Writing Assignment Instructions:
After emancipation, African Americans recognized that they needed resources and rights to achieve the full benefits of freedom. Between 1865 and 1870, Congress, the Freedmen’s Bureau, and other parts of the federal government acted in response to these concerns. Using evidence from the assigned primary sources, answer the following question:
- To what extent did Reconstruction secure the rights of formerly enslaved African Americans between 1865 and 1870?
**You should consider both the needs and demands of African Americans and the actions that the federal government took – or did not take – to achieve those ends. **
- For this paper, you will be required to use evidence from course lessons as well as a minimum of four primary sources
Guidelines
- Papers should be typed, double-spaced with 1” margins. Use Times New Roman 12 point font (or equivalent) and include an introduction with a thesis statement and a conclusion.
- Make a clear argument, beginning with a thesis statement in the first paragraph of the paper. Underline your thesis statement.
- Each body paragraph should present a coherent idea that develops your argument. Paragraphs should begin with topic sentences that clearly establish the main idea of the paragraph.
- Use evidence from at least four of the assigned primary sources, as well as from course lessons. No outside research is necessary.
- Write in the past tense: “Edmund Ruffin argued…”; not “Edmund Ruffin argues…”
- Use Chicago style citations (see, The Chicago Manual of Style Online: Notes and Bibliography: Sample Citations)
- Use footnotes. Footnotes go after the period at the end of a sentence. For example.[1] For subsequent citations to the same book, use a shorter form. Like this.[2] O/r, this.[3] Footnotes should be single-spaced and use 10-point font. Papers without citations or with grossly inaccurate footnotes will receive an automatic deduction of 5 points. (For help, see Microsoft Office Support: Insert Footnotes and Endnotes)
Footnote Examples
[1] Robert Toombs, “The South Must Strike while There is Yet Time (1860),” in William E. Gienapp, ed., The Civil War and Reconstruction: A Documentary Collection (New York: Norton, 2001), 57.
[2] Toombs, “The South Must Strike,” 58.
[3] Alexander Stephens, “Slavery Is the Cornerstone of the Confederacy (1861),” in Gienapp, ed., The Civil War & Reconstruction, 72.
Please see attached for class readings.
