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''' Historical timeline for SAT Reading section historical passages | ''' Historical timeline for SAT Reading section historical passages | ||
[[category:SAT verbal]] | |||
[[category:SAT exam prep]] | |||
[[category:SAT Reading]] | |||
{{New SAT test disclaimer}} | |||
* This entry is a subpage of [[SAT Reading section techniques, strategies & approaches]] | |||
* Historical passages are often difficult for students | |||
** language and context of the passages are unfamiliar | |||
** while historical knowledge is not required to answer questions, it is helpful | |||
== BIG IDEAS == | |||
* historical literacy can help students understand passage context and author purpose in historical passages | * historical literacy can help students understand passage context and author purpose in historical passages | ||
* students are NOT required to know the particular history, as questions are "evidence-based" | * students are NOT required to know the particular history, as questions are "evidence-based" | ||
** but it helps to know the time period and/or historical times, people and perspectives | ** but it helps to know the time period and/or historical times, people and perspectives | ||
* use dates of major wars to identify historical context | |||
** wars mark historical turning points | |||
** | *** therefore ideas, discussions and themes are different before and after wars | ||
*** | * you can also isolate non-historical possible answers because the language or perspective would not apply to that particular period or historical actors | ||
* | |||
== Major wars timeline == | == Major wars timeline == | ||
Line 33: | Line 36: | ||
* 1861-65: U.S. Civil War | * 1861-65: U.S. Civil War | ||
* 1898: Spanish-American War | * 1898: Spanish-American War | ||
* 1914-18: WWI | * 1914-18: WWI (U.S. 1917-1918) | ||
* 1939-45: WWII | * 1939-45: WWII (U.S. 1941-1945) | ||
* 1959-75: Vietnam War (U.S. ground war: 1965) | * 1959-75: Vietnam War (U.S. ground war: 1965-72) | ||
* 2002- | * 2002-2021: Afghanistan/ War on Terror | ||
* 2003-11: Iraq War (Iraqi Insurgency: 2003-2006) | * 2003-11: Iraq War (Iraqi Insurgency: 2003-2006) | ||
|| Other wars to know: | || Other wars to know: | ||
Line 47: | Line 50: | ||
* 1990-91: Gulf War | * 1990-91: Gulf War | ||
|- style="vertical-align:top;" | |- style="vertical-align:top;" | ||
|<nowiki>*</nowiki> American Revolution timeline: | |<nowiki>*</nowiki>'''American Revolution timeline:''' | ||
- 1765-1775: Colonial agitation | - 1765-1775: Colonial agitation against British rule & laws | ||
- 1774: fist Continental Congress & other colonial organization in opposition of British rule | |||
- 1775-76: Thomas Paine's "Common Sense", Declaration of Indepenndence | |||
- 1775-1781: War | - 1775-1781: War | ||
- 1783: Treaty of Paris formally ends War | - 1783: Treaty of Paris formally ends War | ||
||<nowiki>**</nowiki> French Revolution timeline: | ||<nowiki>**</nowiki>'''French Revolution timeline:''' | ||
- 1789-91: Estates General | - 1789-91: Estates General | ||
- 1792-93: Overthrow and execution of King Louis XV | - 1792-93: Overthrow and execution of King Louis XV | ||
Line 59: | Line 64: | ||
|- | |- | ||
|} | |} | ||
== Historical terminology == | |||
* '''abolition/ abolitionism / emancipation''' = movement to end slavery | |||
** the 13th amendment "abolished" slavery (1865) | |||
* '''civil rights, Jim Crow, Segregation, Civil Rights Movement''' | |||
** the 13th, 14th & 15th amendments, which followed the Civil War, abolished slavery, guaranteed citizenship for freed slaves, and guaranteed the right to vote by former male slaves, respectively | |||
** those protections were only as good as the laws were implemented | |||
*** "Reconstruction" = the period from 1865-1877, during which Union armies occupied the South and enforced "reconstruction" era protections of the rights of the former slaves | |||
*** Reconstruction failed to fully implement those laws, and "segregation" | |||
* '''disenfranchised''' | |||
** = not having the vote (franchise) | |||
* '''domestic''' | |||
** in politics/ economics = the homeland, or "home" politics, economy, etc. | |||
* '''franchise''' | |||
