For this week, we will be experimenting with primary source documents.  We're going to review chapter 3, "Declaring Independence" in After the Fact while also dissecting some other important primary sources.  We'll be working in groups, and each group will have a different primary document to analyze.

What do historians need to know about documents in order to make them relevant for further study?

Let's look at the language and the evolution of ideas and then we will "interpret" the words in the document. 

After the Fact-  Chapter 3

Also. . .

Download, Read and Bring to Class

• Why Study History through Primary Source Documents? 
  

• How to Read a Primary Source
  

• Using Historical Sources
  

February 4Handouts:  Group Assignment

February 6Handouts, Group Assignment

February 8Presentations on Reaction Paper #2

- Documents of Choice

Each Week's Work

Roger Williams University

History 203L

Dimensions of History

11:00-1150, W, W, F

CAS 228

Spring Semester, 2008

Debra A. Mulligan, Ph. D.

Office:            CAS 158,  Ext 3779

Hours :          M, W, F, 1200 - 1:00

Th, 1:00-2:00 or by Appointment

E-mail:  History 203L@msn.com

Some Document Sources

• Collected Works From the 17th Century
  

• 18th century letters and correspondence
  

• Digital History online:  Primary Source Documents 
  

• George Washington to the President of Congress
  

Some Facsimile Document Resources

• A Digital Library of 18th and 19th Century Journals (Great Britain)
  

• 19 c American Journals at MOA Michigan
  

• 19 c American Journals at MOA Cornell
  

Documents, I  (The American Side)

• Sam Adams to Governor of Rhode Island 1780
  

• Thomas Cushing to Deborah Cushing 1774
  

• Thomas Jefferson to William Small 1775
  

• John Adams to Abigail Adams 1774
  

• Sam Ward to his  Children 1775
  

• Benjamin Franklin to Jonathan Shipley
  

Documents, II.  The English Side. (Parliamentary Reports)

• Lord North's Speech on Presenting the Papers 
  

• Message and Papers Considered, Speech of Lord North
  

• The Committee on the Bill 
  

• Bill Read the Third Time, Motions of Charles James Fox
  

• Question on the Passage of the Bill, Debate, The Bill Passed