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TeachingHistorythroughArgumentation
Ray W. Karras
Educational Consultant
Volume 26 Number4
August 1993
420
Ray W. Karras
TeachingHistorythroughArgumentation
421
The recorder enters fact 2 in abbreviated form as shown in the printed chart.
Given the limitations of blackboard space, human handwriting, and class
time, fuller entries are not possible. Nor are they necessary, for everyone in
the class has before him or her the complete assigned reading source of the
facts entered. The same process follows for all entries in the FACT column.
Like fact 2, facts 3, 5, and 8 describe events. Entries 4, 6 and 7 quote primary
sources drawn from more complete citations in the reading.
A STUDENT: One fact we ought to have is the biggest one of all - the
Civil War itself.
RECORDER:Wait a moment. Let's think aboutthat.
ANOTHER STUDENT (after a pause for reflection): Is the Civil War
actuallya fact? I mean, you can't see or touch it. You can only observe the
things that happenedin it.
The class decides not to enter "The Civil War" in the FACTS column for
reasons that will be more fully explained in the "rationale" that follows
this scenario. The charting exercise invites students to make mistakes
with safety; they can correct themselves and each other to, as it were, get
mistakes out of their systems. Mistakes actually entered should be left for
eventual correction by students or by the teacher. It is as valuable to make
correctable mistakes as it is to get everything right the first time.
At this point, eight facts have filled the FACTS column; there is no
blackboard room for more. The observer may wonder if eight facts are
enough, and has seen that they were thrown up at random when the
teacher asked for "any" facts. These features will also be explained in the
"rationale." The class now proceeds to deal with concepts in the "II.
CONCEPTS" column.
RECORDER:Now what are these facts all about?Whatconcepts classify
them?
A STUDENT: I guess they're all about what the text book said coming of the Civil War.That should be our main concept.
the
RECORDER:All right. What concepts can you tell that are parts of this
big one?
The recorder enters "Coming of the Civil War" in the CONCEPT column.
A STUDENT: If you put together facts 4, 5 and 6, they are all about
to classify facts4, 5 and6.
abolitionism.Let's use the concept"abolitionism"
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Ray W. Karras
II
Concepts
III
Supporting
Claims
IV
Opposing
Claims
eominig of CW
1. Mo. Comp., 1820
Abolitionismas
Cause of CW
Abolitionism
4,5,6
Maine enteredas
free state
Compromise
1,2,3,8
2. Comp. 1850:
CA free.
Fug. Slave Law
3. Kansas-Nebraska
Westness
Act 1854.
1? 2? 3? 5?
S. Douglas
urged "Popular
Sovereignty"
4. W.L. Garrision:
Const.a "covenant
with deathand an
agreementwith
hell." About
1830
5. JohnBrown raids
in "Bleeding
Kansas"1856
6. Calhoun:Slavery
a "positivegood."
1837
7. Lincoln 1862:
"If I could save
the Union..."
letter to Greeley
8. Crittenden
Compromiseattempt 1861: extend 36030' line.
Lincoln rejected
I. Compromise
failed due to
conflict over
abolitionism
I. Compromise
succeeded
because
Northern
leadership
acceptedit to
save Union
7
423
Teaching HistorythroughArgumentation
VI
Hypothesis
VII
Historical
Question
VIII
Inferential
Questions
II. Republicans
accepted slavery
in East slave
states and caused
conflict by
rejectingit in
West.
99?
?. .
(With claimed
reasonI)
Whatdid Lincoln
say in December
1859 aboutJohn
Brown's hanging?
424
RayW. Karras
As the printed chart shows, the recorder enters "Abolitionism" as classifying facts 4, 5 and 6. The process continues with other concepts.
A STUDENT:Look at facts 1, 2, 3 and 8. They are all aboutcompromise.
"Compromise"should be a concept.
A STUDENT: But if you look at it anotherway, most of the facts have
somethingto do with the West - in Missouri,California,Kansasand the
36030' line in the CrittendenCompromise.
A STUDENT:Let's put in a concept of the West. Call it "Westness."
A STUDENT:I thinkthis is all aboutabolitionism.It's notjust the coming
of the Civil War,it's aboutabolitionismin the coming of the War.
A STUDENT: Maybe we've got a hypothesis: Abolitionism caused the
Civil War.
A STUDENT:Wait a minute.If it's all aboutabolitionismandthe cause of
the War,then that"Comingof the Civil War"has to go. We're not talking
abouteverythingthatled up to the Civil War,just abolitionism....
A STUDENT: If we make the hypothesis that abolitionism caused the
Civil War,then we're saying it caused everythingelse, aren'twe?
