The corrupted state of American education is something about which many people grumble.
Here is a site that is actually DOING something about it!
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/
It's a project of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, Ashland Ohio.
It's composed mostly of original historical documents,
archived online, free for anyone to read.
To help students find their way through such a treasure trove of knowledge,
(over 2000 documents ! ) they provide a couple of guides:
1) A list of the top 50 documents they recommend everyone should read
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/50docs
and
2) A sort of roadmap to guide students through the material
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/homeschool/
The entire library of documents can be accessed via
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
That page has a top level menu that leads to 16 menus,
each of which leads to various numbers of sub menus,
which contain the actual links to the documents.
To let you see an overview of the entire library,
here are all those menus combined into one big tree:
(No links are included in this list. You'll still have to go through
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
to access the documents.)
________________________________________
* Core Document Religion .
(empty category)
* Colonial Era
* English Heritage 14 docs
* Colonial Government 110 docs
* John Locke 6 docs
* General Readings 95 docs
* Nathaniel Niles 1 doc
* Founding Era
* Declaration of Independence 10 docs 5 links 4 audio lectures
* American Revolution 92 docs
* Federalist Papers 85 docs 2 audio lectures
* Federalist Documents 115 docs
* Antifederalists 169 docs
* Constitution 150 docs 12 links 11 audio lectures
* George Washington 148 docs 3 links
* John Adams 22 docs 1 link
* Abigail Adams 3 docs
* Thomas Jefferson 90 docs 4 links 1 audio lecture
* James Madison 66 docs 1 link
* Benjamin Franklin 20 docs 1 link
* Alexander Hamilton 38 docs 3 links
* James Wilson 6 docs
* James Otis 1 doc
* Thomas Paine 14 docs
* Edmund Burke 1 doc
* Nathaniel Niles 3 docs
* Patrick Henry 5 docs
* John Dickenson 6 docs
* Foreign Policy 10 docs
* General Readings on the Founding 105 docs 3 links 6 audio lectures
* Expansion Era
* Alexis de Tocqueville 0 docs 3 links
* James Monroe 13 docs
* John Quincy Adams 9 docs
* Andrew Jackson 13 docs 1 link 2 audio lectures
* Henry Clay 5 docs 1 link
* Foreign Policy 28 docs
* General Readings 22 docs 2 links
* Antebellum Era
* Second Great Awakening 1 doc
* Women's Rights 5 docs
* Civil War Era
* Abraham Lincoln 137 docs 7 links 10 audio lectures
* Frederick Douglass 39 docs 1 link 3 audio lectures
* William Lloyd Garrison 18 docs 1 audio lecture
* James Buchanan 1 doc
* Stephen A. Douglas 14 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* Lincoln-Douglas Debates 12 docs 2 audio lectures
* John C. Calhoun 5 docs
* Alexander Stephens 2 docs
* Jefferson Davis 4 docs
* Daniel Webster 2 docs
* Andrew Johnson 10 docs
* William T. Sherman 2 docs
* Martin R. Delaney 6 docs
* Henry Ward Beecher 1 doc
* Foreign Policy 5 docs
* General Readings 101 docs 6 links 9 audio lectures
* Progressive Era
* Theodore Roosevelt 35 docs 2 audio lectures
* William Howard Taft 8 docs
* Calvin Coolidge 16 docs
* Elihu Root 2 docs
* Booker T. Washington 19 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* W.E.B. Du Bois 25 docs 1 link 3 audio lectures
* Frederick Jackson Turner 2 docs
* Albert J. Beveridge 2 docs
* Woodrow Wilson 41 docs 2 audio lectures
* William Jennings Bryan 2 docs
* General Readings 48 docs 2 links 1 audio lecture
* America Between World Wars
* Winston Churchill and America 24 docs
* Warren G. Harding 3 docs
* Calvin Coolidge 12 docs
* Herbert Hoover 9 docs 1 audio lecture
* Franklin D. Roosevelt 53 docs 2 audio lectures
* World War II 41 docs
* Foreign Policy 28 docs
* Civil Rights Era
* Marcus Garvey 7 docs 1 audio lecture
* Harry S. Truman 43 docs
* Dwight D. Eisenhower 17 docs
* John F. Kennedy 9 docs 1 link
* Martin Luther King, Jr. 11 docs 1 link 2 audio lecture
* Joseph H. Jackson 1 doc
* Malcolm X 5 docs 2 audio lectures
* Ralph Ellison 5 docs
* Lyndon B. Johnson 17 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* Supreme Court Cases 6 docs 2 audio lecture
* General Readings 2 docs