** = the vote, the right to vote | |||
* '''imperialism''' | |||
* '''"Manifest destiny"''' = movement for U.S. westward expansion across the continent (term coined in 1845) | |||
** U.S. imperialism commences with the taking of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Philippines after the Spanish-American War (1898) | |||
* '''popular sovereignty''' | |||
** political theory from 1850s, pushed by Sen. Stephen Douglas, that people of the states themselves should decide if slavery was to be allowed | |||
* '''prohibition''' = movement to ban alcohol | |||
** in the U.S., the 18th amendment banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol (1917) | |||
*** the 21st amendment repealed the 18th amendment (1933) | |||
* '''"republican motherhood"''' | |||
* '''states rights''' | |||
** the that states have distinct powers and laws from the federal government | |||
*** or, = an assertion of those powers over federal power | |||
*** related to "nullification" and the "nullification crisis" | |||
**** = when a state "nullifies" a federal law | |||
**** = a crisis because it puts state power above federal power (in violation of the "Supremacy cause") | |||
* '''suffrage''' = "the vote" or the right to vote | |||
** the 15th amendment guaranteed the right to vote for male former slaves (1869) | |||
** women who championed or protested for the vote between the Civil War and 1919 were known as "'''Suffragettes'''" | |||
* '''suffragette''' = a woman who advocated, often in public protest, for women's suffrage | |||
* '''tariff''' = import duties (taxes) | |||
** the tariff was a dominant political issue in the first +/- 120 years of the country | |||
*** low tariff advocates tended to be states that exported agricultural products (esp. cotton) and imported manufactured goods | |||
**** early Democrats (Jeffersonians) were anti-tariff | |||
**** low-tariff advocates argue/argued that import taxes punish consumers and create high prices of domestic as well as foreign goods | |||
*** high-tariff advocates tended to be manufacturing states | |||
**** Whigs (Hamiltonians) and early Republicans were pro-tariff | |||
**** high-tariff advocates were/ are called "protectionists" in that they want to "protect" American industry and jobs from foreign competition (imports) | |||
* '''temperance''' or '''temperance movement''' = anti-alcohol / prohibition of alcohol movements | |||
* '''women's suffrage''' = right to vote for women | |||
** in U.S. the 19th Amendment guaranteed the right of women to vote (1919) | |||
* '''women's rights''' = | |||
**the 19th Amendment guaranteed <u>political equality</u> for women, but not equality in economics, education, etc. | |||
** so passages on women's rights after 1919 will focus on those aspects of equality, not suffrage | |||
* | |||
== Historical actors to know == | |||
By knowing these persons and the periods and themes they represent, you can relate to them any unfamiliar authors on the test who have a similar outlook or historical significance | |||
* '''Susan B. Anthony''', 1820-1907 | |||
** women's suffrage leader and abolitionist | |||
* '''William Jennings Bryan''', 1860-1925 | |||
** Democratic leader and candidate for President | |||
** promoted "populism" and "soft money" (silver) | |||
* '''Edmund Burke''', 1729-1797 | |||
** Conservative British politician and critic of the French Revolution | |||
*** Burke argued against radicalism and destruction of institutions | |||
** supported U.S. colonies against British suppression of colonial dissent | |||
*** articulated theory of "salutary neglect" which argued that direct British control of the American colonies was undesirable, whereas when British policies towards the colonies were hands-off, it constituted "salutary" or healthy, neglect | |||
* '''Frederick Douglass''', 1818-1895 | |||
** born in slavery, escaped slavery and became nation's prominent abolitionist and civil rights advocate | |||
* '''Stephen Douglas''', 1813-1861 | |||
** Illinois Democratic Senator who championed ""Popular Sovereignty" as a solution to the pre-Civil War problem of the spread of slavery across the continent and for entry of new states | |||
** Douglas famously debated Lincoln during the Illinois Senate race of 1858 | |||
* '''Abraham Lincoln''', 1809-1865 | |||
