D2.His.17.9-12: Critiquing Histories of Molly Pitcher for Accuracy

Overview

Lesson Procedure

75-80 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction25 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice20 minutes
5. Closure10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "A popular video says your town's founder 'single-handedly saved the town from a flood in 1850.' Your town's archive has a newspaper from that week, a letter from the founder, and a plaque put up in 1950. What would you check first, and what would make you trust or doubt the video's claim?" (an invented example)

   Collect answers. Students usually reach for the 1850 newspaper first because it was made at the time, and they notice that the 1950 plaque proves only that people believed the story a century later. Introduce the question for the day: when a history makes a big claim, how do we test whether it is accurate? Write two columns on the board, claim and evidence behind the claim, and keep them up all period.

2. Direct Instruction25 minutes

   Define the terms. A central argument is a work's main claim about the past. Historical accuracy is how well a work's claims match the best available evidence; it is a matter of degree, judged claim by claim. To critique is to judge strengths and weaknesses with reasons, which is different from attacking a work. A claim is load-bearing when the argument would collapse without it. Corroborate means to confirm with an independent source.

   The Accuracy Audit (an SVHS teaching tool): six steps for any secondary work, in any medium

   Step	Do this	Write down
   1. Central argument	State the work's main claim in one sentence	"The work argues that ..."
   2. Load-bearing claims	List the three to five factual claims the argument needs	Quote each with its paragraph number
   3. Trace	Ask where each claim comes from: a record, an eyewitness, a reported memory, tradition or nothing named	The kind of evidence, and when it was made
   4. Corroborate	Check each claim against the earliest sources on the page	Agrees with / goes beyond / conflicts with
   5. Rate	Supported, Uncertain or Contradicted	One reason per rating
   6. Verdict	Does the argument hold, hold in part, or fail? What would an accurate version claim?	A rewritten central argument

   Kinds of evidence on this page, from closest to the event to furthest

   Kind of evidence	Example in this lesson	What it can show, and the caution
   Record made at the time	The 1822 act and the 1832 newspaper notice, as Biddle quotes them (Source 5)	Strong for what it records; we read it through Biddle's quotation, not the original
   Eyewitness account written later	Martin's memoir, published 1830 (Source 1)	He says he saw the event, but he wrote decades later
   Memory reported by someone else	A widow's memory that Lossing reports (Source 2)	Shows what one person recalled, filtered through the writer
   Tradition or "current accounts"	Stories Biddle labels as the "prevailing story" (Source 4)	Shows what a community believed; needs other evidence
   Retelling with no source named	Dialogue and details in Source 3	May repeat tradition; cannot be checked as written

   Read Source 1 first. It is a primary source, not one of the works being critiqued: Joseph Plumb Martin, a Continental soldier, published his memoir in 1830 and describes himself as an "eye-witness" to an incident in the cannonade. A piece or field-piece is a cannon, and a cartridge is a cloth or paper bag holding the gunpowder for one shot. Two cuts are marked with [...]: at the end of paragraph 1, Martin's two closing sentences, a joke about how the British slipped away in the night; and in paragraph 2, a crude joke the woman is reported to have made about the shot. Nothing Martin says about what she did is cut.

   1As soon as our party had ceased firing, it began in the centre, and then upon the right, but as I was not in that part of the army, I had no “adventure” in it, but the firing was continued in one part or the other of the field, the whole afternoon. Our troops remained on the field all night with the Commander-in-chief; a regiment of Connecticut forces were sent to lie as near the enemy as possible and to watch their motions, but they disappointed us all. [...]

   2One little incident happened, during the heat of the cannonade, which I was eye-witness to, and which I think would be unpardonable not to mention. A woman whose husband belonged to the Artillery, and who was then attached to a piece in the engagement, attended with her husband at the piece the whole time; while in the act of reaching a cartridge and having one of her feet as far before the other as she could step, a cannon shot from the enemy passed directly between her legs without doing any other damage than carrying away all the lower part of her petticoat,—looking at it with apparent unconcern, [...] and continued her occupation.

