1. How to do a DBQ
Thomas Jefferson

2. What a DBQ is
DBQ stands for Document Based Question. This means that the question you will ultimately answer at the end in essay form is based upon the documents you’re being given to work with.
A DBQ is just like a regular essay, except that you’ve been given some materials to help support your answer.

3. What a DBQ is not DBQ is not simply a list of documents.
DBQ is not the answers to the scaffolding questions

4. Getting Started
First, let’s look at the DBQ we’ve been assigned. Just look at the first page.

5. DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTION
The first page
Part III
DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTION
This question is based on the accompanying documents (1–7). The question is designed to test your
ability to work with historical documents. Some of these documents have been edited for the purposes
of this question. As you analyze the documents, take into account the source of each document and any
point of view that may be presented in the document.
Historical Context:
Thomas Jefferson was elected to be the 3rd President in Prior to serving
President he was an influential figure in helping the U.S. secure its independence from Britain.
Among other things he is famous for writing the Declaration of Independence which helped
Determine the ideals and beliefs America would frame its government on
Task: Evaluate the documents and determine if you think Jefferson lived up to his ideals and
beliefs
Using the documents, your answers to the questions in Part A, and your
Knowledge of social studies, write a well-developed paragraph that includes:
• Thesis statement with the selected choice
• Body of the paragraph that includes at least three pieces of specific
Important information from the documents that supports your argument
• A concluding statement that connects back to the thesis statement at the
Beginning of your essay. You must state whether or not you think Jefferson
Lived up to his ideals and beliefs
A basic description of what you will be asked to do.
The historical context. Here to give you a little background on the topic, NOT TO BE COPIED DOWN AS YOUR INTRO!!!
The questions you need to answer

6. Once you’ve read the instructions and the historical context, start here.
The first step
Historical Context:
Thomas Jefferson was elected to be the 3rd President in Prior to serving
President he was an influential figure in helping the U.S. secure its independence from Britain.
Among other things he is famous for writing the Declaration of Independence which helped
Determine the ideals and beliefs America would frame its government on
Task: Evaluate the documents and determine if you think Jefferson lived up to his ideals and
beliefs
Using the documents, your answers to the questions in Part A, and your
Knowledge of social studies, write a well-developed paragraph that includes:
• Thesis statement with the selected choice
• Body of the paragraph that includes at least three pieces of specific
Important information from the documents that supports your argument
• A concluding statement that connects back to the thesis statement at the
Beginning of your essay. You must state whether or not you think Jefferson
Lived up to his ideals and beliefs
What questions will you need to answer in order to successfully write this essay?

7. What are Jefferson’s core beliefs?
Your Outline
Question Answer Document/Outside Info
What are Jefferson’s core beliefs?
1):
2):
3):
4):
Intro
Body 1
Body 2
Body 3
Conc.

8. The next step
Task: Evaluate the documents and determine if you think Jefferson lived up to his ideals and
beliefs
Using the documents, your answers to the questions in Part A, and your
Knowledge of social studies, write a well-developed paragraph that includes:
• Thesis statement with the selected choice
• Body of the paragraph that includes at least three pieces of specific
Important information from the documents that supports your argument
• A concluding statement that connects back to the thesis statement at the
Beginning of your essay. You must state whether or not you think Jefferson
Lived up to his ideals and beliefs
What questions will you need to answer next in order to successfully write this essay?

9. Remember when it’s time to write the essay you’ll need to whether or not you feel Jefferson’s actions are consistent with his ideals (you must use the documents to justify your answer).

10. Question Answer Document/Outside Info
Your Outline
Question Answer Document/Outside Info
What are Jefferson’s core beliefs?
1):
2):
3):
4):
Intro
Were Jefferson’s actions are consistent with his ideals?
Body 1
Body 2
Body 3
Conc.

11. The next step
Task: Evaluate the documents and determine if you think Jefferson lived up to his ideals and
beliefs
Using the documents, your answers to the questions in Part A, and your
Knowledge of social studies, write a well-developed paragraph that includes:
• Thesis statement with the selected choice
• Body of the paragraph that includes at least three pieces of specific
Important information from the documents that supports your argument
• A concluding statement that connects back to the thesis statement at the
Beginning of your essay. You must state whether or not you think Jefferson
Lived up to his ideals and beliefs
What questions will you need to answer next in order to successfully write this essay?

12. So now we have two Paragraphs in the body of the essay, now we need one more….

13. Question Answer Document/Outside Info
Your Outline
Question Answer Document/Outside Info
What are Jefferson’s core beliefs?
1):
2):
3):
4):
Intro
Were Jefferson’s actions are consistent with his ideals?
Body 1
Were Jefferson’s actions are consistent with his ideals?
Body 2
Body 3
Conc.

