absurd as to deny the reasonableness, the necessity, of the crown’s having some certainty that she [the American colonies ] will pay her proportion of aids [taxes] when requisite [required] and demanded. . . .
This is test content.
Note: This set contains more items than what would regularly appear on an operational test. An operational EBAS would contain four 2-point items and one 4-point item.
Items that have student responses were field-tested on MCAP assessments and may or may not have been used operationally prior to public release.
This is test content.
Introduction
A student is researching inventions from the 1800s. The compelling question is:
Did telegraph communication improve people’s lives?
The student has found the following sources. Use the sources and source information to answer the questions.
Background Information
The electric telegraph was developed in the United States by Samuel Morse in the 1830s. The telegraph was a new form of communication that used electronic signals to transmit words. It allowed people to send messages over long distances at a rate of ten words per minute. The first telegraph line in the United States was completed in 1844. It connected Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
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Source Information: This excerpt is from a newspaper editorial published on March 28, 1845. The author of the article is unknown. On January 1, 1845, John Tawell was observed leaving the scene of a crime in Slough, England (about 20 miles west of London).
Source A
. . . as soon as he [Tawell] was gone, Mr. C. communicated his suspicions to the person who conducts the electric telegraph. A signal was made to the station in London that a person was in the first class carriage [train car] who ought to be watched. Quick as the train went, the signal was there long before the train arrived at the London terminus [station]. A policeman was on the platform, and as soon as the prisoner got out of the carriage the policeman saw him get into an omnibus [bus], and putting on a plain coat over his police dress, he stepped up . . . with the conductor . . . The next morning further intelligence was received from Slough, and . . . the officer then took him [Tawell] into custody . . .
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Source Information: This 1845 advertisement appears in History of Telegraphy, a book by Dr. Ken Beauchamp, published in 2001. It is part of the History of Technology series by the British Institution of Engineering and Technology. Dr. Beauchamp was a lecturer and researcher in telecommunications and computing as well as a published author. This re-created advertisement invites the public to a demonstration of this new invention.
Source B
THE WONDER of the AGE!!
INSTANTANEOUS COMMUNICATION
THE GALVANIC AND ELECTRO-MAGNETIC
TELEGRAPHS
The Electric Telegraph is unlimited in nature and extent of its communications; by its extraordinary agency a person in London could converse with another at New York, or at any other place however distant, as easily and nearly as rapidly as if both parties were in the same room. Questions proposed by Visitors will be asked by means of this Apparatus [device], and answers . . . will instantaneously be returned by a person 20 Miles off, . . .
The Electric Fluid travels at the rate of 280,000 Miles per Second.
By its powerful agency Murderers have been apprehended [caught] (as in the late case of Tawell), Thieves detected, and lastly (which is of no little importance), the timely assistance of Medical aid has been procured [received] in cases which otherwise would have proved fatal.
ADMISSION ONE SHILLING
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Source Information: This editorial was originally published in a Pennsylvania newspaper in 1861. It now appears on the American Historical Association’s website collection titled "16 Months to Sumter: Newspaper Editorials on the Path to Secession." Founded in 1884, the AHA is a nonprofit organization that “promotes historical work and the importance of historical thinking . . . serves historians in a wide variety of professions, and represents every historical era and geographical area.”
Source C
. . . The telegraph, instead of being a blessing, is a curse to the country . . . No doubt, under the control of honest and conscientious men, and confined in its operations to the transmission of facts . . . it would be productive of much good, and be an efficient medium of communication. But this is not the case . . .
The telegraph is a money-making institution . . . Does not every one see at a glance how completely its interests are at variance [in conflict] with those of the public? And does not every one see . . . the tremendous power it must wield, as long as implicit [complete] reliance is placed in the statements it furnishes as news?
We warn the people to beware of this new power . . .
. . . No news which it sends over the wire is reliable . . . One half of its “reports,” and “rumors” are the pure inventions of the imagination . . .
