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AP EUROPEAN HISTORY EXAM SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Document-Based Question Suggested reading and writing time: 55 minutes

It is suggested that you spend 15 minutes reading the documents and 40 minutes writing your response.

Note: You may begin writing your response before the reading period is over.

Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents. The documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.

In your response you should do the following.

Å Thesis: Present a thesis that makes a historically defensible claim and responds to all parts of the question. The thesis must consist of one or more sentences located in one place, either in the introduction or the conclusion.

Å Argument Development: Develop and support a cohesive argument that recognizes and accounts for historical complexity by explicitly illustrating relationships among historical evidence such as contradiction, corroboration, and/or qualification.

Å Use of the Documents: Utilize the content of at least six of the documents to support the stated thesis or a relevant argument.

Å Sourcing the Documents: Explain the significance of the author’s point of view, author’s purpose, historical context, and/or audience for at least four documents.

Å Contextualization: Situate the argument by explaining the broader historical events, developments, or processes immediately relevant to the question.

Å Outside Evidence: Provide an example or additional piece of specific evidence beyond those found in the documents to support or qualify the argument.

Å Synthesis: Extend the argument by explaining the connections between the argument and ONE of the following.

i A development in a different historical period, situation, era, or geographical area.

i A course theme and/or approach to history that is not the focus of the essay (such as political, economic, social, cultural, or intellectual history).

i A different discipline or field of inquiry (such as economics, government and politics, art history, or anthropology).

Question. Evaluate the extent to which the demographic changes from c. 1500 to c. 1700 altered family life.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 1

© 2016 College Board

AP EUROPEAN HISTORY EXAM

Document 1

Source: Population changes and net wheat yields in England, 1450–1800.

Population Net wheat yields

20

15

10

5

3

1450 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800

Document 2

Source: Index of Real Wages* in England, 1550–1800.

60

50

Index

of real w

ages

40

1600 1700 Year

1800

Index of Real Wages in England, 1550–1800

*Real wages refers to wages adjusted for inflation, reflecting the true purchasing power of income relative to prices.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 2


SAMPLE QUESTIONS


Document 3

Source: Proportion of women never married in England, 1550–1800.

20

15

10

Proportion

nev

er m

arried

0

1600 1700 Year

1800

Proportion of Women Never Married in England, 1550–1800

Document 4

Source: English Puritan ministers John Dod and Robert Cleaver, A Godly Form of Household Government: for the Ordering of Private Families, According to the Direction of God’s Word, published in 1598.

The husband’s duty is, first, to love his wife as his own flesh. Then to govern her in all duties that properly concern the state of marriage. The wife’s duty is in all reverence and humility, to submit and subject herself to her husband in all such duties as properly belong to marriage, to obey his commandments in all things which he may command by the authority of a husband. If she be not subject to her husband, to let him rule all household affairs things will go backward, the house will come to ruin, for God will not bless where his ordinance is not obeyed. It is allowable, that she may in a modest way speak her mind, and a wise husband will not disdain to hear her advice, and follow it also, if it be good. The duty of the husband is to get goods; and of the wife, to gather them together and save them. The duty of the husband is to travel abroad to seek living; and the wife’s duty is to keep the house. The duty of the husband is to deal with many men; and of the wife’s to talk with few. Now where the husband and wife neglect these duties, we may call it a hell.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 3


AP EUROPEAN HISTORY EXAM

Document 5

Source: “Act to Prevent the Destroying and Murdering of Bastard* Children,” passed by the Parliament of England, 1624.

Whereas many lewd women that have been delivered of bastard children, to avoid their shame, and to escape punishment, do secretly bury or conceal the death, of their children, and often, if the child is found dead, the said women do allege, that the said child was born dead. For the preventing therefore of this great mischief, if any Woman, [give birth to a child] which by the laws of this Realm be a bastard, and that she endeavor privately either by drowning or secret burial thereof, [to be rid of the child], be it enacted in every such case the mother so offending shall suffer death as in the case of murder, except such mother can prove by one witness that the child was born dead.

*Bastard children are children born outside of marriage

Document 6

Source: An Act for the Better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom, passed by the English Parliament, 1662.

