Complete a 2-3 page paper answering ONE of these questions using primary sources:
1. What is “right” and “wrong” in the estimation of the writers about the capture and sale of human beings? How do they justify slavery? On what grounds do they protest the institution?
2. Compare the different formats for these readings (official chronicles from government, military, and trading officials, personal accounts & letters, laws, and enslaved peoples’ accounts). How do they differ in their viewpoints?
3. What are the essential differences or similarities between the European-Indigenous encounter we’ve been studying so far and the European-African encounter we’ve looked at this week?
Your case study for this module includes first-hand accounts of people involved in the slave trade in the sixteenth, seventeenth (and sometimes early eighteenth) centuries. These collections include authors from a variety of countries and discuss slavery in North America from multiple perspectives. Choose the sources that best fit your topic above.
Sources:
https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/exploration/text7/text7read.htm
https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/freedom/text6/text6read.htm
https://www.nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/power/text8/text8read.htm
https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/power/text9/text9read.htm
https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/settlement/text6/SlavePlotMexico.pdf
https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/settlement/text6/EnslavedIndians.pdf
How to approach this paper
1. Read through the assignment below, and the Grading Criteria for Papers prior to beginning this assignment.
2. Identify the central question of the case study.
KEY TO A GOOD GRADE: 3. Use quotes and descriptions of primary sources (from this course) to answer the central question.
4. Make sure your paper is well organized. It should have an introduction that addresses the central question. It should have organized paragraphs that address each central issue in turn and uses the primary sources as evidence. And it should have a conclusion.
5. Don’t summarize the primary sources paragraph by paragraph, but use topic sentences and then primary sources to answer the question and make an argument about the past.
6. Quote length: Use only 2-3 line quotes and MINIMIZE the quotes you add from secondary sources. Paraphrase longer quotes while editing.
7. NO secondary sources from outside of class.
