Common Core LiteracyGrades 9–10History & Social Studies

RH.9-10.10: Read Complex History Texts Independently

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.10 · Cluster: Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity.

The Official Wording

By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Common Core State Standards, Grades 9-10, Reading: History & Social Studies · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RH.9-10.10 Means in Plain English

Tenth graders finish the year reading history on their own at the grades 9 to 10 level, from textbook chapters to primary sources in older English. A weaver’s 1862 diary and Lincoln’s letter to Manchester’s workers use long sentences and period words like workhouse.

Eighth graders (RH.6-8.10) reached the same independence with grades 6 to 8 texts. Ninth and tenth grade raise the difficulty: longer sentences, abstract ideas, documents answering other documents. In eleventh and twelfth grade (RH.11-12.10), the band rises again, to the grades 11 to college-ready level.

RH.9-10.10 I Can Statements

I can read a nineteenth-century primary source with little help.
I can restate long, old-fashioned sentences in my own words.
I can connect two documents written in response to each other.

RH.9-10.10 Worked Example

The diary and the letter answer each other across the Atlantic in long, old-fashioned sentences, and the weak answer gets both backward.

Read the Story

From the diary of a cotton weaver in Lancashire, England, December 31, 1862 (invented): “The mill has stood idle since Whitsun, for there is no cotton to be had while the American ports are shut. We are kept from the workhouse only by the relief committee’s bread and the soup kitchen at the chapel.”“Tonight the working men met at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester and sent an address to Mr. Lincoln, wishing his government success in ending slavery. Some say we are fools to cheer the very blockade that starves us. I say a man who sells his principles for a bale of cotton has sold them cheap.”From Lincoln’s reply to the working men of Manchester, January 19, 1863 (public domain): “I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the workingmen at Manchester, and in all Europe, are called to endure in this crisis.”Later in the same letter: “I cannot but regard your decisive utterances upon the question as an instance of sublime Christian heroism which has not been surpassed in any age or in any country.”

A short passage written for this page.

Question: Why does the weaver support Lincoln’s side even though the blockade has closed his mill, and what does Lincoln mean when he calls the workers’ stand “sublime Christian heroism”?

Not Yet“The weaver wants Lincoln’s side to win so he can get cotton again. Lincoln says the workers are heroes because they are Christians.”It turns the weaver’s reasoning around, since he backs Lincoln’s side in spite of losing cotton, and reads Lincoln’s phrase as a label for the workers’ religion rather than praise for a sacrifice.

Meets the Standard“The weaver’s mill is idle because ‘the American ports are shut,’ and his family lives on ‘the relief committee’s bread,’ so the blockade costs him his living. He backs Lincoln’s side anyway because ending slavery matters more to him than his wages: a man who trades his principles ‘for a bale of cotton has sold them cheap.’ Lincoln sees the same sacrifice. He first admits the ‘sufferings’ the crisis forces on the workers, then calls their public support, their ‘decisive utterances,’ ‘sublime Christian heroism’ because they spoke against their own interest. Saying it ‘has not been surpassed in any age or in any country’ ranks their choice above any he knows of. Both documents turn on one idea: holding to a principle that costs you.”It works through the long sentences in plain words, uses the diary to explain the sacrifice that Lincoln’s letter praises, and connects two documents written in answer to each other.

Question Stems to Use

Which sentence did you have to read twice? Restate it in plain words.What is the writer’s situation, and what does he choose in spite of it?What do period words like relief committee or workhouse tell you about his life?Why does Lincoln mention the suffering before the praise?What idea do the diary and the letter share?

Common Mistakes with RH.9-10.10

Reading old words with modern meanings

Taking “relief” to mean a feeling of comfort rather than aid for families without work

Try this: Have students list unfamiliar period words before discussing, and check each against the sentence and a historical dictionary.

Skipping the long sentence

Quoting “sublime Christian heroism” without working through the rest of Lincoln’s sentence

Try this: Ask students to break every long sentence into its clauses and restate each one before explaining what the whole sentence means.

Reading each document alone

Discussing Lincoln’s letter without noticing that it answers the meeting the diary describes

Try this: Point out when one document responds to another, and have students find the line in each that speaks to the other.

Where RH.9-10.10 Fits

Comes BeforeRH.6-8.10Read history texts in the grades 6 to 8 band independently by the end of grade 8.

AlongsideRI.9-10.10Read literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 9 to 10 band independently.RST.9-10.10Read science and technical texts in the grades 9 to 10 band independently.

Comes NextRH.11-12.10Read history texts in the grades 11 to college-ready band independently by the end of grade 12.

Practice RH.9-10.10

Quick Check

Why is the weaver’s mill idle?
No cotton can be had while the American ports are shut by the blockade.
What did the working men at the Free Trade Hall send to Lincoln?
An address wishing Lincoln’s government success in ending slavery.
What does Lincoln admit before he praises the workers?
That he deeply deplores the sufferings the crisis forces on workingmen in Manchester and across Europe.

RH.9-10.10: Other Names

RH.9-10.10CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.10