How can you interpret primary historical documents? It is not easy or self-evident. But it begins with a process of questing, challenging, and interrogating the document and figuring out who wrote it and why? What is the document "doing"--not just what is is saying. Is the document trying to persuade? How? To successfully interpret a primary document, you do not need to know everything, but you need engage in a critical thought process and reveal that process on the page.