In 1815, while in exile in Jamaica, Venezuelan revolutionary Simón Bolívar penned a letter praising England’s republican government and expressing hope that Latin American nations seeking independence from Spain might achieve something similar. The letter was addressed to a local merchant, Henry Cullen; ______blank though, Bolívar’s goal was to persuade political leaders from England and Europe to support his cause.

Before the 1847 introduction of the US postage stamp, the cost of postage was usually paid by the recipient of a letter rather than the sender, and recipients were not always able or willing to pay promptly. ______blank collecting this fee could be slow and arduous, and heaps of unpaid-for, undeliverable mail piled up in post offices.

Some members of the US Supreme Court have resisted calls to televise the court’s oral arguments, concerned that the participants would be tempted to perform for the cameras (and thus lower the quality of the discourse). ______blank the justices worry that most viewers would not even watch the full deliberations, only short clips that could be misinterpreted and mischaracterized.

As a young historian in the 1950s, Alixa Naff began interviewing fellow Arab American immigrants about their experiences straddling two cultures. Over the next few decades, Naff conducted more than 450 such interviews, also known as oral histories. ______blank she collected photographs and other artifacts that represented her subjects’ experiences.

Geoscientists have long considered Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano to be Earth’s largest shield volcano by volume, measuring approximately 74,000 cubic kilometers. ______blank according to a 2020 study by local geoscientist Michael Garcia, Hawaii’s Pūhāhonu shield volcano is significantly larger, boasting a volume of about 148,000 cubic kilometers.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• Allan Houser was a Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache sculptor, illustrator, and painter.
• Many of his sculptures featured Native American figures.
• He depicted this subject matter using abstract, modernist forms, developing a distinctive style that influenced many other artists.
• His well-known sculpture Sacred Rain Arrow was pictured on the State of Oklahoma license plate.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• Marine biologist Camille Jazmin Gaynus studies coral reefs.
• Coral reefs are vital underwater ecosystems that provide habitats to 25% of all marine species.
• Reefs can include up to 8,000 species of fish, such as toadfish, seahorses, and clown triggerfish.
• The Amazon Reef is a coral reef in Brazil.
• It is one of the largest known reefs in the world.

It has long been thought that humans first crossed a land bridge into the Americas approximately 13,000 years ago. ______blank based on radiocarbon dating of samples uncovered in Mexico, a research team recently suggested that humans may have arrived more than 30,000 years ago—much earlier than previously thought.

Most of the planets that have been discovered outside our solar system orbit G-type stars, like our Sun. In 2014, ______blank researchers identified a planet orbiting KELT-9, a B-type star more than twice as massive and nearly twice as hot as the Sun. Called KELT-9b, it is one of the hottest planets ever discovered.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• John Carver was one of the 41 signatories of the Mayflower Compact.
• The Mayflower Compact was a legal agreement among the pilgrims that immigrated to Plymouth Colony.
• It was created in 1620 to establish a common government.
• It states that the pilgrims who signed it wanted to “plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia” under King James.
• Carver became the first governor of Plymouth Colony.

Most conifers (trees belonging to the phylum Coniferophyta) are evergreen. That is, they keep their green leaves or needles year-round. However, not all conifer species are evergreen. Larch trees, ______blank lose their needles every fall.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• The Atlantic Monthly magazine was first published in 1857.
• The magazine focused on politics, art, and literature.
• In 2019, historian Cathryn Halverson published the book Faraway Women and the “Atlantic Monthly.”
• Its subject is female authors whose autobiographies appeared in the magazine in the early 1900s.
• One of the authors discussed is Juanita Harrison.

Tyrian purple was a highly prized dye among the Phoenicians (an ancient civilization located in present-day Lebanon). The Phoenicians were famous for using this natural dye to color their clothes a distinctive purple. ______blank the name “Phoenicia” itself, some historians claim, may have originally meant “land of purple.”

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• In the midst of the US Civil War, Susie Taylor escaped slavery and fled to Union-army-occupied St. Simons Island off the Georgia coast.
• She began working for an all-Black army regiment as a nurse and teacher.
• In 1902, she published a book about the time she spent with the regiment.
• Her book was the only Civil War memoir to be published by a Black woman.
• It is still available to readers in print and online.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• Some powerful works of literature have so influenced readers that new legislation has been passed as a result.
• The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) is the autobiography of a man who endured slavery on both sides of the Atlantic.
• Equiano’s book contributed to the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.
• The Jungle (1906) is a fictional work by Upton Sinclair that describes unsanitary conditions in US meatpacking plants.
• Sinclair’s book contributed to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.