Rationale for Organization: The documents are grouped according to their perspective- economic, political, or moral cause of the Civil War. The first three Documents (A, B, C) all have economic motives behind them. Document A, Hammond’s speech, presents a pro-slavery perspective arguing that slavery used for cotton production is necessary for a thriving economy. Document B, Helper’s Impending Crisis of the South, follows Document A with an anti-slavery perspective, suggesting that slavery is what actually hinders the Southern economy from expanding and modernizing. Document A and B are placed one-after-the-other to highlight the contrasting economy perspectives, allowing students to see the divisions over the issue …show more content…
The DBQ has many strengths.
First, the DBQ contains a wide variety of types of documents. There are three visual documents (C, F, and G). Two of the documents are a map and one is a political cartoon. The visual documents challenge students to be able to make inferences and draw conclusions based on a map or a visual. Additionally, the DBQ includes varied textual documents. There are five text documents (A, B, D, E, and H). Some of the documents come from excerpts for a novel (Document E), which offers a fictional perspective on the issue of slavery dividing the country in Antebellum America. Other documents are from speeches (A and H). Document B is an excerpt from a book and Document D is a legal document, a resolution from the state of Massachusetts. The varied document types challenge students to really analyze and begin to connect events and source types together. Not only are the documents varied in type, but they are also varied in perspective for a comprehensive DBQ essay. The DBQ documents address different causes of the Civil War. Documents A, B, and C discuss the economic causes of the war. Documents D talks about expansion and war with other countries leading to conflict. Document E offers a look at the morality of slavery and the adamancy of the North to abolish it. Documents F, G, and H offer a political perspective. With each of these groupings, students are able to write a DBQ that covers all the major causes of the Civil War. The documents also are relatively balanced between antislavery (B, D, E) and pro-slavery (document A, H) biases so that the both the opinions of Northerners and Southerners are addressed. Because the DBQ offers a variety of documents, student are able to write high-scoring DBQs that