In the Week 25 Rhetoric evaluation, the students are given the following statement:

“Abraham Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction—had he lived to carry it out—would have been a success.”

They are told to "Respond to this statement by describing which theory of the South's post-war status Lincoln subscribed to, sketching out his plan, and then making an argument based on the actual history of Johnson's administration."

The wording of the statement the students are given does not seem to correspond to what they are asked to do, nor does it correspond with the sample essay given. Should the initial statement read "...would NOT have been a success"? Or should the students be asked to "assess the statement"?

Wondering,

Susan, I think Lincoln's plan was substantially different (kinder overall) than what actually happened. I believe they want the student to explain his plan, explain how it was different and then answer to the opinion of the statement.

But I'm not there yet and haven't brushed up on this so I might be off on this.

quote:

Originally posted by Susan in La:
They are told to " Respond to this statement by describing which theory of the South's post-war status Lincoln subscribed to, sketching out his plan, and then making an argument based on the actual history of Johnson's administration."

I took this to mean that students could either agree with the statement or not. They are to assess the statement when "responding" to it.

I guess what threw me was the sample essay - all the "points an excellent essay might include" & the sample essay argue that Lincoln's plan would not have been a success. I didn't see any points given to support the view that Lincoln's plan would have succeeded other than the fact that Lincoln had a different temperament than Johnson.

Thanks for helping me think through what this question is really asking...

Susan, thanks for inquiring. Pat and Karen are pretty much correct in their interpretations, but let me clarify. The question wasn't quite as clear as it might have been, and an updated version of the quiz will be posted shortly.

"Respond to" in conjunction with "make an argument" was intended to mean "talk about this statement, and then argue for or against it." But we recognize that we didn't really give a sufficiency of information to support the "for" side of that argument.

The sample essay as it stands still argues that direction, since what's under debate is Lincoln's original plan as expressed, which was fundamentally the same as Johnson's and therefore (the essay argues) would have run into essentially the same problems. However, the question has now been expanded and, I hope, more thoroughly nuanced to provide substance for both sides of the argument.

Hope that helps!

Ben
Redesign Project Editor
(hijacking Brittainy's account temporarily...)

Thanks for the clarification, Ben!