Using the primary texts supplied, choose two pro-slavery and two anti-slavery documents and write a 750-word essay that examines how the proponents and opponents of slavery used similar concepts in their arguments.  You should identify the authors’ main point, and examine how they defended their positions. Your paper should conclude by explaining why some contemporaries of slavery may have found certain arguments compelling, while others found them offensive (to conclude effectively, you will need to explain the historical context in which these texts were written, based on what you have read in the Cengage text and learned in class discussion).

No secondary sources, other than the Cengage text, should be integrated into this paper’s analysis.

See Blackboard for the primary sources.

Goals of this Paper:  The purpose of this assignment is to advance your ability to reason through a specific historical question and to express your ideas in writing.  Thus:

• Your paper should briefly introduce your paper’s topic or question and provide a thesis statement. In a paper of this size, your introduction and thesis statement should appear on the first page, in the paper’s first paragraph.
• Your paper should show that you reasoned through the evidence in a fair-minded way. In other words you should state (paraphrase) what your evidence says and not what you wish it said or think it should say. You need to state the evidence fairly, even if you think it wrong or offensive.
• Your paper should use evidence to answer the historical question. You need to explain how the evidence answers the question. The easiest way to figure this is to think through your evidence and argument using one or more of the key concepts for this course.
• Your paper should briefly explain an implication or limitation of your analysis. For an implication, you might consider how your analysis sheds light on one of the course’s key terms. For a limitation, you might note which key concepts your analysis does not (or cannot) address.
• Your paper should develop and organize your thoughts clearly and logically. Outlining is a necessary, but not required, step in writing a well-organized paper.
• Your paper should draw a conclusion that addresses the paper’s chief topic or question and that states your answer to the question or your contribution to the topic.

Common Style:

Submission to Blackboard Learn

Typewritten, double-spaced

Length:  750 words

Documentation:  Chicago Style

Common Instruction on Academic Honesty:

To meet the standards for Academic Honesty:

•         Cite your sources consistently throughout your paper (good rule of thumb: at least one citation per paragraph, although introduction and conclusion may not require citation).

•         Cite your source for any statement or quotation that is not common knowledge.

•         Place quotation marks around phrases/sentences that represent the words of someone else.

•         Use proper paraphrasing rather than poor paraphrasing to avoid plagiarism.