Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15-20 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Show two summaries of the same school announcement.

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Summary A: 'The school is adding a late bus. Club meetings will now end at 4:30. Club attendance has fallen this year.' Summary B: 'Because club attendance fell when students had no ride home, the school is adding a late bus, so clubs can now meet until 4:30.' Both use the same three facts. Which one would help a parent more, and which words make the difference?"

   Students will point to because and so. Summary B states a cause and a result; Summary A leaves the reader to guess how the facts connect, and a reader could guess wrong. Tell students that RH.11-12.2 asks for Summary B: a summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Part 1: Five relationships. Arguments in historical documents connect their ideas in a small number of ways. A summary names the connection with a precise word, and each connection must be one the text makes.

   Relationships among key details and ideas

   Relationship	Signals in the text	Words for the summary
   Support: details back a claim	"Here every portion ...", then examples	"for example," "as evidence he cites"
   Cause and effect	"Hence," "Thus," "leads to," "result"	"because," "so," "which leads to"
   Sequence of steps	"at length," "sooner or later"	"first ... then ... finally"
   Concession and limit	"This within certain limits is probably true ... But"	"he grants ... but limits it to ..."
   Ranking	"greatly outweighed by"	"he ranks ... above ..."

   Part 2: Model with Washington. The Farewell Address was printed in newspapers in September 1796, as Washington declined a third term. In T1, "these considerations" in the first sentence are the ties of feeling he has just listed: the same religion, manners, habits and principles, and a common fight for independence. Read T1 aloud, then work through examples 1-4 and Diagram 1.

   1But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole.

   2The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the same agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and while it contributes in different ways to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water will more and more find, a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

   3While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined can not fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations, and what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and imbitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.

   • Central idea (T1)

     Topic: the union of the states. Ask what Washington claims about it, across all three paragraphs.

     Result: Central idea: Washington argues that union serves the material interest of every region, and that those interests, joined, make union the protector of liberty. The first half comes from paragraph 2, the second from the last sentence of paragraph 3: union is "a main prop of your liberty."

   • Support: details that back a claim (T1, paragraph 2)

     "The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources."

     Result: This is one of four matching examples (North, South, East, West). None is a separate point: each supports the claim that every part of the country has its own reason to keep the union. A summary can compress all four into one sentence, as long as it says what they are evidence for.

   • Cause and effect (T1, paragraph 3)

     "Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which ... are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty."

     Result: "Hence" marks a result: because united states need not arm against one another, they avoid large standing armies, and that is why union protects liberty. A summary that lists "large armies are bad for liberty" as a separate fact loses the chain; the accurate version says union prevents the armies that would threaten liberty.

   • A list summary versus a relationship summary (T1)

     List (45 words): Washington mentions the North, South, East and West. The North gets Southern products, the South gets Northern seamen, the East sells goods in the West, and the West gets outlets for its products. Union gives strength and security, and large armies are bad for liberty.

     Result: Relationship (76 words): Washington argues that the union rests less on shared feeling than on interest, which he says greatly outweighs it. Each region gains from the others: the North and South exchange products and seamen, and the West depends on the East's maritime strength for its outlets. Because the parts gain more together, the union brings strength, peace among the states and freedom from large armies, and for that reason he calls it a main prop of liberty. (Every fact in the list is true, but only the second version shows what supports what, what causes what, and which consideration Washington ranks first.)

   Show Diagram 1. Point to each labeled arrow and ask which connecting word the summary used for it.

3. Guided Practice15-20 minutes

   Read T2. Its first words, "This spirit," refer to "the spirit of party," which Washington names in the sentence just before the excerpt. Pairs label each paragraph with its job (cause, sequence of effects, conclusion, list of effects, concession) and then write a four-sentence summary that uses at least three relationship words. Stop after paragraph 5 and ask: Does Washington agree with the "opinion" he reports, or not? Where exactly does he draw the line?

   1This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy.

   2The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual, and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.

