HIS 11 SMC Changing Perspectives on Slavery in America Project – Description
CHANGE OVER TIME Final Project Proposal (400-500 words)YOUR PROJECT MUST BE FOCUSED ON U.S. HISTORY UP UNTIL 1877.What is the topic, and potential title, of your final project?What set of primary sources will you be using in your project? What secondary sources will you use?What is your research question? The brief answer to your question will be your thesis, or the main statement you will seek to prove with evidence from your primary and secondary sources. Provide a justification for why the collection you have put together, or discovered, is important and worthy of studyFINAL PROJECT: CHANGE OVER TIME: In your final project, you will bring together a number of primary sources on a related topic, and show, in a paper of between 5-7 pages, or 1500-2000 words, how beliefs. attitudes, laws, or perspectives concerning your topic or focus changed (or did not change) between the years (or some subset of years between) 1500 and 1865.You must use at least three (3) written primary sources, and at least one (1) visual primary source in your paper. You should also have other secondary sources to aid in your interpretation of the primary sources. Your task will be to read and take notes on each of your primary sources, and ask yourself how these particular accounts demonstrate that attitudes, laws, and/or beliefs concerning your overall topic have, or have not, changed during the period of the course. Be sure to focus during your reading on crafting a WORKING THESIS, and ultimately, a STRONG and SPECIFIC THESIS concerning your topic.Possible topics include, but are by no means limited to:SLAVE NARRATIVESLAWS REGARDING SLAVERYABOLITIONIST BELIEFSRELIGIOUS BELIEFSATTITUDES TOWARD FOREIGN NATIONS (France, Great Britain, Spain, Mexico, etc.)BELIEFS/LAWS CONCERNING VOTING and DEMOCRACYBELIEFS/LAWS CONCERNING TECHNOLOGY and INDUSTRIALIZATIONBELIEFS CONCERNING THE AMERICAN WEST (“The Frontier”)U.S. FOREIGN POLICYTHE PRESIDENCYWORK and LABORTHE END OF THE WORLDAMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISMRACISMFREE BLACKSIMMIGRATIONFEDERALISM and ANTI-FEDERALISMNATIVE AMERICANSNATUREMORMONISMAGRICULTURE and FARMINGALCOHOL CONSUMPTIONCHILDBIRTHWOMEN’S RIGHTSCONSCRIPTION and MILITARY SERVICECORPORAL PUNISHMENTCHILD LABORDEATH and DYINGPHOTOGRAPHY and PORTRAITUREI can provide suggestions for primary sources, but it is part of the project that you must do the digging first. Be sure that your primary sources are relevant to American History. The American Yawptext likely has several primary sources you can use as “jumping-off” points, but ultimately you will have to perform library research in order to find additional sources.The topics above are all viable topics, but remember — a narrower topic results in a better paper. Always. So if the topic of “The Presidency” and “1500 to 1865” seems to large (it is) — narrow the topic down to “The Presidency” and “1800 to 1824”. If you chose “abolitionist beliefs” you could narrow it down to “abolitionist beliefs in New England” between “1800 and 1865”. The narrower your focus, the more specific insights you will come up with.Helpful resources:PRIMARY SOURCESThe Internet History Sourcebook at Fordham UniversityLinks to an external site. has a large collection of primary sources organized into various topics. ONLY USE THOSE TOPICS THAT RELATE TO AMERICAN HISTORY. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/modsbook.aspThe Transatlantic Slave Trade DatabaseLinks to an external site., which we used in Paper #3, is an excellent resource with thousands of primary sources (each record is really a primary source.)The Hanover College Historical Texts ProjectLinks to an external site. has many primary sources organized by topic. The last few sections cover the United States. https://history.hanover.edu/project.phpLinks to an external site.Thishelpful Youtube videoLinks to an external site.details how best to search for primary source collections using Google. There are thousands more collections, across the world. Searching under your general topic and “primary sources” may give you many more places to look. WRITING A RESEARCH PAPERThe USC Library has an excellent siteLinks to an external site. on organizing a social science research paper. https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/purposeLinks to an external site..A writing guide issued by HarvardLinks to an external site. is also available. It is immensely useful. Following the directions closely on these sites will result in a well-structured paper, and truthfully, structuring your paper correctly, and clearly, is more than half the battle in making yourself understood to the reader. Writing a clear, concise essay with a strong thesis is like riding a bicycle — once you learn the basics, you never really forget, although you can always get better at it.
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