Assignment 3: Primary Source Analysis
Style format: 12 point font, double spaced lines, one inch page margins, no extra spaces
between paragraphs, indented first sentences of paragraphs
File format: a single .doc, .docx, .rtf or .pdf file containing all your answers to the questions
below
Assignment prompt: Complete all parts of the assignment described below. Incomplete
responses will result in significant grade deductions.
PART 1: Civil War and Emancipation (40%)
Write a short essay that responds to the following claim: “Abraham Lincoln led the Union in the
Civil War against the confederacy in 1861 in order to abolish slavery, and his emancipation
proclamation issued in 1863 freed all enslaved people in the U.S..”
Your essay should have an introductory paragraph with 1-3 sentences summarizing your
response to both parts of the prompt. The first body paragraph should provide information and
explain at least one quote from readings assigned for Feb. 9. The second body paragraph should
draw information and explain at least one quote from readings assigned for Feb. 11. You may
provide, but are not required to, a fourth paragraph that identifies what you consider to be the
historical significance or implications of your arguments.
PART 2: Emancipation (40%)
Write a short essay that answers this question: how did African Americans contribute to the
end of slavery in the United States, and to the Union winning the Civil War?
Your essay should have an introductory paragraph summarizing your answer to both parts of
the question (the end of slavery and the end of the Civil War). The first body paragraph should
answer the first part of the question and the second body paragraph should answer the second
part of the question. Each paragraph should draw information from and explain at least one
quote from at least one document in assigned reading for Feb. 14.
PART 3: Reconstruction (20%)
Explain what impact the failure to redistribute land to formerly enslaved people had on
Reconstruction. Your answer should be one substantial paragraph, max 200 words, beginning
with a specific argument. Draw from Chap. 12 of Who Built America? and from lecture on Feb.
18 to support your answer.
Identifying and Citing Sources
When quoting a text, you must identify in your writing who or what you are quoting—for
example, the text itself, the name and title of a person quoted in the text, the name of an
historical figure referenced in the text, the title and date of a document that runs alongside the
main text, etc. If the meaning of the quote is not obvious, you should analyze and/ or explain
the quote’s meaning and how it helps support your argument.
All sources for this assignment (including assigned readings) must be cited using footnotes or
endnotes formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style:
Failure to place verbatim text from other sources in quotes, failure to cite outside sources, or
having someone complete your assignment for you are forms of plagiarism and violations of the
student code. Students who are found to have plagiarized any of the answers, including the
extra credit, will receive a zero for the assignment, and no opportunity to redo the assignment.