Week 11 — A Declaration, a Treaty, and a Moving Border

Assignment 10 of the term — measure the years between the documents of an expanding country, source a declaration and a treaty from their own texts, and explain to someone new to history what a treaty's own words do and do not prove.

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 five years from the course chronology, in order:

• 1776 — the Declaration of Independence
• 1803 — the Louisiana Purchase Treaty
• 1830 — the Indian Removal Act and Jackson's removal message
• 1836 — the Texas Declaration of Independence
• 1848 — the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

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

1. The Texas Declaration of Independence was made in 1836, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848. How many years separate the two?
2. The Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776, and the Texas Declaration of Independence was made in 1836. How many years separate the two?
3. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed in 1803, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848. How many years separate the two?
4. The Indian Removal Act and Jackson's removal message date to 1830, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848. How many years separate the two?

Beside each answer, add one brief interpretation:

• Problem 1: source the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo by origin, type, and host, and date it from its own closing line rather than from a later step listed on Avalon's page heading; then quote its Article VIII fragment word for word.
• Problem 2: source the Texas Declaration of Independence by origin, type, host, and year, and quote its pinned fragment word for word; then write one plain sentence about what that fragment shows and what it does not show.
• Problem 3: restate the Article VIII passage in your own plain words, then write one plain sentence about what that passage shows and what it does not show.
• Problem 4: use the treaty's own parties to show whether any Native nation agreed to it.

Explain it to a non-expert

A coworker says, "The treaty with Mexico was signed at Queretaro on the day it was proclaimed, and its Article VIII proves that every Mexican family in those lands kept its home." Write a 3–5 sentence message that corrects both parts of that claim in everyday words, using this week's evidence, and names one limit of what you can say after this week (for example, that the treaty cannot tell you how any one family fared after 1848). Explain any technical term in everyday words. More than one good answer is possible.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a friend asking whether a brass plaque calling a downtown building "the oldest in town" proves that it is. Model answer: "A plaque shows what the group that put it up wanted visitors to believe about the building. It is real evidence, but of that group's claim, not of the building's age. To check, I would look for records made when the building went up, such as a deed or a tax roll, and set them beside the plaque. Read side by side, the plaque shows the claim, and the records show whether it holds."

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

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft all four answers, the four brief interpretations, and your message to the coworker 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. Reply in your own words. Show calculations and cite the chronology, the documents, or Chapter 11 when asked. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one calculation or explanation, even if your first attempt was sound.
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 11 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 Texas Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and its Article VIII, and what the treaty's parties show about Native nations. Do not write my assignment for me, do not invent work I did not show, never invent a date, a document, a person, a figure, or a quotation, and never put words in a real person's mouth. In your own voice say "enslaved people"; treat Mexico and Mexican people factually; name each Native nation by its own name and in the present tense; state slavery and the war's violence plainly and with gravity. Take no side on any present-day political question, including present-day border politics, and draw no comparison between these decades and any party or policy today.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these four problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. The data: five years from the course chronology are 1776 (the Declaration of Independence), 1803 (the Louisiana Purchase Treaty), 1830 (the Indian Removal Act and Jackson's removal message), 1836 (the Texas Declaration of Independence), and 1848 (the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo). The Texas Declaration of Independence is a declaration made by the delegates of the people of Texas in general convention at the town of Washington, dated 1836 and kept by the Avalon Project; its pinned fragment, word for word, is "the right of trial by jury, that palladium of civil liberty". The fragment is evidence of what the delegates claimed; it does not by itself prove that their charge against the government was true. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is a treaty of peace between the United States and the United Mexican States, kept by the Avalon Project; its own closing line dates the signing at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, and Avalon's page heading also lists later steps the same year, such as the exchange of ratifications at Queretaro and the proclamation, which do not date the signing. Its Article VIII fragment, word for word, is "shall be free to continue where they now reside, or to remove at any time to the Mexican Republic": the Mexicans of the ceded lands were free either to stay where they lived or to remove to the Mexican Republic. The passage shows what the two governments promised; it is not proof of whether the promise was kept. The treaty's only parties are the United States and the United Mexican States, so no Native nation agreed to it. Grade only on these course facts; never require or credit a fact that is not written here, even a true one I bring from the chapter.
PROBLEM P1: The Texas Declaration of Independence was made in 1836, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848. How many years separate the two?
PROBLEM P2: The Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776, and the Texas Declaration of Independence was made in 1836. How many years separate the two?
PROBLEM P3: The Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed in 1803, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848. How many years separate the two?
PROBLEM P4: The Indian Removal Act and Jackson's removal message date to 1830, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848. How many years separate the two?
After the four answers, I must briefly interpret each one: for P1, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo sourced by origin, type, and host and dated from its own closing line, plus its Article VIII fragment quoted word for word; for P2, the Texas declaration sourced by origin, type, host, and year with its fragment quoted word for word, plus one plain sentence on what that fragment shows and what it does not show; for P3, the Article VIII passage restated in plain words, plus one plain sentence on what that passage shows and what it does not show; for P4, the treaty's own parties used to show whether any Native nation agreed to it. I must then write a 3-5 sentence message to a coworker who thinks the treaty was signed at Queretaro on the day it was proclaimed and that Article VIII proves every Mexican family kept its home, 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 coworker 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 treaty's parties used to show that no Native nation agreed to it, AND a coworker 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 from a later step on the page heading is not accurate, and reading the Article VIII promise as proof that every family kept its home is not accurate. An arithmetic slip alone is not a reasoning error. No death figure, day-level date, or outside fact is required or credited.
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 coworker 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 it marks and each quotation tied to its document and host = 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 coworker 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 coworker — written, or recorded as audio or video with a transcript, or as a labelled timeline sketch that places the five years and marks the 12 years from the Texas declaration to the treaty, 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 11 skills — measuring the years between the documents of an expanding country, sourcing the Texas declaration and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo from their own texts, saying what the declaration's fragment shows and does not show, reading the Article VIII passage as a promise rather than a result, and showing from the treaty's parties that no Native nation agreed to it — 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 coworker. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, criterion by criterion, and check every date and every quoted word against Chapter 11. 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, figure, or quotation from it until you have checked it against Chapter 11. 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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