Conservative Political Forum

General Category => History => Topic started by: je_freedom on April 01, 2019, 03:43:55 PM

Title: Teaching American History
Post by: je_freedom on April 01, 2019, 03:43:55 PM
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It's composed mostly of original historical documents,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
Title: Re: Teaching American History
Post by: je_freedom on April 01, 2019, 03:57:01 PM
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!
Title: Re: Teaching American History
Post by: Solar on April 01, 2019, 04:24:31 PM
Excellent JE, be sure and post a copy of this in the Library. :thumbup:
Title: Re: Teaching American History
Post by: midcan5 on April 05, 2019, 12:45:25 PM
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