AP® UNITED STATES HISTORY 2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

UNITED STATES HISTORY

2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

Question 1 — Document-Based Question

Explain the reasons why a new conservatism rose to prominence in the United States between 1960 and

1989.

A. Thesis: 0–1 point

Skills assessed: Argumentation + Causation

States a thesis that directly addresses all parts of the question. The thesis must do more than restate the

question.

1 point

Does not state a thesis that directly addresses all parts of the question or has a thesis that merely

res

tates the question.

0 points

Response is completely blank.

—

B. Analysis of historical evidence and support of argument: 0–4 points

Skills assessed: Use of Evidence, Argumentation, + Causation

Analysis of documents

(0–3 points)

Offers plausible

analysis of the content

of a majority of the

documents, explicitly

using this analysis to

support the stated

thesis or a relevant

argument.

1 point

Offers plausible analysis of

BOTH the content of a

majority of the documents,

explicitly using this analysis to

support the stated thesis or a

relevant argument;

AND

at least one of the following for

the majority of the documents:

• intended audience,

• purpose,

• historical context,

d/or

• the author’s point of

view

2 poi

nts

Offers plausible analysis of

BOTH

the content of all or all

but one of the documents,

explicitly using this analysis

to support the stated thesis or

a relevant argument;

AND

at least one of the following

for all or all but one of the

documents:

• intended audience,

•

purpose,

• historical context,

d/or

• the author’s point of

view

3 poi

nts

D/OR

Analysis of outside examples to support thesis/argument (0–1 point)

Offers plausible analysis of historical examples beyond/outside the documents to support the stated

thesis or a relevant argument.

1 point

Response does not offer plausible analysis of a majority of the documents or does not use this analysis to

support the stated thesis or a relevant argument. Response does not offer plausible analysis of historical

examples beyond/outside the documents to support the stated thesis or a relevant argument.

0 points

Response is completely blank.

—

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UNITED STATES HISTORY

2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

C. Contextualization: 0–1 point

Skill assessed: Contextualization

Accurately and explicitly connects historical phenomena relevant to the argument to broader historical

events and/or processes.

1 point

Response does not accurately and explicitly connect historical phenomena relevant to the argument to

oader historical events and/or processes.

0 points

Response is completely blank.

—

D. Synthesis: 0–1 point

Skill assessed: Synthesis

Response synthesizes the argument, evidence, an analysis of documents, and context into a coherent

and persuasive essay by accomplishing one or more of the following as relevant to the question.

Appropriately extends or

modifies the stated thesis

or argument.

1 point

Recognizes and effectively

accounts for disparate,

sometimes contradictory,

evidence from primary sources

and/or secondary works in

crafting a coherent argument.

1 point

Appropriately connects the

topic of the question to other

historical periods,

geographical areas, contexts,

or circumstances.

1 point

Response does not synthesize the argument, evidence, analysis of documents, and context into a

coherent and persuasive essay.

0 points

Response is completely blank.

—

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UNITED STATES HISTORY

2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

SCORING NOTES

Thesis

A number of different intellectual, political, social, and economic strands contributed to the emergence of a

new

conservatism in the U.S. between 1960 and 1989. These could include the following:

• Reactions against big government

• Opposition to the women’s movement/lesbian, gay, and bisexual rights

• The rise of the evangelical movement

• The belief in a free market economy

• Calls for law and order and resistance to perceived judicial activism

• Concerns about economic stagnation, inflation, and interest rates

• Anticommunism

• Anti-tax movement

• Apprehensions about social changes

• Defense of perceived traditional values

• Emphasis on personal freedom

• Escalating militancy of the Civil Rights movement

• Concerns about the credibility of the national government

• Perceived failure of U.S. foreign policy, military weakness

• Perceived failure of social welfare programs

Analysis of Documents

As explained above, to earn full credit for analyzing documents, responses must include at least one of the

fol

lowing for all or all but one of the documents: intended audience, purpose, historical context, author’s

point of view. Although examples of these elements are listed below, to earn full credit these examples of

analysis must explicitly be used in support of a stated thesis or a relevant argument. Remember, this is

NOT an exclusive list of examples that could be cited.

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UNITED STATES HISTORY

2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

Background Information: The graph below is for background information. Analysis of it is

not required and will not count toward the required number of documents.

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UNITED STATES HISTORY

2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

Document 1

Source: Barry Goldwater, a Republican senator from Arizona, The Conscience of a Conservative,

1960.

anklin Roosevelt’s rapid conversion from Constitutionalism to the doctrine of unlimited

government is an oft-told story. . . . I am here concerned . . . by the unmistakable tendency of the

Republican Party to adopt the same course. The result is that today neither of our two parties

maintains a meaningful commitment to the principle of States’ Rights. Thus, the cornerstone of the

Republic, our chief bulwark against the encroachment of individual freedom by Big Government, is

fast disappearing under the piling sands of absolutism. . . .

