Essay Set I

Task: Read and analyze the following documents, applying your social studies knowledge

and skills to write a short essay of two or three paragraphs in which you:

• Describe the historical context surrounding these documents

• Identify and explain the relationship between the events and/or ideas found in these documents (Cause and Effect, or Similarity/Difference, or Turning Point)

In developing your short-essay answer of two or three paragraphs, be sure to keep these explanations in mind:

Describe means “to illustrate something in words or tell about it.”

Historical Context refers to “the relevant historical circumstances surrounding or connecting the events, ideas, or developments in these documents.”

Identify means “to put a name to or to name.”

Explain means “to make plain or understandable; to give reasons for or causes of; to show the logical development or relationship of.”

Types of Relationships:

Cause refers to “something that contributes to the occurrence of an event, the rise of an idea, or the bringing about of a development.”

Effect refers to “what happens as a consequence (result, impact, outcome) of an event, an idea, or a development.”

Similarity tells how “something is alike or the same as something else.”

Difference tells how “something is not alike or not the same as something else.”

Turning Point is “a major event, idea, or historical development that brings about significant

change. It can be local, regional, national, or global.”

SEQ Set 1 Directions (Question 29): Read and analyze the following documents before writing your short essay on the loose leaf provided.

Document #1

. . . We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,— That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient [fleeting] causes. . . . But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces [demonstrates] a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. . . .

Source: Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 (adapted)

Document #2

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. . . .

Source: Preamble, United States Constitution, 1787

SEQ Set 1

Task: Based on your reading and analysis of these documents, apply your social studies knowledge and skills to write a short essay of two or three paragraphs in which you: Describe the historical context surrounding these documents Identify and explain the relationship between the events and/or ideas found in these documents (Cause and Effect, or Similarity/Difference, or Turning Point)