. . . The telegraph is a positive nuisance. Unless it is shorn [deprived] of its strength, by unbelief in all it says and does . . . it can cry down the good and elevate the bad; . . . it can elect any man, almost, President of the United States . . .
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Source Information: Dr. David Hochfelder is an associate professor and the director of the Public History Program at the University at Albany in New York. Dr. Hochfelder has focused much of his career on the history of technology in the United States. This article was published in 2015 as part of a collection called the Essential Civil War Curriculum developed by Virginia Tech University.
Source D
The military telegraph also proved valuable on several occasions as an operational and tactical tool on the battlefield, allowing commanders to remain in constant touch with subordinates [troops] and to react quickly to changing conditions. [General] McClellan adroitly [cleverly] used the telegraph to resupply his troops with bullets and shells in the midst of the Battle of Antietam . . . Assistant Secretary of War Charles Anderson Dana later praised the utility of the telegraph when he witnessed Union forces in action . . . noting that “it was one of the most useful accessories of our army,” giving General Rosecrans “constant information on the way the battle was going.” Also, Dana was able to send eleven telegrams to Washington, apprising [notifying] [Secretary of War] Stanton of the progress of the battle on almost an hourly basis.
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Source Information: This excerpt is from a 2018 article written by Helen Fessenden about the impact of the telegraph cable that connected the United States and the United Kingdom. It appeared in Econ Focus, an economics magazine of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Fessenden is an editor, reporter, and author, who has written articles for various online and print publications.
Source E
The Great Telegraph Breakthrough of 1866
. . . In record time, the prices of commodities [products] traded on both sides of the [Atlantic] ocean could be transmitted to merchants who needed that information to buy or sell their products . . .
. . . the average difference between New York and Liverpool [England] prices was 2.56 pence [British money] per pound of cotton prior to the cable [telegraph], it fell to 1.65 pence per pound—a drop of more than a third—right after . . .
In turn, thanks to more timely and accurate information, New York traders were better able to adjust export volumes to meet . . . demand. Rather than spend money on costly storage . . . exporters could calibrate [adjust] their shipments more efficiently . . . The cotton trade experienced an 8 percent efficiency gain in annual export value, mostly from the reduced variations in price differences due to the cable.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source A.
What information raises concerns about Source A’s usefulness for learning about different types of communication?
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Source E states, “In turn, thanks to more timely and accurate information, New York traders were better able to adjust export volumes to meet . . . demand.”
Explain how Source D supports the impact of the telegraph described in Source E.
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
Why might a historian question Source B’s usefulness for learning about the impact of the telegraph?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source D.
Select one detail that shows Source D’s usefulness as evidence for learning about how communication has changed over time.
Dr. David Hochfelder is an associate professor and the director of the Public History Program at the University at Albany in New York. Dr. Hochfelder has focused much of his career on the history of technology in the United States. This article was published in 2015 as part of a collection called the Essential Civil War Curriculum developed by Virginia Tech University.
Part B
Explain how the detail you selected in Part A shows Source D's usefulness as evidence for learning about how communication has changed over time.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
How does Source A support a feature of the telegraph advertised in Source B?
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The invention of the telegraph improved public safety.
Explain how evidence from Source A supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The invention of the telegraph changed military strategy during the Civil War.
Explain how evidence from Source D supports the statement.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The information provided in Sources A through D is credible. Use these sources to respond to the compelling question.
Did telegraph communication improve people's lives?
Develop a claim that responds to the compelling question.
- Explain how one source supports your claim.
- Explain how a different source supports your claim.
- Use details and examples from the selected sources to support your response.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is test content.
A student is researching the American Revolution. The compelling question is:
What motivated women to support the American Revolution?
The student has found the following sources. Use the sources and source information to answer the questions.
Background Information
After the Proclamation of 1763, the British government taxed its American colonies to pay for the costs of protecting them. Colonial men and women resisted these taxes in many ways, including boycotts and protests. After a decade of increasing tensions, the colonists declared their independence from Great Britain and formally started the revolution in 1776. The American Revolution lasted from 1765–1783.
