Advanced Higher History

Source questions and answers

"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.”

Abraham Lincoln

Advanced Higher History

Field 6 The House Divided": USA 1850~186

Source taken from 2004 examination paper

Source A from the resolution of the Nashville Convention, 10 June 1850

Resolved:

That Congress has no power to exclude from the territory of the United States any property lawfully held in the States of the Union and that any act which may be passed by Congress too effect this result is in a plain violation of the Constitution of the United States

Resolved:

That the slave holding cannot and will not submit to the enactment by Congress of any law imposing onerous conditions or restraints upon the rights of masters to remove with their properly into the territories of the United States, or to any law making discrimination in favour of proprietors of other property against them.

Q1. How useful is Source A as evidence of the attitude of the Southern States to the Union? (12 marks)

C pass answer

Source A is quite useful as evidence of the attitude of the Southern States to the Union. It was written in June 1850, at the time of the debate over the admission of California as a free state of the Union. It was written by members of the Southern States who had met at Nashville to discuss what to do.

The source says that Congress does not have the right to exclude slavery from a territory of the USA. It also says that any act passed by Congress to b~bring this about is unconstitutional. Further, the South will never agree to any act of Congress which puts limits on their right to take slaves anywhere within the Union. The South would oppose any such action.

At this time, California had applied to become a state. However, it lay on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line of 1820. Both sides thought California should belong to them. Henry Clay's omnibus measure had failed. Stephen A Douglas was trying to get all the parts passed separately. The Southern States met at Nashville to decide how their interests could be protected.

What the South is really saying to the North is that unless we get our way, we might consider action that might break-up the Union. This was what South Carolina did in 1860, after Lincoln's election.

Thus, Source A is quite useful, showing the attitude of the South to the Union.

Marks 6/12 238 words

Commentary

The candidate has merely repeated the wording of the question in the introductory sentence. The candidate just managed to set the source in its context, reference to admission of California, but the analysis is simplistic and shows little progression from S4\5. It would have been helpful if the pupil had developed this simple analysis by reference to bias and the tenor of the language used. The candidate has achieved I mark for provenance.

There is awareness of the events over the Compromise of 1850. The candidate uses the information in the source quite successfully, but there is limited development of the idea of the attitude to the Union displayed by the source. The candidate has achieved 2 mark for interpretation of the sources point of view.

Recall is evident in the recognition of the Clay Bill and the actions of Stephen A Douglas and some parallels are drawn with the crisis of 1860. 3 mark are awarded for contextual recall.

However, the candidate does not fully address the premise of the question and the final sentence is weak.

Mark 6/12

Pupil answer

The source is indicative of the attitude of many Southern States towards the Union and in particular, that of South Carolina which had organised the Nashville Convention. In the summer of 1850, Congress was locked in debate over the admission of California. The proposed state straddled the Mason-Dixon line of 1820 - thus allowing both sides to claim that it could enter the Union either slave or free. To make matters worse, the South claimed that the omnibus bill of Clay was a back-door attempt to enact the rejected Wilmot proviso. This had been rejected by Congress.

As to the attitude of the Southern states, this is clearly illustrated in Source A.

Firstly, the 'sister southern states' argued that Congress had no power to exclude slavery from any US territory, a view upheld by the Supreme Court in the 1857 Dred Scott decision. Any attempt to do so would be viewed by the South as unconstitutional. Additionally, the South could not agree to any restrictions on the movement of slaves within US territories which would be met by stiff Southern opposition.

South Carolina had taken the lead in calling this convention - as a means of putting pressure on the North to reach an acceptable compromise. She was a strong believer in states' rights and was determined to have her own way - or leave the Union. Stephen A Douglas, however, put together a series of bills which avoided the disruption of the Union in 1850. Although deserted by her sister states at the re-convened convention in December 1850 the attitude of South Carolina was clear. Her support for the Union was conditional on her interests being safeguarded.

Thus South Carolina's action was a warning of what might happen in any future crisis, as was shown in 1860. Thus, the authors of Source A saw the Union as a compact under which their sovereignty was retained. Any threat to their position would be aggressively opposed, as the language of Source A shows.

Marks 10/12 329 words

Commentary

The candidate clearly understands the context of the source and that this could be a portent of future action. From the beginning it is clear that the question will be addressed properly. Recall concerning the origin of the source is used to make a moot point.

The candidate is clearly aware of the context of the source and again supplements this with supportive recall. Three marks are awarded for provenance.

The answer is also constructed in a sophisticated manner, with the attitude of the South being stated at the outset, with accompanying evidence drawn from the source and reinforced by use of appropriate recall. 2 marks are awarded for interpretation of source viewpoint.

The candidate cleverly weaves analysis of the source with recalled knowledge and is engaging with the premise of the question - Dred Scott; states ' rights etc is awarded 5 marks for contextualisation recall and conclusion.

It is important to realise that the usefulness of the source may have to be deduced from the rubric and is not always explicitly stated.

The answer could have been improved with further use of recall see marking scheme and a reference to the views of e.g Holden Reid who argues that the Compromise indicated the conditional nature of the Union as far as the South was concerned, and more overt reference to historiographical debate.