Tag Archives: writing

Midterm Instructions

We discussed the directions in class, but here they are in writing for you.

The midterm will be available all day Friday, 10/25 and Saturday, 10/26 on Blackboard. Click on “Class Sessions” on the left-hand side and the Midterm will be listed there.

You will have 1 hour to complete the exam and can only submit your essay once, so make sure you are ready when you click on it on BB.

You will be given an option of two questions. Pick one to write on. Your answer should be in essay form. It should have a thesis, separate paragraphs, and specific examples. You may also reference class readings. You do not need to footnote anything, but do your best to give the author, title, or some identifying information for a document you are referring to.

This is a closed-book test and you may not work with other students on the exam.

Please submit your answer to BB within the allotted time. It will automatically save and submit what you have written on BB when time expires so make sure if you are writing in word and then copying to do that before time runs out. BB will give you a few warnings about time during the hour.

After submitting to BB, please submit a copy to turnitin.com. This must be the same exact essay you have submitted to BB. If you submit different essays or do not submit anything within the hour time limit, you will not receive credit for the exam.

WHEN IN DOUBT: email me immediately and attach your essay. Everything is time stamped so I can see when you started the exam/submitted your essays etc. So, if for some reason you are unsure if your essay uploaded correctly, just email me it immediately so I can see that you did it within the time. We will troubleshoot later if necessary.

Describe 2-3 aspects of life in the Northern colonies and 1 difference between the Northern and the Southern colonies.

Examples from in-class writing prompt on Tuesday, 9/24.

Example 1

In England there were huge revolts which brought forth the English Reformation. The English and Catholic Church split. This caused many people to come to the Americas to escape religious persecution. There were numerous groups: Pilgrims (Puritan separatists) in Plymouth, Calvinists, Quakers, and other Puritans. These colonies differed from the Southern ones because they were more focused on creating societies rather than profit. This can be seen in John Withrop’s account. He wanted to create a model society, “a city upon a Hill,” which would show England how successful they were. These colonies also did not have the same crops like tobacco. They traded pelts, timber, and other items with the natives. The Navigation Acts also came about later on, promoting the well being of the mother country, England.

pilgrims landing

Example 2

In the northern colonies some important aspects of life were religion–mostly of the Puritan kind, family, and the sorts of relations that were had with the Native people there as shown by the way that the Pilgrims were saved by the Wampanoag Indians. A difference from the Southern colonies was that instead of having mostly just men who were coming as indentured servants, these people were mostly entire families that had paid their way over in the case of the Puritans at least.

Paper 1 Examples

I have graded your first papers. Take a look at my comments and we can talk about them next class. Below are some examples of papers that did a good job summarizing one of the primary sources (Equiano, Bacon, laws) and giving a little historical context (development of slavery, Virginia, etc). (I haven’t edited or included my comments on these papers.)

Example 1

Bacon’s Rebellion

In this document, Nathaniel Bacon, a “general by the consent of the people” in Virginia, lists the reasons the governor of the colony, William Berkeley, has acted against the King and endangered the settlers.[1] At the time of writing this, Virginia was under constant attack from Native Americans in retaliation to being pushed off their land. Bacon, in his declaration, blames the leaders of Virginia for this and lists the actions they took which not only led to aggression from the Native Americans, but were in direct violation of the King’s laws. tobacco

Among these reasons, there are a few that stand out. His first complaint is that the leaders raised taxes for the common people and, instead of using the money to develop the colony, used it for personal reasons.[2] Here we see a prototype of one of the main struggles that led to the American Revolution: unfair taxation. Alongside this is Bacon’s position as an elected leader of the people, which mirrors the need for representatives of the common people that was also stressed during the American Revolution.

Bacon’s declaration is interesting because it proposes a lot of arguments that are very similar to those of the American Revolution. This document can be seen as the beginning of revolutionary sentiment in the British American colonies.

[1] Nathaniel Bacon, Declaration of Nathaniel Bacon in the Name of the People of Virginia (Virginia: Nathaniel Bacon, 1676), 2.

[2] Bacon, 1.