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Source Information: In late May 1780, General George Washington announced that his soldiers were exhausted and had a serious shortage of food and clothing. Esther Reed, the wife of Pennsylvania Governor Joseph Reed, rallied fellow women of Philadelphia in a campaign to raise money in support of the patriot troops.
Source A
Head Qrs [Quarters] in Bergen Cty., July 14, 1780
Madam:
I have received with much pleasure . . . the amount of the subscriptions [money] already collected for the use of the American Soldiery. This fresh mark of the patriotism of the Ladies entitles them to the highest applause of their Country. It is impossible for the Army, not to feel a superior gratitude, on such an instance of goodness.
. . . I would propose the purchasing of course Linnen [cotton cloth], to be made into Shirts, with the whole amount of their subscription [money]. A Shirt extraordinary to the Soldier will be of more service, and do more to preserve his health than any other thing that could be procured him. . . .
Letter from General George Washington to Esther Reed
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Source Information: The Boston Evening Post published the following agreement, reporting that over 300 Boston women had signed it. The actions were taken in response to the Revenue Acts, which taxed the colonies.
Source B
At a time when our . . . Rights and Privileges are attacked in an unconstitutional and most alarming Manner, . . . we join with the very respectable Body of Merchants and other Inhabitants of this Town . . . in their Resolutions, totally to abstain [stop] from the Use of Tea. . . . This Agreement we cheerfully come into, as we believe the very distressed Situation of our Country requires it, and we do hereby oblige ourselves religiously to observe it. . . .
Article from the Boston Evening Post, a patriot newspaper, January 31, 1770
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Source Information: Reaction to the new taxes became violent in Boston, Massachusetts. To restore order, Great Britain sent troops to the city. People were forced to either leave their homes or remain and live under military rule. Hannah Winthrop lived just outside of Boston. In this letter she is writing to a female friend.
Source C
Dear Mrs. Warren, the Friend and Sister of my Heart,
. . . But my heart Bleeds for the people of Boston, my Blood boils with resentment at the Treatment they have met with from Gage [British General]. Can anything equal his Barbarity [cruelty]. Turning the poor out of Town without any Support, those persons who were possessed of any means of Support stopped and Searched, not suffered to carry anything with them. Can anything equal the distress of parents Separated from their Children, the tender husband detained in Cruel Captivity from the Wife. . . .
Excerpt from a letter written by Hannah Winthrop to Mercy Otis Warren, August 1775
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Source Information: This image comes from a popular series of books on American History. The books were published on the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The image is from the chapter called "Patriotism of American Women." It shows a woman spinning her own thread so that she will not have to purchase British cloth.
Source D
"A Patriotic Young Woman," 1875
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source A.
What information raises concerns about Source A's usefulness as evidence of what motivated women to support the American Revolution?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Do Source A and Source B offer similar or different reasons about what motivated women to support the American Revolution?
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Hannah Winthrop is angry about the British troops in Boston.
Explain how evidence from Source C supports the statement.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source D.
Select one detail from the Source Information that raises concerns about the usefulness of Source D as evidence for learning about what motivated women to support the American Revolution.
Source Information: This image comes from a series of books on American History, which became popular in the United States. The books were published in 1875 to recognize the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This image is from the chapter called "Patriotism of American Women." It shows a woman spinning her own thread so that she will not have to purchase British cloth.
Part B
Explain why the detail you selected in Part A raises concerns about using it as evidence for what motivated women to support the American Revolution.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The information provided in Sources A through D is credible. Use these sources to respond to the compelling question.
What motivated women to support the American Revolution?
Develop a claim that responds to the compelling question.
- Explain how one source supports your claim.
- Explain how one source does not support your claim.
- Use details and examples from the selected sources to support your response.
Enter your answer in the space provided.