Teacher note: Give the short excerpt and metadata first, then offer the full linked record for checking. A source excerpt is deliberately incomplete; students must say what it cannot show. Read the quoted historical words aloud only with their date and author. A–E are the core American Revolution dossier. I/J are optional skill-transfer cards from the different QCAA Industrial Revolution topic; they do not count toward teaching that topic. Cards F–H are reserved for fresh public checks and do not appear here.
A · Declaration, July 1776
Maker and setting: Second Continental Congress, declaration adopted 4 July 1776, publicly explaining a break with Britain. The US National Archives transcript has the phrases “all men are created equal” and “consent of the governed.” Source kind: primary public political argument. Claim it can support: the Congress declared an equality and consent ideal. Cannot alone support: that every resident had equal political rights in 1776, or that every colonist agreed. Plain-language bridge: leaders argued that legitimate government draws authority from people who are governed; this is our paraphrase, not the archival text.
B · Abigail Adams, March 1776
Maker and setting: Abigail Adams wrote to John Adams on 31 March 1776 while political change was being discussed. The Library of Congress account reproduces “Remember the Ladies” and “laws in which we have no voice or representation.” Source kind: primary private letter. Claim it can support: this woman advocated consideration of women's voice in the new laws. Cannot alone support: that all women shared one position or that lawmakers acted on her request. Plain-language bridge: Adams asked that the new laws should not leave women without representation; this is our paraphrase.
C · Articles of Confederation, 1777/1781
Maker and setting: Continental Congress adopted the Articles in November 1777; all thirteen states ratified by March 1781. Article II says, “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence.” National Archives record. Source kind: primary governing document. Claim it can support: Article II reserves powers to states unless delegated. Cannot alone support: that the arrangement worked well in every case, or that “state sovereignty” meant individual freedom. Date note: adopted 1777 ≠ fully ratified 1781.
D · Treaty of Paris, September 1783
Maker and setting: British and US negotiators signed a peace treaty on 3 September 1783. Article 1 acknowledges the US as “free sovereign and Independent States.” National Archives record and transcript. Source kind: primary diplomatic agreement. Claim it can support: British formal recognition of US independence. Cannot alone support: that this change delivered equal freedom to every person living in the new states. Plain-language bridge: a government formally recognised another government's independence; this is not a statement about each individual's rights.
E · Later archive interpretation
Maker and setting: The US National Archives' 2021 public-history discussion notes that women, enslaved people and Indigenous peoples were not included equally in the 1776 declaration's promise. Source kind: modern interpretation/secondary commentary. Claim it can support: an archive's present-day framing of the exclusion question. Cannot alone support: a single settled explanation of each group's experiences, or a direct first-person 1776 view. Bridge: test this interpretation against independent period sources, including voices of those affected; do not assume one official account is the whole history.
I · Optional cross-topic factory inspector, 1836
Different Unit 1 option: QCAA's Industrial Revolution, 1760s–1890s, not part of the American Revolution topic. The UK National Archives transcript of an 1836 Factory Inspector's Report includes the inspector's words “I took the evidence from the mouths of the boys themselves.” He then reports their account of unusually long work and checking a time book. Source kind: primary official report containing the inspector's account of interviews; not the boys' own surviving interview transcript. Can support: that this inspector reported a specific alleged breach. Cannot alone support: every factory's conditions, the exact experience of each worker, or the overall success/failure of the 1833 Act. Read the full archive transcript for a close study.
J · Optional cross-topic enforcement table, 1862/1863
Different Unit 1 option: Industrial Revolution. The UK National Archives transcript of a factory-inspection table is from an 1863 report listing selected 1862 proceedings. One entry records “Employing three young persons after 6p.m.” Source kind: primary administrative record compiled in an inspector's report. Can support: that a particular alleged after-hours offence was recorded in a selected case. Cannot alone support: how common violations were across all workplaces, whether every allegation was proven, or the full impact of factory law. Check the outcome column and the complete report before claiming conviction or prevalence.
Evidence habit: Write source ID + date + words/fact used + what remains unknown before making a broad claim. “Reliable” is a question about a source's use for a particular claim, not a permanent badge.