   Next read Source 2, from Benson J. Lossing's Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, a history illustrated with engravings (pictures printed from carved wood blocks). Paragraph 1 is Lossing's footnote under his engraving of a painting of the battle by George Washington Parke Custis, whom Lossing calls Washington's "adopted son." Paragraph 2 is his footnote on Molly. A cannonier is a gunner, a camp-follower is a civilian who travels with an army, and the half-pay list paid officers part of their salary after their service.

   1* This outline sketch is from a copy of the picture at Arlington House (the seat of Mr. Custis), which I made, by permission, in November, 1850. As it exhibits none of the horrid scenes of slaughter which generally characterize battle-pieces, I have not hesitated to introduce it, for the purpose of giving a specimen of pictorial composition upon an interesting historical subject from the pencil of the adopted son, and the only surviving executor of the will of the great Washington. [...] In the picture here given, the chief is seen most prominently on his white charger, with his general officers. [...] On the left is seen the group of artillery, with "Captain Molly" at the gun. [...]

   2** It was during this part of the action that Molly, the wife of a cannonier, is said to have displayed great courage and presence of mind. We have already noticed her bravery in firing the last gun at Fort Clinton. (See page 164.) She was a sturdy young camp-follower, only twenty-two years old, and, in devotion to her husband, she illustrated the character of her countrywomen of the Emerald Isle. In the action in question, while her husband was managing one of the field-pieces, she constantly brought him water from a spring near by. A shot from the enemy killed him at his post; and the officer in command, having no one competent to fill his place, ordered the piece to be withdrawn. Molly saw her husband fall as she came from the spring, and also heard the order. She dropped her bucket, seized the rammer, and vowed that she would fill the place of her husband at the gun, and avenge his death. She performed the duty with a skill and courage which attracted the attention of all who saw her. On the following morning, covered with dirt and blood, General Greene presented her to Washington, who, admiring her bravery, conferred upon her the commission of sergeant. By his recommendation, her name was placed upon the list of half-pay officers for life. She left the army soon after the battle of Monmouth, and, as we have before observed, died near Fort Montgomery, among the Hudson Highlands. She usually went by the name of Captain Molly. The venerable widow of General Hamilton, yet living (1852), told me she had often seen Captain Molly. She described her as a stout, red-haired, freckled-face young Irish woman, with a handsome, piercing eye. [...]

   • Accuracy Audit, steps 1-2: Source 2

     State Lossing's central argument about Molly and list three claims it depends on.

     Result: Lossing argues that Molly, a young Irish camp-follower, took her husband's place at his gun after he was killed at Monmouth and was rewarded by Washington with a sergeant's commission and a place on the half-pay list. Load-bearing claims: "A shot from the enemy killed him at his post" (paragraph 2); "She dropped her bucket, seized the rammer" (paragraph 2); Washington "conferred upon her the commission of sergeant" (paragraph 2).

   • Steps 3-5: tracing the water story

     Lossing says that "she constantly brought him water from a spring near by" (paragraph 2). Corroborate this claim with Source 1.

     Result: Trace: Lossing names no source for it, and he opens with "is said to have displayed great courage" (paragraph 2), a sign that he is passing on a story. Corroborate: Martin, the only eyewitness on the page, mentions no water; he says the woman "attended with her husband at the piece the whole time" and was "reaching a cartridge" (paragraph 2). Rate: Uncertain. Martin does not disprove a water story, but the one eyewitness describes her at the gun, not at a spring.

   • Medium: what a painting can prove

     Paragraph 1 describes Custis's painting, with "Captain Molly" at the gun. Does the painting make Lossing's account more accurate?

     Result: No. Lossing copied the picture "in November, 1850" (paragraph 1), so it shows that the story was being told, and painted, by then. Custis's tie to Washington gives him standing as a source of family memories, but nothing in the footnote says he saw the battle. A painting makes a claim vivid; it adds no new evidence about what happened in 1778.

   • Evidence type: the widow's memory

     Lossing reports that "The venerable widow of General Hamilton, yet living (1852), told me she had often seen Captain Molly" (paragraph 2). What can this evidence support?

     Result: It is a memory reported by someone else, more than seventy years after the battle. At most it supports the claim that a woman known as Captain Molly was seen around the army. It says nothing about what happened at Monmouth, so it cannot carry the load-bearing claims about the battle.