14. It is important to remember that the task as asked you to identify THREE specific and important pieces.
Congratulations!

15. Question Answer Document/Outside Info
Your Outline
Question Answer Document/Outside Info
What are Jefferson’s core beliefs?
1):
2):
3):
4):
Intro
Were Jefferson’s actions are consistent with his ideals?
Body 1
Were Jefferson’s actions are consistent with his ideals?
Body 2
Were Jefferson’s actions are consistent with his ideals?
Body 3
Conc.

16. The final first step
Task: Evaluate the documents and determine if you think Jefferson lived up to his ideals and
beliefs
Using the documents, your answers to the questions in Part A, and your
Knowledge of social studies, write a well-developed paragraph that includes:
• Thesis statement with the selected choice
• Body of the paragraph that includes at least three pieces of specific
Important information from the documents that supports your argument
• A concluding statement that connects back to the thesis statement at the
Beginning of your essay. You must state whether or not you think Jefferson
Lived up to his ideals and beliefs
What questions will you need to answer next in order to successfully write this essay?

17. Remember, the final step is to add a conclusion paragraph
Remember that your conclusion must be related to your thesis statement, and you must answer whether or not you think Jefferson lived up to his ideals.

18. Question Answer Document/Outside Info
Your Outline
Question Answer Document/Outside Info
What are Jefferson’s core beliefs?
1):
2):
3):
4):
Intro
Were Jefferson’s actions are consistent with his ideals?
Body 1
Were Jefferson’s actions are consistent with his ideals?
Body 2
Were Jefferson’s actions are consistent with his ideals?
Body 3
Did Jefferson live up to his core beliefs?
Conc.

19. Your outline is done…
It is now time to move on. The next step is to take a minute and try to answer the questions on your own without even looking at the documents.

20. Time to brainstorm
Brainstorming is taking a second to organize what you know about a topic before moving on. This essay wants you to focus on Jefferson’s ideals and whether or not he lived up to them. Take a minute and make a chart like the one below and fill it in as much as you can in four minutes. MAKE SURE YOU LABEL THE LIST, something like “Brainstorming list” would be fine.
Negative effects and application of Jefferson’s beliefs
Elements of Jefferson’s Core Beliefs
Positive effects and application of Jefferson’s beliefs

21. Brainstorm Chart
Hopefully you got a few things for each column. In case you didnt I’ll give you a couple now for starters.
Negative effects of Jefferson’s ideas
Core Beliefs
Positive effects of Jefferson’s ideas
Did not free his own slaves.
Used excessive power when purchasing Louisiana
Economic intervention crippled the economy.
Equal rights for all
Small Government
Strict Constructionist
Provides the intellectual compass which guides the United States
Help create a government of the people (removed a sense of aristocracy from the office of the president.

22. Bring on the Documents!! Let’s take a look…(Well it’s about time this is a DBQ after all)
But before you do, one simple rule…. Read everything. The text introducing the document, the document itself and that little line underneath the document that tells you who wrote the document and when. Read it all!

23. Document #1
. . . The weather was mild and beautiful. Jefferson’s dress was, as usual, that without any distinctive badge of office. He broke precedent by walking to and from his swearing-in ceremony, rather than riding in a carriage as Washington and Adams did. A simple man of the people—he was even seen without his powdered wig at the Inaugural Ball.
- Reporter’s Account of Jefferson’s Inauguration
Question
Does this document provide an example of Jefferson upholding his beliefs or betraying them? Explain why.

24. The reporter makes the point that Jefferson is a more common man than Washington and Adams. No fancy clothes, no carriage, and no powdered wig at his Inaugural Ball
Now decide, is this document refers to Jefferson holding to his ideals or rejecting his ideals.

25. Example of Jefferson’s actions reflecting his
You’rrrrrrrrrrrrre rrrrrrrrrright!
Remember Jefferson likes to appear as a very simple man, and behaved much in the same way as the common people. This is in contracts to the aristocratic nature of Washington and Adams.
Example of Jefferson’s actions reflecting his
values

26. Document #2 Letter from Jefferson on Slaves
Man, probably of any colour, but of this color (black) we know, brought up from their infancy without necessity for thought or forecast, are by their habits rendered (made) as incapable as children of taking care of themselves. In the meantime they are pests in society by their idleness (being without a job)... Their combination with the other colour (white) produces a disgrace which no lover of this country, no lover of excellence in the human character can innocently approve of...
- To Edward Coles [Monticello Aug ]
Question
Does this document provide an example of Jefferson upholding his beliefs or betraying them? Explain why.

