Week 13 — In Their Own Words: Dating and Reading the Secession Crisis

Assignment 12 of the term — measure the years between the week's documents, source South Carolina's declaration and Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, keep two wars' causes apart, and explain to someone new to history why a document's own words outrank a guess about its cause.

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. It builds on Week 4, where you first read the Stamp Act Congress declarations of 1765.

The task

Your shared data is five years from the course chronology, in order, with one earlier year for comparison:

• 1765 — the Stamp Act Congress declarations (Week 4)
• 1850 — the Fugitive Slave Act
• 1854 — the Kansas-Nebraska Act
• 1860 — South Carolina's declaration of causes
• 1861 — Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

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

1. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in 1854, and South Carolina's declaration of causes was adopted in 1860. How many years separate the two?
2. South Carolina's declaration of causes was adopted in 1860, and Lincoln's First Inaugural Address was delivered in 1861. How many years separate the two?
3. The Stamp Act Congress declarations were adopted in 1765, and South Carolina's declaration of causes was adopted in 1860. How many years separate the two?
4. The Fugitive Slave Act was approved in 1850, and Lincoln's First Inaugural Address was delivered in 1861. How many years separate the two?

Beside each answer, add one brief interpretation:

• Problem 1: source South Carolina's declaration (who made it, what type of document it is, which host keeps it, and its year) and quote its pinned fragment word for word, capitals included.
• Problem 2: source Lincoln's First Inaugural Address (author, type of document, host, and year) and quote the fragment that begins "I have no purpose" word for word, then say what it shows Lincoln promised about slavery in 1861.
• Problem 3: name the cause each declaration names, the 1765 one and the 1860 one, then explain in one sentence why the course keeps the causes of the Revolution apart from the causes of the Civil War.
• Problem 4: sort items 7 and 8 of the evidence-claims set into shows what the source says or goes beyond the source, and give the reason for item 8.

Explain it to a non-expert

A coworker says, "South Carolina left the Union over tariffs, and Lincoln had promised to end slavery in the South, so of course it left." Write a 3–5 sentence message that corrects both parts of that claim in everyday words, using the pinned fragments of South Carolina's declaration and of Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, and names one limit of what you can say after this week (for example, that the declaration shows what its convention named as the cause, not what every Confederate soldier believed). Explain any technical term in everyday words. More than one good answer is possible.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a neighbor saying that a corner bakery closed "because of the economy," when the owner's own notice in the window says the bakery closed because the building was sold and the new owner would not renew the lease. Model answer: "The best evidence for why someone left is what they wrote when they left. The owner's notice names the lease, not the economy, and it was written at the time by the person who made the choice. A guess about the economy might be interesting, but it is not what the notice says. The notice shows the owner's stated reason; it does not show how every customer felt about the closing."

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 13 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 13 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 South Carolina's declaration of causes, Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, the causes of the Revolution and of the Civil War, and the evidence-claims set. 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". Take no side on any present-day political question, and draw no comparison between 1860 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, 1850 (the Fugitive Slave Act), 1854 (the Kansas-Nebraska Act), 1857 (Dred Scott v. Sandford), 1860 (South Carolina's declaration of causes), and 1861 (Lincoln's First Inaugural Address), with 1765 (the Stamp Act Congress declarations) for comparison. South Carolina's declaration was adopted by the people of South Carolina in convention in 1860; it is a declaration of causes kept by the Avalon Project, and its pinned fragment, word for word, is "an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery". Its convention named slavery as its cause in its own words; state that plainly, never as a debate, and never as tariffs or states' rights in the abstract. The plain sentence: South Carolina's declaration shows that its convention named slavery as the cause; it does not by itself show what every Confederate soldier believed. Lincoln's First Inaugural Address is an inaugural address of 1861 by Abraham Lincoln, kept by the Avalon Project; its pinned fragments, word for word, are "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists." and "We are not enemies, but friends." He did not promise abolition in 1861. The Stamp Act Congress declarations of 1765 object to taxes imposed without consent; their pinned fragment is "that no taxes be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives". The causes of the Revolution and the causes of the Civil War are kept apart by letting each war's documents name its cause. In the evidence-claims set, item 7, that South Carolina's declaration names hostility to slavery as a cause of secession, shows what the source says; item 8, that every Southern state seceded for exactly the reasons South Carolina gave, goes beyond the source.
PROBLEM P1: The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in 1854, and South Carolina's declaration of causes was adopted in 1860. How many years separate the two?
PROBLEM P2: South Carolina's declaration of causes was adopted in 1860, and Lincoln's First Inaugural Address was delivered in 1861. How many years separate the two?
PROBLEM P3: The Stamp Act Congress declarations were adopted in 1765, and South Carolina's declaration of causes was adopted in 1860. How many years separate the two?
PROBLEM P4: The Fugitive Slave Act was approved in 1850, and Lincoln's First Inaugural Address was delivered in 1861. How many years separate the two?
After the four answers, I must briefly interpret each one: for P1, South Carolina's declaration sourced by origin, type, host, and year, with its pinned fragment quoted word for word; for P2, Lincoln's First Inaugural Address sourced by author, type, host, and year, with the no-purpose fragment quoted word for word and read for what Lincoln promised; for P3, the cause each declaration names, plus why the causes of the Revolution and of the Civil War are kept apart; for P4, items 7 and 8 of the evidence-claims set sorted, with the reason for item 8. I must then write a 3-5 sentence message to a coworker who thinks South Carolina left over tariffs and that Lincoln had promised to end slavery, correcting both parts in everyday words from the pinned fragments 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 items 7 and 8 sorted with the reason for item 8, AND a coworker message that corrects both parts of the claim from the pinned fragments 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, naming tariffs or states' rights in the abstract as the declaration's cause is not accurate, saying Lincoln promised abolition in 1861 is not accurate, and keying item 8 as showing what the source says 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 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 measure or 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 documents and marks the 11 years from the Fugitive Slave Act to Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, 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 13 skills — measuring the years between the week's documents, sourcing South Carolina's declaration and Lincoln's First Inaugural Address and quoting their pinned fragments, keeping the causes of the Revolution apart from the causes of the Civil War, and sorting a claim that shows what a source says from one that goes beyond 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 13. 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 13. 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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