** note that Lincoln opposed the Mexican-American War (1846-48) | |||
* '''John Stuart Mill''', 1806-1873 | |||
** British politician, philosopher; supported women's suffrage; proponent of utilitarianism (the idea of maximal "utility" to create maximum benefit) | |||
* '''Thomas Paine''' | |||
** radical, pro-revolution | |||
** wrote "Common Sense" | |||
* '''Elizabeth Cady Stanton''', 1815-1902 | |||
** women's suffrage; organizer of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention | |||
* '''Henry David Thoreau''', 1817-1862 | |||
** mid-19th century essayist, abolitionist; championed civil rights and dissent in "Civil Disobedience" | |||
* '''Alexis de Tocqueville''', 1805-1859 | |||
** French aristocrat who authored a study of the nature of American democracy, "Democracy in America" | |||
*'''Mary Wollstonecraft''', 1759-`797 | |||
**early British advocate of women's rights; considered founder of feminist philosophy | |||
== Themes & events timelines == | |||
=== 1500s-1700s === | |||
* the SAT will not test documents from these periods | |||
** it is useful to know the general timeline, anyway | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="vertical-align:top; width:75%;" | |||
|+ 16th-18th centuries | |||
|- | |||
| 1500-1600s | |||
* colonization of Americas by European powers | |||
* Early British colonial settlements: | |||
** 1584 Roanoke | |||
** 1607 Jamestown/ Virginia Company | |||
** Mass Bay Colony / Pilgrims / Puritans | |||
** New England small farms/ townships | |||
* 1676: Bacon's Rebellion | |||
** = Virginia planters v. settlers moving westward | |||
1700s General: | |||
* Enlightenment / Age of Reason | |||
* European economic / political expansion/ colonization/ slavery / mercantilism | |||
* U.S. colonial westward expansion | |||
* U.S. Independence / French Revolution | |||
* "Republican motherhood": the idea that women's role is to raise educated, civic-minded men | |||
|| '''1700s timeline''' | |||
- 1750s: French Indian War (America) / Seven Years War (Europe) | |||
- end of salutary neglect | |||
- 1760s: British colonial rule, including: | |||
- trade restrictions | |||
- taxes | |||
- dispute over representation in Parliament | |||
'''1775-81 American Revolution & early American Republic''' | |||
- 1776: Declaration of Independence | |||
- 1787: US Constitution (ratified 1789) | |||
- 1789: US Gov operates under constitution | |||
- 1789-95: George Washington President, consolidation of the presidency, assertion federal powers | |||
- 1790s: growing partisan divide between Adams/Hamilton Federalists (pro-central power, pro-tariff, pro-national bank) and Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans (anti-strong central gov, pro-states, anti-tariff and anti-bank) | |||
- 1798: Alien & Sedition Acts enacted as part of bitter US political divide over France-Britain wars | |||
'''1789-95: French Revolution''' | |||
- 1789: Estates General called but Third Estate (commoners) creates rival National Assembly, hurch property is nationalized by the National Assembly, Declaration of the Rights of Man issued | |||
- 1790-93: Nobility abolished, Haitian Revolution starts, new Constitution enacted, King attempts to flee Paris and is tried and executed (1792-3) | |||
- 1793-94: French Rev: Reign of Terror ("Jacobin Club" = anti-royalists who seize power in 1793), fall of Jacobins (1795), the Directory takes over (governing council) | |||
- 1799: Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power | |||
|- | |||
|} | |||
=== 1800s === | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="vertical-align:top; width:75%;" | |||
|+ 19th century | |||
|- | |||
|* '''1800s general:''' | |||
- Rise of US political parties | |||
- US western expansion (new states) | |||
- Slavery / Civil War/ Reconstruction / Segregation | |||
- Social and economic change/ progress | |||
- Rising middle and professional class | |||
- Industrialization | |||
- Disruption of aristocratic order/ less importance | |||
- Democracy / expanding rights and freedoms | |||
'''Early 1800s timeline''' | |||
- 1800: Election of Jefferson called the "Revolution of 1800" = 1st successful transition of power between rival political parties | |||