A STUDENT:Do we mean that abolitionismcaused the Civil War all by
itself?
A STUDENT:We'd bettersay thatabolitionismwas the maincause of the
Civil War.
A STUDENT:But it wasn'tjust abolitionism.I mean, if nobody got mad
aboutabolitionism,there wouldn't have been any War.
A STUDENT:Yes, it was the getting mad aboutit thatcaused the War.It
was the conflict over it. Why don't we make the hypothesis"Theconflict
over abolitionismwas the main cause of the Civil War.?
A STUDENT: So our historicalquestionis, "Whatwas the main cause of
the Civil War?"
A STUDENT: Or we could ask "Was abolitionismthe main cause of the
Civil War?
A STUDENT:Yes, but I like "whatwas the main cause"betterbecause it
leaves us more room. Some otherhypothesesmight turnup.
425
During this exchange the recorder has made several chart entries. The
overall concept "Coming of CW" has been crossed out or erased and
"Abolitionism as cause of CW" substituted. In column "VI. HYPOTHESIS," "Conflict over abolitionism was the main cause of the Civil
War," and in column "VII. HISTORICAL QUESTION" "What was the
main cause of the Civil War?" have been entered. Things happened
swiftly during this exchange. Students moved inductively across the
chart from facts to concepts to the hypothesis and the main historical
question. Charting cues these orderly leaps by providing places for
everything to be fixed in writing. As we shall see in the "rationale," this
inductive movement is not the only movement possible in a charting
exercise. The class seems to have the centerpiece of an argument, its
hypothesis. However....
A STUDENT: How about a differenthypothesis?Look at all those compromise attemptson the fact list. They didn't seem to do much good. Why
don't we make the hypothesisthatthe main cause of the Civil Warwas the
failure of compromise?
A STUDENT:Or maybe compromiseswere successful. They held off the
war between - let's see - 1820 and 1861, didn't they?
A STUDENT: Or look at that other concept, the "Westness."Maybe we
could say that the main cause of the war was what was happeningin the
West - like in the WestwardMovement we studied a couple of weeks
ago. See how all those compromiseswere aboutthe westwardexpansion
of slavery, and Lincoln said....
THE TEACHER:Hold on! I like everything you say. But just now we
can deal with only one hypothesis at a time, and only partlywith thatone.
Let's go with the abolitionism hypothesis for now. Maybe we can work
on the others later. In fact, here's your assignment for our next class
meeting: see how far you can get in homeworkto charteither the West or
the compromise hypothesis. Your assignment sheet also has a couple of
documents for next time. See if you can use facts from them in your
charts.
The teacher finds an open space on the board to write "Chart West or
chart Compromise. Use new documents." Now the students move deductively back from their hypothesis to find reasons for believing it, for
opposing it, and for rebutting that opposition.
RECORDER:Now why should we believe this hypothesis?We need to
claim reasons, and see if our facts supportthem.
426
RayW. Karras
427
Students have now developed a line of argument for their first supporting
reason. The second supporting reason about the Westward Movement
will clearly need more factual information in order to be carried through
opposing and rebuttal claims. Students can either now search their notes
and reading assignment for more facts, or they can follow Mill's advice
to "imagine" opposition to reason II. They elect to imagine, and enter the
opposing and rebuttal claims for reason II in columns IV and V on the
chart. Aware of their need for more factual information, students now
begin asking for it.
A STUDENT: In reason I we make claims about Lincoln and Northern
leadership and whether they rejected or accepted compromise on abolitionism, andprobablyon otherthings, too. I wonderwhatLincoln thought
about abolitionists.
A STUDENT:Like JohnBrown, for instance.
A STUDENT:We can'tjust ask "whatdid Lincoln think?"We need to ask
an inferentialquestionthat will ask for a fact.
A STUDENT (consulting reading assignment):It says here that Brown
was hanged in 1859. I wonder....
A STUDENT: Yes, what did Lincoln say aboutBrown's hanging?That's
not in the reading,is it? We could ask what Lincoln said.
A STUDENT: Maybe he wrote a letter about it. I guess everyone was
talking aboutJohn Brown's hanging.
A STUDENT: So we wouldn't have to read all his letters, only those he
wrote when Brown was hanged.When was that,in 1859?
A STUDENT (consulting text book): It says here he was hanged in
December, 1859. We could just look at letters Lincoln wrote about that
time.
A STUDENT: So we have an inferentialquestionfor reason I: "Whatdid
Lincoln say in December, 1859, aboutJohn Brown's hanging?"
The recorder enters this question in column VI. INFERENTIAL QUESTIONS. The class period is nearly over. The students copy chart entries into
notebooks. The teacher may wish to give a critique of specific entries on the
blackboard. For the next class meeting the teacher may plan to divide the
class into groups of four or five to construct separate charts on one or more
hypotheses at several blackboards simultaneously. The bell rings.
