AP® United States History 2022 Scoring Guidelines
© 2022 College Board
Category
Scoring Criteria
Row D
Analysis and
Reasoning
(0-2 points)
Sourcing
0 points
Does not meet the criteria for one point.
1 point
For at least three documents, explains how or why the document’s point of view, purpose, historical situation,
and/or audience is relevant to an argument.
Decision Rules and Scoring Notes
Responses that do not earn this point:
• Explain sourcing for less than three of the
documents.
• Identify the point of view, purpose,
historical situation, and/or audience but
fail to explain how or why it is relevant to
an argument.
• Summarize the content or argument of
the document without explaining the
relevance of this to the point of view,
purpose, historical situation, and/or
audience.
Responses that earn this point:
• Must explain how or why—rather than simply identifying—the document’s point of view, purpose, historical
situation, or audience is relevant to an argument that addresses the prompt for each of the three documents
sourced.
Examples that do not earn this point:
Identify the point of view, purpose, historical
situation, and/or audience, but do not
explain how or why it is relevant to an
argument
• “In Document 4, the situation was like
this, the United States was taking a bunch
of Cherokee land and they were mad.”
Summarize the content of the document
without explaining the relevance of this to
the point of view, purpose, historical
situation, and/or audience
• “In Document 3, James Madison said that
the United States needs internal
improvements.”
Example of acceptable explanation of the relevance of the author’s point of view:
• (Document 5): “Stewart’s perspective as a free African American woman, especially her appeal to national
heroes such as George Washington, shows the growth of national identity across different groups in the United
States beyond White Americans.” (Provides sourcing regarding the point of view of the document relevant to
an argument that addresses the spread of national identity to different ethnic and racial groups.)
Example of acceptable explanation of the relevance of the author’s purpose:
• (Document 2): “In seeking to rally the country to war in 1812, Congress’ purpose was to drive pro-war
sentiment by appealing to the injuries inflicted on the country by Great Britain, which contributed to the growth
of a sense of national identity in the United States.” (Provides sourcing regarding the purpose of the document
relevant to an argument that addresses the growth of national identity.)
Example of acceptable explanation of the relevance of the historical situation of a source:
• (Document 3): “In the early 1800s manufacturing grew as Americans increasingly produced goods for sale.
Madison advocated for roads and canals, in part to help move these goods around the country which created a
greater feeling of national unity in many areas of the country.” (Provides sourcing regarding the historical
situation of the document relevant to an argument that addresses how commerce strengthened national
identity.)
Example of acceptable explanation of the relevance of the audience:
• (Document 4): “The appeal of the Cherokee to United States audiences, especially government officials, by
modeling the language of their government documents on the United States Constitution showed that the
Cherokee strategized how to appeal to Americans based on their national identity.” (Provides sourcing
regarding the audience of the document relevant to an argument that addresses how American national
identity grew from the perspective of Native American nations.)