Section B: American Option The origins of the Civil War, 1820-61 Read the sources and then answer both parts of the question. Source A The insurrection at Harpers Ferry was no insurrection at all. Not a single slave joined the reckless fanatics who sought to promote their hateful policy of emancipation by blood and treason. It was a silly invasion of Virginia by some eighteen men. Four or five men were killed and a few more were hanged and that will be the end of the enterprise in its mere physical aspects. However, events are often important, not on account of their immediate magnitude but on account of their significance. The great importance of the abolition riot in Virginia is that it shows to the people of the South the destiny that awaits them. Our connection with the North creates a permanent threat of insurrection in the South. The Union is a powerful organisation by which domestic unrest is created. The mightiest dangers threaten the South. From the 'Charleston (South Carolina) Mercury', October 1859. Source B There are men, both North and South—principally fanatics and fools under the control of scheming agitators—whose intentions seem to be to turn one section of the country against the other in hostile strife. These men, in the North, seize upon Brown's crime as a text to preach war against the South and, in the South, as a warrant for the dissolution of the Union. But the great mass of the people, both North and South, condemn Brown's treason. Our own opinion is that too much importance has been attached to this matter. Nor can we see any reason, in what has transpired, to urge sectional war between North and South. We are not here to say that the South has not suffered grievous wrongs and oppression from the North, for it has. However, we do not think the Southern states could better their condition by a dissolution of the Union. From the 'Arkansas Gazette', November 1859. Source C The Harpers Ferry affair ought to have been treated as the vulgar crime and outrage of a squad of reckless, desperate ruffians and they should have been accordingly tried and executed as vile criminals in the simplest and most summary manner. There should not have been the chance of elevating them to political offenders or making them representatives and champions of northern sentiment. In the South, every opportunity has been taken to portray these infamous fanatics as grand political criminals. The North, or at least the whole Republican Party, has been held responsible for their actions, which has spread the greatest excitement and indignation against that whole section. The Harpers Ferry outrage ought to have been met calmly and firmly, and made a means of added strength to us, both North and South. From a private letter by James Seddon, a Virginian lawyer and later Confederate Secretary of War, December 1859. Source D John Brown was violent, lawless and fanatical. His ruling passion was to become the instrument of abolishing slavery, by force, throughout the slaveholding states. With him, this amounted almost to insanity. The news of the attack on Harpers Ferry spread rapidly across the country. All were at first ignorant of the weakness of his force while public rumour greatly exaggerated the strength of it. In the already excited condition of public feeling throughout the South, this raid of John Brown made a deeper impression on the southern mind than all previous events. Considered merely as the isolated act of a desperate fanatic, it would have had no lasting impact. It was the enthusiastic and permanent approval of the object of his expedition by the abolitionists of the North which spread alarm and apprehension throughout the South. The Republican party has honoured him ever since as a saint or a martyr in a cause they considered so holy. From 'Mr Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion', published in 1866. The author of this book is usually accepted to be President Buchanan himself. Answer both parts of the question with reference to the sources.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Feb/Mar 2021). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. Similarities: Both describe some groups in the North as welcoming the Harpers Ferry raid: Source B 'fanatics and fools' and 'agitators' and Source D 'abolitionists'.
2. Similarities: Both agree that the reaction of these groups threaten the South: Source B 'these men ... preach war against the South' and Source D 'the abolitionists of the North spread alarm and apprehension throughout the South'.
3. Differences: Source B says these Northern supporters of the raid are a minority: 'The great mass of people, North and South, condemn Brown's treason' while.
4. Differences: Source D gives the impression that 'the abolitionists of the North' are the majority in the North, as shown by the reverence of John Brown shown by the Republican party.
5. Context/evaluation: Source B is an opinion piece from a Southern newspaper written soon after the Harpers Ferry raid. For a Southern source, it is surprisingly even-handed and restrained. Source D is an account of responses to the raid written six years later, after the Civil War was over. While seeming to claim to be a balanced account of the times, as shown by the title of the source, in fact Source D is more one-sided and partial than Source B. The best illustration of this is the failure to distinguish between the abolitionists of the North and the majority of the population of the free states.
6. Context/evaluation: Accept any other valid responses.
7. Support: Source B supports the assertion. It argues that while there was a minority of troublemakers in the South, the vast majority of men condemned the Harpers Ferry raid. The newspaper itself appeals for calm and urges Southerners not to support secessionist moves. They would be an over-reaction.
8. Support: Source C can be used to support or to challenge the assertion. It can be seen as a support because it plays down the significance of the raid, which it dismisses as 'a vulgar crime'. The author maintains that the many in the South have portrayed the raiders as 'grand political criminals' in order to build up criticism of the North. To do so is undesirable, Source C argues. The author's views make the source a challenge. He's not overreacting – and he's from the South.
9. Challenge: Source A challenges this assertion. It argues that the raid, though a 'silly invasion of Virginia by some eighteen men', was a sign of the destiny which awaited the South, namely that of insurrection and unrest, the mightiest of dangers.
10. Challenge: Source D challenges the assertion. It argues that the North exaggerated the significance of the raid, which spread alarm in the South, which caused them to react - but not overreact.
11. Evaluation: Source A is taken from a South Carolinian newspaper published soon after the raid took place. South Carolina was the most secessionist state, being the first to break away after the election of Lincoln. Thus, though the details of the raid are reasonably accurate, the conclusions about the dangers facing the South are exaggerated for effect. Thus, Source A is not really reliable.
12. Evaluation: Source B is published in a Southern newspaper and written within weeks of the Harpers Ferry raid. Source B is a more moderate response to the raid than is Source A, to which it provides a useful counterbalance. Source B does acknowledge the existence of 'fanatics and fools' in the South, among which the author of Source A might be included. Thus, it is more aware of the range of opinion in the South, making it relatively reliable.
13. Evaluation: Source C is a private letter written soon after the Harpers Ferry raid by a Southern lawyer. As might be expected of a lawyer, the argument is balanced, reasoned and reasonable. It is, however, largely the author's opinion, with little supporting evidence. In fact, at least one assertion is contradicted by Source B. The surprising feature of this source is that its author became a leading Confederate government minister in the civil war, when he supported a position he had opposed just a few years earlier. This detail is not needed to evaluate the source as written in 1859. Because it reveals the complexity of the issue, as a statement of Southern opinion at the time, Source C is useful and reliable.
14. Evaluation: Given the title of the Source and its date of publication, Source D would claim to be a disinterested account of contemporary history. Its account becomes partial only towards the end, when it blames the North's response to Harpers Ferry for provoking the response of the South, which was therefore not an overreaction. Source A shows the South overreacting straightway and not in response to the North. Thus, Source D is unreliable, a point reinforced by the provenance's description of its author.
15. Evaluation: Accept any other valid responses.