Whereas the Necessity, Number, and continual increase of the Poor, not only within the cities of London and Westminster, but also through the whole Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales, is very great and exceeding burdensome. Presently, poor People are not restrained from going from one Parish to another, and to settle themselves in those Parishes where there is the largest Commons to build Cottages, and the most Woods for them to burn and destroy, and when they have consumed it, then to another Parish, and at last become Rogues and Vagabonds. Be it enacted that from henceforth there be, one or more Work-houses, within the Cities of London and Westminster, and that it is lawful to apprehend any Rogues, Vagrants, or idle and disorderly Persons and to cause them to be kept and set to work in the several and respective Work-houses; and it is lawful to identify idle and disorderly Persons and Sturdy Beggars to be transported to the English Plantations beyond the Seas, there to be disposed in the usual way of Servants, for a term not exceeding seven Years.

Document 7

Source: The Ladies defense, an extended poem by Lady Mary Lee Chudleigh, published in London, 1701, as a response to a 1699 published marriage sermon that portrayed women as subservient to their husbands.

Tis hard we should be by the men despised, Yet kept from knowing what would make us prized; Debarred from knowledge, banished from the schools, And with the utmost industry bred as fools Then we are told we are incapable of wit, And only for the meanest drudgeries fit; Made slaves to serve men’s luxury and pride, And with innumerable hardships tried. Till pitying heaven release us from our pain, Kind-heaven, to whom alone we dare complain.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 4


SAMPLE QUESTIONS


Coding and Scoring Guidelines

Curriculum Framework Alignment

Learning Objectives Historical Thinking Skills Key Concepts

PP-7: Explain how environmental conditions, the Agricultural Revolution, and industrialization contributed to demographic changes, the organization of manufacturing, and alterations in the family economy.

Targeted: Causation

Additional Skills: Analyzing Evidence Argumentation Contextualization Synthesis

2.4. I 2.4 III

Scoring Guidelines for Document-Based Question

Question. Evaluate the extent to which the demographic changes from c. 1500 to c. 1700 altered family life.

Maximum Possible Points: 7

Please note:

i Each point of the rubric is earned independently, e.g. a student could earn the point for argument development without earning the point for thesis.

i Unique evidence from the student response is required to earn each point, e.g. evidence in the student response that qualifies for the contextualization point, could not be used to earn the point for synthesis or the point for sourcing the documents.

A. Thesis and Argument Development (2 Points)

Targeted Skill: Argumentation (E1, E4, and C1)

1 point Presents a thesis that makes a historically defensible claim and responds to all parts of the question. The thesis must consist of one or more sentences located in one place, either in the introduction or the conclusion.

Scoring Note: Neither the introduction nor the conclusion is necessarily limited to a single paragraph.

1 point Develops and supports a cohesive argument that recognizes and accounts for historical complexity by explicitly illustrating relationships among historical evidence such as contradiction, corroboration, and/or qualification.

0 points Neither presents a thesis that makes a historically defensible claim and responds to all parts of the question nor develops and supports a cohesive argument that recognizes and accounts for historical complexity.

B. Document Analysis (2 Points)

Targeted Skill: Analyzing Evidence: Content and Sourcing (A1 and A2) and Argumentation (E2)

1 point Utilizes the content of at least six of the documents to support the stated thesis or a relevant argument.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 5



1 point Explains the significance of the author’s point of view, author’s purpose, historical context, and/or audience for at least four documents.

0 points Neither utilizes the content of at least six of the documents to support the stated thesis or a relevant argument nor explains the significance of the author’s point of view, author’s purpose, historical context, and/or audience for at least four documents.

C. Using Evidence Beyond The Documents (2 Points)

Targeted Skill: Contextualization (C3) and Argumentation (E3)

Contextualization

1 point Situates the argument by explaining the broader historical events, developments, or processes immediately relevant to the question.

Scoring Note: Contextualization requires using knowledge not found in the documents to situate the argument within broader historical events, developments, or processes immediately relevant to the question. The contextualization point is not awarded for merely a phrase or reference, but instead requires an explanation, typically consisting of multiple sentences or a full paragraph.

Evidence Beyond The Documents

1 point Provides an example or additional piece of specific evidence beyond those found in the documents to support or qualify the argument.

