The digital world has unhooked information from authority and created a post-truth ethos, yet it also allows for access to the building blocks of deliberative democratic discussions: sources, evidence, and databases. This article describes an approach to teaching the American history survey utilizing primary source databases as the students' main reading material. This approach, including Open Educational Resources, online teaching strategies, and a shift from "coverage" to understanding, created a culture of engagement, motivation, and deliberative discussion. The experience of this online course has turned some students from history haters to history lovers, and from detached civic participants to thoughtful first-time voters. The author will demonstrate how direct access to primary source databases resulted in a class culture of active learning, or "doing history"; of critical evaluation not just of historical, but also contemporary sources; and of deliberative discussion among people from diverse perspectives, class positions, and ethnic backgrounds.