   3Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

   4It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another; foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passion. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

   5There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose; and there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

   Teacher model for the pair summary: Washington traces party spirit to human passions and warns that it is worst in popular governments. Its extreme danger develops in steps: factions take turns in power, their disorders make people long for security, and a faction leader turns that longing into absolute power. Even without that extreme, everyday harms, from distracted councils to foreign influence, are enough reason to restrain it. He grants that parties can check a government within limits, but only as a reason to keep the spirit small, not to encourage it.

   Compare the model with Diagram 2, and have pairs check that each of their relationship words matches an arrow on it.

   Practice summary for Activity 2. Written for this page, it gets the details of T2 right and the relationships wrong.

   Washington believes that the spirit of party is part of human nature. He also says that parties in free countries are useful checks on the government and keep the spirit of liberty alive.

   Party spirit distracts the public councils, stirs up jealousies and false alarms, and opens the door to foreign influence. The chief of some faction may take absolute power.

   Because parties keep liberty alive, Washington concludes that a wise people should encourage the spirit of party in governments that are purely elective. He also compares the spirit of party to a fire.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read T3 alone. Thomas Jefferson delivered this address on March 4, 1801, after the election of 1800, in which his Republicans defeated the Federalists of John Adams. The passage is one long paragraph, so students number its sentences in the margin before they map how its ideas relate. Then they take the quiz, which uses T3 together with T1 and T2.

   1During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. 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. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: Write two sentences about T2: one that states its central idea, and one that names the relationship between paragraph 5 and the rest of the passage, using a precise connecting word.

   Teacher note on language and silences: The documents are quoted exactly as published. They use "men" and "brethren" for citizens, and Monroe calls his policy "manly." The South's "productions" in T1, its staple crops, were grown largely by enslaved people, and Washington, Jefferson and Monroe all held people in slavery; none of these passages mentions slavery. T4 declares the American continents closed to "future colonization" by Europe without mentioning the Native nations living there; the full message refers to Native peoples only elsewhere, in its report of fighting with the Arikara on the upper Missouri. An accurate summary reports what each document says; a historian then asks what it leaves out, and students can do both, in separate sentences.

   Homework passage. James Monroe's annual message to Congress, December 2, 1823. The two paragraphs come from different parts of the message: the first is near its beginning, and the second is near its end.

   1At the proposal of the Russian Imperial Government, made through the minister of the Emperor residing here, a full power and instructions have been transmitted to the minister of the United States at St. Petersburg to arrange by amicable negotiation the respective rights and interests of the two nations on the northwest coast of this continent. A similar proposal had been made by His Imperial Majesty to the Government of Great Britain, which has likewise been acceded to. The Government of the United States has been desirous by this friendly proceeding of manifesting the great value which they have invariably attached to the friendship of the Emperor and their solicitude to cultivate the best understanding with his Government. In the discussions to which this interest has given rise and in the arrangements by which they may terminate the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.

   [...]

   2The late events in Spain and Portugal shew that Europe is still unsettled. Of this important fact no stronger proof can be adduced than that the allied powers should have thought it proper, on any principle satisfactory to themselves, to have interposed by force in the internal concerns of Spain. To what extent such interposition may be carried, on the same principle, is a question in which all independent powers whose governments differ from theirs are interested, even those most remote, and surely none more so than the United States. Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the wars which have so long agitated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same, which is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of any of its powers; to consider the government de facto as the legitimate government for us; to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, firm, and manly policy, meeting in all instances the just claims of every power, submitting to injuries from none. But in regard to those continents circumstances are eminently and conspicuously different. It is impossible that the allied powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endangering our peace and happiness; nor can anyone believe that our southern brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such interposition in any form with indifference. If we look to the comparative strength and resources of Spain and those new Governments, and their distance from each other, it must be obvious that she can never subdue them. It is still the true policy of the United States to leave the parties to themselves, in the hope that other powers will pursue the same course.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   At the start of T3, what does Jefferson say the heated "contest of opinion" might have done?

   ALed foreigners unused to free speech to misjudge the nation BCaused a war between the states CForced the election to be decided outside the Constitution DPersuaded the minority to give up its rights

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How does Jefferson relate majority rule to minority rights in T3?

   AThe majority prevails, but its will must be reasonable and must respect the minority's equal rights BThe minority's rights outweigh the majority's will in every case, so no law can pass without the minority's consent CThe majority may do what it wishes once an election is over DMajority rule and minority rights are unrelated questions

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What relationship does Jefferson draw between religious intolerance and political intolerance?