Scoring Notes:

i This example must be different from the evidence used to earn other points on this rubric.

i This point is not awarded for merely a phrase or reference. Responses need to reference an additional piece of specific evidence and explain how that evidence supports or qualifies the argument.

D. Synthesis (1 Point)

Targeted Skill: Synthesis (C4, C5, or C6)

1 point Extends the argument by explaining the connections between the argument and one of the following.

a) A development in a different historical period, situation, era, or geographical area.

b) A course theme and/or approach to history that is not the focus of the essay (such as political, economic, social, cultural, or intellectual history).

c) A different discipline or field of inquiry (such as economics, government and politics, art history, or anthropology) (Note: For World and European History only).

0 points Does not extend the argument by explaining the connections between the argument and the other areas listed.

Scoring Note: The synthesis point requires an explanation of the connections to a different historical period, situation, era, or geographical area, and is not awarded for merely a phrase or reference.

On Accuracy: The components of this rubric each require that students demonstrate historically defensible content knowledge. Given the timed nature of the exam, the essay may contain errors that do not detract from the overall quality, as long as the historical content used to advance the argument is accurate.

On Clarity: These essays should be considered first drafts and thus may contain grammatical errors. Those errors will not be counted against a student unless they obscure the successful demonstration of the content knowledge and skills described above.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 6



Question 1 Scoring Notes Note: Student samples are quoted verbatim and may contain grammatical errors.

A. Thesis and Argument Development (2 points)

a) Thesis

Responses earn one point by presenting a thesis that makes a historically defensible claim that responds to all parts of the question (1 point). While the thesis does not need to be a single sentence, it does need to be discrete, meaning it cannot be pieced together across multiple places within the essay. It can be located in either the introduction or the conclusion, but not split between the two.

Acceptable thesis statements create an argument that responds to both tasks:

i identifying at least one relevant demographic change from c. 1500 to c. 1700 that impacted family life [including, for example, the increasing population, the changing proportion of never-married women, the fluctuations in real wages, the growth of poverty], and

i identifying at least one relevant example or trend that illustrates the degree to which European family life reflected the demographic changes from c. 1500 to c. 1700.

Example of acceptable thesis:

i “From the 1500’s to the 1700’s, numerous demographic changes such as increasing population, shifting wages, and changing numbers of single and married people greatly altered family life. Society had to deal with questions about poverty, gender roles, and children born outside of marriage, and laws were used to regulate family life.”

Unacceptable examples of thesis:

i This example identifies general causes and effects but without sufficiently specific details, and the second sentence makes a historical claim that is not supported by the documents provided.

• “From 1500–1700, family life was altered moderately in a sense of the population statistics, economic standings, and gender roles. From 1500–1700, family time was not a priority.”

i This example does not move far enough beyond restating the prompt.

• “Throughout Europe, there have been major economic and social demographic changes that altered family life from 1500s to 1700s.”

b) Argument Development

To earn this point, responses must move beyond a single sentence or a listing of facts in support of the thesis or argument; they must explain the relationship of historical evidence to the thesis or argument throughout the essay (1 point). Evidence can be related to the argument in ways such as contradiction (e.g., using evidence to address a possible counterargument to the main argument in the essay), corroboration (e.g., combining multiple pieces of evidence to support a single argument), or qualification (e.g., use of evidence to present an argument that is subsequently made more complex by noting exceptions).

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 7



Unacceptable argument development would include:

i Responses that do not develop a cohesive essay

i Responses that simply parrot the documents or list the documents in order

i Responses that fail to organize documents in any meaningful way

i Responses that do not reconnect the evidence of the essay back to a thesis or argument

Examples of acceptable argument development:

i Essay demonstrates connections between demographic changes between 1500 and 1700 and the extent/degree to which they altered family life, but qualifies the argument by successfully discussing an instance or instances in which family life did not change during that period. For example, after two paragraphs in which several changes to the family are discussed with respect to the documents provided, the essay begins to discuss continuity concerning gender roles:

• “Despite alterations to family life, the role of woman did not change much during 1500–1700. The bastard law (Doc. 5) shows that women were the only ones punished for birth outside of marriage (not men). Doc. 7 written by Lady Mary Chudleigh shows how hard womens life was because they had to do all of the household work (not men).”

i Essay argues successfully that family life was altered by demographic changes between 1500 and 1700 while qualifying the argument to account for change in the degree of emphasis over time. For example, the essay provides commentary on Documents 2 and 5 that suggest correlation of the information provided and the impact of the infanticide law over time:

• “Doc #5 punishes single women who had babies and murdered them because they didn’t have husbands to take care of them. That law was from 1624, when the chart ‘Proportion of Women Never Married’ (Doc #2) shows that many women were not getting married. After that, though, the proportion of women never married goes down all the way to 1700, maybe because women got married so they wouldn’t be single mothers and risk being punished.”

