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Explore: Student Primary Source Activity

Scaffolded version available here

Was the Constitution a pro-slavery document or an anti-slavery document?

  • I can interpret primary sources related to slavery and the Founding.
  • I can create an argument using evidence from primary sources.

Background: What facts do we have to consider before we look at our two sources?

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Was the Constitution a pro-slavery document or an anti-slavery document?
Source A: William Lloyd Garrison, “The American Union.” The Liberator, January 10, 1845 Source B: Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Speech to Rochester, New York Ladies Anti-Slavery Society, July 5, 1852
Shrink the text: Write Garrison’s central argument in one sentence.

 

 

Shrink the text: Write Douglass’s central argument in one sentence.

 

 

Major Points:

 

 

Major Points:

 

 

Consensus Statement:

 

 


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