27. If you said an example of Jefferson betraying his values…
Edward Coles is speaking about how African Americans are deprived of the right of being able to provide from themselves, which is in stark contrast to Jefferson’s claim that all men are created equal, as slavery makes for unequal conditions.
You’rrrrrrrrrrrrre rrrrrrrrrright!
Example of Jefferson betraying his values

28. Document #3 Jefferson’s Proposal for a Bill
“My bill proposes: Elementary schools in every county, which shall place every householder within three miles of a school…To all of which is added a selection from the elementary schools of subjects of the most promising genius, whose parents are too poor to give them further education, to be carried at the public expense…The object is to bring into action that mass of talents which lies buried in poverty in every country…”
- Thomas Jefferson 
Question
Does this document provide an example of Jefferson upholding his beliefs or betraying them? Explain why.

29. If you said and example of Jefferson upholding his values…
You’rrrrrrrrrrrrre rrrrrrrrrright!
Jefferson’s desire that there would be free education for all of the citizens in the nation was most definitely an example of Jefferson’s desire to create a well informed public..
An Example of Jefferson upholding his
Values

30. Document #4 Slaves on Jefferson’s Plantation
Jefferson lived in Virginia on a plantation called Monticello. About eighty slaves lived and worked at Monticello. They plowed the fields, planted the wheat, and drove the wagons. They cared for the hogs and cows. Household slaves fixed food for Thomas Jefferson and his family. They washed his clothes and cared for his children. The lives of Jefferson and his family were linked with the lives of his enslaved workers.
By law, Jefferson’s slaves were his property. That meant he could buy and sell them. He could give them away. He could hire them out to other farmers. Slaves who didn’t obey were punished. And
Jefferson granted freedom to only seven slaves.

31. Charts and images can be hard, but give it some thought….
Well done, you correctly analyzed the two pictures.
Now decide, if these documents illustrate Jefferson living up to his ideals, or contraticting.
Charts and images can be hard, but give it some thought….

32. If you said an example of Jefferson betraying his values…
This image shows the living situation on Jefferson’s Monticello plantation. The reality of Jefferson’s slaveholding practices is depicted here, and those slaves were deprived of the natural rights he wrote about in the Declaration of Independence.
You’rrrrrrrrrrrrre rrrrrrrrrright!
Example of Jefferson betraying his values

33. Document #5 Memoirs of Madison Hemings [1873]
About the time of [Thomas Jefferson's appointment as minister to France] and before he was ready to leave the country his wife died, and soon after her burial...he left for France, taking his eldest daughter with him. My mother [Sally Hemings] accompanied Jefferson’s daughter as a servant...Their stay was about eighteen months. But during that time my mother became Mr. Jefferson's lover, and when she was called back home she was enceinte [i.e. pregnant] by him. He desired to bring my mother back to Virginia with him but she objected. She was just beginning to understand the French language well, and in France she was free, while if she returned to Virginia she would be re-enslaved. So she refused to return with him. To induce her to do so he promised extraordinary privileges, and made a solemn pledge that her children should be freed at the age of twenty-one years. In consequence of his promise...she returned with him to Virginia. Soon after their arrival, she gave birth to a child, of whom Thomas Jefferson was the father. It lived but a short time. She gave birth to four others, and Jefferson was the father of all of them. Their names were Beverly, Harriet, Madison (myself), and Eston--three sons and one daughter. We all became free agreeably to the treaty entered into by our parents before we were born. We all married and have raised families....

34. This was a tricky one. By fathering children with a slave who was a sister to his deceased wife Jefferson appears to behave outside of his values.
However, Jefferson did see to the fact that his children born to Ms. Sally Hemings were born free, and received an education. This document appears to be diffcult to prove either way.

35. If you said this document was an example of both…
You’rrrrrrrrrrrrre rrrrrrrrrright!
This is a document that could be an example of either as he saw to the freedom and education of his children, yet he fathered children with one of his slaves. This documents points to the contradictory nature of Jefferson. Just be sure when explaining you justify your reason.
Document is an Example of
Both

36. Document #6 Louisiana Purchase
Finalizing the deal with France had no Constitutional precedent. Nowhere in the Constitution could Jefferson find mention of the purchase of land from foreign powers. Jefferson struggled over whether to suggest an amendment or whether to finalize the deal without constitutional approval. In a letter to Wilson Cary Nicholas in 1803, Jefferson summarizes his internal conflict:
“When an instrument admits two constructions, the one safe, the other dangerous, the one precise, the other indefinite, I prefer that which is safe & precise. I had rather ask an enlargement of power from the nation where it is found necessary, than to assume it by a construction which would make our powers boundless.
Eventually, Jefferson was convinced by advisers, including Thomas Paine ( Common Sense) that the transaction was not beyond the scope of the Constitution. Jefferson purchased the land from France in 1803 and effectively doubled the size of the U.S. 
Question
Does this document provide an example of Jefferson upholding his beliefs or betraying them? Explain why.