Example of unacceptable argument development:

i Essay makes significant chronological errors by discussing the documents in such a way as to misunderstand the relationship between causation and change over time, e.g., discussing Chudleigh’s challenges to the gender norms in 1701 in Document 7 first and then saying Dod and Cleaver’s notions on the godly family in Document 4 (published in 1598) came later to conclude “during the 1500s to 1700s traditional gender roles stayed exactly the same.” This comment fails to acknowledge that the earlier piece by Dod and Cleaver features men commenting on gender roles within the family, while a century later, Chudleigh was able to author her own commentary on gender roles within the family.

B. Document Analysis (2 points)

a) Document Content

Responses earn one point by utilizing the content of at least six of the documents to support the stated thesis or a relevant argument (1 point). Responses cannot earn a point by merely quoting or paraphrasing the documents with no connection to a thesis or argument. (See the document summaries section below for descriptions of document content.)

Example of acceptable utilization of content from a document to support a thesis or relevant argument:

i Use of content in Document 1: “The increase in grain yields was followed by an increase in population growth. More people could be supported if more food was available.”

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 8



i Use of content in Document 2: “The ‘Index of Real Wages in England, 1550–1800’ graph in Document 2 shows purchasing power being reduced until around 1630 and then increasing until after 1700, during a time of population and production growth.”

i Use of content in Document 3: “Leading up to 1700, the amount of unmarried women fell because it was often seen as an economic necessity to get married because few jobs were available to women during this time (Doc 3).”

i Use of content in Document 4: “In England, Puritan ministers released a manual of how a family should run (Doc. 4). The man should love his wife, but still be in charge.”

i Use of content in Document 5: “According to Document 5, apparently, many women would kill their child if it was born outside of marriage, because the numbers grew so high that Parliament had to make a law about it.”

i Use of content in Document 6: “In 1662, the English Parliament passed an act for the Better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom. They suggested sending the poor overseas to English plantations to work as servants, which would make fewer poor people at home in England.”

i Use of content in Document 7: “An early form of feminism could be found in London during the 18th century, although most women were afraid to ‘speak up and complain’ (Doc. 7), as Chudleigh did.”

Examples of unacceptable utilization of content from a document to support a thesis or relevant argument:

i Using a document in a way that shows a misreading or misunderstanding of the document’s content.

• Error in understanding Document 2 with regard to reading the graph: “The graph shows that wages dramatically decreased from 1650s onwards due to inflation. This change in money value could create problems from middle class families and for factory workers in London who only make minimum wage, creating more poverty.”

• Error in interpretation of Document 6 for the purpose of analysis: “Document 6 is an exerpt from an act passed to help the poor in England. Parliament was being nice to want to give jobs and abolish poverty rather than punish poor people.”

b) Significance of Point of View, Purpose, Context, and/or Audience

Responses earn one point by explaining the significance of the author’s point of view, author’s purpose, historical context, and/or audience for at least four documents (1 point). This practice DBQ includes more quantitative sources than would be typical in a DBQ on an AP History exam. Quantitative sources lend themselves well to an analysis of the content and context; analyzing the significance of the author’s point of view, purpose, and audience can sometimes be more challenging, depending on the amount and type of information provided in the attribution line. Focusing on the content and the significance of the context should be the starting-point for document analysis for quantitative sources. (See the document summaries section below for description of point of view, purpose, historical context, and audience for each document.)

Example of acceptable explanation of the significance of the author’s point of view:

i For Document 3: “The graph is a trustworthy source because the information on unmarried women is not an opinion but comes from hard evidence on marriages the writer used.”

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 9



Example of unacceptable explanation of the significance of the author’s point of view:

i Inaccurate assertion for the point of view for Document 4: “Document 4 is an exert from a book published by English Puritan ministers which decreases the reliability of their writings due to the religious influence taught to them.”

Example of acceptable explanation of the significance of the author’s purpose:

i For Document 6: “This displacement of the poor overseas would encourage a decrease of family size, which is what Parliament would want because its members believed the poor were burdensome on their society.”

Example of unacceptable explanation of the significance of the author’s purpose:

i Inaccurate assertion about the purpose of Document 7: “Chudleigh is talking to other women to tell them not to complain so much.”

Example of acceptable explanation of the significance of the historical context of a document:

i Context for Document 4: “Document #4 shows that women should stay in the house and that men would take care of outside work, but it was written by two men in the 1500s, which was a time when all men wanted women to do their bidding and obey them.”

Example of unacceptable explanation of the significance of the historical context of a document:

i Inaccurate attempt for context for Document 3, as it contains chronological errors: “The graph shows the amount of women not married in 1600, which occurred during the time of the Enlightenment, when women were forced in traditional roles as a housewife.”

Example of acceptable explanation of the significance of the audience:

i For Document 7: “Lady Mary Chudleigh is probably writing both to men and women because other women readers would understand and support her, but men were the only ones of that period who actually could do anything to change womens lives.”

Example of unacceptable explanation of the significance of the audience:

i Inaccurate explanation of audience for Document 5: “Document 5 is an act to prevent the murder of bastards by their mothers and passed by the English Parliament. The fact that Parliament is encouraging their families take them in shows that English society did not have traditional degrading views on bastards.”

C. Using Evidence Beyond the Documents (2 points)

a) Contextualization

Responses earn a point for contextualization by explaining the broader historical events, developments, or processes immediately relevant to the question (1 point). To earn the point, the essay must situate the thesis, argument, or parts of the argument by accurately and explicitly connecting the impact of demographic changes on family life to larger global historical processes.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 10



Example of acceptable contextualization:

i This response provides contextualizing information throughout one section of the essay that covers the time period indicated in the prompt: “The act of parliament for ‘Better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom’ (Document 6) said that poor people should be sent to ‘English plantations beyond the Seas.’ During the period 1500–1700, England was beginning to colonize overseas areas. America was a primary destination for colonists, but not everyone who went was wealthy. Some poor people went as indentured servants for a certain period of time, like 7 years. Having colonies and indentured servants was one way England reduced its poverty problem caused by the growth population.”

Example of unacceptable contextualization:

i This attempt at contextualization by mentioning the feudalism does not support the argument: “Because feudalism was still used in England and other places, agriculture servants were often paid in housing and had very small money amounts. This is why there were so many poor people that Parliament had to make a law about it in 1662 (Doc. 6). Although they had cottages, that couldn’t save them from becoming vagabonds, so Parliament needed to take action.”

b) Evidence Beyond the Documents

Responses earn a separate point for providing an example or additional piece of specific evidence beyond those found in the documents to support or qualify the argument (1 point).

Example of providing an example or additional piece of specific evidence beyond those found in the documents to support or qualify the argument:

i This discussion of outside information supports the response’s assertion that despite the harsh conditions that comprised family life in early modern Europe, children were to be protected: “The murdering of bastard children was considered a problem parliament had to deal with. This law shows that children were not seen as ‘little adults,’ as some historians have said, but rather as incapable beings that should be protected.”

Example of improperly providing an example or additional piece of specific evidence beyond those found in the documents to support or qualify the argument:

i In its analysis of Document 1, this response could have added specific references to the developments that initiated England’s so-called Agricultural Revolution (Jethro Tull’s creation of the seed drill c. 1700) to earn this point: “Doc. 1 shows net wheat yields increasing from around 1550–1800, which was a time of big changes in farming in England. Crop yields increased as a result of farming techniques.”

D. Synthesis (1 point)

Responses earn a point for synthesis by extending their argument in one of three possible ways (1 point).

a) Responses can extend their argument by appropriately connecting alterations in family life between 1500 and 1700 to other historical periods, situations, eras or geographical areas. (Synthesis proficiency C4). These connections must consist of more than just a phrase or reference. Responses for this question could earn a point for this type of synthesis for comparing and/or contrasting the impact of demographic changes on family life during other time periods or discussing contemporary examples of demographic change on family life.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 11



Example of acceptable synthesis by appropriately connecting the argument to a development in a different historical period, situation, era, or geographic area:

i A response that effectively compares and/or contrasts impact of demographic changes created by the nineteenth-century industrialization on family life successfully earns synthesis for extending the argument.

