AP® WRITING HISTORICALLY Short-Answer Question Practice

ACTIVITY
Read the following question carefully and write a short response. Use complete sentences.

Use the following excerpts to answer (a), (b), and (c).

Source: David F. Ericson, The Nullification Crisis, American Republicanism, and the Force Bill Debate, 1995

“On the surface, the nullification crisis revolved around the question of sovereignty: Which level of government has the last say on such matters as the tariff rates? Does the federal government, the state governments, or really neither (because the governmental system was set up in such a way that there is no locus of ‘last say’)? Here, of course, the participants in the crisis had recourse to the Constitution, and their conflict was defined by opposing constitutional philosophies. Another question, though, emerged beneath the sovereignty question during the course of the crisis: What is the nature of the American republic? Is it a federation of smaller, state republics, a national republic, or both, in roughly equal proportions? Answering this question seemed to be the only conclusive way of answering the sovereignty question, and, since the Constitution did not provide an answer, the participants had to appeal to some deeper political standard or theory to try to do so.”

Source: Jane H. Pease and William H. Pease, The Economics and Politics of Charleston’s Nullification Crisis, 1981

“Intensifying Charleston’s nullification experience was anxiety over the city’s stagnant economy in the 1820s. Between 1820 and 1830 her imports had diminished every year but one. In 1825 the international cotton market collapsed, and the dramatic growth in the city’s cotton exports earlier in the decade leveled off. In the wake of that collapse, general economic depression followed. Unemployment and inflation plagued Charleston’s inhabitants. Up-country legislators threatened to reduce the city’s representation in a state government which already taxed city property and commercial income more heavily than agricultural land and produce. Charleston’s appeals for aid to internal improvements went unheard in the rest of the state. Then, in 1828, her languishing economy seemed further threatened by the new federal tariff.”

Briefly explain ONE major difference between Ericson’s and Jane Pease’s and William Pease’s interpretations of the nullification crisis.
Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development from the period that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Ericson’s argument.
Briefly explain how ONE specific historical event or development that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Jane Pease’s and William Pease’s argument.