History 701--Making It "True"

Fall 2001
Professor Catherine Lavender


"Making It True":
The way that an historian makes his or her argument is often as important as the argument made. Historians -- and academics in general -- are held to a higher standard of accuracy than one expects in informal speech. Thus, a statement which may seem "true" on its surface may not be historically true (meaning that it cannot withstand the challenge of logic). Your job in this assignment is to learn how to make an unassailable statement which stands up to logical challenge. Each of you will be given a separate "truth-like" statement (a statement which, while not untrue, is not true, either) to "make true;" you will identify five logical challenges to that statement, and then re-write it so that it is unassailable.

For example, the statement, "George Bush was elected president in 2000" could be challenged in the following ways:
1) It was George W. Bush;
2) There were serious questions about the election itself;
3) President of what, the Kiwanis Club?;
4) While the election was in 2000, he became president in 2001;
5) Elected by the electoral college, the popular vote, what?
An unassailable version of this statement might be: "George W. Bush won the 2000 U.S. Presidential election and became the President of the United States in January, 2001." An even more unassailable version of this statement would be: "The U.S. Supreme Court determined George W. Bush to have won the 2000 U.S. Presidential election; he became the President of the United States in January, 2001."

The statements you will correct:
1. Sally Ride was the first woman in space.
2. America won World War II.
3. President Roosevelt served two terms in office.
4. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery.
5. Columbus discovered America.
6. Indians lived in tepees.
7. The eagle is the symbol of America.
8. Jamestown was the first American settlement.
9. The Sears Tower is the tallest building.
10. Most Americans speak English.
11. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
12. The Dutch founded New York.
13. Bill Clinton never inhaled.
14. Americans are immigrants.
15. Gold was discovered in the state of California in 1848.
16. There has never been a nuclear war.
17. The Wright Brothers were the first people to fly.
18. Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb.
19. Apples are good for you.
20. A little hard work never hurt anybody.
Prepared for HST 701--Historical Method and Historiography, the M.A. Program in History, The College of Staten Island of the City University of New York, Fall Semester 2001. Send email to lavender@postbox.csi.cuny.edu
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