DEVELOPING EVIDENCE-BASED
ASSESSMENTS FOR SOCIAL STUDIES
COLUMBUS CITY SCHOOLS
SOCIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT
www.ccsoh.us/socialstudies.aspx
Evidence-Based Argumentation Overview
Constructing an Argument
Claim – the overall thesis. A claim states your position on the issue you have chosen
to write about
Evidence – the data used support your claim. Like a lawyer presenting evidence to a
jury, you must support your claim with facts; an unsupported claim is merely an
assertion
Reasoning (Warrant) – interprets the evidence and shows how it supports your
claim. The warrant, in other words, explains why the evidence proves the claim.
“This supports my claim because….”
Counterclaim – a claim that negates or disagrees with the thesis/claim
General Example
Claim
A school uniform policy will improve student behavior at our school.
Evidence
Jefferson Middle School implemented a uniform policy and their data show an
improvement in behavior.
Reasoning
Our school is very similar to Jefferson Middle School, therefore the uniform policy
would have a similar impact in our school.
Historical Example
Claim
Harriet Tubman’s greatest achievement was her work as a conductor on the
Underground Railroad.
Evidence
In eight years as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman led
at least forty people out of slavery on a dangerous trip all the way to the
Canadian border.
Reasoning
A person’s greatest achievement should be measured by the number of people
helped, the risks taken, and the amount of time devoted to the cause.
Evidence-Based Assessment
1
Sample Assessment
Excerpt from "Is it a Crime for a Citizen of the United States to Vote?" by Susan
B. Anthony (adapted)
The speech below was presented by Susan B. Anthony after she was arrested for
attempting to vote in 1872.
Friends and Fellow-citizens: I stand before you tonight, under indictment for the alleged
crime of having voted at the last Presidential election, without having a lawful right to
vote. It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only
committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's right, guaranteed to me
and all United States citizens by the National Constitution, beyond the power of any
State to deny.
The Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, the constitutions of
the several states and the laws of the territories, all alike propose to protect the people
in the exercise of their God-given rights. Not one of them pretends to bestow rights.
"All men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights. Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of
the governed."
...Here, in this very first paragraph of the declaration, is the assertion of the natural right
of all to the ballot; for, how can "the consent of the governed" be given, if the right to
vote be denied. . . .
The preamble of the federal constitution says:
"We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish
justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the
general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do
ordain and established this constitution for the United States of America."
It was we, the people, not we, the white male citizens, nor yet we, the male citizens; but
we, the whole people, who formed this Union. And we formed it, not to give the
blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our
posterity, but to the whole people-women as well as men. And it is downright mockery
to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the
use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican
government—the ballot.
Evidence-Based Assessment
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Part A
What claim (thesis) does Susan B. Anthony present in this speech?
A. No government in the United States has the right to deny voting rights to women.
B. The Declaration of Independence protects the right to vote for women, but the
Constitution does not.
C. Under the Constitution, only the national government, not state governments may
deny a woman the right to vote.
D. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution only grant men the right to
vote.
Part B
What evidence does Susan B. Anthony use to support this claim?
A. The Declaration of Independence states that government’s power comes from
the consent of the governed.
B. The Constitution states that only white male citizens formed the Union.
C. The Declaration refers only to men, while the Constitution refers to all people.
D. State governments bestow rights, rather than protecting rights.
Evidence-Based Assessment
3
War Message of President James K. Polk, May 11, 1846 (adapted)
Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836 and was annexed to the United States in
1845. The border of Texas as an independent state was not originally settled. The
Republic of Texas claimed land up to the Rio Grande River, but Mexico claimed the
border at the Nueces River. When word arrived on May 9, 1846 that Mexican soldiers
had fired upon Americans on the “Texas side” of the Rio Grande, President Polk
responded with this call for war.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
(Earlier) I informed you that. . . I had ordered efficient military force to take a position
“between the Nueces and Rio Grande.” This had become necessary, to meet a
threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces. . . . The invasion was threatened
solely because Texas had determined . . . to annex herself to our Union; and, under
these circumstances, it was plainly our duty to extend our protection over her citizens
and soil.
. . . The Congress of Texas, by its act of December 19, 1836, had declared the Rio
Grande to be the boundary of that republic. . . . That country . . . is now included within
one of our congressional districts. . . . It became, therefore, of urgent necessity to
provide for the defense of that portion of our country.
(On the 24th of April) a party . . . sixty-three men and officers were . . . dispatched from
the American camp up the Rio Grande on its (North) bank, to ascertain whether the
Mexican troops had crossed, or were preparing to cross, the river. . . . They became
engaged with large body of these (Mexican) troops. . . sixteen Americans were killed or
wounded.
We have tried every effort at reconciliation. . . . But now, . . . Mexico has passed the
boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon
the American soil.
Evidence-Based Assessment
4
Against Catholicism, from Martin Luther’s Table Talk, 1535 (adapted)
The main reason I fell out with the pope was this: the pope boasted that he was the
head of the Church, and condemned all that would not be under his power and
authority. He said, although Christ is the head of the Church, there must be a physical
head of the Church upon earth. With this I could have been content, if he had taught the
gospel pure and clear, and not introduced human inventions and lies. Further, he took
power, rule, and authority over the Christian Church, and over the Holy Scriptures, the
Word of God. No man can explain the Scriptures. The pope did and he made himself
lord over the Church, proclaiming [the Church] at the same time a powerful mother, and
empress over the Scriptures. This could not be tolerated. Those who, against God's
Word, boast of the Church's authority, are mere idiots. The pope gives more power to
the Church, which is begotten and born, than to the Word [the Bible], which has
conceived, and born the Church.
They know that our doctrine is God’s Word, but they will not allow of this reasoning and
conclusion: When God speaks, we must hear him; now God speaks through the
doctrine of the gospel; therefore we must hear Him. But the papists, against their
consciences, say, No; we must hear the Church. They… say, though Christ speak, who
is the truth itself, yet an ancient custom must be preferred, and observed for law.
If the pope were the head of the Christian Church, then the Church were a monster with
two heads, seeing that St. Paul says that Christ is her head. . . .
Evidence-Based Assessment
5
The Renaissance, Excerpt from Essential World History, Henry Brun, 2006
(adapted)
Many of the best-known and most talented of the Renaissance artists and writers lived
in Florence. This city-state became Italy’s greater center of beauty, learning, and
creativity. In some ways, it was like Athens, Greece, the leading city-state of ancient
Greece.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is regarded as the best example of a Renaissance
person. In addition to being a great painter, this genius was a sculptor, an architect, a
scientist, and engineer. His paintings include Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, both
masterpieces. As military engineer of Florence, he designed part of its defense system.
Leonardo also drew plans for machine guns, tanks, airplanes, and many other
machines that were not yet developed. Many of his ideas led to inventions that were
made centuries later.
One of the greatest artists of the Renaissance was Michelangelo Buonarroti (14751564). Also a Florentine, Michelangelo was a painter, sculptor, architect, and poet. . . .
Michelangelo painted events from the Bible on the walls of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
Another talented Florentine, Niccolo Machiavelli (1460-1527) wrote about government
and politics. . . . Machiavelli wrote a guidebook for rulers, called The Prince. . . . The
book describes the ways a strong ruler might seize and hold power. Citizens were to be
given those rights that the ruler wanted to grant. . . .
Evidence-Based Assessment
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