Historical Thinking Skills
Foundational Documents
Enlightenment Ideals
Vocab
100

When doing contextualization, we ask "what was going on in the world...?" to consider the time an ______ in which a document was created.

place

100

This document is composed of the first ten amendments to the Constitution.

the Bill of Rights

100

This word refers to guiding principles or ideas.

ideals

200

When we're doing this historical thinking skill, we're asking the "5 W's" about the document itself and its creator.

sourcing

200

This is the first foundational document of U.S. government, but it didn't set out any laws. 

the Declaration of Independence
200

This word, often applied to our natural rights, means "impossible to be taken away or given up".

unalienable

300

This historical thinking skill is all about trying to determine what really happened by finding sources that agree with one another.

corroboration

300

This document contained a list of grievances against the treatment of the colonies by the British Crown.

the Declaration of Independece
300

In order to figure out what the best form of government would be, Enlightenment philosophers liked to think about the nature of human freedom by imagining humanity's ___________.

State of Nature
300
To make a good argument, one needs a ________, supported by evidence and reasoning.

claim

400

This historical thinking skill is all about carefully evaluating the claims that the author is making, and whether those claims are supported by good information.

evidence & argument

400

This foundational document is the "highest law of the land", and it includes a procedure for how it can be changed or added to (amended).

the Constitution

400
Although they disagreed about how it should work, Enlightenment philosophers all believed that there should be some kind of an agreement between the people and the government, known as __________.

Social Contract

400

This word refers to a government in which people elect representatives to govern instead of making all the decisions as a whole.

republic / republican

500

The last of the "5 W's" that we do when analyzing a document is _____ (hint: it doesn't actually start with a 'W').

hoW credible is this as a source of information?
500

This document set out rules for how new states would be formed (like Ohio), and set precedents that influenced later laws (like outlawing slavery in the Northwest Territory).

the Northwest Ordinance (of 1787)
500
John Locke said that our natural rights are "Life, Liberty, and ________"
Property
500

This word refers to the process of accepting a document as valid and binding, which was required for the constitution and all the amendments.

ratification

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