A detailed account of the activities of the future Edward VII, on the first visit to the U.S. by a member of the royal family. (JB)

In recent years, framers of the American republic, especially George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, have taken a public opinion thrashing for allowing the institution of slavery to persist during and after the American Revolution. Their defenders respond that these men are being judged unfairly by twenty-first century standards; that they should…

In 1786, backcountry Massachusetts farmers, fed up with government policies favoring aristocratic elites, marched on courts to bar the entry of judges and juries. Enacting a long-standing tradition known to colonists as a "Regulation," the farmers' movement became known as Shays's Rebellion. Erupting in the turbulent days following the…

During the Reconstruction era, hundreds of disenfranchised women throughout the United States attempted to register and to vote, performing a participatory argument in an ongoing public controversy about the parameters of the polity. As rhetorical rituals, these women's voting efforts displayed an alternative social order and illuminated the…

History matters. It matters not only because people can learn from the past, but because the present and the future are connected to the past by the continuity of a society's institutions. Today and tomorrow's choices are shaped by the past. And the past can be made intelligible only as a story of institutional evolution. This story focuses on the…

In this article, the author takes a different approach in teaching U.S. history to young people. His approach is derived from economics but not economics as a long list of concepts embalmed in huge textbooks written for use in Econ 101 and 102. Instead, he suggests, history teachers can do much to improve their instruction by drawing upon a…

A common aphorism in the halls of education is that the writing skills of Americans decline over time. Compared to the "golden age of letters," so the argument goes, each subsequent generation of writers is worse than the last. Although contemporary readers and educators commiserate over encounters with bad writing, a fair comparison of 18th…

In this article, the author writes about the power of representation in the staging of a unique and highly successful series of fashion shows held in 1942. These showcases, presented more than 120 times between 1942 and 1956, aided in the appreciation of American Indian clothing and dress as a messenger of style, purpose, and identity, all…

In this questions and answer interview with Rachel Dickinson, author of "Great Pioneer Projects You Can Build Yourself", the writer discusses her interest in the American pioneer movement, her research, and her goals in introducing readers to the day-to-day life of an American pioneer. Dickinson's book offers a hands-on look at what life…

Though the impact of the cold war on the civil rights movement continued long after the desegregation crisis in Little Rock, the timing of the events in Arkansas, particularly the events at Central High School, constituted a unique moment in the history of the cold war. Up until the fall of 1957, the Soviet Union had been perceived as less…

With nearly four decades of National Council for the Social Studies conferences under his belt, the author reflects on the valuable networking and stimulating sessions he attended, and highlights key educational websites from the increasingly technologically-adept exhibits. Here, he describes five websites that can be useful resources for…

Last month the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the federally financed "Nation's Report Card," released the results of its 2006 tests of historical knowledge among schoolchildren. Although there were hints of small improvements since the last NAEP test in 2001 (47 percent rather than 43 percent of 12th graders had at…

Every summer, with financial support from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), more than 2,500 teachers from across the U.S. participate in advanced study programs in the humanities that range from one to six weeks in length. Most of the programs are conducted at institutions of higher learning, both within the U.S. and abroad, and…

The Great Depression is typically taught through history textbooks, but the music of this time allows students to learn about this era through different perspectives. The Great Depression witnessed many musical styles--from the light heartedness of popular music to the sadness of the blues, gospel, which offered inspiration, to the tension between…