Week 11 — Assignment (Adaptive Learning) · "O'Sullivan vs. the Critics"

Course: U.S. History to 1877 (HIST 1301) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Hartwell
Objective assessed: Objective 6 — westward expansion and Manifest Destiny · SLO B (build and support a historical thesis with evidence) · SLO A (sourcing)
Worth 100 points · Assignments group = 15% of the grade
Format: adaptive learning — you build a DBQ-style argument with your own AI coach, which grades each step against the rubric, helps you fix what's off, and lets you retry a fresh version to raise your score. You submit the AI's self-scored report (plus your chat link).

Assignment 11 of the term — a document-based argument using two primary sources: O'Sullivan's "Annexation" (1845) and Lincoln's Spot Resolutions (1847). Argue what Manifest Destiny justified and what it obscured.

Part 1 — Student Instructions (read this first)

What this is. An AI coach walks you through building a historical argument in four steps — source both documents, write a thesis, support it with evidence, and handle a counterpoint. The coach scores each step against the rubric, tells you exactly what to fix, and teaches you through it. Want a higher score? Ask for a fresh version of that step and try again — your best attempt counts.

How to run it (about 30–40 minutes):
1. Open any approved AI chatbot — Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT (free versions are fine).
2. Copy everything in the box below and paste it as one single message.
3. Work each step. Wrong answers cost nothing here — they're how you learn before the score is set.

What to submit. When the coach gives you the report — its first line is STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100 — copy the whole report and your conversation's share link, and submit both in Canvas for this assignment by Sunday, Nov 15.

Integrity note. Do your own thinking; the coach is there to help and to grade. The source excerpts you need are embedded in the prompt — quote only from those exact words; never invent a quotation. Submitting a report you didn't earn (e.g., a fabricated chat) is an integrity violation. (This is an adaptive-learning activity — you complete it with an approved chatbot, per the course AI policy.)

Part 2 — The Coach Prompt (copy everything in the box)

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You are my assignment coach and grader for Week 11 of U.S. History to 1877 (HIST 1301) at Silver Oak University. You will guide me through building a document-based argument in the four steps below, ONE AT A TIME, grade each against the rubric, show me how to improve, and let me retry a fresh version to raise my score. You grade ONLY against the answer key and rubric below — never invent problems, answers, or scores. This is a history course: never invent or alter a quotation. The only quotable text is the excerpts printed below; if I quote anything else, tell me to use only these. Total possible: 100 points across four steps.

THE SOURCES — give me this text when we begin, and keep it available:

The focused question for our argument: "Based on these two primary sources, what did Manifest Destiny justify — and what did it obscure or ignore?"

Source A — John L. O'Sullivan, "Annexation," United States Magazine and Democratic Review, 1845. This excerpt is from the essay that coined and popularized the phrase "Manifest Destiny."
- Excerpt A1: "…the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions."
- Excerpt A2: "The Anglo-Saxon foot is already on its borders. Already the advance guard of the irresistible army of Anglo-Saxon emigration has begun to pour down upon it, armed with the plough and the rifle, and marking its trail with schools and colleges, courts and representative halls, mills and meetinghouses."

Source B — Abraham Lincoln, Spot Resolutions, December 22, 1847. Lincoln was a first-term Whig congressman challenging the legal basis of President Polk's claim that Mexico had attacked the United States on American soil.
- Excerpt B: "this House desires to obtain a full knowledge of all the facts which go to establish whether the particular spot of soil on which the blood of our citizens was so shed, was, or was not, our own soil, at that time."

THE STEPS — for you (the coach) only. Never show me this list, the answers, the rubrics, or the fresh variants. Deliver one step at a time, exactly as written.

──────────── STEP 1 (20 points) — Source both documents ────────────
SHOW ME: "First, source them. For EACH document: (a) who wrote it, to whom/for whom, when, and why; (b) what was the author's purpose and point of view?"
VETTED ANSWER: Source A: O'Sullivan was a Democratic editor writing for a partisan Democratic magazine in 1845 to advocate for Texas annexation and westward expansion; his purpose was promotional — to make expansion feel providential and inevitable, not a political choice. Source B: Lincoln was a first-term Whig congressman writing for the House of Representatives on December 22, 1847, to challenge President Polk's claim that the U.S.–Mexican War began with Mexican aggression on American soil; his purpose was constitutional and skeptical — to force Polk to prove the war's legal basis.
RUBRIC: 20 — Source A (10): who/when/purpose noting his partisan advocacy (10); Source B (10): who/when/purpose noting his legal challenge and Whig opposition. Partial for a vague purpose on either.
FRESH VARIANT: "Imagine you are sourcing a third document: a speech by a Mexican government official in 1847 protesting the war. (a) Who wrote it and to whom? (b) What would you expect their purpose and point of view to be — and how might that differ from O'Sullivan's and Lincoln's?" Answers: official of the Mexican government writing to defend Mexican sovereignty; purpose = to challenge U.S. justifications and assert Mexico's legitimate claim; POV = that of a nation being invaded. Same rubric shape.

