Remember our InSix Skills? In order to help you understand history, we’ve started talking about a note-taking system called the InSix Skills. The InSix Skills include Chronology, Causality, Change Agent(s), Drama, Trends, and Bias; previously we’ve looked at Chronology, Causality, Change Agent(s), Drama, and Trends. Now we’ll take a look at the very last skill: the recognition of Bias.
Not everything you read or hear is the absolute truth.
Not everything said or written by a historical character is completely true. Sometimes, people you read about may have cause to lie. Sometimes they may simply omit facts that could change a person’s point of view on a situation. Sometimes they may repeat what they think is true, but they were wrong.
Because our understanding of history is made up largely of the testimony of eyewitnesses, historians have to be very careful when reading primary sources. They have to remember that just because it was said or written by someone who lived at the time doesn’t mean it is the truth. Everyone displays bias in one form or another. “Bias” is a predisposition towards feeling a certain way about something. In other words, bias is when you feel like you’d answer a question a certain way no matter what.
For example, imagine someone asking your history teacher if history was an enjoyable subject. That teacher might reply, “history is awesome!” The bias is that your history teacher teaches that subject, and so he or she is predisposed to be positive towards it.
One of the most important things you can learn as you study history is how to recognize bias in a primary source.
Question: Who is the author of the source? What is his profession? What is the point of the quote? Is the author being positive or negative about the subject matter? Can you identify any reason that the author would have to be predisposed towards saying what he is saying?
To-Do: Who people are and what they do is the biggest clue to a potential bias. Identify who is providing the quote and what he or she does first. Next, decide what the person is saying. Finally, identify the tone of what the person has said. Is he or she being positive or negative?
Now plug the answers to those questions into this sentence, replacing the underlined words: Why would this specific person, who does this specific job, be predisposed to say this using this tone? Now that you have completed that Bias Analysis sentence, you can identify why the person might be predisposed to say/do what he or she said/did!
We can practice identifying bias by taking a look at this letter, written by Sam Houston to Andrew Jackson in the year leading up to the Texas Revolution:
“DEAR SIR: Having been as far as Bexar, in the province of Texas, where I had an interview with the Comanche Indians, I am in possession of some information that will doubtless be interesting to you, and may be calculated to forward your views, if you should entertain any, touching the acquisition of Texas by the United States. That such a measure is desirable by nineteen twentieths of the population of the province, I can not doubt. They are now without laws to govern or protect them. Mexico is involved in civil war. The federal constitution has never been in operation. The government is essentially despotic, and must be so for years to come. The rulers have not honesty, and the people have not intelligence.
The people of Texas are determined to form a state government, and to separate from Coahuila; and, unless Mexico is soon restored to order, and the constitution revived and reenacted, the province of Texas will remain separate from the confederacy of Mexico. She has already beaten and expelled all the troops of Mexico from her soil, nor will she permit them to return. She can defend herself against the whole power of Mexico; for really Mexico is powerless and penniless to all intents and purposes. Her want of money, taken in connection with the course which Texas must and will adopt, will render a transfer of Texas inevitable to some power; and if the United States does not press for it, England will most assuredly obtain it by some means. Now is a very important crisis for Texas, as relates to her future prosperity and safety, as well as the relation it is to bear toward the United States. If Texas is desirable to the United States, it is now in the most favorable attitude, perhaps, that it can be, to obtain it on fair terms. England is pressing her suit for it, but its citizens will resist if any transfer should be made of them to any other power but the United States.
I have traveled nearly five hundred miles across Texas, and am now enabled to judge pretty correctly of the soil and the resources of the country. And I have no hesitation in pronouncing it the finest country, to its extent, upon the globe; for, the greater portion of it is richer and more healthy, in my opinion, than West Tennessee. There can be no doubt but the country east of the Rio Grande Would sustain a population of ten millions of souls. My opinion is, that Texas will, by her members in convention on the first of April, declare all that country as Texas proper, and form a state constitution. I expect to be present at the convention, and will apprise you of the course adopted so soon as its members have taken a final action. It is probable I may make Texas my abiding-place: in adopting this course, I will never forget the country of my birth.
...Permit me to tender you my sincere felicitations, and most earnest solicitude for your health and happiness—and your future glory, connected with the prosperity of the Union.
Your friend and obedient servant,
SAM HOUSTON.”
Prompt
Below, please post:
What bias can you find in Sam Houston's letter about Texas?
Back up your assertion with evidence from the source and from your historical knowledge.
In Sam Houston's letter about Texas, bias can be found in his positive portrayal of Texas and his negative portrayal of Mexico. Houston states that Texas is a desirable acquisition by the United States because of the lack of laws, despotic government, and lack of honesty and intelligence among Mexican rulers and people. He claims that the people of Texas are determined to separate from Coahuila and can defend themselves against Mexico.
The bias in Houston's letter can be seen in his own position as a prominent figure in the Texas Revolution. Houston was a key leader and military commander during the revolution, and his personal interests and motivations may have influenced his portrayal of Texas and Mexico. He may have wanted to present Texas as a valuable prize for the United States, highlighting its resources and potential for prosperity, in order to gain support from the United States for the independence of Texas. On the other hand, Houston may have wanted to downplay the capabilities and legitimacy of Mexico in order to justify the actions of the Texan revolutionaries and make their cause more appealing to potential allies like the United States. Hence, his positive portrayal of Texas and negative portrayal of Mexico can be attributed to his bias as a Texan leader and his strategic goals during this period of history.