- 1803: Louisiana Purchase expands US territory west of the Mississippi River | |||
- 1803-1815 Napoleonic Wars | |||
- 1812-1815 War of 1812 (US v Britain) | |||
- 1815-25: Era of Good Feelings | |||
- 1820s: European monarchies restoration / UK industrialization / railroads / telegraph | |||
- 1848: revolutions in Europe (unsuccessful) | |||
- 1848-49: California gold rush | |||
- 1840s-50s: Karl Marx / Irish potato famine / direct British rule in India / Charles Darwin | |||
'''1820s-1850s Antebellum US:''' | |||
- 1820, Missouri Comprise (also "Compromise of 1820") | |||
- 1830s, Alexander de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” (study of America by French diplomat) | |||
- 1820s-30s, temperance movement (precursor to Second Great Awakening) | |||
- 1831, Nat Turner’s (slave) Rebellion | |||
- 1830s, Indian wars 1830s (also 1870s) | |||
- 1840s-50s, religious movements / Second Great Awakening | |||
> Thoreau/ Emerson/ Transcendentalism, individualism, individual morality, nature | |||
> women's political participation (part of Jacksonian democracy) | |||
> women's suffrage (voting) & rights / franchise / disenfranchisement | |||
- 1848, Seneca Falls/ Declaration of Sentiments | |||
- anti-slavery/ abolition movement / Frederick Douglass / Underground Railroad / Uncle Tom’s Cabin / "Bleeding Kansas" / John Brown's rebellion | |||
|| '''Antebellum themes:''' | |||
- sectional division, political conflict & compromises: | |||
>> slavery/territorial expansion / tariff/ national bank | |||
- 1820s-40s US: railroads/ canals / telegraph | |||
- 1829-1837: Jackson presidency/ Jacksonian Revolution (increased political participation) | |||
- 1834-45: Texas independence (1845 annexation to U.S.) | |||
- Manifest Destiny / western expansion (1830s-1850s) | |||
- 1846-48: Mexican-American War: ends compromise of 1820 due to new states/ territories; leads to heightened North-South division | |||
- 1850: Compromise of 1850 (Stephen Douglas, popular sovereignty) | |||
- 1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act | |||
'''1861-1865: Civil War''' | |||
- slavery / states’ rights / union | |||
- Lincoln / Gettysburg Address / Emancipation Proclamation | |||
''' 1865-1877: Reconstruction''' | |||
- 13th, 14th, 15th amendments to Constitution (ending slavery, protecting civil rights, & suffrage, i.e.) | |||
- occupation of South by northern troops | |||
- carpetbaggers | |||
- end of Reconstruction = rise of Jim Crow and segregation / rights abuses of blacks | |||
'''1870s-1890s US''' | |||
- industrialization / "Gilded Age" / Robber Barons (industry) | |||
- railroads | |||
- urbanization | |||
- labor / industry | |||
- 1896: Spanish-American War: U.S. expansion / colonialization (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Hawaii, Philippines) | |||
- 1870s-1890s other | |||
- opening of Japan (Mathew Perry, 1854), Japanese industrialization | |||
- German unification & industrialization | |||
- European imperialism & colonialism / “Scramble for Africa” / Berlin Conference / interventions in China / Opium Wars | |||
|- | |||
|} | |||
=== 1900s === | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="vertical-align:top; width:75%;" | |||
|+ 20th century | |||
|- | |||
| '''1900s General''' | |||
- world wars | |||
- economic growth/ middle class | |||
- automobiles & industry | |||
- social, class & labor conflict | |||
- racial & ethnic awareness, feminism, civil rights and equality | |||
- communism / Cold War | |||
'''1890s-1910s: Progressive Era''' | |||
- US: reform / urban conditions / labor / immigration | |||
- UK: suffragette movement (voting, elected office) | |||
'''1914-1918: WWI''' | |||
- nationalization (collapse of European monarchies by WWII) | |||
- US entry: 1917-1918 | |||
- 1919: Women right to vote in US | |||
'''1920s: Roaring 20s''' | |||
- consumerism / rise of middle class | |||
- prohibition | |||
- Jazz Age / Harlem Renaissance | |||
'''1930s''' | |||
- Great Depression / New Deal/ government intervention in economy, jobs, etc. | |||
- German militarism, invasion of Poland, 1939 | |||
- Japan militarism/ expansionism / Russo-Japanese War, 1904 / invasion of Manchuria, 1931 / Pearl Harbor, 1941 | |||
