Reference no: EM133445616

Assignment:

Types of Causes

In looking for the causes of a historical event, a primary consideration is chronology*-that is, the order in which key events took place (Waring, 2010). For one event to have caused another event, it must have taken place before the second event. But chronology does not tell us the whole story: just because one event happened before another does not necessarily mean that it caused the second event.

In a famous example often cited by logicians, the fact that a rooster crowed before sunrise does not mean that the rooster caused the sun to rise. This is an example of what logicians and historians call the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy* (Carroll, 2015).

Historians also distinguish between proximate causes and ultimate causes. A proximate cause* is an event that immediately precedes, or is directly responsible for causing, some other event. The proximate cause of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment was the vote by the Tennessee House of Representatives to approve the amendment on August 18, 1920.

An ultimate cause* (also known as a distal cause) is an event that, when viewed at a higher level, may be considered to be the real reason an event occurred. One of the ultimate causes of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment was the shift in American public attitudes toward the role of women in society.

At the most simplistic level, a proximate cause tells us how an event happened; an ultimate cause is more likely to tell us why it happened. It's important to remember that most historical events have multiple proximate and ultimate causes (Palazzo, 2007).

In considering the relative importance of different causes, historians often divide them into necessary causes and contributory causes (Waring, 2010). A necessary cause* is an event or trend that is essential to causing some other event; without the necessary cause, the second event could not take place. Approval by 36 state legislatures was a necessary cause for ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.

By contrast, contributory causes* are not essential to causing some other event, but they may make that event more likely to occur. President Woodrow Wilson's eventual decision to come out in favor of woman suffrage was a contributory cause for ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, but it was not an essential factor in the Amendment's success.

Once again, most historical events have multiple necessary and contributory causes.

Answer the following question using short sentences:

Congress held its final vote to approve the Nineteenth Amendment on June 4, 1919. Was this a necessary or a contributory cause of the success of the woman suffrage movement?