The root evil is that the government is engaged in activities in which it has no legitimate business.

long as the federal government acknowledges responsibility in a given social or economic field,

its spending in that field cannot be substantially reduced.

Components of document analysis may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Intended audience: fellow conservatives; the voting public

• Purpose: to advocate for a smaller federal government and to defend states’ rights to make

dec

isions for themselves at a time when the federal government was expanding its authority;

criticizing the expansion of unwarranted governmental powers; also, to make a case for his

upcoming campaign for the presidency

• Historical context: written during a time of expanding federal power. In particular, federal power

s increasingly being used to protect the civil rights of African Americans, and arguments for

states’ rights were used as defenses of racial segregation

• The author’s point of view: conservative politician; an advocate of states’ rights and limited federal

power

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UNITED STATES HISTORY

2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

Document 2

Source: Milton Friedman, economist, Capitalism and Freedom, 1962.

We now have several decades of experience with governmental intervention. . . .

Which if any of the great “reforms” of past decades has achieved its objectives? . . .

A housing program intended to improve the housing conditions of the poor, to reduce juvenile

del

inquency, and to contribute to the removal of urban slums, has worsened the housing conditions

of the poor, contributed to juvenile delinquency, and spread urban blight. . . .

The greater part of the new ventures undertaken by government in the past few decades have failed

achieve their objectives. The United States has continued to progress; its citizens have become

better fed, better clothed, better housed, and better transported; class and social distinctions have

narrowed; minority groups have become less disadvantaged. . . . All this has been the product of the

initiative and drive of individuals co-operating through the free market.

Components of document analysis may include the following:

• Intended audience: fellow conservatives; economists; the reading public

• Purpose: to critique government programs to support the economy and to advocate for free-market

economics, supply-side economics, and trickle-down theory

• Historical context: written after three decades of the relative dominance of the New Deal political

ord

er, which established a variety of government programs to support individuals and to regulate

economy; offers alternative way to regulate the economy through the money supply; challenges

Keynesian economics

• The author’s point of view: conservative economist; advocate of free market policies; intends to

iticize government economic programs and to argue that economic gains of the 20

century

came from free markets

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2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

Document 3

Source: Letter to Nelson Rockefeller, Republican governor of New York, February 6, 1971.

This letter is written to you by a law abiding citizen who feels she is discriminated against in favor of

dop

e addicts and welfare cheats. I am a widow who lives alone, works every day, pays taxes and lives

by the rules. I get very little from my taxes when I can no longer walk on the streets and when I am

afraid in my own home. . . . Sorry this letter is not typed. My typewriter was stolen.

Components of document analysis may include the following:

• Intended audience: New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller; political leaders who may be able to

hel

• Purpose: to request government assistance against problems for urban danger; to criticize

per

ceived permissive liberal policies that favor lawbreakers and the perceived failure of the liberal

state

• Historical context: long-term increase in crime that accelerated in the late 1960s and early 1970s;

urban unrest of late 1960s; changes in inner cities; possibly racial transition of cities as “white

flight” led an increasingly African American population to move in; conservative politicians’ call for

law and order

• The author’s point of view: claims to be a law-abiding female widow afraid to leave her home;

bla

mes drug addicts and welfare cheats for urban problems and crime; adopts language of being

discriminated against to describe position

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2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

Document 4

Source: Jerry Falwell, television evangelist and founder of the Moral Majority, Listen, America!,

198

We must reverse the trend America finds herself in today. Young people between the ages of

twenty-five and forty have been born and reared in a different world than Americans of years past.

The television set has been their primary baby-sitter. From the television set they have learned

situation ethics and immorality—they have learned a loss of respect for human life. They have

learned to disrespect the family as God has established it. They have been educated in a public-

school system that is permeated with secular humanism. They have been taught that the Bible is

just another book of literature. They have been taught that there are no absolutes in our world

today. They have been introduced to the drug culture. They have been reared by the family and

the public school in a society that is greatly void of discipline and character-building. These same

young people have been reared under the influence of a government that has taught them

socialism and welfarism. They have been taught to believe that the world owes them a living

whether they work or not.

1999, 1996, 1992, 1988, 1984 by W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. Used by permission of W.W. Norton and Company, Inc. Excerpt from

publication, is prohibited. Interested parties must apply directly to Random House LLC for permission.