* Modern Era
* Richard Nixon 13 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* Cold War 25 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* Barry Goldwater 1 doc
* Jimmy Carter 14 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* Ronald Reagan 23 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* George W. Bush 21 docs
* Clarence Thomas 3 docs
* Civil Rights 21 docs 1 audio lecture
* General Readings 32 docs 1 audio lecture
* Constitution
* General Readings 4 docs 1 audio lecture
* Legislative Branch
* General Readings 4 docs
* Executive Branch
* George Washington 125 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* John Adams 16 docs
* Thomas Jefferson 50 docs 1 audio lecture
* James Madison 28 docs
* James Monroe 11 docs
* John Quincy Adams 6 docs
* Andrew Jackson 14 docs 1 audio lecture
* Martin Van Buren 5 docs
* William Henry Harrison 1 docs
* John Tyler 4 docs
* James Polk 8 docs
* Zachary Taylor 2 docs
* Millard Fillmore 3 docs
* Franklin Pierce 5 docs
* James Buchanan 5 docs
* Abraham Lincoln 122 docs 1 link 5 audio lectures
* Andrew Johnson 5 docs
* Ulysses S. Grant 10 docs
* Rutherford B. Hayes 5 docs
* James Garfield 1 doc
* Chester A. Arthur 4 docs
* Benjamin Harrison 5 docs
* Grover Cleveland 13 docs
* Wililam McKinley 8 docs
* Theodore Roosevelt 25 docs 1 audio lecture
* William H. Taft 9 docs
* Woodrow Wilson 30 docs
* Warren Harding 4 docs
* Calvin Coolidge 11 docs
* Herbert Hoover 7 docs 1 audio lecture
* Franklin D. Roosevelt 46 docs 2 audio lectures
* Harry Truman 39 docs
* Dwight D. Eisenhower 18 docs
* John F. Kennedy 9 docs 1 link
* Lyndon B. Johnson 16 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* Richard Nixon 13 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* Gerald Ford 3 docs 1 link
* Jimmy Carter 8 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* Ronald Reagan 23 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* George H. W. Bush 5 docs 1 link
* William J. Clinton 8 docs 1 link
* George W. Bush 20 docs
* Barack Obama 5 docs
* Judicial Branch
* Supreme Court Cases 31 docs 4 audio lectures
* Religion in American History and Politics
* Colonial Era 3 docs
* Founding Era 13 docs 1 link 1 audio lecture
* Expansion Era 0 docs
* Expansion and Second Great Awakening 7 docs
* Civil War Era 13 docs
* Progressive Era 9 docs 1 audio lecture
* Civil Rights 1 doc
* Modern Era 11 docs
* General Resources
* U.S. Congress 2 docs 4 links
* American Presidency 5 docs 6 links
* Supreme Court of the United States 14 docs 2 links
* Miscellaneous 3 docs 5 links
On their site, https://go.ashbrookscholar.org/free-curriculum
they say that reading the original documents
takes away any bias that even the most well-meaning textbook writers might weave in.
True, but reading just the original documents
can leave in biases intended by the authors of the documents!
For example, consider the rhetoric of Bill Clinton,
like when he said, "The era of big government is over!"
while he was overseeing the largest growth of welfare dependency
(via Social Security) in history!
Or Franklin Roosevelt, who publicly denounced the "moneyed interests"
and then went back to his office and imposed every policy those moneyed interests
got him elected to do.
And consider the self-righteous indignation of James Comey and others,
wrapping themselves in the flag and prattling about "integrity"
as an attempt to conceal their lying to the FISA court
to impeach a President
who we elected to stop the continued destruction of America!
Be sure to read documents from ALL sides of the issues!
Excellent JE, be sure and post a copy of this in the Library. :thumbup:
An excellent short view our founding fathers and principles is:
'That's Not What They Meant!: Reclaiming the Founding Fathers...'
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15897043-that-s-not-what-they-meant
If ideas fascinate you check out Peter Watson's books.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18770.The_Modern_Mind
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/408204.Ideas
And Five Books is a place to start on any topic: https://fivebooks.com/
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist....We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation January 17, 1961 http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm