In Voices of Freedom, Eric Foner writes, “that American history is not simply a narrative of continual progress toward greater and greater freedom. While freedom can be achieved, it may also be reduced or rescinded.” Write an essay defending this statement by detailing three examples of freedom being achieved and three examples of freedom being denied. You should draw examples from the period of colonization through the early development of the new nation using Chapters 1-8 of course books. Students should use their own creative license in selecting content to focus on, but it should not be an opinion. That means there should be specific evidence from Voices of Freedom or Give Me Liberty accompanying your examples.
In the essay, you must reference the textbook Give Me Liberty at least two times, and you must use at least four primary documents from the Voices discussion reader. Depending on how you wish to answer the question, you will select the four you want to use. Several of the documents will be covered in your online discussions so you will have some good context for many. You must incorporate these documents thoroughly into your essay as support for your argument (think here of the writing assignments we did). Please make sure you are using the actual primary source and not the Foner context paragraph to the document.
Students should feel free to use whatever creative license they want to make the essay organized. However, you should have a thesis statement (your response to the Foner statement), a short introduction and conclusion, and quality paragraphs with topic sentences and transitions. Any quoting should be kept to a minimum and should only be used to complement your argument, not replace it. You must give specific examples from the readings to support your argument and provide citations for that information. The only sources needed to complete the assignment are the Voices reader and the textbook, Give Me Liberty. No additional sources should be used. This is not a traditional research essay, but is more like an essay you would write on an exam. Essays should be typed using 11 or 12-point font, double-spaced, standard margins of one inch. No title page is necessary, simply put the course number and your name at the top of page one.
For citations, you will use Chicago Style footnotes. Citation help was provided as part of Writing Assignment 4. Please note, that quotes ALWAYS require quotation marks and citations, including page number(s) if available. Specific information or examples taken from the book also require a citation with the page number where the information is found. Information that is not a direct quote does not require quotation marks, only a citation with page number. And, paraphrasing also requires a citation. Because specific information and examples are required for this essay, failure to provide any citations will result in an automatic 10-point deduction. As a reference, not a rule, about three footnotes per page is standard. To meet the minimum requirement for footnotes, you should have two for Give Me Liberty (one complete and one shortened) and four for Voices of Freedom (all different).
You DO NOT need a Works Cited page as each source should be cited at least once in your footnotes. I have you do this to learn when and how to cite sources and to have experience using sources to construct an argument. Please note: the first time you use a source, provide the complete citation, thereafter, you may shorten it (see Writing Assignment 4).
The essay should be free of grammatical and spelling errors. You may visit the Writing Center on any TCC campus for help if you have access. However, not all campuses will be able to help you with Chicago Style footnotes. Please use the Writing Center for help with organization and thesis development. Contact me for help with footnotes.
Sample Solution