A Boston newspaper run by Patriots called the 1770 shooting a massacre of unarmed townspeople. A British officer's report said soldiers fired after a crowd threw objects at them. What do both accounts agree on?

A Boston Patriot's 1773 diary calls the tea destroyed in the harbor a protest against a tax. A London company's loss report calls the same night a theft of valuable cargo. How do the two accounts differ?

In 1788 a Federalist essay argued the new Constitution gave the national government enough power to keep order. An Anti-Federalist letter warned that the same power would swallow up the states. What did the two disagree about?

Two accounts describe a 1777 battle: a letter a soldier wrote in camp the night of the fighting, and a chapter in a history book published in 1977. What can the history book do that the soldier's letter cannot?

A ship captain's log records storms hour by hour during a 1750 Atlantic crossing. A London merchant's letter, written after the ship docked, reports only that the cargo arrived late. Whose account better shows the weather at sea?

Two accounts describe the 1838 forced removal of Cherokee families west: a letter by a Cherokee man walking the route, and a report in a distant city's newspaper based on government notices. Whose account shows conditions on the road?

An 1850 plantation ledger lists the number of enslaved people and the cotton picked each day. A narrative by a man once enslaved there describes hunger, punishment, and families separated by sale. What can only the narrative tell us?

After an 1862 battle, a Northern newspaper and a Southern newspaper printed the same date and place but very different counts of soldiers lost. What best explains why the counts differ?

Frederick Douglass wrote his own account of escaping enslavement and speaking against it. A reporter who heard one of his speeches printed a short summary the next day. What can Douglass's own account give that the summary cannot?

Susan B. Anthony voted in 1872 and was arrested for it. Her own letters describe the case in her words. The court's written record lists the charge against her and the fine. What do her letters add?

Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery in December 1955 after refusing to give up her bus seat. A city newspaper reported the arrest that week. Parks described it in a book she wrote years later. What can her book give that the newspaper cannot?

A radio reporter described the 1963 March on Washington live as Martin Luther King Jr. spoke. A historian's book about the same march was published in 2003. What can the book do that the live report could not?

An immigrant arriving at Ellis Island in 1905 wrote home about the long wait and the medical inspection. An inspector's register for that day lists each arrival's name, age, and ship. What does the letter show that the register does not?

Two careful eyewitnesses to the same event can write accounts that disagree about some details.

If two accounts of one event disagree about how many people were present, that proves one writer invented the whole event.

In 1825 a farmer's diary notes that shipping wheat east on the new canal suddenly cost far less. An engineer's report on the same canal describes how the locks were built. Whose account better shows the canal's effect on trade?

A colonial assembly sent one account of a 1765 tax protest to Parliament in London and printed a different account for townspeople at home. The two accounts stressed different details. What best explains the difference?

A soldier's letter says he stood in the crowd and heard Abraham Lincoln speak. A newspaper printed the full text of the speech the next day. What can the soldier's letter show that the newspaper's printed text cannot?

Two students read different accounts of the same town meeting. Account A says the mayor's plan was popular, while Account B says many residents opposed it. What should the students do first to understand the difference?

True or False: An account written by someone who was at an event is always more accurate than a historian's later book about it.