   Close the section by pointing out Lossing's own signals. He hedges once ("is said to") and then tells the rest as fact, and he links this Molly to "the last gun at Fort Clinton," another place and another fight. Ask: "What should a reader make of an author who hedges once and then tells the rest as fact?" Keep Lossing's claims on the board; Sources 4 and 5 will test them.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs now audit two related works from the twentieth century. Source 3 is a chapter from Grace Humphrey's Women in American History (1919), a book of short biographies. Sources 4 and 5 are two parts of one speech: Edward W. Biddle's address at the unveiling of a Molly Pitcher monument in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on June 28, 1916, printed that year by a Carlisle library association. A sobriquet is a nickname, and a battery is a group of cannons. Pairs read Sources 3 and 4 now and complete steps 1-5 of the audit for two claims from each.

   1During the Revolution it was not unusual for wives to accompany their soldier husbands, not to fight, but to wash and mend and cook, to care for the sick and wounded. [...]

   2The air was sultry. Not a leaf stirred on the maple trees. Men dropped fainting to the earth, from sunstroke. Yet the American guns were fired vigorously, [...] and until night the battle went on. Sometimes under shelter, sometimes under fire, Molly Hays went back and forth to the spring, carrying water for the suffering men, and for wetting the sponges to swab out the cannon. And the weary thirsty soldiers, welcoming the sight of her with the sparkling water, would call out gratefully, “Here comes Molly with her pitcher!” a call soon shortened to “Molly Pitcher!”

   3On one of her trips from the well Molly saw her husband fall suddenly. Accounts differ as to whether he was wounded, or had a sunstroke working in the blistering heat near the cannon. General Knox, in charge of the battery, had no competent man to put in Hays’ place and was about to withdraw the gun, when Molly sprang forward, seized the rammer and fired. A moment was sufficient to show that she could fill her husband’s position, that she had the strength and nerve for his task. The men cheered as she loaded and fired shot after shot, with the skill of a veteran gunner. Her hair disheveled, her eyes blazing, her hot face begrimed with powder and smoke and dust, barefooted like many of the soldiers, she kept on with her perilous work. [...]

   4The story of Molly Pitcher’s brave act spread through the camp. General Greene thanked her, “in the name of the army.” The next morning in her dusty, torn, powder-stained dress, she was presented to Washington. With such honor as he would have shown to one of his gallant men, he spoke a few words of sympathy and praise, gave her a sergeant’s commission, and later placed her name on the list of half-pay officers for life.

   [...]

   5In 1822 the legislature of Pennsylvania, without a dissenting voice, voted her the sum of forty dollars, and an annuity of that amount during her lifetime. When she died ten years later, she was buried with military honors, a company of soldiers firing a salute. On the Fourth of July, 1876, there was unveiled at her grave a white marble monument inscribed to “Molly Pitcher, the heroine of Monmouth.” [...]

   1According to current accounts, a German girl named Mary Ludwig came to Carlisle from New Jersey in the early part of 1769 as a domestic servant, and on July 24 of that year was married to a young barber named John Hays, whose shop was adjacent to her place of employment. On December 1, 1775, her husband enlisted for one year as a gunner in Proctor's Artillery, and in January, 1777, re-enlisted as a private in an infantry regiment commanded by Colonel, afterwards General, William Irvine of Carlisle. This regiment was at Valley Forge during the dreadful winter of 1777-78, and it marched from there under Washington in June, 1778, to take part in the battle of Monmouth. Mrs. Mary Hays, now famous as Molly Pitcher, who was then unknown to fame, remained in Carlisle until some time after the beginning of the Revolution, and then went back to her home in New Jersey and later became connected with the battalion in which her husband was serving. Where and when she joined the troops is not stated.

   2The prevailing story of her participation in the battle of Monmouth, which took place on June 28, 1778, exactly 138 years ago, is known throughout the length and breadth of the United States. It was an extremely hot Sunday, and many of the soldiers of both armies perished from exhaustion and thirst. While the battle was going on Molly carried water to the Continental troops from a well in order to relieve their thirst, and the constant passing to and fro with a pitcher in her hand is what has given her the sobriquet by which she is known in history. The underground spring from which the water was obtained was conspicuously marked some years ago by two wooden signs erected beside it, on each of which was painted "Mollie Pitcher's Well."

