Week 5 — A Promise, a Letter, and a Treaty: Dating the Revolution's Documents

Assignment 5 of the term — measure the years between the Revolution's documents, date each one from its own words, and explain who the Revolution's promise covered to someone new to history.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into a clear, evidence-based reading. You remain the author. The coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it produces the required report. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Primary Source Workshop practice the same ideas from other angles; this assignment is where you put them together on one chronology.

The task

Your shared data is the week's chronology, five years in order:

• 1763 — the Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War
• 1765 — the Stamp Act Congress declarations
• 1776 — the Declaration of Independence, and the year of Abigail Adams's letter
• 1783 — the Treaty of Paris ends the War of Independence
• 1787 — the Constitution signed

Beside it sit the week's three documents: the Declaration of Independence (the Continental Congress, dated 4 July 1776 in its heading, a declaration, National Archives); Abigail Adams's letter to John Adams (Braintree, 31 March 1776, a private letter, Founders Online); and the Treaty of Paris of 1783 (Great Britain and the United States, a treaty, dated the third day of September 1783 in its own last line, Avalon Project).

Work these four problems, showing your arithmetic and citing your evidence:

1. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the Treaty of Paris that ended the War of Independence is dated 1783. How many years passed between the two?
2. The Declaration of Independence is dated 1776, and the Constitution was signed in 1787. How many years separate the two?
3. The Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years' War is dated 1763, and the Treaty of Paris that ended the War of Independence is dated 1783. How many years separate the two treaties?
4. The week's chronology runs from the Treaty of Paris of 1763 to the Constitution signed in 1787. How many years does it span?

Beside each answer, add one brief interpretation:

• Problem 1: source the Declaration of Independence (who made it, what type of document it is, the date its heading carries, and which host keeps the transcript), then keep that date apart from the signing: say when most delegates signed the engrossed parchment.
• Problem 2: tell the Declaration and the Constitution apart by the job each did, then read the pinned line "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" and explain why it stated an ideal rather than the law of 1776.
• Problem 3: date the Treaty of Paris of 1783 from its own last line, name how the Avalon Project's heading disagrees with it, and name one thing the treaty leaves out.
• Problem 4: source Abigail Adams's letter (who wrote it, where, when, what type of document it is, and which host keeps it), and say what a letter of that type can and cannot show.

Explain it to a non-expert

A friend says, "The Revolution gave everyone equal rights in 1776, and Abigail Adams's letter proves women were organizing for their rights." Write a 3–5 sentence message that corrects both parts of that claim in everyday words, using this week's evidence about the Declaration and about the letter, and names one limit of what you can say after this week (for example, that a private letter speaks for its writer, not for every woman of her time). Explain any technical term in everyday words. More than one good answer is possible.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a coworker asking whether a club's founding charter, which promises every member an equal say, "proves the club was fair to everyone." Model answer: "A charter shows what its founders promised, on the day they adopted it. It is real evidence, but of their goals, not of how members were treated afterward. To learn that, I would look for records of who actually voted at meetings and compare them with the promise. Read side by side, the charter shows the promise, and the meeting records show who it covered."

Use that pattern for your message to the friend, with your own wording and evidence.

