Organize the Evidence for Thinking through Sources 12

Document Links:

Document 12.1 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, On Slavery (1854)

Document 12.2 Republican Party Platform (1856)

Document 12.3 CHARLES SUMNER, The Crime against Kansas (1856)

Document 12.4 LYDIA MARIA CHILD, Letters to Mrs. S. B. Shaw and Miss Lucy Osgood (1856)

Document 12.5 The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)

Organize the Evidence for Thinking through Sources 12

The following exercises provide an opportunity to use the sources collectively to respond to a guiding question.

Guiding Question: How did the intense conflicts over the question of slavery in the lands acquired by the Mexican War transform American politics and shape the trajectory of the Republican Party between 1854 and 1858?

Instructions

Below are three topics that might find a place in organizing an essay responding to the guiding question. This exercise asks you to identify which sources would provide relevant evidence for that topic. Select the best answers for each question. Choose ALL that apply. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

Question 12.16

1. Which of the sources provide specific evidence about how moderates in the growing Republican Party thought about slavery and its establishment in the western territories? Choose ALL that apply.

R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 12.1: Abraham Lincoln, On Slavery
R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 12.2: Republican Party Platform
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 12.3: Charles Sumner, The Crime against Kansas
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 12.4: Lydia Maria Child, Letters to Mrs. S. B. Shaw and Miss Lucy Osgood
R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 12.5: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Correct: Document 12.1: Lincoln was a moderate Republican who describes his views on slavery in this document. Document 12.2: The Republican Party platform disseminated the party’s moderate views in order to attract a broader constituency. Document 12.5: Lincoln’s positions outlined here exemplify the moderate Republican view of slavery and its establishment in the West.
Incorrect: Document 12.3: Charles Sumner’s speech exemplifies a radical Republican view of slavery. Document 12.4: Child’s views tended more toward the radical Republican side.

Question 12.17

2. Which of these documents provide specific evidence about how radical supporters of the Republican Party viewed slavery and the sectional conflicts over its establishment in the western territories? Choose ALL that apply.

kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 12.1: Abraham Lincoln, On Slavery
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 12.2: Republican Party Platform
R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 12.3: Charles Sumner, The Crime against Kansas
R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 12.4: Lydia Maria Child, Letters to Mrs. S. B. Shaw and Miss Lucy Osgood
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 12.5: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Correct: Document 12.3: Charles Sumner, a radical Republican, outlines his views on slavery and sectional conflicts in the West in this speech. Document 12.4: Child, a radical Republican, outlines her views on slavery, sectional conflicts, and the upcoming presidential election in these letters.
Incorrect: Document 12.1: Abraham Lincoln represents the moderate Republican point of view. Document 12.2: The Republican Party platform consisted of the party’s moderate views. Document 12.5: In 1858 Lincoln still espoused moderate Republican views on slavery and sectional conflicts.

Question 12.18

3. Which of the following documents provide specific evidence about the strategies Republican leaders used to make their party and their ideas attractive to a broad audience? Choose ALL that apply.

R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 12.1: Abraham Lincoln, On Slavery
R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 12.2: Republican Party Platform
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 12.3: Charles Sumner, The Crime against Kansas
kcVtUDKfaIWTKrqEI7di7A== Document 12.4: Lydia Maria Child, Letters to Mrs. S. B. Shaw and Miss Lucy Osgood
R6Xlb9MAHXF7O4A0MNT1YQ== Document 12.5: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Correct: Document 12.1: Abraham Lincoln’s rhetoric exemplifies the moderate strategies the Republican Party used to attract a broad constituency. Document 12.2: The Republican Party platform consisted of the ideas and strategies it espoused in order to attract a broad constituency. Document 12.5: Again, Lincoln’s rhetoric exemplifies moderate Republicanism.
Incorrect: Document 12.3: Sumner’s radical rhetoric was divisive and had the potential to limit the Republican Party’s appeal. Document 12.4: Child’s thinking exemplifies radical Republicanism and might have alienated moderates.

Thinking through Sources forExploring American Histories, Volume 1Printed Page 96