SAMPLE QUESTION

poCVM~NT-BA~ED QUESTION (55 minutes)

. ections: Wnte a well-integrated essay that does the following:
p,r . h . h .
Has an appropriate t esis t at directly addresses all parts of the question
• supports the t hesis· wit· h evidence
· from all or all but one of the documents AND your kn 0 wledge of
European history beyond/outside the documents. .
·
Analyzes a maJonty· O f h d ·
t e ocuments in terms of such features as their intended audience, purp ose ' pomt
of view, fonnat, argument, limitations, and/or social context as appropriate to the argument.
, Places the argument in the context of broader regional, national, or global processes.

I. Analyze the various factors that led France to become a state bent on military conquest 1789-1815.

Document I

Source: film poster, I 938

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 Document 2

Source: Letter from Monseron de I' Aunay to the Marquis de Condorcet,

Journal de Paris, 28 December 1789

ou send me alarming news from our sugar islands, principally from Saint _Domingue
[m the Caribbean]. The inhabitants of that island may all be currently bemg held at
knife point by the Negroes in revolt. Half of France would be plunged into sadness
and misery if the income from the islands was Jost. Our eternal rival [Britain], whose
ambitious policies may be having them underhandedly sharpen their swords, smile at
our misfortunes and, beneath this horrible rubble, foresee the scepter of their world-
wide domination that no human force would be able to take from them.

Document 3

Source: Address to the King from the National Assembly, 29 November 1791

These preparations for hostilities and these threats of invasion require weapons that
absorb immense sums. Sire, it is your role to make [the German princes threatening
invasion] stop. It is your role to address these foreign powers with a language worthy
of the King of the French People. France shall view them as nothing less than enemies.
Sire, everything, your interest, your dignity, the glory of the outraged nation, calls for
some other language than that of diplomacy. Let your declaration be underscored by
the movement of forces that have been entrusted to you, so that the nation is aware of
who are enemies and who are friends. With these bold steps, we shall recognize the
defender of the Constitution.

Document 4

Source: Letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 3 January 1793

The Nation was with [the Revolutionaries] in opinion, for however they might have
been formerly for the constitution framed by the first assembly, they were come
over from their hope in it, and were now generally Jacobins. In the struggle which
was necessary, many guilty persons fell without forms of trial, and with them some
innocent. [The deaths of the innocent] I deplore as much as anybody, and shall deplore
some of them to the day of my death. But I deplore them as I should have done had
they fallen in battle. It was necessary to use the arm of the people, a machine not quite
so blind as balls and bombs, but blind to a certain degree .... The liberty of the whole
earth was depending on the issue of the contest, and was ever such a prize won with
so little innocent blood? Rather than it should have failed, I would have seen half the
earth desolated.
 Source: Napoleon Bonaparte 00 th
e Coup d'Et I
at ONovember 1799
The council of Elders .summoned me·, 1 answered its .
toration had been dev1sed by men whom th . appea1. A plan of general
res f l'b e nation ha b
the defenders o 1 erty, equality and s een accustomed to regard
as . ' property· this I ·
Im free, exempt from all mfluence and all c: ' P an required examination
ca ' iear Acco d' l '
olved upon the removal of the Legislativ 8 · d r I~g Ythe Council of Elders
res . f d' . e o y to Samt Cl d .
sponsibihty o 1sposmg the force necessary fi . . - ou ; 1t gave me the
rde ty to my fellow citizens, to the soldiers pen'sh· or ~ts Independence. I believed it my
u ired at the cost of theu . blood to accept the mg m our arm·ies, to the national· glory
qu
ac . ' command Th c -
Sal ·nt-Cloud; republican troops guaranteed thei·r . ·ti e ounc1 1s assembled at
. . secunty rom with t b .
eated terror w1thm. Several deputies of the Cou . f F' ou , ut assassins
er . nci 1 O 1ve Hundred armed with
stilettos and fireanns, circulated threats of death around them. '

Document 6

Source: Benjamin Constant, The Spirit of Conquest and Usurpation , 1814

Had France remained at peace, her peaceful citizens, her idle warriors would have
observed the despot, would have judged him, and would have communicated
their judgments to him. Truth would have passed through the ranks of the people.
Usurpation would not have long withstood the influence of truth. Thus Bonaparte was
compelled to distract public attention by bellicose enterprises. War flung onto distant
shores that part of the French nation that still had some real energy. It prompted the
police harassment of the timid, whom it could not force abroad. It struck terror into
men's hearts, and left there a certain hope that chance would take responsibility for
their deliverance: a hope agreeable to fear and convenient to inertia. How many times
have I heard men who were pressed to resist tyranny postponing this, during wartime
till the coming of peace, and in peacetime until war commences!

Document 7

Size of European Armies 1756-1814

1756 1789 1812/14
France 330,000 180,000 600,000

Britain 200,000 40,000 250,000

Austria 200,000 300,000 250,000

195,000 190,000 270,000

Prussia