- U.S. war mobilization | |||
||'''1945-1950s post-War ''' | |||
- United Nations / Declaration of Human Rights | |||
- 1950's middle class / suburbs / television / autos & highways / pop culture | |||
- Civil Rights / Brown v. Board of Edu / protests | |||
- Korean War (1950-53) / Cold War | |||
- Brown v. Board of Education (desegregation) | |||
'''1960s''' | |||
- Civil Rights movement/ MLK / March on Washington, 1963 | |||
- Vietnam War /protests / youth movements / hippies / popular culture / rock-n-roll | |||
- MLK assassination/ urban riots | |||
''' 1970s''' | |||
- inflation | |||
- economic decline (“stagflation”) | |||
- feminism | |||
- Détente (US – USSR) / missile treaties | |||
''' 1980s''' | |||
- Ronald Reagan | |||
- economic growth | |||
- banking / Wall Street scandals | |||
- 1989: collapse of Soviet Union | |||
''' 1990s/ 2000s General''' | |||
- digital & medical technologies | |||
- the internet / social media | |||
- globalization | |||
- global warming | |||
- War on Terror / Afghan & Iraq wars / Patriot Act / “surveillance state” | |||
|- | |||
|} | |||
== Example of applying historical knowledge or context on SAT Reading == | |||
=== Historical knowledge === | |||
* [https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/sat-practice-test-7.pdf College Board practice test 7, 4th passage, question 40]: | |||
* these two passages are from 1840 and 1851 | |||
** '''1840 by Alexis de Tocqueville''' | |||
*** students are likely to have heard of Tocqueville, a French aristocrat who studied American democracy and notions of equality | |||
*** he wrote a book "Democracy in America" with his observations on American social, economic, and political outcomes through the point of view of 1) a French aristocrat; and 2) the effects of democratic and egalitarian views of white Americans | |||
** '''1850 by Harriet Taylor Mill''' | |||
** students would be less likely to know Mill, but we can infer from the introduction her arguments, especially as counter to those of a French aristocrat | |||
*** Mill was an important British advocate for women's rights | |||
*** she married the British political philosopher, John Stuart Mill | |||
** students are likely to know that the 1840s-1850s were a time of reform called the "Second Great Awakening" | |||
*** and that many of these reform movements intersected | |||
**** especially women's rights and abolition of slavery | |||
click EXPAND for elimination based upon historical understanding of the perspectives of these authors: | |||
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> | |||
* passage perspectives: | |||
** Tocqueville is an observer and not an advocate, | |||
*** therefore he will speak about how things are (if filtered through his own points of view) | |||
** Mill is a reformer, | |||
*** therefore, she will speak about how things ought to be (in this case equality between the sexes) | |||
* '''Question 40 reads''': | |||
<pre>Which choice best describes the ways that the two authors conceive of the individual’s proper position in society?</pre> | |||
* and the possible answers are: | |||
<pre>A) Tocqueville believes that an individual’s position should be defined in important ways by that individual’s sex, while Mill believes that an individual’s abilities should be the determining factor. | |||
B) Tocqueville believes that an individual’s economic class should determine that individual’s position, while Mill believes that class is not a legitimate consideration. | |||
C) Tocqueville believes that an individual’s temperament should determine that individual’s position, while Mill believes that temperament should not be a factor in an individual’s position. | |||
D) Tocqueville believes that an individual’s position should be determined by what is most beneficial to society, while Mill believes it should be determined by what an individual finds most rewarding</pre> | |||
* Since we know that Mill advocates for women's equality, and we know that Tocqueville is an aristocrat, we can eliminate as follows: | |||
* A) | |||
