When you are writing about the past, use the past tense consistently.
Use the past tense to write about the past. You should only use the present tense in a historical essay when you are writing about the present. Note that your historical interpretation itself is taking place in the present; so it may be appropriate to write that evidence “suggests” a particular conclusion, etc.
Wrong: The coming of World War II finally ends the Great Depression.
Right: The coming of World War II finally ended the Great Depression.
Wrong: Thomas Jefferson says that “all men are created equal,” and this principle helped inspire American democracy.
Right: Thomas Jefferson said that “all men are created equal,” and this principle helped inspire American democracy.
Comment: Although it is technically acceptable to write “Thomas Jefferson says,” because you are writing about a text that exists in the present, this use of the “historical present” does not work well in historical writing—it will lead to unnecessary and confusing tense switching.
Avoid using “would” to indicate repeated actions in the past:
Before the invention of plumbing, “night soil” men would collect human waste to sell to farmers for use as fertilizer. (Avoid)
Instead, use standard past-tense forms:
Before the invention of plumbing, “night soil” men collected human waste to sell to farmers for use as fertilizer.
or
Before the invention of plumbing, it was common for “night soil” men to collect human waste to sell to farmers for use as fertilizer.
Writing Handbook for History & Humanities by David J. Voelker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