Example 2

In the source, African Olaudah Equiano Recounts the Horrors of Enslavement written in 1757 was about Equiano, a black male slave guiding one through his experience of captivity in an unfamiliar place.  Documenting his experiences probably served the purpose to enlighten and bring forth the much needed reality to the conditions of slavery.  During this time, when slavery was becoming prevalent due to a high demand for man power,  concerns were directed more toward economic gain rather than the people providing this wealth mainly because the stories were usually untold by the slaves themselves.  To be visually taken through Equiano’s explicit and raw descriptive details of his unwilling transition from being enslaved in his native home of Africa to bondage in the Caribbean’s alters ones perception of slavery. slave ad

Equiano begins at the very moment when he and his sister were literally taken from their home.  He says, “two men and a woman got over our walls, and seized us both, and they stopped our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest wood”[i]. From there, Equiano describes their exhausting horrifying journey to a ship used for transporting slaves.  Upon their arrival, we are given an image of not only the scenery surrounding the ship but a description of all the unfamiliarity’s of the people aboard.  Equiano says, “Their complexions too differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the language they spoke, (which was very different from any I had ever heard) united to confirm me in this disbelief”[ii].  Here is when we get a glimpse of the fear that starts to arise within Equiano to the point where he feels his life is in jeopardy. Once aboard the ship, the truth behind the conditions the slaves were kept under in addition to the physical maltreatment provide by the white men, were explained through the eyes of a young boy in the midst of this horror.

The slave system led people to believe that it was beneficial and necessary for financial gain, omitting that this benefit would be at the cost of many lives, the deliberate neglect to mention how these human beings (slaves) were treated.  As Equiano tells us, the masses of starving chained slaves stored within the ship like cattle, left to defecate in the very spot which they sat accumulating an unbearable smell, the constant suicide wishes and attempts accomplished by either the refusal to eat or jumping overboard, the cruel physical abuse disguised as punishment, instilling more fear from the vicious behavior these white men committed amongst one another, all to finally arrive to a place where they were sold like meat as the violence continued and heightened[iii].  So I ask, beneficial for whom?  Equiano allows his readers to see firsthand what life was like as a black slave, the perspectives of the unheard, the ones actually experiencing this so called necessary system.

[i] African Olaudah Equiano Recounts the Horrors of Enslavement, 1757, 46-48.

[ii] African Olaudah Equiano Recounts the Horrors of Enslavement, 1757, 46-48.

[iii] African Olaudah Equiano Recounts the Horrors of Enslavement, 1757, 46-48.

What are the different perspectives presented in the primary sources you read for today? (Spanish Exploration)

Hi all,

Below are a few examples of nice responses to the in-class writing prompt we did on Tuesday (9/3). Good answers demonstrated that you had read and thought about (at least some of) the readings; very good ones gave more details and some analysis of what was similar and different in the primary sources.

The Conquest of Tenochtitlan, 17th c.

The Conquest of Tenochtitlan, 17th c.

Example 1

The different perspectives represented in the primary sources were ones that came from Spaniards, but they differ in purpose as the first favors exploration and justifies it, the second is an eyewitness account of the brutal reality of it, and the third explains examples of why it should be stopped. Christopher Columbus’ recount of his first encounter with the native people from the land he things he has conquered insist on the benefits for Spain. Fray B.’s story on the brutality towards the natives he encounters explains the negative of exploration for the natives. Las Casas’ story insists that exploration should end.

Example 2

The first reading was a primary source recalling Columbus’ encounter with the natives. From his letter, he really compares & emphasizes the differences between their culture versus his. He also incorporates Christianity within his writing.

The second reading recalls the cruelty of the Spaniards & their relentlessness in conquering the Aztec land. The author of this really pities the natives.

The third reading speaks about the cruelty of the natives under the Spanish. The author is a Catholic priest, yet did not mention religion as much as the first.

Example 3

In the first primary source we read for class Columbus talks about his encounters with the native people. In his writing, he talks about it as a very positive thing–he describes in depth the rich mines and waters that contain gold for instance. Mostly, he paints a picture of the natives as a very simple and kind people who “never say no” and “may be made Christians.” In his view, the natives are grateful for their arrival and think that Columbus and others have come from the sky. It’s a completely positive look.

In the second primary source, the Spanish’s harsh and atrocious treatment of native people as slaves is the focus. The people are made to work hard and mine for gold and given not nearly enough to survive in return. He reveals that Spaniards only see the natives as slaves.