Tutorial 1: Evaluating Secondary Sources

Bias or point of view

Although most historians aim for at least a semblance of objectivity, it is often possible to detect some degree of bias. Read the following paragraph and then check the type of bias it contains.

religion
 nationality or ethnicity
 political cause (for or against)
Women won the suffrage in 1920 with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. American suffragettes modeled themselves on their British counterparts -who blew up bridges, hurled bombs, and burned churches, activities previously regarded as the exclusive privilege of Irish rebels. Using less violent methods, American women had greater success, and the adoption of the suffrage amendment climaxed a long debate in which suffragettes argued that the advent of the women's vote would initiate a new era of universal peace and benevolence, while their enemies forecast a disintegration of American society. (The chief result of woman suffrage, [H. L.] Mencken predicted, would be that adultery would replace boozing as the favorite pastime of politicians.)