• For example, “The 1500s to the 1700s had big impacts on family life because the population was growing and food like wheat was increasing, but some people were poor and were deported and women began to push for more rights. This continued during the Industrial Revolution of the 1700s and 1800s. Farming improved and created more food so people in England could work in factories, even women and children. But there were still poor people in industrialism and women still didn’t have all their rights.”

Example that did not accurately connect the argument to a development in a different historical period, situation, era, or geographic area:

i A response that references or lists events from other time periods or areas but does not explain how they relate to the argument cannot earn a synthesis point.

• For example, “While the 1500’s was a time for just men and the rich, the 1700s brought upon ideas supporting women. The changes for women didn’t stop there but continued in the 1800’s and 1900’s. It is for this reason that the world we live in is the way it is today.”

b) Responses can extend their argument by appropriately connecting demographic changes between 1500 and 1700 to alterations in family life to course themes and/or approaches to history that are not the main focus of the question (Synthesis proficiency C5). These connections must consist of more than just a phrase or reference. Responses for this question could earn a point for this type of synthesis for using a theme or approach that does not emphasize population or social history, for example, political history.

Example of acceptable synthesis by argument by appropriately connecting the argument to course themes and/or approaches to history that are not the main focus of the question:

i A response that addresses the political history of colonialism, discussing how Parliament’s plans for increased presence overseas and rivalry with other European countries successfully earns the point for synthesis.

• “In Document 5, it mentions sending poor people overseas. In the 1600 and 1700s, England’s government wanted to send more and more people to its colonies to increase its wealth (mercantilism) and because it was competing with other countries, like France, so this law would help with the growth of British colonies. The British Empire did grow over time as a result.”

Example that did not appropriately connect the argument to course themes and/or approaches to history that are not the main focus of the question:

i The discussion of Chudleigh’s text in this response hints at using women’s history/gender as analytical category, but the reference is too underdeveloped to qualify for this type of synthesis:

• “In Doc 7, Chudleigh shows the impact of early feminism on family life.”

c) Responses can extend their argument by using insights from a different discipline or field of inquiry to explain the ways in which demographic changes between 1500 and 1700 altered family life. (Synthesis proficiency C6). These connections must consist of more than just a phrase or reference.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 12



Example of acceptable synthesis by using insights from a different discipline or field of inquiry to extend the argument:

i A response that incorporates an understanding of literary analysis to comment on the effects of poverty on family life successfully earns the point for synthesis.

• “Parliament’s act from 1662 in Document 6 says it will ‘better’ the poor, but in later literature, like Oliver Twist, workhouses still existed and authors tried to show how families and orphans still faced hardship by being poor.”

Example that did not appropriately use insights from a different discipline or field of inquiry to extend the argument:

i This response hints at using art history, but the reference is too vague and is not successfully linked to the argument:

• “Art from 1500–1700 focused on religion for the most part but paintings of families exist, so families were obviously an important part of life.”

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 13



Document Summaries The following pages present the DBQ documents along with the key aspects of each that students might offer in support of their arguments. Also provided are some of the major subjects, concepts, themes, or processes mentioned in the course that students might use to contextualize their arguments.

Document 1

Source: Population changes and net wheat yields in England, 1450–1800.

Summary of key points explaining content of source or argument made by the author:

i The data indicates a strong correlation between the growth of net wheat yields in England and the growth of the population; the more wheat grown, the higher the population, rising to more than 7.5 million by 1800.

Examples of author’s point of view:

i The author is a modern scholar who wants to use quantitative data on net wheat yields and population rates to demonstrate a relationship between the two in graph form.

Examples of author’s purpose:

i This data presents the relationship between net wheat yields and population in England to demonstrate a causal relationship between the growth of both.

