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Learning Objectives
Create an argument through the use of historical evidence.
Analyze and interpret primary and secondary sources.
Analyze the effects of historical, social, political, economic, cultural, and global forces on this period of United States history.
Resources
Three 19th century cartoons available in the Essay One module. (It is attached to the order).
Primary and Secondary Sources
The materials that you will analyze for this assignment are primary sources. A primary source is a resource generated by a participant in or an observer of an historical event. Primary sources include speeches, letters, diaries, political cartoons, and newspaper stories. Historians consider memoirs and autobiographies written well after the event as primary sources, too. Primary sources are not limited to written records; images and material objects also serve as primary sources. For example, American Indian rock art, African American quilts, Depression-era photographs, and even buildings (e.g., the missions in San Antonio) have assisted historians in their efforts to reconstruct the past.
A secondary source is a resource produced by an individual who did not participate in the incident. For example, an historian who writes a book about the American Revolution has produced a secondary source. Secondary sources are typically written documents. However, note that in our course the lectures serve as a secondary source. Textbooks and television documentaries are secondary sources with which many history students are familiar.
In their efforts to understand the past, historians rely upon a mixture of primary and secondary sources. Primary sources provide specific details about an event and offer insights into how people alive at the time of the event perceived its meaning and importance. Secondary sources provide historians context, or an intellectual framework, that helps them to interpret the primary sources.
Nativists and Chinese Immigration
Immigrants from around the globe sought to benefit from the industrial economy developing in the northern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Immigrants played a critical role in promoting economic growth. In addition to providing much needed labor, they also acted as consumers, and those who were able to save some of their earnings contributed to the availability of investment capital in the North.
Despite the many contributions of immigrants, some Americans feared the rising numbers of foreign born in the United States. Known as nativists, these critics argued that American cultural and society were under siege, and that if the tide of immigration was not slowed or stopped the United States would descend into barbarism.
While nativists were quick to attack immigrants from southern and eastern Europe (the “new immigration”), they reserved some of their most hostile attacks for arrivals from China. They often cloaked their racism with the complaint that the Chinese posed a threat to working Americans, thereby entangling issues of immigration, race, and labor. Few Americans were quick to defend the Chinese. In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned immigration from China and prevented the Chinese in the United States from applying for citizenship.
Your Assignment
Your assignment is to write a one-page essay using only the provided primary sources (in this case, three political cartoons) and material from the textbook.
Devote a single paragraph to each cartoon. What is the message that the cartoon offers? How does it present that message? In what ways does the cartoon engage in racist stereotypes?
INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH
Begin your essay with an introductory paragraph that includes the items below.
Open with a few sentences (two-three) that offer historical context. Place your reader in space and time. Where? When? What is the big picture? Your textbook will be helpful in this regard.
Identify your resources you are analyzing.
Conclude the intro paragraph with a thesis statement. What is the goal of the essay? What will the reader learn? You might begin with something like “An analysis of these primary sources reveals that many Americans viewed Chinese immigrants as…
BODY PARAGRAPHS (You will have three).
Use paragraph structure throughout your essay.
a. Each paragraph should be devoted to one (and only one) topic. When you change topics, you must start a new paragraph.
b. Each paragraph must open with a topic sentence that identifies the topic.
c. Each paragraph must include a brief quote from the reading that serves as evidence to support the topic.
CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH
Offer a conclusion that sums up your analysis of the contents of the cartoons with the goal of proving your reader a broad understanding of anti-Chinese (nativist) sentiment in the late 19th century United States.
FORMATTING AND STYLE
a. Use default margins and a twelve-point font.
b. Double-space.
c. No need for a heading; your essay appears in my inbox under your name.
d. You need not include a bibliography or citations. You have offered the information on resources in your intro paragraph.
A FEW OTHER THINGS
1. Use your own words. Do not use another author’s words unless they are presented in quotes. Brief quotes from the reading are an asset; they serve as evidence to support your thesis.
2. Please do not use outside resources. Rely only upon the textbook and the provided materials. Here is the link for the textbook: https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/1-introduction <—- please let me know if you are not able to access the link.
