Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. An originality report is provided when you submit your task that can be used as a guide.
You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.
A. Explain (suggested length of 2–3 paragraphs) the reasons for the rise of partisan politics in the Early Republic (i.e., major conflicts and concerns, development of the First Party System).
B. Discuss the development of the Second Party System (suggested length of 2–3 paragraphs) by doing the following:
1. Compare the platforms of the Whig and Democratic parties.
Note: You may include both similarities and differences of the two parties.
2. Describe the leaders and constituents that defined each party.
3. Explain how the Second Party System contributed to increased democratization of American politics.
C. Discuss the major movements and events that led to the Civil War (suggested length of 2–3 paragraphs) by doing the following:
1. Explain the pro-slavery and abolitionist arguments of the antebellum period.
2. Describe the role of westward expansion in increasing sectional tensions.
3. Evaluate how three major events (e.g., significant legislation, territorial conflicts, court cases, political debates) contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.
D. Provide acknowledgment of source information, using in-text citations and references, for quoted, paraphrased, or summarized content.
1. Include the following information when providing source references:
• author
• date
• title
• location of information (e.g., publisher, journal, or website URL)
