AP US HistoryUnit Test FRQ Writing Samples

Periods 3 and 4 Will Complete the DBQ Essay Below. This must be handwritten in blue or black ink. I will deduct points if you type or write in pencil.

Periods 5 and 6 Scan past the DBQ for the Short Answer Section

Essay Prompt“To what extent did Manifest Destiny between 1830 – 1860 lead to the Civil War”

Document 1“… Were the whole history of South Carolina blotted out of existence, from its very beginning down to the day of the last election of the Senator to his present seat on this floor, civilization might lose — I do not say how little; but surely less than it has already gained by the example of Kansas, in its valiant struggle against oppression, and in the development of a new science of emigration. Already, in Lawrence alone, there are newspapers and schools, including a High School, and throughout this infant Territory there is more mature scholarship far, in proportion to its inhabitants, than in all South Carolina. Ah, sir, I tell the Senator that Kansas, welcomed as a free State, will be a "ministering angel" to the Republic, when South Carolina, in the cloak of darkness which she hugs, "lies howling." Among these hostile Senators, there is yet another, with all the prejudices of the Senator from South Carolina, but without his generous impulses, who, on account of his character before the country, and the rancor of his opposition, deserves to be named. I mean the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Mason), who, as the author of the Fugitive Slave bill, has associated himself with a special act of inhumanity and tyranny. Of him I shall say little, for he has said little in this debate, though within that little was compressed the bitterness of a life absorbed in the support of Slavery. He holds the commission of Virginia; but he does not represent that early Virginia, so dear to our hearts, which gave to us the pen of Jefferson, by which the equality of men was declared, and the sword of Washington, by which Independence was secured; but he represents that other Virginia, from which Washington and Jefferson now avert their faces, where human beings are bred as cattle for the shambles, and where a dungeon rewards the pious matron who teaches little children to relieve their bondage by reading the Book of Life. It is proper that such a Senator, representing such a State, should rail against free Kansas. Senators such as these are the natural enemies of Kansas, and I introduce them with reluctance, simply that the country may understand the character of the hostility which must be overcome….”

Sen. Charles Sumner, “The Crime Against Kansas,” 1856

Document 2“There is a question of vital importance to the Southern section, in reference to which the views and feelings of the two sections are as opposite and hostile as they can possibly be. I refer to the relation between the two races in the Southern section, which constitutes a vital portion of her social organization. Every portion of the North entertains views and feelings more or less hostile to it. Those most opposed and hostile regard it as a sin, and consider themselves under the most sacred obligation to use every effort to destroy it. Indeed, to the extent that they conceive that they have power, they regard themselves as implicated in the sin, and responsible for not suppressing it by the use of all and every means. Those less opposed and hostile regard it as a crime--an offense against humanity, as they call it and, although not so

fanatical, feel themselves bound to use all efforts to affect the same object; while those who are least opposed and hostile regard it as a blot and a stain on the character of what they call the "nation," and feel themselves accordingly bound to give it no countenance or support.

On the contrary, the Southern section regards the relation as one which cannot be destroyed without subjecting the two races to the greatest calamity, and the section to poverty, desolation, and wretchedness; and accordingly, they feel bound by every consideration of interest and safety to defend it.”

Sen. John C. Calhoun, “Speech on the Clay Compromise Measures,” 1850

Document 3“When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression. When the Federal Republican Constitution of their country, which they have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to a consolidated central military despotism, in which every interest is disregarded but that of the army and the priesthood, both the eternal enemies of civil liberty, the ever ready minions of power, and the usual instruments of tyrants. When, long after the spirit of the constitution has departed, moderation is at length so far lost by those in power, that even the semblance of freedom is removed, and the forms themselves of the constitution discontinued, and so far from their petitions and remonstrances being regarded, the agents who bear them are thrown into dungeons, and mercenary armies sent forth to force a new government upon them at the point of the bayonet….”