428
Ray W. Karras
429
Startingthe charting.The exerciseshouldstartwith the cue most appropriateto the natureof the materialto be studiedandto the students'situation.
The Civil War lesson began in the FACTS column and then worked to
generalizationsof claimsandhypothesis,butthis was not the only approach
available.The teachermighthave insteadexpecteda well-preparedclass to
have alreadyattainedsome graspof the factsin the relativelyself-contained
chronologyof eventsbetween1820 and 1861.Inthiscase, the students'first
problemwouldbe less to identifyfactsthanto say whatthe readingwas all
about- in other words, to conceptualizeit. Startingin the CONCEI'S
columnmighthave immediatelyproducedany numberof conceptualslices
throughthe material,such as abolitionism,causationof the War,the states'
rightsconflict,the qualityof NorthernandSouthernleadership,andregional
economicconflict.The argumentcouldthenhavemovedto the left andright
deductivelyandinductivelyacrossthe chart.
Or supposethatthe readingdeals with a less sharplydefined historical
episode: an account,say, of slavery over severalcenturiesembracingthe
African slave trade and slavery in the New World. The student reader
may find such a vast panoramaof history to be a difficult array of
unrelatedfacts. Startingwhere the students are, the teacher might best
start with facts before gatheringthem into conceptual areas. The grand
sweep of the history of slavery might thus be broken down into more
manageable concepts like racism, the economics of slavery, or West
Africans' first contact with Europeans.
A still different point of entry may serve subjects that are obviously
controversial.For example, after reading about the Civil Rights movement in the United States between 1965 and the present,studentsmight
immediatelymake such claims as "affirmativeactionhas been successful
(or unsuccessful)"or "thewomen's movementhas succeeded (or failed)
in its main goals since 1965." A nationalelection might instantlyevoke
claims like "I think George Bush was a successful (or unsuccessful)
president."In such cases the teachermight best follow the students'lead
and startthe chartingin the HYPOTHESIScolumn.
Levels of thinkingskills. Whereverthe chartingbegins, various levels
of thinking skills are engaged as the argumentdeepens throughoutthe
structure.At the lowest level is the recall of factual information.At the
highest level is the evaluation of controversialhistorical hypotheses.
Between these levels arethe synthesisof facts into conceptualareas,then
into the informallogic of conflicting claims with their attendantanalysis
of evidence to show its relevanceto the claims. Finally is the making of
inferences at the open end of the structure.
Probably students -
and all of us -
Ray W. Karras
430
Teaching HistorythroughArgumentation
431
these dead shall not have died in vain." It is a false factual statementto
say thatWilliam Sewarddeliveredthe GettysburgAddress.However it is
neithertruenor false for a historianto say thatthe deaddid not die in vain
at Gettysburg;this is an historical claim, not a factual statement.This
distinction must hold even though we often speak of "trueideas" and
"trueopinions" in everyday discourse. In historical argument,truth or
falsity are exclusively attributesof factual statements.
If these constraintsseem more or less obvious, ask studentsto sift the
factual from otherkinds of statementson almost any page of any history
text book. A variety of responses is likely, and they reveal the very
uncertaingraspmany studentshave on the natureof historicalfactuality.5
Almost everythingthey readmay seem to be factualstatementsto students
accustomed to rote memorizationof narrativeaccounts. The assiduous
may try to commit it all to memory, painting entire pages with Magic
Markers.I have often asked beginning studentshow they chose what to
highlight and what not to. Typical answersinclude "I've got to know the
facts for the test, don't I?"and the despairing"It's in the book, isn't it?"
These studentsare merely obeying directionsto be "responsible"for
the "important"and significant"facts, andthey are perhapsdrivenby the
prospect of true-false, short-answerand standardmultiple-choicetests.6
Historicalfacts are treateddifferentlyin historicalargumentation.Starting with the recognition that not everything in books is either true or
factual, the student learns to use care in making entries in the FACT
column. "Important"or "significant"facts in argumentare only those
that provide evidence for or against the student's own claims. All other
facts are irrelevantto the argumentat hand. Yet this does not mean that
rejectedfacts are not learned;they must be identifiedand learnedbefore
the studentcan decide to reject them. Furthermore,facts rejectedin one
argumentmay be highly significantand importantin anotherargument.
Students' vested interests in defending their own controversialclaims
give them a need to know, and thus to remember,facts. Because they are
not consciously engaged in rote recall, I have found that some students
may not quite realize that they are indeed, after all, learning facts.
