Teaching American History

[unite for individuality]

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It's composed mostly of original historical documents,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

[unite for individuality]

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!

[Smokin Joe]

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!

You mean bias like this?

Afforasmuch as in a well governed and Xpian Comon Weath matters concerning Religion and the honor of God ought in the first place to bee taken, into serious consideracon and endeavoured to bee settled. Be it therefore ordered and enacted by the Right Hoble Cecilius Lord Baron of Baltemore absolute Lord and Proprietary of this Province with the advise and consent of this Generall Assembly. That whatsoever pson or psons within this Province and the Islands thereunto belonging shall from henceforth blaspheme God, that is Curse him, or deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to bee the sonne of God, or shall deny the holy Trinity the ffather sonne and holy Ghost, or the God-head of any of the said Three psons of the Trinity or the Vnity of the Godhead, or shall use or utter any reproachfull Speeches, words or language concerning the said Holy Trinity, or any of the said three psons thereof, shalbe punished with death and confiscaton or forfeiture of all his or her lands and goods to the Lord Proprietary and his heires, (2) And bee it also Enacted by the Authority and with the advise and assent aforesaid. That whatsoever pson or psons shall from henceforth use or utter any reproachfull words or Speeches concerning the blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of our Saviour or the holy Apostles or Evangelists or any of them shall in such case for the first offence forfeit to the said Lord Proprietary and his heirs Lords and Proprietaries of this Province the sume of ffive pound Sterling or the value thereof to be Levyed on the goods and chattells of every such pson soe offending, but in case such Offender or Offenders, shall not then have goods and chattells sufficient for the satisfyeing of such forfeiture, or that the same bee not otherwise speedily satisfyed that then such Offender or Offenders shalbe publiquely whipt and bee ymprisoned during the pleasure of the Lord Proprietary or the Leivet of cheife Governor of this Province for the time being. >snip<

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/maryland-act-concerning-religion/

History is what it is, however we may perceive it through a modern lens.

Yes, understand all who had something to say had their viewpoints, too.
In understanding those viewpoints, we understand history.

[Cyber Liberty]

Thanks for the post, @unite for individuality!