Read the provided primary source documents. The first is a legal code from the Roman Republic, a sedentary, civilized state. The second is a list of laws from the Mongol Empire, a frontier empire founded by a nomadic, tribal people. The different origins of these states greatly influenced their law and politics. Your task is to use both these documents and other information from this course to answer the following question:
What was the most important difference in the relationship between the state and its citizens in the Roman Republic and the Mongol Empire?
Keep in mind that there is no definite right or wrong answer to this question. The primary objectives here are to think critically, express yourself clearly, identify an argument (thesis) and defend that argument thoroughly with evidence from both the source documents and your course readings. It is best to focus on a single issue or concept for this assignment.
This paper should be an essay of 3 to 4 pages.
The Sources:
An excerpt from the Twelve Tables, a legal code used in the Roman Republic.
(In the Course Readings folder in Moodle)
The Yasa, or Laws of Chingiz Khan, a legal code used in the Mongol Empire in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. (In the Course Readings folder in Moodle)
For more information on the Roman Republic, see Chapter 6 of the textbook. For more information on the Mongols, see Chapter 12.
Assignment Objectives
The learning objectives of this assignment include:
the ability to analyze historical evidence critically;
the ability to use the secondary source materials from the course to place such historical evidence within its larger historical context; and
the ability to explain your insights in a grammatically correct, formal paper
General words of advice:
read each document several times carefully;
identify the documents authors in terms of time period, region, and historical context;
consider each author’s purpose, anticipated audience, and any obvious or unspoken ideological positions on issues such as religion, class, gender, etc.
consider what can (and can’t) be learned about history from these documents; and
study the language of each document and be aware what kind of source it is (in this case, an official government document)
Essay Format
Papers must be presented formally according to collegiate conventions. For example:
In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, include:
Your Full Name
Title of Course
Name of Instructor
Date
Provide a title to your essay that captures its content. There is no need for an individual title page.
Include page numbers.
Double-space your essay, with the exception of long quotations, which should be indented and single spaced. (Long quotes should be used with caution in a paper of this length!) 12-point Times New Roman or similar type is preferred. Margins should be about 1 top and bottom and 1.25 on each side (i.e. typical MS Word default settings).
Provide citations for the documents and sources you use. Do not include a bibliography for this short paper.
Check for spelling, grammar and typos (including those not caught by spell check! Dont loose points that way).
Citations
For this paper, you do not need to fully cite the primary documents. Refer to quotes or other references to these documents by title and page number– or statute number in this case. For example: (Yasa, number 15). You can (and should) use any of the other course books and readings. Cite any reference to another course reading by title and page number, as in (Understanding World Societies, page 620). Place all citations in the body text, at the end of the relevant sentence or paragraph. There is no need for endnotes/footnotes or a bibliography.
Outside sources should not be used for this project.
For more information on completing this assignment, consult the Advice for writing the short response paper document (in the Course Documents folder on Moodle).
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