An American Plague by Jim Murphy

Why most likely does the excerpt begin with the quote from Elizabeth Drinker?

“8 or 10 persons buried out of Water St. between Race and Arch Sts.; many sick in our neighborhood, and in ye City generally.”

—Elizabeth Drinker, August 21, 1793

• To give a sense of hope

• To illustrate the geography of the city

• To foreshadow Catherine will be the main character

• To show the grave the situation that the doctors were stepping into

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CCSS.RL.7.9

CCSS.RL.8.9

Which of these inferences is best supported by the text?

“8 or 10 persons buried out of Water St. between Race and Arch Sts.; many sick in our neighborhood, and in ye City generally.”

• Catherine LeMaigre had been a close friend of Dr. Hodge’s daughter.

• Elizabeth Drinker ultimately discovered the cure to yellow fever.

• Dr. Hodge’s family lived in the area around Water Street.

• Neither Dr. Hodge nor Dr. Foulke had ever heard of John Redman before meeting Benjamin Rush.

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CCSS.RI.6.10

CCSS.RI.7.10

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CCSS.RL.5.10

Choose the sentence that would best add descriptive detail to Paragraph 6.

"Rush was forty-seven years old and so highly respected that he was often called in by colleagues when they were baffled by a case. His medical training had been extensive, consisting of five years of apprenticeship with the pre-eminent doctor in the United States, John Redman. After this he had gone to Europe to study under the most skilled surgeons and doctors in the western world. "

• “At this point, Catherine LeMaigre began developing skin sores on her arms and neck.”

• “When he returned from Europe, Rush used his medical training by working a professor at the College of Philadelphia.”

• “Rush believed that women deserved an education and was instrumental in founding one of the first female schools of higher learning in the U.S.”

• “Hodge also was a member of the Pennsylvania Hospital Board.”

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CCSS.RI.4.5

CCSS.RI.5.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

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CCSS.RI.8.5

The following passage (paragraph 15) adds to the development of the account of the yellow fever epidemic mainly by __________.

“Even bad news could unsettle the humors and cause illness. So it made sense to Rush, Hodge, and Foulke that the putrid-smelling air could upset people enough to cause an outbreak of violent, fatal fevers.”

• It shows how the doctors had to diagnose yellow fever using ideas from long ago.

• It reveals the first time that anyone in the medical field rejected the idea of humors.

• It reveals how the bad news of the local deaths contributed to the spread of the disease.

• It details that yellow fever had a long history, going all the way back to Ancient Greece.

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CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

What is most closely a central idea from this excerpt of An American Plague?

• Rush himself was suffering from yellow fever at the time of his visit to Catherine LeMaigre.

• Rush had a different way of seeing things than most people of his time.

• Rush was not trusted by his medical colleagues due to his nontraditional ideas.

• Rush believed less in medical research than in his instincts and intuition.

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CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.5.2

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Which sentence from the text most strongly supports:

"Rush had a different way of seeing things than most people of his time."

• “He opposed slavery, felt that alcohol and tobacco should be avoided, urged that the corporal punishment of children be stopped, and thought that the best way to keep a democracy strong was by having universal education.”

• “Foulke told of other deaths along the street and said he knew the origin of the fevers: the repulsive smell in the air caused by the rotting coffee on Ball's Wharf.”

• “There was nothing much else they could do, Rush said, after the three men left her bedchamber to discuss the case.”

• “So it made sense to Rush, Hodge, and Foulke that the putrid-smelling air could upset people enough to cause an outbreak of violent, fatal fevers.”

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CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.6.1

CCSS.RL.6.2

Which of these inferences is best supported by the text?

• The LeMaigre household was vulnerable to illness because the couple was in possession of an abundance of coffee.

• The doctors had a difficult time diagnosing LeMaigre since many medical advancements had not yet been made.

• Dr. Hodge’s experiences treating soldiers injured in battle made him particularly well-suited to take on yellow fever.

• The doctors were stumped because Catherine LeMaigre’s humors appeared to be in balance.

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CCSS.RI.6.1

CCSS.RL.5.1

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.6.1

CCSS.RL.6.2

Which statement from the text most strongly supports

"The doctors had a difficult time diagnosing LeMaigre since many medical advancements had not yet been made."

• “Hodge then pointed out that the deaths, including his daughter’s, had all happened on or near Water Street.”

• “Physicians called these sores petechiae, which is Latin for skin spots, and Rush observed that they ‘resembled moscheto bites.’”

• “The idea that illness was caused by microscopic organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, was not known at the time.”

• “Rush then noted that in recent days he had seen ‘an unusual number of bilious fevers, accompanied with symptoms of uncommon malignity.’”

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CCSS.RI.5.8

CCSS.RI.6.1

CCSS.RI.6.8

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RL.6.1

Pick three descriptions for Dr. Hugh Hodge

• “had been an army surgeon during the Revolutionary War”

• “he opposed slavery“

• “whose own daughter had been carried off by the same fever”“

• ”stubborn and crusty in his ways”

• "so highly respected that he was often called in by colleagues when they were baffled by a case”

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CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

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Pick three descriptions for Dr. Benjamin Rush

• "so highly respected that he was often called in by colleagues when they were baffled by a case"

• "he opposed slavery”

• “stubborn and crusty in his ways“

• "he worked from early in the morning until late at night”

• “had been an army surgeon during the Revolutionary War"

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CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

CCSS.RL.7.2