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft all four answers, the four brief interpretations, and your message to the friend before opening a chatbot.
2. Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach will ask for your draft and then work one question at a time.
3. Answer in your own words. Show calculations and cite the chronology, the documents, or Chapter 5 when asked. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one calculation or explanation, even if your first attempt was correct.
4. Continue until the prompt's exit condition is met.
5. Save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It must draw out your reasoning rather than write the work for you. Keep Chapter 5 open, and check every date, name, and quoted word the chatbot offers against it.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful learning coach for a U.S. history survey that runs to 1877. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about the week's chronology, the Declaration of Independence, Abigail Adams's letter, and the Treaty of Paris of 1783. Do not write my assignment for me, do not invent work I did not show, never invent a date, a document, a battle, a person, or a quotation, and never put words in a real person's mouth. Write any day-level date day first with its year. In your own voice say "enslaved people"; state slavery and war plainly and with gravity, and take no side on any present-day political question.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these four problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. The data: the week's chronology is 1763 (the Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War), 1765 (the Stamp Act Congress declarations), 1776 (the Declaration of Independence, and the year of Abigail Adams's letter), 1783 (the Treaty of Paris ends the War of Independence), and 1787 (the Constitution signed). The Declaration of Independence is a declaration of the Continental Congress, dated 4 July 1776 in its heading, read in the National Archives' transcript; its pinned line, word for word, is "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal". That line stated an ideal, not the law of 1776: colonial law still held enslaved people in hereditary slavery. Congress had the text engrossed, written out by hand on parchment, and most delegates signed that parchment on 2 August 1776, the National Park Service reports. The Declaration of 1776 announced independence and set up no government; the Constitution, signed in 1787, framed a government. Abigail Adams wrote to John Adams from Braintree in a private letter dated 31 March 1776, kept on Founders Online; its pinned line, word for word, is "I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors." A private letter shows one woman's argument, not a public movement. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 is a treaty between Great Britain and the United States, read on the Avalon Project; its own last line dates it the third day of September 1783, the National Archives dates it 3 September 1783, and the Avalon Project's heading reads 30 September 1783. The text wins, and the disagreement is named. The treaty's text names no Native nation, and its seventh article lists enslaved people among the property British forces must not carry away.
PROBLEM P1: The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the Treaty of Paris that ended the War of Independence is dated 1783. How many years passed between the two?
PROBLEM P2: The Declaration of Independence is dated 1776, and the Constitution was signed in 1787. How many years separate the two?
PROBLEM P3: The Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years' War is dated 1763, and the Treaty of Paris that ended the War of Independence is dated 1783. How many years separate the two treaties?
PROBLEM P4: The week's chronology runs from the Treaty of Paris of 1763 to the Constitution signed in 1787. How many years does it span?
After the four answers, I must briefly interpret each one: for P1, the Declaration sourced by maker, type, the date its heading carries, and host, plus its date kept apart from the signing of the engrossed parchment; for P2, the Declaration and the Constitution told apart by their jobs, plus the equality line read as an ideal rather than the law of 1776; for P3, the Treaty of Paris of 1783 dated from its own last line with Avalon's heading named, plus one thing the treaty leaves out; for P4, Abigail Adams's letter sourced as a private letter by writer, place, date, type, and host, plus what such a letter can and cannot show. I must then write a 3-5 sentence message to a friend who thinks the Revolution gave everyone equal rights in 1776 and that the letter proves women were organizing, correcting both parts in everyday words and naming one limit. I must explain technical terms in everyday words.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply: dating and ordering events (20 points), historical reasoning (48 points), clarity for a non-expert reader (16 points), and sourcing and evidence (16 points). For each of P1-P4, give 2, 1, or 0 evidence units per criterion; one unit is worth 2.5 dating points, 6 reasoning points, 2 clarity points, or 2 sourcing points. Sum all four problems within each criterion. Count my message to the friend only with P4, not again with P1-P3.
DATING UNITS: A correct difference = 2; the right years and operation with only an arithmetic slip = 1; a missing result or the wrong years or operation = 0. Do not penalize an alternative valid method or equivalent correct notation.
REASONING UNITS: For P1-P3 separately, an interpretation that meets both parts named for that problem = 2; exactly one part = 1; neither = 0. For P4, BOTH the letter sourced as a private letter that shows one woman's argument AND a friend message that corrects both parts of the claim and names a limit = 2. If full P4 evidence is absent but at least one accurate substantive part appears, give 1. No accurate reasoning = 0; naming a term alone does not earn a unit, an invented or reworded quotation is not accurate, dating the treaty by Avalon's heading is not accurate, and calling the Declaration the Constitution is not accurate. An arithmetic slip alone is not a reasoning error.
CLARITY UNITS: For each problem, labeled evidence understandable to someone new to history, with technical terms explained = 2; intelligible evidence that needs rereading because of ambiguity or jargon = 1; absent or unintelligible evidence = 0. Include the friend message with P4 if submitted. Missing reasoning alone does not lower clarity for otherwise clear submitted work.
SOURCING UNITS: For each problem, checkable years and steps, with each year tied to the document or event it marks and each date tied to the text or record that gives it = 2; a relevant but incomplete value, step, or source = 1; a result alone or no method = 0. A visible method stays checkable despite an arithmetic slip.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my reply. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. Probe an unsupported claim and ask me to examine its evidence. Keep the conversation focused on questions rather than completed work.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, copied prompt, yes/no reply, or one-word reply is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or accept agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied all four answers and their brief interpretations AND written my message to the friend AND revised at least one calculation or explanation AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score; it may end in .5 and must not be rounded to a whole number. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my calculations, sources, and reasoning]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised work, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

• your revised work with all four answers, their brief interpretations, and your message to the friend — written, or recorded as audio or video with a transcript, or as a labelled timeline sketch that places the five years and marks the 11 years from the Declaration to the Constitution, with a short note; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria;
• the coach's five-line report; and
• the conversation share link.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 5 skills — measuring the years between the Revolution's documents, sourcing the Declaration and keeping its date apart from its signing, telling the Declaration from the Constitution, dating the Treaty of Paris of 1783 from its text, and sourcing Abigail Adams's letter as a private letter — for comparable time and effort, about 60 to 90 minutes, the same as the coached route. Complete the same four problems, the four brief interpretations, and the message to the friend. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, criterion by criterion, and check every date and every quoted word against Chapter 5. Write a second draft and add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one calculation or explanation you changed, the evidence that prompted the change, and one question you still have. Submit the revised work, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The calculations, reasoning, revision, and final report must be your own. Do not ask the chatbot to create the assignment or add evidence you did not produce, and do not accept any date, name, document, or quotation from it until you have checked it against Chapter 5. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and requires no AI account.

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