   3Perhaps her services as water-carrier would soon have been forgotten if she had done nothing more on that day in aid of the great cause, but an even larger service was yet to come. As the fight raged, she discovered that her husband had been wounded and that there was no one to serve the cannon to which he had been detailed. She at once took his place at the gun and for the balance of the day, so long as needed, acted as cannoneer. In commemoration of her heroic behavior, upon one of the bronze tablets on the base of the handsome monument which has been placed on the battlefield, she is represented in the act of charging a cannon.

   Teacher key: Humphrey argues that Molly Hays carried water at Monmouth, took over her fallen husband's gun and was honored by Washington and later by Pennsylvania. She tells it as settled fact, with dialogue ("Here comes Molly with her pitcher!", paragraph 2) and names (General Knox, paragraph 3) and no sources, though she hedges once: "Accounts differ as to whether he was wounded, or had a sunstroke" (paragraph 3). Biddle tells a similar story but labels it: "According to current accounts" (paragraph 1) and "The prevailing story" (paragraph 2). His own details also raise a question the legend skips: Biddle says the husband "re-enlisted as a private in an infantry regiment" in 1777 (paragraph 1), yet the story needs him at a cannon in 1778; Biddle bridges the gap with "the cannon to which he had been detailed" (paragraph 3). The three works also disagree about the husband: killed (Source 2), wounded (Source 4), wounded or overcome by heat (Source 3). Pairs should rate these husband claims Uncertain until they read Source 5.

4. Independent Practice20 minutes

   Students work alone. Source 5 is the second part of Biddle's speech, where he turns from tradition to records found in the county courthouse, and quotes the 1822 act and an 1832 newspaper notice. An annuity is a payment made every year, and "domiciled" means living in a place. Source 6 is invented: an SVHS-written script for a documentary that does not exist, written for practice, with stage directions in brackets showing what is on screen.

   1But what of Mrs. Mary Hays after the battle of Monmouth? It appears by the tax list that at the close of the Revolution she and her husband, who was then William (not John) Hays, were domiciled in Carlisle. Up to that point the account of her rests on tradition and legend, but her subsequent career can be traced with the aid of various records in the courthouse. In 1787 the husband died and about 1792 she married John McCauley, whose surname has been spelled in several different ways, who also died in the course of ten or twelve years. Left a widow at least a second time, she earned a living by hard manual work. [...]

   2On February 21, 1822, an act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania was approved, entitled "An act for the relief of Molly M'Kolly for her services during the Revolutionary War," granting to her out of the State treasury $40 immediately, and an annuity of $40 payable in half-yearly instalments. Numerous widows of soldiers were awarded pensions of a similar amount, but Molly is the only woman who was ever placed on the pension rolls of Pennsylvania because of her own services. She drew the annuity from the time it was granted until January 1, 1832.

   3Her death occurred on January 22 1832, and a notice of it appeared in each of the three Carlisle newspapers, that in the American Volunteer in its issue of January 26, 1832, being as follows:

   4DIED, on Sunday last in this borough, at an advanced age, Mrs. Molly M'Cauley. She lived during the days of the American revolution, shared its hardships, and witnessed many scenes of "blood and carnage." To the sick and wounded she was an efficient aid; for which, and being the widow of an American hero, she received during the latter years of her life an annuity from the government. For upwards of forty years she resided in this borough, and was during that time recognized as an honest, obliging and industrious woman.

   [...]

   5This monument which Carlisle receives from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a splendid and lasting recognition of the lofty virtue which we call courage. During the past fifty years Molly Pitcher has come to be accepted as America's most conspicuous exponent of feminine valor, notwithstanding that the unique position accorded her has been frequently and vigorously assailed. Critics have denied the whole story concerning her—have questioned the very foundation on which it stands—but up to this time their criticisms have had little effect on the popular belief. On the other hand, writers of stories and of verse have spread the narrative concerning her broadcast over the land, until it has become lodged in the hearts of the people; there probably it will be cherished so long as interest in the American Revolution endures.