The Texas Declaration of Independence, 1835

Document 4

Document 5“This people (Mexicans) have been conceived in sin & born in iniquity for ages the millions have been degraded by oppression and the few corrupted by unbridled power. Their whole moral character is debased, they have no self- respect & are therefore incapable of self-government; having no test within, they are guilty of any vice they think they can screen from punishment, and now all being alike base they naturally encourage each other's degradation. The best people in the country look on any reform as hopeless without the restraint & example of others and so actually seek to prolong the war with the view of benefiting by the example we give them even as conquerors. The immense crowd of office holders civil as well as military who have hitherto lived on the revenues & exactions of the government, are struggling to perpetuate the abuses by which they exist, and now then their very nationality is at stake the Congress which was to have met...is not yet a quorum. If two weeks more go by without the government being organized I do not think a peace can be made for years, and I believe indeed that they will cease to exist except as little quarrelsome, disorderly States.... Don't let any of my letter get into the paper.”

Colonial Persifor Smith, 2nd in Command to Zachary Taylor, Letter to Judge R.W. Nichols, 1847

Document 6

Document 7“We work now to overturn the Slave-Power. For that we want the Union of all Liberty loving men, native or foreign born. While engaged in that work there can be no proscription. When that work shall be accomplished either there will be no proscribers or they will be powerless for evil. At this moment, I believe that there are few of the Americans who went with us last fall, who desire any extension of the naturalization terms or who would not readily and zealously sustain any good man for office of real Republican principles without reference to the accident of birth.”

Salmon P. Chase, The Disintegration of the Second Party System, 1856

Periods 5 and 6 Short Answer Section

Question One Relates to the Two Passages Below“President James K. Polk manufactured the war with Mexico. Some North Americans opposed the war—not on the ground that it violated Mexico’s territorial integrity, but because of the probability of the extension of slavery. Many North American military leaders admitted that the war was unjust, and that the United States had committed an act of aggression. However, patriotism and support for the war overwhelmed reason in the march ‘To the Hall of the Montezumas [sic].’ North Americans, buoyant in their prosperity, wanted to prove that the United States was a world-class power.”

-Rodolfo Acuna, Occupied America, A History of Chicanos,1988

“Polk and his advisors developed their Mexican polices on the dual assumption that Mexico was weak and that the acquisition of certain Mexican territories would satisfy admirably the long-range interests of the United States. Within that context, Polk’s policies were direct, timely, and successful.…Polk’s persistence led him and the country to war. Like all escalation in the exertions of force, his decision responded less to unwanted and unanticipated resistance than to the requirements of the clearly perceived and inflexible purposes which guided the administration. What perpetuated the president’s escalation to the point of war was his determination to pursue goals to the end whose achievement lay outside the possibilities of successful negotiations. Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri saw this situation when he wrote: ‘It is impossible to conceive of an administration less warlike, or more intriguing, than that of Mr. Polk. They were men of peace, with objects to be accomplished by means of war; so that war was a necessity and indispensability to their purpose.’…What the Mexican War revealed in equal measure is the simple fact that only those countries which have achieved their destiny, whatever that may be, can afford to extol the virtues of peaceful change.”

Norman A. Graebner, “The Mexican War: A Study in Causation,” 1980, Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle, Taking Sides: American History

Based on the two interpretations above of the origins of the Mexican-American War, complete the following three tasks:a. Briefly explain ONE major difference between Acuna’s and Graebner’s historical interpretations of the debates over origins of the Mexican-American War in the 1840s.

b. Briefly explain how ONE development in the 1840s or 1850s not directly mentioned in the passages supports Acuna’s argument.

c. Briefly explain how ONE development in the 1840s or 1850s not directly mentioned in the passages supports Graebner’s argument.

Question TwoPart ABriefly explain why TWO of the following best supports the view that a belief in Manifest Destiny played a decisive role in U.S. politics

The Annexation of Texas“Fifty-Four Forty or Fight” The Mexican Cession

Part BBriefly explain ONE criticism of Manifest Destiny during the 1840s

Question ThreePart ABriefly explain why TWO of the following best supports the view that the enforcement of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law resulted in strong and varied reactions in the North

The Formation of the Republican partyPublication of Uncle Tom’s CabinIncreased activity on the Underground Railroad

Part BExplain a southern reaction to ONE of your choices in Part A

Question 4 Relates to the Image Below

Part AChoose TWO Images in the painting and explain how each embodies Manifest Destiny

Part BBased upon the painting do you think that the image is pro- or anti-Manifest Destiny? Use image in the painting to support your answer.

John Gast, American Progress, 1872