Possible Comparison Prompts:

• T1 Similarities: Evaluate the extent of similarities between _____ and _____.

• T1 Differences: Evaluate the extent of differences between _____ and _____.

• T2 Similarities: Evaluate the extent of _____ similarities between _____ and _____.

• T2 Differences: Evaluate the extent of _____ differences between _____ and _____.

The differences between T1 and T2 is that T1 students are not given a theme (or organizational category) to write on, so they can choose what they want. In T2 students are given a specific theme to write on .

Using Comparison & Causation in Historical Arguments

You will sometimes be asked to make historical arguments about events or ideas that cross multiple time periods or compare different societies or peoples.A strong comparison argument should involve an explanation of the causes of differences and similarities. Therefore, causation often plays a crucial role in supporting a comparison. Here, we'll walk through how to connect the two historical reasoning skills to begin to develop an argument about early European colonization of the New World.

Step 1: List and categorize your relevant historical knowledge.

A good place to start a historical comparison is by simply considering what you learned about the early era of Spanish colonization in Period 1 alongside your knowledge of the characteristics of seventeenth-century French, Dutch, and Spanish colonies. In this way, you are already comparing both two different era (the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries) and multiple peoples (the French, Dutch, Spanish). If you are unsure how to approach this kind of comparative thinking, it may help to ask yourself questions about the features of each of these nation's colonies. It's also helpful to break these features into different major categories for analysis.

• politics

• economy

• society/culture

• interactions with the environment

• technology

As you think about each of these categories, make note of anywhere two or more of the colonies show similarities and/or differences. Keep in mind that categories often overlap and that this is just a strategy to begin your prewriting. One way to approach this process is by creating a table like the one that follows. In it, we have taken one category--economy--and modeled how you might jot down descriptions of a similarity and a difference between two or more colonies before connecting them to causes.

Remember, this process is just one way to use causation to establish reasons for each historical development you note. Any system that allows you to quickly categorize similarities and differences along with their causes is one you should continue to develop as you approach writing in this course.

Step 2: Summarize your thoughts in a short paragraph.

Gather your thoughts by writing one sentence comparing and/or contrasting at least two, if not all three, colonies for each of the categories we explored in step 1 (politics, economy, society/culture, interactions with the environment, and technology).

Be sure to include all three nations, and remember that comparison should always take differences into account. Then, support your comparisons by adding one to three sentences that explain the causes of the similarity or the causes of the difference. The purpose of writing three sentences down isn't to craft and support a well-developed argument. For now, you should merely focus on clearly expressing your knowledge of how historical events relate to each other and explaining the causes for those similarities and differences. For example, a summary comparing the economies of each nation's colonies might look like this:

By the time the French and Dutch began colonization in North America, the Spanish had established the encomienda system of forced labor for American Indian communities in Central and South America. This system required that American Indians perform manual labor on behalf of the Spanish including farming and mining for precious metals in some regions. Because the encomienda system grew out of the Spanish need for forced labor, it depended upon a relatively large population of occupying Spanish forces, colonists, and religious authorities who sought to convert American Indians to Catholicism. The French and the Dutch, on the other hand, established sparsely populated colonies in the early seventeenth century, at least a generation after the Spanish, and concentrated primarily on establishing trade networks with American Indians for goods such as furs.

Although this short paragraph is very general and straightforward, it is a strong example of how to comment comparison to causation in that it brings together the Spanish desire to transform native societies for Spanish benefit and the relatively large Spanish colonial population required to oversee the encomienda system. Likewise, this paragraph establishes that the late arrival of the Dutch and French, and their desire to create trade networks with American Indians rather than a forced labor system, resulted in their colonies' sparse populations.