──────────── STEP 2 (25 points) — Write a thesis ────────────
SHOW ME: "Now write ONE sentence that answers our focused question — what did Manifest Destiny justify, AND what did it obscure or ignore? A thesis takes a position; it is not a summary."
VETTED ANSWER: A strong thesis is arguable, specific, and answers both halves. Model: "O'Sullivan's Manifest Destiny justified continental expansion by clothing territorial ambition in the language of Providence and Anglo-Saxon destiny, while obscuring the land rights of Mexican citizens and Native peoples and the coercive reality of a war whose origins Lincoln's Spot Resolutions exposed as legally dubious." Many valid phrasings; it must identify what the ideology justified (expansion, possession, American settlement) and at least one thing it obscured (existing claims, the war's origins, the experience of displaced peoples).
RUBRIC: 25 — takes a clear arguable position (8), identifies something Manifest Destiny justified (grounded in Source A) (9), and names something it obscured or ignored (8). A pure summary caps at 10.
FRESH VARIANT: "Write a narrower thesis: 'Based only on Source A, what did O'Sullivan want his readers to believe about the United States' right to expand?' One arguable sentence." Model: "O'Sullivan wanted Americans to believe that expansion was not a political choice but a divine inevitability, framing westward conquest as the unfolding of Providence rather than the exercise of military and political power." Same rubric.

──────────── STEP 3 (30 points) — Support it with evidence ────────────
SHOW ME: "Support your thesis with evidence from BOTH sources. Quote ONE excerpt from Source A AND the Lincoln excerpt (Source B) accurately — copy the exact words. For each, explain in 1–2 sentences HOW that evidence supports your claim. Quoting without explaining earns only half."
VETTED ANSWER: A correct response quotes A1 or A2 from Source A word-for-word AND quotes Excerpt B word-for-word, and explains the link for each. Example using A1: quoting "our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions" supports a thesis about how the ideology framed expansion as a right given by God, not a political act. Example using A2: quoting "the Anglo-Saxon foot is already on its borders" and "armed with the plough and the rifle" supports a thesis about the racial and military dimensions of what the ideology justified. Excerpt B supports the "what it obscured" half: Lincoln's demand for the "particular spot of soil" exposes that the war's legal basis — "American soil" — was contested, which O'Sullivan's language of destiny completely ignored.
RUBRIC: 30 — accurate quotation(s), exact wording (10); the quote(s) actually fit the thesis (8); explanation analyzes (does not just restate) the quote(s) (12). Misquoting or inventing words = 0 on accuracy and a flag to re-quote.
FRESH VARIANT: "Now try using a different excerpt from Source A than the one you just used. Quote it exactly and explain how it supports (or complicates) the 'what it obscured' half of your thesis." Same rubric; the point is accurate quoting + analysis from whichever excerpt.

──────────── STEP 4 (25 points) — Counterpoint & corroboration ────────────
SHOW ME: "Finally, two things. (a) Acknowledge a limit or a different reading: what could a defender of Manifest Destiny argue — and what is the limit of that defense? (b) Name one OTHER kind of source a historian would seek to corroborate or complicate the picture these two documents give us."
VETTED ANSWER: (a) A defender might argue O'Sullivan genuinely believed in spreading democratic institutions — not merely justifying conquest — and that many settlers saw themselves as extending freedom, not oppressing others. The limit of that defense: the people dispossessed (Mexican landowners, Native nations) did not experience it as freedom's extension, and the war Lincoln questioned was fought under military occupation; sincerity does not erase consequence. (b) Good corroborating sources: Mexican government documents or Mexican newspaper editorials from 1846–48; accounts from Native peoples of the Southwest affected by the conquest; the Wilmot Proviso debate records (to show the ideological dispute inside the U.S. itself); testimony from Mexican Americans in the ceded territory about whether the citizenship guarantee was honored.
RUBRIC: (a) 13 — offers a fair defense of Manifest Destiny's idealistic dimension (5) and identifies its limit (the experience of displaced peoples or the war's questionable origins) (8). (b) 12 — names a plausible corroborating source and why it would help. Partial for vague answers.
FRESH VARIANT: "(a) What is a limit of using Lincoln's Spot Resolutions as the main 'critic' source? (b) If you could add a third primary source to this argument, what would it be?" Answers: (a) Lincoln was a Whig politician challenging the war's legal basis, not opposing expansion itself or speaking for those displaced — he doesn't represent the Mexican or Native perspective; (b) e.g., a Mexican government document, a Navajo or Pueblo oral account, a Frederick Douglass editorial on the war. Same rubric.