Examples of historical context:

i After a slow recovery from the Black Death and the reoccurrence of subsequent epidemics until 1550, increasing wheat yields, which were supported by agricultural innovations that would eventually coalesce into the Agricultural Revolution, allowed for marked growth of the English population.

i The growth of the English population and the increasing agricultural productivity allowed more people to find alternative employment to farming and allowed a surplus population to be employed in the trades of the early Industrial Revolution.

Examples of audience:

i The audience for this chart would likely be educated modern readers interested in the history of agriculture and/or population in past societies.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 14



Document 2

Source: Index of Real Wages* in England, 1550–1800

*Real wages refers to wages adjusted for inflation, reflecting the true purchasing power of income relative to prices.


i After a steep decline in the purchasing power of wages in the decades leading up to 1600 and shortly after the turn of the seventeenth century, real wages increased dramatically until 1750, after which they experienced another decline.

i Documents 2 and 3 have considerable correlation; when the purchasing power of wages was declining, the proportion of women never married climbed, and when real wages increased, the proportion of women who married increased as well.


i The author, a modern scholar, is seeking to provide statistical information on rising and falling wages over several centuries to demonstrate a pattern.


i This presentation of data by a modern researcher charts the rise and fall of real wages in England over several centuries in order to demonstrate a pattern.


i The decline in purchasing power of wages during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries was associated with the inflation caused by the influx of colonial wealth imported primarily from New World colonies.


i The audience of the publication in which this data appeared would likely be educated modern readers interested in income fluctuations in early modern England.

Document 3

Source: Proportion of women never married in England, 1550–1800


i The document indicates a steep increase in the proportion of women in England who never married in the decades leading up to 1600, after which there was a steep decline, reaching the nadir just before 1700. During the eighteenth century, the proportion of never married women remained relatively low and relatively stable.

i Documents 2 and 3 have considerable correlation; when the purchasing power of wages was declining, the proportion of women never married climbed, and when real wages increased, the proportion of women who married increased as well.


i The author, a modern scholar, is seeking to provide statistical information on the relative proportion of unmarried women in early modern England.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 15




i This presentation of data by a modern researcher charts the rise and fall of the proportion of women never married in England.


i The spike in the proportion of women never married in England in the years leading up to 1600 could be linked to the inflationary pressures of the sixteenth century, which challenged the nuclear family as an economic unit.

i The economic struggles of the sixteenth century in England prohibited the marriage of and establishment of households by many men and women and created a growing number of impoverished individuals, a circumstance that led to the creation of the Elizabethan Poor Laws of 1598 and 1601.

i The rise of witchcraft accusations during the later sixteenth century in England indicated considerable tensions associated with women perceived to be improperly governed by men.


i The audience of the publication in which this data appeared would likely be educated modern readers interested in examining shifting demographics of women and families in past societies.

Document 4

Source: English Puritan ministers John Dod and Robert Cleaver, A Godly Form of Household Government: for the Ordering of Private Families, According to the Direction of God’s Word, published in 1598.


i Dod and Cleaver emphasize the importance of male authority within both the family unit and the household.

i Husbands have the authority to rule their wives, and wives must be subject to their husbands; any deviation risks the loss of God’s blessing and the creation of “a hell.”

i Husbands perform all of the public tasks of maintaining the household by seeking a living and interacting with other men, while wives’ duties involve the keeping of house.


i As Puritan ministers, Dod and Cleaver based their prescription for the proper ordering of the English family on Christian scripture: “according to the direction of God’s word.”

i As men, Dod and Cleaver are articulating a vision of household organization that supports the leadership of their sex over women.


i Dod and Cleaver seek to instruct English men and women on their proper and godly roles within the marital unit to create good order and ensure the blessing of God.


i Dod and Cleaver were writing during the age of Reformation, during which there was an alteration in the statuses of celibacy, which had been upheld by the medieval church as the ideal, and Christian marriage, which was elevated and idealized in Protestant states such as England.

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i Despite some of the more revolutionary aspects of the Protestant Reformation, it was still a conservative time in terms of gender relations, leading one continental historian (Steven Ozment) to label it a time “when fathers ruled.”

i The rise of witchcraft accusations during the later sixteenth century in England indicated considerable tensions associated with women perceived to be improperly governed by men.

i Dod and Cleaver’s book was published during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, who resisted further reform of the Church of England and represented a challenge to the traditional ideology of male power.


i This household conduct manual would have been read and followed by those who subscribed to Puritanism as a means of defining proper behavior for husbands and wives.

