History 3551, Fall 2001

First short assignment, due Friday, September 7 at the start of class

 

 

Read the Charter of Carolina (1665), and write a paper in which you:

 

  1. analyze the document using the concepts we have developed in class, and
  2. compare the provisions in this document to the provisions in the Charter of Massachusetts Bay.

 

In offering your analysis, you should try to apply as many of the concepts we have relied on in class as you can. In making your comparison, you should consider those concepts as well, though you may raise any points of comparison you feel helps make the contrasts and similarities between the two documents clear. When comparing the two documents, you should not feel you should conclude one document is better than the other. Your comparison should concern itself, instead, with what the documents have in common and what differentiates one from the other. As this suggests, you should discuss whether, when all is said and done, you feel the documents are mostly the same, or mostly different from one another, and be prepared to explain why you reach that conclusion.

 

In both your analysis and comparison you should support your points with examples. Do not say, for example, “The Charter of Massachusetts Bay gave children rights” without offering an example or two from the text to support that novel claim. Likewise, in offering a comparison, it is not enough to say, “The two charters have much in common, especially with regard to their treatment of English law” without explaining what that treatment was and referring to the parts of the charters that support your claim.

 

Your paper should be roughly 5-7 pages long (typed, double spaced). A paper that is less than five pages long is presumptively too short, a paper that is more than 9 pages long is presumptively too long. Your grade will be based on the quality of your analysis and comparison, and on the quality of your writing. While it is true that this is not an English class, a well organized, well written paper that presents a logical argument in a persuasive fashion will do better than a poorly written, poorly reasoned, or otherwise sloppy paper.