Components of document analysis may include the following:

• Intended audience: fellow conservative evangelicals; the reading public

• Purpose: to critique the current moral standing of the United States; criticize the perceived erosion

of t

raditional values in light of new technology and modern values, to motivate political action by

the Christian right

• Historical context: written at the height of the evangelical Christian movement becoming involved

in politics and aligning itself with the Republican Party

• The author’s point of view: leader within the conservative evangelical Christian movement; argues

tha

t modern young people have lost traditional Christian morality

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2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

Document 5

Source: 1980 Republican Party Platform.

verseas, our goal is . . . to preserve a world at peace by keeping America strong. This philosophy

once o

ccupied a hallowed place in American diplomacy, but it was casually . . . dismissed at the

outset by the Carter Administration—and the results have been shattering. Never before in modern

history has the United States endured as many humiliations, insults, and defeats as it has during

the past four years: our ambassadors murdered, our embassies burned, our warnings ignored, our

diplomacy scorned, our diplomats kidnapped. The Carter Administration has shown that it neither

understands totalitarianism nor appreciates the way tyrants take advantage of weakness. The brutal

invasion of Afghanistan promises to be only the forerunner of much more serious threats to the

West—and to world peace—should the Carter Administration somehow cling to power.

Components of document analysis may include the following:

• Intended audience: Republican Party members; the voting public; the news media

• Purpose: to advocate U.S. strength in the world; to criticize the Carter administration’s foreign

policy

• Historical context: Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign against Jimmy Carter on the heels

of t

he Iranian hostage crisis

• The author’s point of view: critical of Carter administration; supportive of vigorous projection of

S. power in the world

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2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

Document 6

Source: Teddi Holt, a homemaker, a member of Georgia Stop ERA, and the national president of Mothers

n the March, 1984.

I am pleased that God blessed me with the privilege of being a woman. I have never been envious of the

role of men but have had respect for both sexes. There’s no doubt that there has been discrimination

against women, but that is past history, just as discrimination against blacks is past history in the US . . .

Just what were we women to be liberated from? These women [feminists] were calling for liberation from

e things women like me love most—our husbands, our children, our homes. My cry became: “God,

liberate us from the Liberators!” . . .

We believe that the mothers of this and other nations must stand up for the protection of our homes and

our

children. In no way are we extremists, unless we be guilty of extreme devotion to our husbands, our

children, and our homes. It is our sincere belief that if we do not unite against the threats to the home, if

we retire to the convenience and security of our houses and do not speak out, then it will not be long until

we, the “keeper at home” (Titus 2.5) will not have a home to keep!

1984 by Teddi Holt. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Books U.K.

Components of document analysis may include the following:

• Intended audience: fellow conservatives; women; the reading public

• Purpose: to defend role for women as staying at home with their families

• Historical context: increasing numbers of married women and mothers in the paid workforce; the

decad

e after the emergence of the women’s rights movement; a few years after the failure of the

Equal Rights Amendment

• The author’s point of view: conservative woman; opponent of women’s rights movement and Equal

Rights Amendment; defender of women as homemakers, mothers, and wives

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2015 SCORING GUIDELINES

Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

Analysis of outside examples to support thesis/argument

Possible examples of information not found in the documents that could be used to support the stated

esis or a relevant argument could include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Antiwar protests

• Assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, and Malcolm X

• Black Power

• Civil Rights Act 1964

• Civil Rights movement, increased militancy

• Cold War

• Deregulation of industry

• détente

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• Equal Rights Amendment

• “evil empire”

• Great Society

• Iran-Contra

• Iranian Hostage Crisis

• Kent State shootings

• Law and order campaign

• Love Canal

• Mayaguez Incident

• New Federalism

• Nuclear weapons

• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil embargo

• Panama Canal Treaty

• Pentagon Papers

• Reaganomics

• Revenue sharing

• Pat Robertson

• Roe v. Wade

• SALT II

• Phyllis Schlafly

• Silent Majority

• Soviet Union

• Stagflation

• Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

• Supply-side economics

• Supreme Court decisions

• Three Mile Island

• Trickle-down theory

• Urban riots, 1960s

• Vietnam War

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Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

• Voting Rights Act, 1965

• War on Poverty

• Watergate

• Whip Inflation Now

Contextualization

Students can earn a point for contextualization by accurately and explicitly connecting historical

enomena relevant to the argument to broader historical events and/or processes. These historical

phenomena may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Reactions against the perceived permissiveness of the 1960s and 1970s, including the

coun

terculture, antiwar protest, feminism, and the sexual revolution

• The ongoing thread of anticommunism in the post-World War II U.S.