Document 5

Source: “Act to Prevent the Destroying and Murdering of Bastard* Children,” passed by the Parliament of England, 1624.

*Bastard children are children born outside of marriage


i This piece of legislation takes as its focus the murdering of illegitimate children by their “lewd” mothers to avoid detection for having committed a sexual sin.

i In the attempt to hide the birth of illegitimate children, mothers murdered them and then claimed the children had been born dead.

i The parliamentary act required mothers to produce at least one witness that their children were born dead or suffer death themselves for the crime of infanticide.


i Parliament, the elite representative assembly in seventeenth-century England, was responsible for addressing behaviors thought detrimental to the good governance of the country.

i Parliament was the legislative body of English government, so it had the power to create law and institute death for crimes such as infanticide.


i Parliament is using its legislative authority to address a crime it considered to be a particular social ill: infanticide.

i The act tried to regulate mothers’ accounts of childbearing by requiring evidence of a stillbirth, creating a condition whereby mothers whose babies were dead were guilty unless proven innocent by a witness.


i At the time of the passage of this act, Parliament was becoming increasingly influenced by Puritan religious reformers who sought to ensure the greater morality of the English populace.

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i Anxieties about female misbehavior during this period took the form of accusations of witchcraft and domestic murder as well as infanticide.

i The economic troubles that caused increasing numbers of poor people often broke off courtships short of marriage, leading to a rise in illegitimacy.


i The laws of Parliament were binding for all English men and women, so this act would have been disseminated throughout the land.

i The particular audience of this act included unwed mothers themselves, to impress upon them the significance of their violation of good order.

Document 6

Source: An Act for the Better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom, passed by the English Parliament, 1662.


i This parliamentary act opens by suggesting that the kingdom was experiencing a pressing problem of poor people moving from place to place, taking advantage of settled, successful English subjects.

i The act seeks to provide remedy for the problem of the poor: forcing them to labor in a work-house or to be deported from England as indentured servants, serving no more than seven years in servitude.


i As the representative body of England, parliament’s responsibilities included creating laws to deal with problems in the English state.


i Parliament is using its legislative authority to address a crime it considered a social ill: vagrancy.

i The act tried to regulate the damage of unemployed individuals who moved around through punishment in work-houses or indentured servitude.


i At the time of the passage of this act, Parliament was revising preexisting poor laws to require labor or transportation of the “idle poor.”

i After a period of civil war and conflicts with the Dutch, England’s economic troubles caused increasing numbers of poor people.

i England’s increasing colonial ambitions in the seventeenth century, particularly in North America, led to indentured servitude in locations outside the British Isles as an option for those believed to be disorderly.

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i The laws of Parliament were binding for all English men and women, so this act would have been disseminated throughout the land.

i The particular audience of this act included the poor themselves, to impress upon them the significance of their violation of good order, as well as the wealthy, to provide them a sense of security against malefactors.

Document 7

Source: The Ladies defense, an extended poem by Lady Mary Lee Chudleigh, published in London, 1701, as a response to a 1699 published marriage sermon that portrayed women as subservient to their husbands.


i Chudleigh identifies men as the source of women’s ignorance, noting that men bar women from learning and breed women to be “fools.”

i The Ladies defense suggests that women are not naturally incapable but are prohibited from intellectual advancement by men.

i Chudleigh emphasizes women’s hard lot in life, serving as “slaves” to the pride of men until released from their hardships by death when, at last, women are able to complain to heaven.


i As an elite woman (indicated by the honorific title “Lady”), Mary Lee Chudleigh was clearly educated, despite her sex, so she understood the benefits that she enjoyed and that most other women did not.

i Chudleigh believed that drawing attention to the cause of women’s abilities could be accomplished through a literary work that questioned the norms and values of her society.


i Chudleigh was responding to a marriage sermon that portrayed women as subservient to their husbands by demonstrating the ways that the required subservience demeaned women and limited their potential.


i The Ladies defense is an installment in the long Querelle des Femes, a public debate among the educated about the proper role of women and their intellectual capabilities.


i As a published work, The Ladies defense would have had an audience of educated elites in England, which primarily consisted of men but also women.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS 19
