Unit: The Historical Process
This Unit Activity will help you meet these educational goals:
Inquiry Skills—You will apply disciplinary concepts and tools; analyze societal issues, trends, and events; develop credible explanations of historical events and developments based on reasoned interpretation of evidence; gather, evaluate, and use evidence; and communicate your conclusions.
21st Century Skills—You will employ online tools for research and analysis, use critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, communicate effectively, and assess and validate information.
Introduction
For any historian, it is important to find useful resources and analyze relevant information from those sources. This activity will help you practice reading and evaluating the information presented in historical documents. In this activity, you will read two primary-source historical documents, take notes on those documents, and write a short essay about the documents based on your notes.
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Directions and Analysis
Task 1: Analyzing Historical Documents
In this activity, you will reference two primary-source historical documents: Declaration of Sentiments by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Pearl Harbor speech by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Before you read the documents, read these instructions.
Using what you learned in this unit, examine the sources provided to answer these questions:
Who authored the document?
What is the purpose of the document?
When was the document written?
What significant historical event or movement does the document represent?
You may need to do additional research to answer the above questions. If so, be sure to list any additional resources you consulted in the Resources section at the end of this document.
Read each primary-source document critically while thinking about these questions:
Do you notice any exaggeration, stereotype, or emotional appeals that may