   1[ON SCREEN: A painting of a woman ramming a charge into a cannon as smoke rolls across a field. Drums.] NARRATOR: For two centuries, we have been told that the American Revolution was won by men. The story of Molly Pitcher proves otherwise. Women did not only follow the Continental Army; they fought in it, and the young nation honored them for it.

   2[ON SCREEN: A map of New Jersey with a red dot at Monmouth.] NARRATOR: Her real name was Mary Ludwig Hays. On June 28, 1778, at the Battle of Monmouth, she carried pitchers of water to exhausted soldiers until her husband, John Hays, was killed beside his cannon.

   3[ON SCREEN: Close-up of hands gripping a rammer.] NARRATOR: Without a pause, she took his place and fired the gun for the rest of the day. A Continental soldier, Joseph Plumb Martin, saw it with his own eyes and wrote that an enemy cannon shot passed right between her legs.

   4[ON SCREEN: An actor playing George Washington bows to her.] NARRATOR: The next morning, George Washington made her a sergeant. Later, Congress granted her a soldier's pension for life.

   5[ON SCREEN: A white gravestone in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with a small cannon beside it. The music swells.] NARRATOR: She died in Carlisle in 1832. Today a monument stands over her grave, and her story stands as proof that the Revolution belonged to women, too.

   Each student completes all six steps of the Accuracy Audit for Source 6, using Sources 1, 4 and 5 as evidence. Remind students to audit the on-screen directions too: a picture or an actor can make a claim without words. Collect the audits; the quiz returns to both sources.

5. Closure10 minutes

   Bring the class together around one question: "What can a careful history say about Molly Pitcher with confidence?" Build three lists on the board, Supported, Uncertain and Contradicted, and ask each student to add one claim with the source that decides it. Then ask a perspective question: none of these works is in Mary Hays's own words, and the people who wrote about her were soldiers, writers and civic speakers. How should a historian treat a community's long tradition fairly when records are thin, without either repeating it as fact or dismissing it?

   Exit ticket: "Write one sentence that states an accurate central argument about women at the Battle of Monmouth, using only claims the class rated Supported."

   Teacher notes: Source 1 omits a crude joke attributed to the woman; the cut is marked. In Source 2, Lossing describes Molly as showing "the character of her countrywomen of the Emerald Isle," a sweeping generalization about Irish women. He meant it as praise, but it is still an ethnic stereotype of a kind common in nineteenth-century writing; point it out as a judgment about a whole group, not evidence about one person. Note too that her Irish birth is itself only a reported memory, and the Carlisle accounts in Source 4 call her a German girl, so students should not treat either origin as settled. Sources 6 and 7 are invented works written by SVHS; students should not cite them as real.

   Homework source: Source 7 is an invented roadside marker, written by SVHS, for the homework.

   1[INVENTED ROADSIDE MARKER] MOLLY PITCHER

   2Near this spot on June 28, 1778, during the Battle of Monmouth, Mary Hays carried water to American soldiers and, when her husband fell wounded, served his cannon for the rest of the battle.

   3An eyewitness, the soldier Joseph Plumb Martin, later described a woman working at a cannon in this battle. In 1822 Pennsylvania granted Mary Hays an annuity for her services during the Revolutionary War. She is buried in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A student writes: "The documentary in Source 6 is inaccurate because its drums and swelling music are too dramatic." What is the main problem with this critique?

   AMusic makes no claim about 1778, so it cannot be judged true or false. BDocumentaries are primary sources, so no one can judge their accuracy. CMusic that swells is a sign that the film's makers checked their facts. DThe student should first count how often the music swells in the film.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which evidence would best test the claim that Washington made the woman at the gun a sergeant?

   AA painting of the battle made about seventy years later BA 1919 book that retells the story with lively dialogue CAn army order or letter written in July 1778 DA monument unveiled over her grave in Carlisle in 1916

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 1, paragraph 1, why does Martin say he had no "adventure" in the firing in the centre and on the right of the battle?

   AHe had been wounded earlier in the day. BHe was sent to watch the enemy all night. CHe was not in that part of the army. DHe arrived after the firing had ended.

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which statement in Source 6, paragraph 3, goes beyond what Source 1 actually says?

