Historians substantiate their interpretations of the past by supporting their claims with evidence from primary sources. This is why two of the key assessment objectives at A Level are: Understanding and evaluating historical interpretations. Using and assessing a range of historical sources Part 1: What role did the key figures in the peace process play? Is it possible to argue that there was one key figure or group? This task provides A Level students with a collection of sources which will allow them to evaluate the role of key players and perhaps reach a judgement on how the work of these key players came together. Study each interpretation and summarise the key points made by the historian. What do they argue is the most important factor, individual or group? How did this contribute to the peace process and Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement? What challenges and obstacles had to be overcome? What evidence is given to support this interpretation? Does the historian’s biographical information help to explain their interpretation? From your own knowledge how convincing do you find this interpretation? What further evidence would you want to find in the documents to make the interpretation convincing? If you were to provide a one-word summary of this individual’s contribution, which of these would you choose, or can you think of a better word? Obstructive / Unhelpful / Marginal / Constructive / Helpful / Pragmatic / Visionary / Essential Part 2: Testing the views against the documents This resource is NOT an exam practice paper. It is designed to explore how historians think about documents and make use of them. Students are introduced to the concept of a line of argument and to testing this against evidence from a range of documents. This will enable them to respond more effectively to the source and interpretation papers in their examinations. All of the documents come from either: The National Archives of the United Kingdom The National Archives of Ireland The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland For each document a number of discussion questions are posed which are designed to engage students in focused reading of the text. Students are then asked to consider whether the document could be used as evidence to support a particular view. Carefully study the pack of 10 documents about the peace process. Decide whether each document could be used as evidence to support Views 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. Remember that documents may support more than one view Decide whether they constitute strong, convincing evidence or whether more evidence is required to substantiate the interpretation and support the historian’s line of argument. Please note, the transcripts of the resources retain any typographical errors included in the original documents.

The Boston Tea party marked a critical moment in the history of the American Revolution as an act of colonial defiance against British rule. In Boston harbour, on 16 December 1773, American colonists, disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded British ships and threw 342 chests of tea owned by the East India Company into the water. It was a protest about the tax on tea, levied without representation in the British Parliament and against the monopoly of the East India Company. The earlier Townshend Acts placed duties on a range of imports to the colonies. These had been repealed; however, the tax on tea remained. A Tea Act was passed in the spring of 1773 to help the East India Company, which faced financial difficulties, and enabled its control of the trade in tea. To further assert its authority over the colonies, and in response to the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament passed several acts known as the Coercive Acts. To the colonists, these became known as the Intolerable Acts and paved the way for further resistance and the American Revolution. Use the documents in this lesson to explore context for the Boston Tea Party and see what some of the documents from the British side reveal about this event and beyond.

On 4 August 1972, General Idi Amin, leader of Uganda declared his intension to expel all Asian passport holders from Uganda. This was regardless of whether they were British nationals. He argued that since they had all been British subjects at some point, he was right to include even those who had taken out Ugandan citizenship. What was the impact of this decision on the lives of Ugandan Asians? What did it mean to become stateless? What was Amin’s motivation for this policy? How did the British Government respond to his actions? What was the reaction of the British public? British Ugandan Asians at 50 logo Use this lesson to find original documents and video testimonies which explore the expulsion of Ugandan Asians and their experience as refugees in Britain. This lesson has been developed with the support of the British Ugandan Asians at 50, a programme of the India Overseas Trust. We are grateful for their generosity in supplying the video testimonies included in this lesson.

The two documents selected within this package (one from the National Archives of Ireland and one from the National Archives in Kew) reveal the doubts about whether a peace agreement for Northern Ireland could be reached just days before it was finally signed by all parties. The documents also cover all the twists and turns of the final 72 hours of negotiation. It is expected that students will already have completed ‘The Road to the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement’ lesson pack, although this is not essential. This lesson provides a contrast to that lesson: whereas the previous lesson focussed more on the barriers to peace, this centres more on how agreement was reached. In the main activity, students are encouraged to analyse extracts from a long document, a report on the final 72 hours written by John Holmes, Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to Tony Blair. In a similar process to lessons 1- 2, they need to look for: any evidence that the talks are going well or that an agreement is close any evidence that there are still challenges or that agreement seems far away key turning points / actions of individuals that make breakthrough possible They will chart the progress of the negotiations by plotting the 20 points on a graph to represent them in a visual form (teachers may wish to remove extracts in order to cut down the number students need to examine). Learning objectives By the end of the session, students will: know what barriers still stood in the way of an agreement, 7–10 April 1998 understand how the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement was finally achieved be able to use contemporary documents to deepen your understanding Please note, the transcripts of the resources retain any typographical errors included in the original documents.

