HIPPO Document Analysis

1. HIPPOAnalysis

2. HISTORICAL
CONTEXT
DISCUSS WITHYOUR GROUPTHE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
 Where and when was the document created?
 What was going on at the time?
 Is the document a reaction to some event?
 How does this document represent the period (time)?
WRITE ONTHETABLE:
The historical context of this document is
____________________.
Example:
The historical context of this document is the Great
Awakening of the 1730’s and 1740’s.

3. INTENDED
AUDIENCE
DISCUSS WITHYOUR GROUPTHE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
 To whom is the document directed?
 One person, a small group, a large group?
 A specific person or specific people?
 How might this affect the reliability or accuracy of the
document?
WRITE ONTHETABLE:
The author’s intended audience
was_________________________.
Example:
The author’s intended audience was lazy colonial church
member’s.

4. PURPOSE
DISCUSS WITHYOUR GROUPTHE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
 Why was the document created?
 What was the author of the document trying to
accomplish?
 Did he/she have other reasons?
WRITE ONTHETABLE:
The author’s purpose in writing/creating this document
was to _______________________.
Example:
The author’s purpose in writing/creating this document
was to get church members to go back to a moral way of
life.

5. POINTOF
VIEW
DISCUSS WITHYOUR GROUPTHE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
 What is the main idea?
 What point is the author of the document trying to make?
 How does the author’s background or position impact the
message? (Race, class, gender, age, region, occupation,
values)
WRITE ONTHETABLE:
 The author’s point of view in this document was
________________ and it is shown
by_____________________.
Example:
The author’s point of view in this document was that people
are lost without the grace of God and it is shown by
comparing them to spiders about to be thrown to hell.

6. OUTSIDE
INFORMATION
DISCUSS WITHYOUR GROUPTHE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS:
 What outside information (other historical
examples/ideas/events/ issues) from the document’s
time period help explain its creation?
WRITE ONTHETABLE:
1-3 examples/ideas/events/issues

7. MANIFEST
DESTINY
BIG QUESTION:
 How did Manifest Destiny affect social life, politics, and
economics from 1820-1860?

8. SECTIONALISM
BIG QUESTION:
 What were the social, political, and economical impacts
of Sectionalism during the Antebellum period??