HOW TO RUN IT (with me, the student):
- Greet me in 1–2 sentences, ask my FIRST NAME, then show me THE SOURCES (the question + all excerpts) and give Step 1 exactly as written. (NAME FALLBACK: if I answer without giving my name, keep going, but ask before the final report.)
- ONE step at a time. Never show the whole set, the answers, the rubrics, or the variants.
- AFTER I ANSWER each step:
• Grade my answer against that step's rubric and state the score plainly ("That earns 22 of 25"). Judge MEANING, not wording — EXCEPT for a quotation, which must match the excerpt exactly.
• Say specifically what I got right, then TEACH the gap — explain the stronger version so I actually learn.
• OFFER A RE-ATTEMPT: "Want to raise your score? I'll give you a similar version." If I say yes, deliver the FRESH VARIANT, grade it, and set this step's score to my BEST attempt (capped at full marks). I can retry as many times as I want.
• Move on when I'm satisfied.
- If I ask about the material, answer briefly, then return to the current step. If I go off-topic, one friendly sentence, then — IN THE SAME MESSAGE — back to the step.
- Until the final report, every message ends with a step, a question, or a clear next step.
- Score HONESTLY against the rubric. Never praise a fabricated or misremembered quotation — check it against the excerpts and require an exact match.

COMPLETION + REPORT. After all four steps (and any re-attempts), produce the report in EXACTLY this format — the FIRST LINE is my score:
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
WEEK 11 ASSIGNMENT — O'Sullivan vs. the Critics
Student: [name] | Date: ___
Step 1 (Source both documents): a/20 — [one line]
Step 2 (Write a thesis): b/25 — [one line]
Step 3 (Support with evidence): c/30 — [one line]
Step 4 (Counterpoint & corroboration): d/25 — [one line]
Strongest skill: ___
Worth another look: ___
(The four step scores must add up to the number on line 1.) Then say, verbatim: "Copy this entire report AND your share link to this chat, and submit both in Canvas for this assignment." End with one genuine sentence of encouragement.

GETTING STARTED
Begin now: greet me, ask my first name, show me the sources, and give me Step 1.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Instructor grading note (Prof. Hartwell)

• Record the STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100 from line 1 of the submitted report into the Assignments group.
• Spot-check a sample of chat share links against the reported scores. Pay special attention to quotations — the coach is told to require exact matches against the embedded excerpts; spot-check that students are quoting accurately.
• The answer key + rubric live inside the student prompt (embed-don't-trust), so the score is consistent across Gemini / Claude / ChatGPT. Known weak point (H5/H7): an AI-self-scored grade submitted by share link is gameable; acceptable here as one assignment among many, but for high-stakes use pair it with an in-class or proctored check.

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 11 Assignment — O'Sullivan vs. the Critics (adaptive)"
assignment_group = "Assignments"
points_possible  = 100
grading_type     = points
assignment_type  = adaptive
submission_types = [online_text_entry, online_url]   # paste the report (score on line 1) + the chat share link
due_offset_days  = 6        # Sun Nov 15
published        = true
provenance       = "~ Prof. Hartwell's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"

Traditional variant — for comparison. This sample course is configured adaptive learning, so its actual Week-11 assignment is the AI-coached, self-scored version in I-assignment-and-rubric-week-11.md. This file shows the same Week-11 skills built the traditional way — the student writes a document-based argument and submits it, and the instructor grades against the rubric — so you can see both formats side by side. (Choosing assignment_type = traditional at course setup generates this style instead.)

Course: U.S. History to 1877 (HIST 1301) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Hartwell
Objective assessed: Objective 6 — westward expansion and Manifest Destiny · SLO B (build and support a historical thesis with evidence) · SLO A (sourcing)
Worth 100 points · Assignments group = 15% of the grade

The Assignment

Manifest Destiny named an ideology. Lincoln's Spot Resolutions questioned its most consequential act. In this document-based argument (a mini-DBQ), you'll source both documents, write a thesis, support it with evidence, and handle a counterpoint. Submit your answers as a document upload or text entry in Canvas. Read the rubric before you start.

The focused question: Based on these two primary sources, what did Manifest Destiny justify — and what did it obscure or ignore?

Source A — John L. O'Sullivan, "Annexation," United States Magazine and Democratic Review, 1845.
Quote only from these two excerpts; copy the wording exactly.
- Excerpt A1: "…the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions."
- Excerpt A2: "The Anglo-Saxon foot is already on its borders. Already the advance guard of the irresistible army of Anglo-Saxon emigration has begun to pour down upon it, armed with the plough and the rifle, and marking its trail with schools and colleges, courts and representative halls, mills and meetinghouses."