37. Could this document be a contradiction?
This document is interesting as the addition of the Louisiana Territory was clearly in the best interest of the United States, but it was beyond the power of the present to single-handedly add land.
So the question is, what are Jefferson’s core beliefs when it comes to government, does he feel like government should exceede the power it is given by the Constitution?

38. Example of Jefferson not reflecting his
If you said this document is an example of Jefferson contradicting his values…
You’rrrrrrrrrrrrre rrrrrrrrrright!
Jefferson believed in limited government as was a loose constructionist, which means that he felt the Constitution should be interpreted strictly. So when he purchased Louisiana, though it was a great benefit to the young nation, it most certainly did contradict with Jefferson’s view o the role of the president.
Example of Jefferson not reflecting his
values

39. Document #7 Historians Account of Jefferson’s Presidency
Jefferson tried to shrink the government and cut costs wherever possible. He reduced the size of the army, halted a planned expansion of the navy, and lowered expenses for government social functions. He also rolled back Hamilton’s economic program by eliminating all internal taxes and reducing the influence of the Bank of the United States. Jefferson favored free trade rather than government-controlled trade and tariffs.
Question
Does this document provide an example of Jefferson upholding his beliefs or betraying them? Explain why.

40. Be careful, this is a secondary source, meaning it is an interpretation…
This historian is point out that Jefferson believed in limited government, and that he reduced the army and the navy, and reduced expenses for government. Finally the historian illustrated Jefferson’s belief in free trade.
Do you think that this is going to be an example of Jefferson upholding his beliefs or a contradiction of Jeffersons core beliefs?

41. Example of Jefferson’s actions reflecting his
You’rrrrrrrrrrrrre rrrrrrrrrright!
Remember Jefferson felt as though the government that governed least governed best. This is most definitely an example of Jeffersonian values at work
Example of Jefferson’s actions reflecting his
values

42. If you have…then you’re done with the Docs.
Before you say good-bye to the document package, lets just make sure you’ve done everything you were supposed to do…
Noted each document as an example of Jefferson living up to his values or now
Answered all of the scaffolding questions.
If you have…then you’re done with the Docs.

43. Now take out the outside information brainstorming list we made before
Now take out the outside information brainstorming list we made before. It should look something like this.
Brainstorm Chart
Negative effects of Jefferson’s ideas
Core Beliefs
Positive effects of Jefferson’s ideas
Did not free his own slaves.
Used excessive power when purchasing Louisiana
Economic intervention crippled the economy.
Equal rights for all
Small Government
Strict Constructionist
Provides the intellectual compass which guides the United States
Help create a government of the people (removed a sense of aristocracy from the office of the president.

44. Update your Brainstorm Chart
#1 Take out all those notes you made on the documents and
add them where they belong.
Update your Brainstorm Chart

45. Your new brainstorm list should look like this…
Elements of nationalism
Positive effects of nationalism
Negative effects of nationalism
People who share common language, religion and history
Common geography
Unites people
Jewish and Palestinian Self determination based upon common history and land (Doc #3)
Common religion creates a nation (Doc#4)
Brings counties together like Germany and Italy
Helped keep the Jews united as a people throughout the centuries
Can lead to racism (Holocaust, Arab-Israeli conflict killing of Christian converts in China (Doc4) and many others listed in Doc#7
Can start wars (Franco-Prussian War, World War I)
Can break up countries (Austria-Hungary) Doc#2B
Britain disrespects and exploits the Indian people Doc#5
Unification will unite the Italians and make them great (DOC #1)
Nationalism can create new countries (Doc 2A)
Self-determination for African nations after Imperialism Doc#6
Doesn’t look like we did too well with the brainstorming. All we’re left with is the definition of nationalism (Elements #1) and the fact that nationalism has started wars like the Franco-Prussian War (Negative #2). Hopefully you put down some other information on your own.

46. Question Answer Document/Outside Info
Your Outline
Question Answer Document/Outside Info
What is nationalism?
What:
Where:
When:
How:
Why:
Intro
How was nationalism positive (or negative) for a specific region?
Body 1
How was nationalism positive (or negative) for a specific region?
Body 2
Was nationalism a positive or negative force for the people of the world?
Conc.
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