The resource takes a twin-track approach. Track 1: The significance of the Downing Street Declaration The six documents raise awareness and understanding of key events, developments and processes which contributed in some way to the Downing Street Declaration and the wider peace process. The main question is : What was the significance of the Downing Street Declaration? In one sense the answer to this is simple: the Declaration, as Source 6 clearly states, was designed to offer the Republican movement in Northern Ireland a pathway towards an end to violent action. Of course, the process of reaching a point where the Declaration could be made was far from simple. There were many contributory factors: individuals, groups, movements; developments in Ireland and the USA. These documents provide an insight into the workings and impact of just a few of these factors. Track 2: How historians use sources Making effective use of sources is not some mechanical process or skill which is separate from knowledge and context. It is a craft which experts take many years to develop and constantly look to improve on. The examination paper for this part of the CCEA GCSE History course places great stock on asking students to assess how the sources they are given would be useful and/or reliable in the context of particular questions. This resource is NOT an examination practice paper. It is designed to take one step back from the exam question-based approach and to explore how historians think about documents and make use of them. The aim is that by understanding this set of fundamentals, students will be better equipped for the inevitably more limited approaches which examination conditions place on them. Students are introduced to the two tracks in Slides 1-10 and then they can look at the documents. Students should look at each document and complete the table, so that they are recording: Reasons why the Downing Street Declaration came about, why key groups or individuals were involved, why and progress was difficult; Impact of particular events, actions, individuals; Changes taking place at the time; How the process worked which eventually led to the Downing Street Declaration came – meetings, discussions, documents; and Attitudes of the various groups and individuals involved. For each document, there are additional questions to aid students in their analysis. Students should complete the table before discussing what they consider to be the significance of the Downing Street Declaration. Once students have decided on a line of argument, they should develop an extended paragraph in response to the question “What was the significance of the Downing Street Declaration?” Their answer should explain why they have come to their conclusion what evidence from the sources supports their assessment. Please note, the transcripts of the resources retain any typographical errors included in the original documents.

Use the British government sources in this lesson to explore the complicated reasons behind the Chinese Civil War and its outcome, including party ideology, propaganda, fighting tactics, and power struggles. In 1940s China, two parties were fighting for power. On one side was the ruling nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party, led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. On the other was the opposing Chinese Communist Party (CCP), led by Mao Zedong. During the Second World War, both parties banded together to fight off Japanese occupation. However, after the war, peace talks between the two quickly broke down. The fighting between the two parties became ongoing before escalating into civil war. The civil war was eventually won by the CCP in 1949. Mao declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949. Chiang Kai-shek, meanwhile, fled to the island of Taiwan, where he continued to rule.

A lesson plan and resources to learn about what it was like living in a late 19th century mining town.

This lesson provides pupils with the opportunity to work with some of the most exciting documents to be released for years. The supporting sources, detail two of the proposed assassination plans that formed part of Operation Foxley.

Use this lesson to explore archival sources relating to the life of Dr James Barry. James Barry, born in 1795 in Cork, Ireland, became a leading doctor with a glittering medical career who did much to raise standards of medical care in and outside the army. He chose to exclusively live and identify as a man, having been assigned female at birth. Sources in The National Archives show how his biological sex became a matter of discussion amongst some of his contemporaries after his death in 1865 and that it was publicly reported. Such an intrusion into a person’s personal life is completely unacceptable today. Archives can reveal historical sources for LGBTQ+ lives that can help us to understand their stories and how they were treated in society. Sometimes, these histories appear to be ‘hiding in plain sight’, and other times are more difficult to find. Our understanding of gender and sexuality has changed a lot since the times of James Barry. ‘Transgender’, meaning someone whose gender identity differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth, was not a term used in the 1800s. However, research has highlighted the significance of James Barry as a transgender man in the history of medicine as both a pioneer and reformer. The text here uses the pronouns he/him in accordance with how Dr James Barry identified himself throughout his life. In the first document shown here, which reveals his appointment as Inspector General of Hospitals in 1857, he signed as ‘Dr James Barry, M.D. Esquire.’

This lesson can be used with key stage 3 pupils in year 9. It looks at the story of the Bussa rebellion on Barbados based on evidence relating to the reaction of the British authorities.

