Hello, Scholars!
This marks the beginning of our second Essay Assignment of the semester. Essay Assignment 2 is based on:
* pages 634-640 AND 642-645 of chapter 19 in Exploring American Histories.
* the explanatory information on the Supreme Court case Muller v. Oregon, 1908 found on page 660 in Exploring American Histories.
* documents 19.6 through 19.10 in chapter 19 of Exploring American Histories.
These pages and documents explore 1) a variety of reform efforts, particularly those involving women, during the early 1900s and 2) the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the 1908 case of Muller v. Oregon — a ruling that applied to working women.
Below are the ground rules for this Essay Assignment. Please READ them all carefully and make sure that your essay abides by ALL of these ground rules:
1. DO NOT use any additional sources for this essay unless you clear those sources with me first.
2. DO NOT put any kind of heading on your essay.
3. DO NOT put any kind of title on your essay.
4. your essay MUST be written using PAST TENSE verbs only — unless the quoted material you are using in your essay happens to use present tense verbs. In cases like that, of course, you must use the verb tense that the writer of the quoted material used.
5. Your essay MUST begin with a good, thoughtful introductory paragraph that a) provides some background information and context so that the reader understands the time period that you are dealing with and some of the realities of that time period and b) ends with a strong and clear thesis statement that makes it very clear to the reader what major ideas you’ll explore in the body paragraphs of the essay. (The writing prompts below will help you do what’s called for in Part B. Your thesis statement should simply be the last 1-2 sentences of your introductory paragraph. In that 1-2 sentences, give me a heads up about the things that you’ll explore in the body paragraphs of your essay.)
6. each body paragraph of your essay MUST begin with a clear topic sentence that lets me know what the paragraph will focus on. (Again. use the writing prompts to help you develop your topic sentences.)
7. your essay MUST demonstrate very careful reading, consideration, and understanding of the assigned documents and relevant pages in our textbook. Your writing needs to make it very clear that you have read ALL of the assigned sources carefully AND understood what you’ve read AND thought about what you’ve read.
DO NOT assume that your reader has read what you have read or knows anything at all about the assignment. Assume that your reader is COMPLETELY IGNORANT of these things. Explain everything VERY fully, clearly, and carefully, so that even the completely ignorant reader of your essay understands what you have written and, therefore, understands the material you have read.
You are expected to use ALL of the assigned documents and pages in the essay;
8. your essay MUST respond very carefully and very fully to the writing prompts/questions for the assignment (see below);
Those prompts/questions tell you what the body paragraphs of your essay should focus on.
The body of your essay should include AT LEAST one paragraph for each of the writing prompts/questions.
10. your essay MUST support your general statements and opinions with plenty of specific examples, details, and information from ALL the assigned sources. Support what you write VERY FULLY, please.
Please include frequent quotations from the sources in your essay. This is a good way to support your general statements.
11. your essay MUST provide frequent parenthetical citations that indicate the sources of the material that you use in your essay. Here are a couple of examples:
(Exploring American Histories, page 643);
(Document 19.7, page 661).
These parenthetical citations should be found in the body paragraphs of your essay. You need to include frequent citations like these because all of the information in your essay is taken from assigned sources, and you MUST cite those sources frequently.
12. DO NOT include any kind of works cited page or bibliography with your essay.
13. your essay MUST also provide parenthetical citations — as explained above — for EACH quotation that you include;
14. your essay MUST be NO SHORTER than 70 complete sentences in length, but it may certainly be longer than that.
15. your essay MUST consist of multiple paragraphs: one paragraph for the introduction, at least one paragraph for your response to each writing prompt/question, and one paragraph for the conclusion.
16. your essay MUST abide by all of the normal rules of formal writing, including spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage, and explanation.
17. your essay MUST end with a good, thoughtful conclusion.
Please write a formal essay in which you respond fully, carefully, and accurately — following ALL of the guidelines explained above — to the writing prompts/questions below. Make sure that your essay is organized so that, in addition to an introductory paragraph and a concluding paragraph, there are separate paragraphs for your responses to each of the prompts below:
* What “role” was appropriate for women in the early 1900s according to —
– The speech by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905? Why did he insist that this role was appropriate? Did he view women as being “equal” to men? (Document 19.6)
– The letter written by Louisa Dana Haring in 1908? What was her letter written in response to? Why did she reject the view suggested by Roosevelt? (Document 19.10)
*Carefully explore the major reform efforts in which women were involved during the early 1900s. What did women seek in each of these efforts? Why? What methods did they use to seek change in these areas? Did these efforts succeed? Why or why not? (Assigned pages in chapter 19)
* Carefully explain the background to and actions taken and major issues involved in and during the case of Muller v. Oregon, 1908. (Explanatory information on Muller v. Oregon)
* Carefully explain the position taken by the state of Oregon — as presented by attorney Louis Brandeis — as to why a law limiting the hours of woman employees was necessary. Be thorough and be specific, please. (Primary source 19.8)
* Carefully explain the position taken by laundry-owner Curt Muller — as presentee by his attorneys William Fenton and Henry Gilfry — as to why the 1903 Oregon state law limiting the hours of women employees was unnecessary and, in fact, unfair. Be thorough and be specific, please. (Primary source 19.7)
* Which position (Oregon’s or Muller’s) did the U.S. Supreme Court accept in its decision in the case of Muller v. Oregon? On what basis did it accept that position? Be thorough and be specific, please. (Primary source 19.9)
* In your opinion, should this decision be viewed as a step towards greater workplace equality or women or a step away from greater workplace equality? Why? Support the position that you take, please. (Documents 19.8, 19.7, 19.9)
