Final answer:
The statement that primary sources can include the exact words that witnesses used to testify at a trial best shows how evidence related to historical events supports a claim, providing firsthand, reliable accounts that come directly from the time period of the events.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that best shows how evidence related to historical events can support a claim is: Primary sources can include the exact words that witnesses used to testify at a trial. Primary sources offer a direct connection to the past, as they are objects or documents that come from the actual timeframe of the events of interest. They provide firsthand accounts such as government documents, diaries, letters, or witness testimonies, and are considered highly valuable because they are as close as we can get to the original events, thus offering a more authentic and reliable form of evidence for historical interpretation.
Secondary sources, like biographies or scholarly articles, analyze primary sources and provide context, but they are created after the event and can contain biases or interpretations from the author. Therefore, while secondary sources add valuable context and analysis, the use of primary sources for supporting historical claims provides a foundation of evidence that is directly linked to the past events being studied. This is crucial in the field of history, where the objective is to understand what actually occurred and why.