Students anticipating national standardizedachievement tests, which
ordinarilyrequire little more than rote recall, have sometimes told me
that they fear the outcome because "You know, we really don't lear the
facts in this course." More often than not, these students have been
pleasantlysurprisedat their scores on these tests.
Caveats.The truthor falsity of factualstatementsas set forthhere may
troublethe professionalhistorianwhen he or she leaves the study for the
classroom. As a researcher,the historianis necessarily concerned with
the verifiabilityof historicalfacts, and may even be skeptical about the
432
Ray W. Karras
very informationhe or she assigns studentsto read. Nevertheless, students have neitherthe time nor the opportunityto follow the researcher
very far into original research when they prepareterm papers, write
classroom essays, or take other tests. The result may go against the
historian's grain:studentsmust be asked to accept as true the facts they
find, unless, of course, the teachercorrectsthem.Still, thereis always the
possibility thata brightnovice mightunearthfacts heretoforeoverlooked
or be able to correctfacts alreadygiven. Unlikely as this may be, it has the
best chance of happeningto the studentwith a need to know generatedby
historicalargumentation.
Anotherproblemmay have alreadystrucksome readersof this paper.
The epistemology of factualityoffered here is franklypositivist, a philosophical position now questionedby some scholars. Yet anti- and nonpositivist historianscan still find historicalargumentationa useful pedagogy if they are careful to make clear the implicationsand functions of
whateverhistoriographicalstancethey take.
2. Concepts. In our classroom scenario studentsused concepts as a
bridge between facts and claims. The concepts "abolitionism" and
"compromise"classified facts, and they were also the substanceof the
claim "compromisefailed due to the conflict over abolitionism."To do
this work studentshad learnedseveral things aboutconcepts.
Very broadconceptscan classify very few facts, but narrowerconcepts
can classify manymorefacts.ThatAbrahamLincolnwrotethe Emancipation Proclamationand thathe deliveredthe GettysburgAddressmight be
or perhaps"Lincolnness."
gatheredunderthe giantconcept"politicalness,"
Narrowerand moreproductiveconceptsariseas the list of facts lengthens
and deepens.A moredetailedexaminationof events betweenthe EmancipationProclamationof January,1863, and the GettysburgAddresseleven
monthslater,includingthedocumentsthemselves,militaryevents,activities
of Northernand Confederateleadersand journalists,might bring to the
surfacesuch conceptsas Lincoln'spersonalleadership,the effect of abolitionistsentimenton the militaryconductof theWar,andthe aimsof the War
itself. From these might emerge fruitfulhistoricalquestionslike, to what
extent did Lincoln's war aims change between Januaryand November
1863?To whatextentdid the Northerncause shiftfroma simpleimperative
to save the Unionto a morecomplexmissionregardingslavery?In this way
explicitly articulatedconceptscan help studentsmap the groundbetween
any set of facts and full-fledgedarguments.Conceptualizationis at the
crossroadsof this terrain.
The CONCEPTcolumn also cued studentsto make sharpdistinctions
among the elements of the argument.In our classroomscenarioa student
offered "the Civil War" as an entry for the FACT column, perhaps
433
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Ray W. Karras
435
436
Ray W. Karras
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Ray W. Karras
Notes
1.
John StuartMill, "OnLiberty,"in Saxe CumminsandRobertN. Linscott,eds.,
Mind and the State: The Political Philosophers (New York: RandomHouse, 1947), p.
172.
2.
D. N. Perkins,"Post-PrimaryEducationHas LittleImpacton InformalReasoning," Journal of EducationalPsychology, 77 (October1985), pp. 569, 562-571.
3.
Mill, p. 181.
4.
A technicalnote: Allowances must be made for the limitationsof blackboards.
At the end of class studentsneed a few minutes to copy the display. Furthermore,the
display may have to be preservedfor futureclass meetings. Recent technology can help.
An electronic blackboard-copieris available that makes any numberof copies of the
display in minutes. In another technology, students could ideally share displays on
networked computers, and the results could almost instantly appear on printouts for
everyone.
Cf. Ray W. Karras,"CopingwithMr.Gradgrind,"
OAHMagazineofHistory,Fall
5.
1992, pp. 9-12.
Cf. Ray W. Karras,"Let'sImproveMultiple-ChoiceTests," OAHMagazine of
6.
History 6 (Summer, 1991), pp. 8-9, 43; Karras,"A Multi-DimensionalMultiple-Choice
TestingSystem,"AmericanHistoricalAssociationPerspectives2 (February,1978);Karras,
"WritingMultiple-ChoiceQuestions:The Problemand a ProposedSolution,"The History Teacher 11 (February,1978), pp. 211-218.