Social Studies Key Topics for Student Success

Handout Packet

Steve Schmidt

Appalachian State University

abspd.appstate.edu

Lesson 1: Social Studies Extended Response Practice

The Three Parts of the Prompt:

1. Enduring Issue

“Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.”

- John Locke, 1690

2. Later Writing

This March 30, 1973 speech from Marlon Brando was delivered at the Academy Awards where he refused an award to protest the United States’ treatment of Native Americans.

For 200 years we have said to the Indian people who are fighting for their land, their life, their families and their right to be free: ''Lay down your arms, my friends, and then we will remain together. Only if you lay down your arms, my friends, can we then talk of peace and come to an agreement which will be good for you.''

When they laid down their arms, we murdered them. We lied to them. We cheated them out of their lands. We starved them into signing fraudulent agreements that we called treaties which we never kept. We turned them into beggars on a continent that gave life for as long as life can remember. And by any interpretation of history, however twisted, we did not do right. We were not lawful nor were we just in what we did . . .

What kind of moral schizophrenia is it that allows us to shout at the top of our national voice for all the world to hear that we live up to our commitment when every page of history and when all the thirsty, starving, humiliating days and nights of the last 100 years in the lives of the American Indian contradict that voice?

It would seem that the respect for principle and the love of one's neighbor have become dysfunctional in this country of ours . . . and that we do not live up to our agreements.

I would hope that those who are listening would not look upon this as a rude intrusion, but as an earnest effort to focus attention on an issue that might very well determine whether or not this country has the right to say from this point forward we believe in the inalienable rights of all people to remain free and independent on lands that have supported their life beyond living memory.

3. Prompt

Prompt
In your response, develop an argument about how the author’s position in his speech
reflects the enduring issue expressed in the excerpt from John Locke. Incorporate relevant and specific evidence from the excerpt, the speech, and your own knowledge of the enduring issue and the circumstances surrounding the United States governments’ treatment of Native Americans to support your analysis.
Type your response in the box. This task may require 25 minutes to complete.

The enduring issue

An enduring issue is “an important topic or idea that may be subject to ongoing discussion throughout multiple eras of history. Enduring issues do not have easy solutions. Rather, they are ideas the American people wrestle with as new situations arise” (GED Testing Service). Many of the enduring issues concern first amendment rights like the freedom of speech. Others center on issues like the majority rules but must respect minority rights. The enduring issue is a one sentence quote or excerpt.

The later writing

The later writing is more recent and concerns how we view the enduring issue in a more modern context. It may be a speech, letter, or editorial. Before the later writing, the prompt writers outline the historical context that students are asked to discuss in the question.

The question

Always have students read this part first! It will ask students how the two writings tie together, to use evidence to back up their conclusions, and to include their own knowledge about the issue.

How do the enduring issue and later writing tie together?

·  It might support or criticize the issue

·  It may be an example of the issue

·  It might explain the issue in a more modern context

Questions to ask:

·  What does the second passage tell me about the enduring issue in the first passage?

·  What is the author’s purpose in the second passage: explain, give an example, interpret, support, or criticize the enduring issue?

Social Studies Extended Response Part 1 - Match each enduring issue to its meaning:

1. “In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech” / A. Where the people rule, a group with the most people in it may make life difficult for people not in their group
2. “The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms . . .” / B. No one will take away an American’s right to vote except when they choose not to vote
3. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” / C. One of our greatest gifts is to be able to freely worship God. Other countries think religious freedom makes for bad government, but in the United States we have found it makes for the best government
4. “Among the most inestimable of our blessings is that … of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support.” / D. While with newspapers there are problems, there is no freedom without them
5. "The constitutions of most of our states assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves.” / E. Do we want to protect our lives and have peace so much that we want to be slaves instead? I’m not sure what anyone else will do, but for me, I’ll take freedom or death!
6. “Our government is a government of laws and not of men.” / F. Everyone recognizes as truth that all men are born equal and have God given rights of life, freedom, and the ability to chase ones dreams
7. “In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority” / G. In countries with no freedom of speech, people have almost nothing. Whoever wants to take over a country should start by stopping free speech.
8. “With newspapers, there is sometimes disorder; without them, there is always slavery.” / H. Each citizen may have weapons to use for self defense
9. “Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” / I. The laws that make up our state governments make it clear that the people are the source of political power and may use it by themselves
10. "Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting” / J. Our government is based on laws, and is not based on the people who make and enforce the laws

Social Studies Extended Response Practice – Part 2

Explain the enduring principle in your own words

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
“The way to secure liberty is to place it in the people’s hands, that is, to give them the power at all times to defend it in the legislature and in the courts”
“That government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
“Freedom is never given; It is won.”
“In republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of minority.”
“The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
“If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use to us, the freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
“The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people.”

Social Studies Extended Response Practice Part 3: Match the enduring principle with the later speech:

1. ______The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.
Explain why it matches: / A. Our Constitution places certain rights beyond the reach of government officials and beyond the reach of what the majority likes. The freedom of speech is certainly such a right. Yesterday’s ruling not only affirmed the freedom of speech but expanded it to include the right not to speak. The Court has made clear that the government cannot force people to say things they do not believe.
2. ______Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech.
Explain why it matches: / B. As Americans, we all bear a special responsibility to both uphold and promote the rule of law. This sacred responsibility springs from our unique place in history, and it is the animating force of our heritage – and of our destiny – as a nation. The founding documents of our democracy – the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution – established for the first time in the world’s long history a government not of men, but of laws. To a world governed by kings and emperors, dukes and czars, our founding fathers breathed life into an idea which caused common men to rejoice and despots to tremble. And it is the force and majesty of this idea that created the most powerful nation on earth.
3. ______All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.
Explain why it matches: / C. Go to any American town, to take just an example, and you’ll see dozens of churches, representing many different beliefs – in many places synagogues and mosques – and you’ll see families of every conceivable nationality, worshipping together . . .Go to any university campus, and there you’ll find an open, sometimes heated discussion of the problems in American society and what can be done to correct them.
4. ______They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men.
Explain why it matches: / D. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve. America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining. Today, our nation saw evil . . and we responded with the best of America.

Social Studies Extended Response Practice Part 4

“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”

- John Adams, July 17, 1775

In the box below, describe the enduring issue in your own words:

Speech

In this excerpt from his January 20, 1961 inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy describes his vision of the United States’ place in the world as it looked to defend freedom against communism during the height of the Cold War.

What information about the time period is given in the speech’s introduction?

“The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.