This lesson explores the worsening relations between Christians and Jews in the latter half of the thirteenth century. Use the sources to investigate the religious, economic, and social factors that led to the Jews being expelled from England in c. 1290. Could this extreme royal tactic have been avoided? Following almost two centuries of Christians and Jews living alongside each other, King Edward I expelled England’s entire Jewish population in the autumn of 1290. As the previous two lessons have shown, Jews had once been prominent in national finance and local trade at key regional centres like York, Lincoln and London, yet by the end of the thirteenth century, Jewish individuals were no longer able to reside ‘freely and honourably’ in England nor enjoy the same ‘liberties and customs’ as their predecessors. They were expelled from the realm as perfidious (faithless) men. The reign of King Edward I (1272-1307) witnessed a heightening of tensions between the Christian and Jewish populations in England. Before relations between the two faiths had been occasionally difficult, subject to prejudice around crusading propaganda and the varying levels of debt owed to Jewish moneylenders but horrific outbursts, such as the attack on York’s Jewish population in March 1190, were few and far between. Edward, however, placed new emphasis on the status of Jews in England. The Statute of Jewry c. 1275 outlined that Jews had to live in specific areas of the king’s towns; those aged over seven had to wear a badge that visually identified them as being Jewish; all aged over twelve years were to pay a tax of 3 pence each Easter; and Jews could only sell property or negotiate debts with the king’s permission. New rules paired with heavy taxation and growing suspicions surrounding the coin-clipping events in the late 1270s led to mounting pressure on Christian-Jewish relations. By the late 1280s, Edward could only secure parliament’s grant of further taxation to aid his war with France by making sacrifices. The expulsion of the Jews was the price he agreed to pay.

To mark the 100-year commemorations of the Representation of the People Act, the Education Service worked with professional film-maker, Nigel Kellaway, to engage young people (aged 16-19) with suffrage records held at The National Archives. ‘Suffrage Tales’ is the outcome of this project; a short stop-motion animation film, researched, created and filmed during Sunday 30 July – Friday 4 August 2017. As the power of the vote comes under scrutiny and provokes highly contentious debate, this film throws light upon the historical context of the franchise in a uniquely refreshing way. The young people involved drew upon a wide range of documents from our collection, to produce a film about their interpretations of the fight for women’s suffrage. The film is now presented here as an educational resource, teaching tales of Suffrage with accompanying questions for use in the classroom.

Gellir defnyddio’r llun hwn gyda disgyblion cyfnod allweddol 3 ym mlwyddyn 8. Mae’n edrych ar hanes helyntion Beca drwy gyfrwng tystiolaeth ar natur y Mudiad, profiad rhai o’r bobl a oedd yn rhan ohonynt ac ymateb yr awdurdodau. Also available in English

This video from our ‘Spotlight On’ series features Records Specialist Mark Dunton looking at records from the Cabinet Office. This video focuses on one document relating to a cabinet meeting in 1981 during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher.

This video is part of our ‘Spotlight On’ series and features Modern Records Specialist Kevin Searle looking at records from the Home Office. This video focuses on some of the evidence and papers gathered to prepare the Scarman Report on causes of the Brixton uprisings. The title of the document is: ‘Inquiry into 1981 Brixton Disturbances (Scarman Inquiry): Evidence and Papers.’

This video from our ‘Spotlight On’ series features collections expert Will Butler looking at our War Office series. This video focuses on a manual from August 1918 about the role of tanks in warfare. It helps explore the impact of this technology during the First World War.

This video is part of our ‘Spotlight On’ series and features Contemporary Records Specialist Mark Dunton looking at twentieth century records from the Prime Minister’s Office relating to the start of the Suez Crisis in 1956.

This video from our ‘Spotlight On’ series features Records Specialist Dr Juliette Desplat looking at records from the Foreign Office. This video focuses on two documents relating to the British government’s reaction to the Russian Revolution.

This video from our ‘Spotlight On’ series features Records Specialist Daniel Gilfoyle looking at records from the Colonial Office. This video focuses on two documents relating to the Baptist War in 1831 led by Samuel Sharpe against slavery in Jamaica which shed light on resistance to slavery in the British Caribbean.

This video is part of our educational ‘Spotlight On’ series. This video features collections expert Sean Cunningham looking at records from our State Papers collection. He focuses on a ballad relating to the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536-7 from SP1, our series of State Papers relating to Henry VIII.