• Reactions against the perceived excesses of government interventions in the economy and

society, such as various welfare programs and the Johnson administration’s Great Society

• Concerns about U.S. economic stagnation, combined with belief in free market solutions

• Concerns about increased crime and the perceived need for greater law and order

• Population movements out of cities into suburbs and out of the North and East into the South and

• Possible reactions against the successes of the Civil Rights movement

• Reaction against Supreme Court rulings expanding the rights of the accused

• Perceptions of military weakness following the Vietnam War and a desire to strengthen the U.S.

litary

• Emergence of charismatic politicians such as Ronald Reagan

Synthesis

Responses can earn the point for synthesis by crafting a persuasive and coherent essay. This can be

complished providing a conclusion that extends or modifies the analysis in the essay, by using

disparate, and sometimes contradictory, evidence from primary and/or secondary sources to craft a

coherent argument, or by connecting to another historical period or context. Examples could include (but

are not limited to) the following:

• Comparing the rise of the New Right to earlier political coalitions such as the one that formed

arou

nd the New Deal

• Comparing the rise of the New Right to the contemporary rise of the New Left

• Continuing the story of the rise of the New Right to include the Contract with America and the

Republican recapture of control of the House of Representatives.

• Linking the rise of the New Right in this period to the later emergence of the Tea Party

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MENTARY

Question 1 — Document-Based Question

Overview

The Document-Based Question 1 allowed students to analyze the reasons for the development of new

con

servatism in the U.S. between 1960 and 1989 using a set of historical documents and excerpts. The

question covered Periods 8 and 9 and required students to analyze specific background information and

primary source evidence to explain the reasons why the mood of the country grew more conservative during

the time period.

Sample: 1A

Score—Thesis: 1

The response has a strong thesis. The opening paragraph states relevant issues from the time period, and

he thesis statement aptly summarizes them.

Score—Analysis of historical evidence and support of argument: 4

The response effectively analyzes content for five documents and provides extended analysis for all five:

ocument 2, paragraph 2, point of view, “Friedman’s view reflects” and historical context, Friedman’s

admonishment regarding spending with results under Reagan; document 3, paragraph 4, historical context,

drug experimentation and Beat Generation spawned fears; document 4, paragraphs 3-4, Falwell audience,

social conservatives, Catholics; document 5, middle of paragraph 3, historical context, Iran hostage crisis;

and document 6, paragraph 4, point of view, people like author “were outraged” about abortion.

Outside information is abundant throughout the essay.

Score—Contextualization: 1

The response includes a relevant discussion of Lyndon Johnson’s failures in economic and foreign policy

(pa

ge 2, paragraph 1) as well as information about Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy (page 3, paragraph 1).

Score—Synthesis: 1

The last paragraph sums up the rise of a new conservatism and relates it to the actions of presidents

eorge H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. It also references a possible connection to the

election of 2016 as a response to current liberal policies.

Sample: 1B

Score—Thesis: 1

The thesis directly addresses the question: the rise of a new conservatism was “caused by a number of

factor[s]” with “the main catalyst” being “increasingly progressive views.”

Score—Analysis of historical evidence and support of argument: 3

The response accurately analyzes the content of four documents, providing extended analysis for all four:

ocument 2, page 2, paragraph 2, historical context, Reagan in support of Friedman’s ideology of cutting

welfare programs; document 4, page 1, paragraph 2, Falwell’s point of view, “felt that American society

should be based on”; document 5, page 2, paragraph 2, historical context, “New Right groups expressed their

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2015 SCORING COMMENTARY

Question 1 — Document-Based Question (continued)

hopes to … keep ‘America strong’ … [and] Reagan … increased military funding”; and document 6, page 1,

paragraph, 2, purpose, written to appeal to other women, especially in Christian communities.

Outside information includes the Great Society, the idea of welfare queens, and LGBT issues.

Score—Contextualization: 0

The response fails to connect any historical phenomena relevant to the argument to broader historical

even

ts and/or processes.

Score—Synthesis: 0

The response does not synthesize the argument, evidence, analysis of documents, and context into the

say.

Sam

ple: 1C

Score—Thesis: 1

The thesis is directly stated and addresses the question.

Score—Analysis of historical evidence and support of argument: 1

The response effectively analyzes content for five documents, providing extended analysis for three:

ocument 1, page 1, paragraph 2, point of view, Goldwater describes government as the main problem, with

conservatism promoting the opposite; document 3, page 2, paragraph 1, audience, religious conservatives

and older people; and document 6, page 2, paragraph 1, audience, discussion of radical women’s rights

activists versus conservatives such as author.

There is no outside information.

Score—Contextualization: 0

The response fails to connect any historical phenomena relevant to the argument to broader historical

even

ts and processes.

Score—Synthesis: 0

The response does not synthesize the argument, evidence, analysis of documents, and context into the

say.

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