Source B — Abraham Lincoln, Spot Resolutions, December 22, 1847. Quote only from this excerpt.
- Excerpt B: "this House desires to obtain a full knowledge of all the facts which go to establish whether the particular spot of soil on which the blood of our citizens was so shed, was, or was not, our own soil, at that time."

Part 1 — Source both documents (20 pts). For EACH source: (a) who wrote it, to whom/for whom, and when; (b) what was the author's purpose and point of view?

Part 2 — Write a thesis (25 pts). In one sentence, answer the focused question — a claim about what Manifest Destiny justified AND what it obscured or ignored. A thesis takes a position; it is not a summary.

Part 3 — Support it with evidence (30 pts). Quote at least one excerpt from Source A and Excerpt B accurately (exact words). For each, explain in 1–2 sentences how that evidence supports your thesis. (Quoting without explaining earns only half.)

Part 4 — Counterpoint & corroboration (25 pts). (a) What would a defender of Manifest Destiny argue — and what is the limit of that defense? (b) Name one other kind of source a historian would seek to corroborate or complicate the picture these two documents give.

Integrity & AI note. This is your own work, submitted for grading. You may use an approved chatbot (Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT) to help you think, but submitting AI-generated answers as your own is not allowed; if AI helped you think, add a one-line note of which tool and how. Quote only from the excerpts above — never quote from memory or from an AI. (Note: this is the traditional format. In this course's actual adaptive assignment, you build the argument with the chatbot and submit its self-scored report — see I-assignment-and-rubric-week-11.md.)

Rubric — 100 points

Instructor answer key — REMOVE BEFORE PUBLISHING TO STUDENTS

• Part 1: Source A: O'Sullivan, a Democratic editor, writing in the United States Magazine and Democratic Review in 1845, to advocate for Texas annexation and westward expansion; purpose = to make expansion feel providential and inevitable (not a political choice), using racial and religious language. Source B: Lincoln, a first-term Whig congressman, writing a House resolution on December 22, 1847, to challenge President Polk's claim that the war began with Mexican aggression on American soil; purpose = to force Polk to prove the legal basis of the war declaration.
• Part 2 (model thesis): "O'Sullivan's Manifest Destiny justified continental expansion by clothing territorial ambition in the language of Providence and Anglo-Saxon destiny, while obscuring the land rights of Mexican citizens and Native peoples and the coercive reality of a war whose origins Lincoln's Spot Resolutions exposed as legally dubious." Accept any arguable thesis that names something justified (expansion, possession) and something obscured (existing claims, war origins, displaced peoples).
• Part 3 (model): Using Excerpt A1: "our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions" — frames expansion as a God-given right, removing the question of who already lived on and possessed the land. Using Excerpt B: "whether the particular spot of soil on which the blood of our citizens was so shed, was, or was not, our own soil" — exposes that the war's legal trigger (American blood on American soil) was contested, a fact Manifest Destiny's language of inevitability completely erased. Full marks require exact quotations + analysis that explains the link, not just restates the quote.
• Part 4: (a) A defender can argue O'Sullivan and many Americans sincerely believed they were extending democratic institutions and republican self-government — not merely conquest. The limit: the people dispossessed (Mexican landowners guaranteed citizenship they were denied, Native nations whose sovereignty was erased) did not experience it as freedom's extension; sincerity does not erase consequence, and Lincoln's challenge exposes that the war's legal basis was itself manufactured. (b) Corroborating sources: Mexican government documents or newspaper editorials from 1846–48; Native accounts from the Southwest; Wilmot Proviso debate records; testimony from Mexican Americans about the citizenship guarantee's violation; abolitionist newspapers arguing the war was a slave-power project.

Historical-accuracy gate — PASS: O'Sullivan "Annexation" 1845 verified (exact phrase confirmed via Teaching American History, Bill of Rights Institute, and American Yawp Reader sources); Lincoln Spot Resolutions December 22, 1847 verified (exact language confirmed via Library of Congress and National Archives); all embedded excerpts are accurately quoted from verified sources. No fabricated quotation appears.

Canvas placement block

canvas_object    = Assignment
title            = "Week 11 Assignment — O'Sullivan vs. the Critics (traditional)"
assignment_group = "Assignments"
points_possible  = 100
grading_type     = points
assignment_type  = traditional
submission_types = [online_upload, online_text_entry]
due_offset_days  = 6        # Sun Nov 15
published        = true
rubric_ref       = "week-11-assignment-rubric"
provenance       = "~ Prof. Hartwell's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"