About This Lesson
Readers should not only be able to list the parts of an argument in important texts from U.S. history, but they should also be
able to judge how well the author forms the argument. These skills will help them make informed opinions about issues in
U.S. government today and make connections between historical issues and today. This playlist includes an excerpt from the
Supreme Court dissenting opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson and an excerpt from a speech by Frederick Douglass.
In this playlist, students will learn how to:
- Explain the reasoning in a seminal U.S. text, such as the author’s use of constitutional principles or syllogism.
- Evaluate the reasoning in a seminal U.S. text.
