5. Read these three passages and answer the questions that follow. (10 points) Passage 1: The people are extremely well qualified for choosing those whom they are to intrust with part of their authority. They have only to be determined by things to which they cannot be strangers, and by facts that are obvious to sense. They can tell when a person has fought many battles, and been crowned with success; they are therefore very capable of electing a general. They can tell when a judge is assiduous in his office, gives general satisfaction, and has never been charged with bribery. . . . These are facts of which they can have better information in a public forum than a monarch in his palace. . . . It is likewise a fundamental law, in democracies, that the people should have the sole power to enact laws. And yet there are a thousand occasions on which it is necessary the senate should have a power of decreeing: nay, it is frequently proper to make some trial of a law before it is established.
—Baron de Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws1

Passage 2: Generally speaking, a small State is stronger in proportion than a great one. A thousand arguments could be advanced in favour of this principle. First, long distances make administration more difficult. . . . Administration therefore becomes more and more burdensome as the distance grows greater; for, in the first place, each city has its own, which is paid for by the people: each district its own, still paid for by the people: then comes each province, and then the great governments, satrapies, and vice-royalties, always costing more the higher you go. . . . All these over charges are a continual drain upon the subjects. . . . This is not all. . . . The same laws cannot suit so many diverse provinces with different customs, situated in the most various climates, and incapable of enduring a uniform government. Different laws lead only to trouble and confusion among peoples. . . . Talent is buried, virtue unknown and vice unpunished, among such a multitude of men who do not know one another, gathered together in one place at the seat of the central administration. —Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract2

Passage 3: A strong central government is vital to maintaining a country's national security and building a prosperous economy. If individual communities and states have too much power, a country will be unable to coordinate effective economic policies on a national level. Each state government will make selfish decisions that benefit its citizens at the expense of other states. Even worse, some states may use their independence to enforce laws that are socially unacceptable to the rest of the country, such as legalized racial discrimination. The only effective way to address these problems is to strip states of as much political power as possible. A powerful central government should have the authority to make decisions that will benefit all the citizens of a country. Anyone who disagrees is most likely a radical supporter of states' rights who probably wants to break up the United States completely!
Questions:

Describe any bias found in each source. If you feel that a particular source does not contain bias, explain why.
Describe the context surrounding each source. If you are unable to determine the context, explain how you would find it.

Describe each source's level of reliability. If you are unsure about a source's reliability, explain how you would determine it.

Explain the extent to which each source is corroborated by the other sources. If a source does not seem to be corroborated by the others, explain how you might find a source that would corroborate it.