You Are Not Writing the Dbq

ITALY DBQ

In the mid-19th Century the states in the Italian peninsula began to show signs of unity. From 1830-1870, several debates arose over Italian national identity and unification. This set of documents gives many different points of view on the Italian national identity and the prospect of unification. With a partner, you are going to set up an outline on how you would answer this DBQ’s prompt (which is on the DBQ you will get). You will read over the documents, and then do the following:

 Create a thesis that would answer the prompt  Use a majority of the documents  Group the documents into at least three appropriate categories  Analyze the points of view/bias in at least three documents  Use outside information from class and homework to support your argument

Think of this as an annotated outline. For each part of your outline, you should explain what documents you are using, who is writing them, and why you would use them. So, an example is below (NOTE: THIS IS NOT A REAL ANSWER TO THE QUESTION.)

I. Introduction A. Thesis: An overwhelming number of Italians had no national identity, though some in the north were in favor. The idea of unification did not take hold, therefore, and people around the world made sure to keep it that way.

II. Group 1: National Identity A. Why Don’t Most Have a Feeling of Identity? 1) Document Z: Most people felt that it was useless to unify and were happy with their own individual states, according to this survey of peasants. 2) Document Y: A peasant from Sicily says, “There are no Italians here, just Sicilians,” showing that the people themselves aren’t on board with the idea. 3) Outside knowledge: Foreign countries occupied many parts of Italy, so that could have contributed to a lack of common culture. B. Why Do Some Have a Feeling of National Identity? 1) Document X: Some people are very loyal to the state, as indicated by this document from the leader of the province of Parma. He says that the people celebrate all major holidays with great nationalistic fervor. However, this may be biased because the leader obviously wants to show how much people love his state.

Note that the document used is clearly indicated, and the reason for using said document is explained. The flow of your argument is clear. Remember, YOU ARE NOT WRITING THE DBQ!!! This is simply an outline so Mr. Weaver can determine if we’re approaching it correctly.