   AMartin served with the American troops at the battle. BMartin said he saw the incident with his own eyes. CMartin wrote that an enemy shot passed between her legs. DMartin saw her take her husband's place at the gun.

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 5, paragraph 1, what does the account of Mary Hays's life up to the close of the Revolution rest on?

   ARecords kept in the county courthouse BTradition and legend CMartin's eyewitness memoir DThe 1822 act of the legislature

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Source 6 says her husband, "John Hays, was killed beside his cannon" (paragraph 2). Which evidence most directly challenges this claim?

   AThe tax list Biddle cites, showing him alive after the war BHumphrey's remark that accounts differ about what happened to him CLossing's statement that a shot from the enemy killed him at his post DMartin's remark that the shot did no other damage than to her petticoat

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Source 6 says, "Later, Congress granted her a soldier's pension for life" (paragraph 4). What does Source 5 show instead?

   ACongress voted her a pension in 1778, right after the battle. BWashington placed her on the half-pay list, as Lossing says. CNo government ever paid her anything for her war services. DA state act of 1822 gave her $40 and a yearly $40 annuity.

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to the 1832 newspaper notice in Source 5, paragraph 4, why did she receive her annuity?

   AFor firing a cannon in her husband's place at Monmouth BAs an aid to the sick and wounded and a hero's widow CFor her many years of scrubbing the county courthouse DFor carrying water to the troops at Valley Forge camp

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The 1832 notice says nothing about a cannon. How should a careful historian use that silence?

   AAs proof the cannon story is false, since the paper would surely mention it BAs proof the cannon story is true, since the notice calls her husband a hero CAs a reason to call the cannon story uncertain, not to call it false DAs irrelevant, since newspaper notices are never evidence about people

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which best describes Biddle's position in Source 5, paragraph 5?

    AHe praises her courage yet admits critics deny the whole story. BHe says the critics have proved the story false and the monument wrong. CHe says no one has ever questioned any part of the Molly Pitcher story. DHe says the story is known only through writers of stories and of verse.

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which on-screen direction in Source 6 presents an undocumented claim as if it were filmed fact?

    AA map of New Jersey with a red dot marking Monmouth BAn actor playing George Washington bows to her CA white gravestone in Carlisle, Pennsylvania DDrums at the start and swelling music at the end

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which critique of the central argument in Source 6, paragraph 1, is most accurate?

    AIt holds: every claim in the script is supported by a source here. BIt fails: no source here shows any woman at an American cannon. CIt cannot be judged, since a documentary is not a work of history. DIn part: sources show one woman at a gun and one state's reward.

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A history gets the husband's first name wrong, but its central argument does not depend on his name. How should a critique treat the error?

    ANote the error, then judge the argument by its key claims. BReject the whole work, since one error shows every claim is false. CIgnore it, since names never matter when judging accuracy. DCorrect the name and then rate the whole argument as supported.

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which is a real limitation of Source 1 as evidence for the Molly Pitcher story?

    AMartin was not present at the Battle of Monmouth. BMartin wrote it on the evening of the battle. CMartin never names the woman he saw at the gun. DMartin fought for the British army, not the American.

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Audit Source 6, paragraphs 2 and 3. List three factual claims, rate each Supported, Uncertain or Contradicted, and give the deciding evidence from Sources 1, 4 or 5 with paragraph numbers.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 5 ends a speech given at the unveiling of a monument. How might that occasion shape the argument of paragraph 5? Then use paragraphs 1-4 to judge whether Biddle still keeps to accuracy.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Rewrite the central argument of Source 6 in two or three sentences so that every claim is supported by Sources 1, 4 or 5. Cite each source you use.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    None of the sources on this page is in Mary Hays's own words. What does that mean for a critique of these histories, and how can a historian treat the Carlisle tradition fairly?

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 2 says Molly "died near Fort Montgomery, among the Hudson Highlands" (paragraph 2), while Source 5 places Mary Hays's death in Carlisle. Give two possible explanations for the conflict, and name one kind of evidence that could decide between them.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 6 opens: "For two centuries, we have been told that the American Revolution was won by men" (paragraph 1). Use Source 3 and Source 5 to critique the accuracy of this claim about earlier histories.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to D2.His.17.9-12: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.