** Tocqueville believes that an individual’s position should be defined in important ways by that individual’s sex | |||
*** can't eliminate because aristocrats at the time believed in traditional roles for men and women | |||
** while Mill believes that an individual’s abilities should be the determining factor. | |||
*** Mill believes in equality for women | |||
** so we can't eliminate A) | |||
* B) | |||
** Tocqueville believes that an individual’s economic class should determine that individual’s position | |||
*** an aristocrat would likely believe this, so we can't eliminate (even if it is not in the text) | |||
** while Mill believes that class is not a legitimate consideration. | |||
*** Mill is concerned about gender equality and not among the economic classes | |||
** so eliminate B) | |||
* C) | |||
** Tocqueville believes that an individual’s temperament should determine that individual’s position | |||
*** Tocqueville is not concerned with individual "temperament" (character) | |||
** while Mill believes that temperament should not be a factor in an individual’s position. | |||
*** Mill argues the opposite of that statement, so eliminate | |||
** however, we can also eliminate this possible answer from a general historical perspective | |||
*** an aristocrat would not care about character in determining social position and instead would argue for birth for that determination | |||
*** an egalitarian would argue the opposite, that character and not birth should define an individual's position in society | |||
** so eliminate C) | |||
* D) | |||
** Tocqueville believes that an individual’s position should be determined by what is most beneficial to society | |||
*** an aristocrat may take this position (and Tocqueville does) | |||
** while Mill believes it should be determined by what an individual finds most rewarding | |||
*** as an egalitarian, Mill would believe in a more altruistic point of view, | |||
**** i.e., society will benefit from empowerment of individuals and not simply from individuals getting what they each find "most rewarding" | |||
**** (that would be a different, generally, economic point of view regarding the social benefits of individual selfishness, and not the point of view of a mid-19th century egalitarian reformer) | |||
**** (this possible answer is likely intended to deliberately confuse students between Harriett Taylor Mill and John Stuart Mill who did advocate for individual protection from state control) | |||
** so eliminate D) | |||
</div> | |||
=== Historical context & language === | |||
* [https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/sat-practice-test-10.pdf College Board practice test 10, 4th passage, question 39]: | |||
* the passages are from 1898 & 1900 regarding the Spanish-American War, in which the U.S. fully engaged in imperialism and colonialism | |||
** possible answers to question 39 are: | |||
<pre>A) founding and history of the United States. | |||
B) vibrancy and diversity of American culture. | |||
C) worldwide history of struggles for independence. | |||
D) idealism that permeates many aspects of American society</pre> | |||
click EXPAND for eliminate based upon the perspective of the 1898/1900's: | |||
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"> | |||
* x B) "diversity" = a modern not a c. 1900 political value or expression | |||
* x C) "worldwide history" = a modern not a c. 1900 political value or expression (which would be concerned about American and not "worldwide" history) | |||
* x D) "idealism that permeates" = a modern and not a c. 1900 perspective | |||
** without looking at the text, we can eliminate down to the correct answer, A) | |||
</div> | |||
== General SAT Reading section topics & themes == | |||
* SAT reading selections are usually aimed at the following topics: | |||
** global warming / climate/ environmental sustainability | |||
** social and political change, especially in historical pieces pertaining to social transitions from aristocratic or elitist to modern societies | |||
** rise of middle or professional classes | |||
** democratization & race and gender equality | |||
** industrialization, urbanization and impact of technological change | |||
** DNA, biodiversity, space technology, animal behavior | |||
** social media and other technological challenges to modern society | |||
** libraries, academics, and information technology |