Directions: These Questions Are Based on the Accompanying Documents

question 24

Essay

Directions: These questions are based on the accompanying documents.The documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.
In your response you should do the following:
•State a relevant thesis that directly addresses all parts of the question.
•Support the thesis or a relevant argument with evidence from all,or all but one,of the documents.
•Incorporate analysis of all,or all but one,of the documents into your argument.
•Focus your analysis of each document on at least one of the following: intended audience,purpose,historical context,and/or point of view.
•Support your argument with analysis of historical examples outside the documents.
•Connect historical phenomena relevant to your argument to broader events or processes.
•Synthesize the elements above into a persuasive essay that extends your argument,connects it to a different historical context,or accounts for contradictory evidence on the topic.
-Explain the development of political parties in the United States and compare the nation's first parties' views on the role of government in the period from 1788 to 1800.
Document 1
Source: John Adams, reporting on his trip to Great Britain to John Jay, 1785
...[I] address'd myself to his Majesty [George III] in the following words. Sir… I have the Honour to assure your Majesty of their Unanimous Disposition and desire, to cultivate the most friendly and liberal Intercourse between your Majesty's Subjects and their Citizens ...
[the King replied] Sir… I was the last to consent to the separation; but the separation having been made, and having become inevitable, I have always said as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the Friendship of the United States as an independent Power. The moment I see such sentiments and Language as yours prevail, and a disposition to give this country the Preference, that moment I shall say let the Circumstances of Language, Religion and blood, have their natural and full Effect...
Document 2
Source: Roger Sherman, letter to Massachusetts Governor Samuel Huntington, 1790
The assumption of the debts of the several states incurred for the common defense during the late war, is now under consideration. The Secretary of the Treasury [Hamilton] has been directed to report what funds can be provided for them in case they should be assumed. ...He supposed that sufficient provision may be made for the whole debt, without resorting to direct taxation, if so I think it must be an advantage to all the states, as well as to the creditors. Some have suggested that it will tend to increase the power of the federal government & lessen the importance of the state governments, but I don't see how it can operate in that manner, the constitutions are so framed that the government of the United States & those of the particular states are friendly, & not hostile, to each other, their jurisdictions being distinct, & respecting different objects, & both standing upon the broad basis of the people, will act for their benefit in their respective spheres without any interference.
Document 3
Source: Thomas Jefferson, On the Constitutionality of the National Bank, 1791
…I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That “all powers not
delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.” [XIIth amendment.] To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.
The incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this bill, have not, in my opinion,
been delegated to the United States, by the Constitution.
Document 4
Source: Thomas Jefferson, Letter to David Humphreys, 1791
Too little reliance is to be had on a steady and certain course of commerce with the
countries of Europe to permit us to depend more on that than we cannot avoid. Our best
interest would be to employ our principal labor in agriculture, because to the profits of labor,
which is dear, this adds the profits of our lands, which are cheap. But the risk of hanging our prosperity on the fluctuating counsels and caprices of others renders it wise in us to turn
seriously to manufactures, and if Europe will not let us carry our provisions to their
manufactures, we must endeavor to bring their manufactures to our provision.
Document 5
Source: Alexander Hamilton, Letter to George Washington, 1791
The powers contained in a constitution of government...ought to be construed liberally in advancement of the public good. This rule does not depend on the particular form of government...but on the nature and objects of government itself. The means by which national exigencies are to be provided for, national inconveniences obviated, and national prosperity promoted, are of such infinite variety...that there must of necessity be great latitude of discretion in the selection and application of those mans.
Document 6
Source: Jeffersonian Republican Election Statement, 1796
Thomas Jefferson is a firm Republican,—John Adams is an avowed Monarchist....Thomas Jefferson first drew the declaration of American independence;—he first framed the sacred political sentence that all men are born equal. John Adams says this is all a false and a falsehood; that some men should be born Kings, and some should be born Nobles....Will you, by your votes, contribute to make the avowed friend of monarchy President?—or will you, by neglectfully staying at home, permit others to saddle you with Political Slavery?

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Definitions:

Phases

Distinct periods or stages in the development or process of something.

Supporting Evidence

Information or data that strengthens a claim or argument, making it more convincing.

Author's Case

An argument or position put forth by the writer.

Rhetorical Situation

The interactive combination of four elements: a specific author is using a specific mode of communication or presentation to engage a specific audience for the specific purpose.