   APolitical intolerance is the cause of religious intolerance BReligious intolerance is worse, so political intolerance matters less CThe two have nothing in common, since one concerns religious faith and the other concerns votes and elections DEnding religious intolerance means little if an equally harsh political intolerance is allowed

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to T3, why did the American people divide in their opinions?

   AFederalists and Republicans held different principles of government BSome wished to dissolve the Union and change its republican form CUpheaval abroad reached America and was felt and feared differently DThe Constitution did not say how an election should be decided

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How is "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists" related to the sentence before it, "But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle"?

   AIt contradicts the sentence before it by claiming that the two parties really differ in principle BIt is the conclusion Jefferson draws from it: the parties share principles CIt is an example of a difference of principle DIt introduces a new topic, foreign policy

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does Jefferson say should be done about anyone who "would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form"?

   AThey should be prosecuted as a danger to public order, since their views threaten the Union BThey should be removed from public office CThey should be asked to leave the country DThey should be left undisturbed, since free reason can answer their error

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which relationship does this sentence show? "I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong ...; but would the honest patriot ... abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm ...?"

   AA concession to an opposing fear, followed by a rebuttal BA cause followed by its effect CA list of examples supporting one claim about the strength of republics DA sequence of events in time order

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to T3, what makes this government "the strongest Government on earth"?

   AIt has built the largest army and navy of any republic in the world BIt has kept out of the wars in Europe CEvery citizen would defend the law as his own personal concern DIts leaders are wiser than kings

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What is the purpose of the questions near the end of T3: "Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him?"

   ATo admit that the critics of self-government are right BTo turn the objection back on itself: rulers are men too CTo propose that the United States adopt a king DTo change the subject from government to religion

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which statement best expresses a central idea of T3?

    AThose who oppose the Union should be tolerated but closely watched BThe minority must accept every decision of the majority CThe Federalists lost the election because their principles were wrong DWith the contest decided, Americans should unite, since they share principles and their free government is strong

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which summary of the first half of T3 makes the relationships among its ideas clearest and most accurate?

    AJefferson mentions the contest, the majority, the minority, religious intolerance, Europe and the two parties. BJefferson says the majority must win, so the minority should give up its rights for the sake of unity. CSince the contest is decided, Jefferson asks citizens to unite, limits majority rule by minority rights, and argues that the division was over opinion, not principle. DJefferson argues that Europe's revolutions caused the Constitution to divide Americans into two parties.

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to paragraph 2 of T1, what does the South look forward to from the union?

    AManufactured goods from the North that it cannot make for itself BSettlers from the North to farm its land CProtection from a sea power it is less suited to build alone DA share of the West's trade with Europe

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to paragraph 3 of T1, what would stimulate and embitter wars between the parts of the country if they were not united?

    ADifferences in religion and manners BOpposite foreign alliances, attachments and intrigues COvergrown military establishments DThe spirit of party, which is worst in popular governments

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    How does the warning in T2 relate to the argument in T1?

    AT2 takes back T1's claim that union protects liberty BParty spirit threatens the union and the liberty that T1 says union protects CT2 gives more examples of regional interests DT2 argues that parties are the main support of the union and of its liberty

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    State the central idea of T3 in one sentence. Then explain how two key details from different parts of the passage support it, quoting each.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Summarize T3 in 90-120 words. Make clear how its key details and ideas relate, and use at least three relationship words such as because, so, but or since.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Find one cause-and-effect relationship and one concession in T3. Quote the words that show each, and explain each relationship in a sentence.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Name two details or phrases from T3 that a summary can leave out, and explain why dropping them does not change the relationships among the ideas.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    T2 was published in 1796 and T3 was delivered in 1801. How many years separate them? Then explain how Jefferson's claim in T3 relates to Washington's warning in T2.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    A student wrote: "Jefferson says the majority always rules, so the minority must accept whatever it decides, and he asks Americans to unite because the contest was close." Identify two relationship errors in this summary, and rewrite it accurately.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RH.11-12.2: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.