U.S. CONGRESS DURING THE 1790S

The Short Paper: U.S. Congress during the 1790s Assignment will allow you to research the
early American Congressional sessions and better understand the century of lawmaking during
the American founding. The assignment’s purpose is to enhance the historian’s grasp of the early
American founding era by investigating and interpreting primary and secondary source evidence.
INSTRUCTIONS
You will write a 2-page short research paper on a key person, event, idea, action, or another
important aspect of the congressional debates of the 1790s, which include the sessions of the 1st
through 5th Congress. The paper must use at a minimum 3 scholarly sources (2 primary from the
Annals of Congress and 1 secondary) and apply current Turabian formatting throughout. The
paper must be a full 2 pages but must not exceed 2 ¼ pages with footnotes applied. So be concise
in your writing and verify proper citations, including the use of footnote Ibid. and shortened
versions.
Overall, you must:
1) Identify the key person, event, idea, or action from the 1790s congressional sessions.
2) Provide a very brief historical narrative of the identified topic.
3) Explain the significance of your selected topic.
4) Rationalize how this key person, event, idea, or action impacted the development of
America.