Documenting United States History

Putting It All Together 143

Step 1 Understand the prompt, and identify the key words

As you remember from Chapter 1, you must first understand your question.

Draw a square around your topic (“two of the major sides in the political debates

of the 1780s and 1790s”), draw a line underneath your task (“Determine the

extent to which one had a greater claim to fulfilling the ideals of the Declara-

tion of Independence”), and draw a circle around the categories in the question

(“Antifederalists/Jeffersonian Republicans” and “Federalists”).

Step 2 Brainstorm and organize your evidence

In debate, a good starting point is to organize your evidence by two sides. The

following graphic organizer will help you to identify the reasons that each side

believes its position.

Document Federalists Reasons

Antifederalists/

Jeffersonian

Republicans

Reasons

Doc. 5.11, Federalist

No. 10

For greater

national power

A stronger

national

government

will lead to

greater

security and

prosperity

Doc. 5.10, “The Ad-

dress and Reasons of

Dissent of the Minor-

ity of the Convention

of Pennsylvania to

Their Constituents”

Suspicious of

federal

power

The “iron-

handed

despotism”

of a single

government

Review the historical thinking skills exercises in this chapter that provide

other reasons that influenced both sides of the debate.

Step 3 Outline your response

As you will recall from earlier chapters, a working thesis provides a starting point.

With a prompt that lends itself to two sides, it is helpful to use a point-by-point

comparison, with the first point being the first side (in favor of a strong central gov-

ernment) and the second point being the opposite side (in favor of states’ rights).

Working thesis: One side had a greater claim to fulfilling the Declaration.

I. Point 1 (claim): Antifederalists/Jeffersonian Republicans

A. Supporting evidence

B. Supporting evidence

06_STA_2012_ch5_115-144.indd 143 26/03/15 10:30 AM