Podcasts – Teaching American History

ew other questions in American history have generated more controversy than “What Caused the Civil War?” That conflict preserved the United States as one nation, indivisible and abolished the institution of slavery that for more than four score years had made a mockery of American claims to stand as a republic of liberty, a beacon of freedom for oppressed peoples in the Old Word. But these achievements came at the great cost of more than 629,000 lives and vast destruction of property that left large parts of the South a wasteland. Could this terrible war have been avoided? Who was responsible for the events that led to war? Could the positive results of the war (Union and Freedom) have been achieved without war? How have participants in the war and historians answered these questions over the five generations since the war ended? James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis ’86 Professor of History at Princeton University and 2003 president of the American Historical Association. Widely acclaimed as the leading historian of the Civil War, he is the author of Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam (a New York Times bestseller), For Cause and Comrades (winner of the Lincoln Prize), and many other books on Lincoln and the Civil War era. McPherson, a pre-eminent Civil War scholar, is widely known for his ability to take American history out of the confines of the academy and make it accessible to the general reading public. His best-selling book Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era won the Pulitzer Prize in history in 1989. He also has written and edited many other books about abolition, the war and Lincoln, and he has written essays and reviews for several national publications. McPherson is the George Henry Davis ’86 Professor of History at Princeton University. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Gustavus Adolphus College and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. Session Two Focus: Nearly four months elapsed from the secession of South Carolina to the firing on Fort Sumter that started the war. During this period there were many efforts to fashion a compromise to forestall the secession of Southern states, or to bring them back into the Union, or in the last resort to avoid an incident that would spark a shooting war. All failed, and the war came. Why? Why didn’t the Lincoln refuse to surrender the fort? Why did Jefferson Davis decide to fire on the fort? Why did both sides prefer war to compromise? Readings: McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 202-275 Charles B. Dew, “Apostles of Secession,” North and South, IV (April 2001), 24-38 Hans L. Trefousse, ed., The Causes of the Civil War, 91-125 (excerpts from Ramsdell, Potter, and Current) Perman, ed., Coming of the American Civil War, 300-314 (excerpt from Paludan) “Official Explanations of the Causes of the Civil War,” from the Causes of the Civil War, 28-47 (Messages of Davis and Lincoln) The post Summer Podcast: Causes of the Civil War pt.2 appeared first on Teaching American History.

Originally recorded in March, 2005, Dr. Stephen Knott addressed a group of teachers in a two-session program, discussing the often-clashing views and personalities of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Both programs address the following points, and together lay a solid foundation on the two men, their ideas, and their legacies. Part 2 will be published on 24 July 2017. How do you explain the cult of Thomas Jefferson that emerged in the 20th century? Why did New Deal advocates of a strong central government embrace Jefferson over Hamilton? 20th Century progressives were fond of advocating “Hamiltonian means to achieve Jeffersonian ends” — what did they mean by that statement? Jefferson, it is alleged, conducted his Presidency in a Hamiltonian fashion — what evidence is there to support this contention, and what impact did that have on Jefferson’s successors? Throughout much of the nation’s history, American politicians turned to Jefferson or Hamilton and embraced their principles and practices to bolster their cause — why was this done and is this still the case? What role has race played in influencing both men’s reputations among scholars and the public? Abraham Lincoln often invoked Jefferson’s name and Jeffersonian rhetoric throughout his political career and seldom invoked Hamilton’s name or principles. Yet, one could argue that his policies were decidedly Hamiltonian. How does one explain this apparent discrepancy? It is said that Americans “honor Jefferson but live in Hamilton’s country” — is this true? Is it accurate to claim, as many Hamiltonians argue, that Thomas Jefferson’s world is a thing of the past, and that Hamilton is the “man who made modern America”? If Jefferson’s world is a lost world, then what have we lost? The post Summer Podcast: Jefferson and Hamilton – Opposed in Death as in Life, pt1 appeared first on Teaching American History.

Few other questions in American history have generated more controversy than “What Caused the Civil War?” That conflict preserved the United States as one nation, indivisible and abolished the institution of slavery that for more than four score years had made a mockery of American claims to stand as a republic of liberty, a beacon of freedom for oppressed peoples in the Old Word. But these achievements came at the great cost of more than 629,000 lives and vast destruction of property that left large parts of the South a wasteland. Could this terrible war have been avoided? Who was responsible for the events that led to war? Could the positive results of the war (Union and Freedom) have been achieved without war? How have participants in the war and historians answered these questions over the five generations since the war ended? James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis ’86 Professor of History at Princeton University and 2003 president of the American Historical Association. Widely acclaimed as the leading historian of the Civil War, he is the author of Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam (a New York Times bestseller), For Cause and Comrades (winner of the Lincoln Prize), and many other books on Lincoln and the Civil War era. McPherson, a pre-eminent Civil War scholar, is widely known for his ability to take American history out of the confines of the academy and make it accessible to the general reading public. His best-selling book Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era won the Pulitzer Prize in history in 1989. He also has written and edited many other books about abolition, the war and Lincoln, and he has written essays and reviews for several national publications. McPherson is the George Henry Davis ’86 Professor of History at Princeton University. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Gustavus Adolphus College and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. This program was originally recorded at Princeton University on 12 February 2005. Part 2 of this two-part series will be published on 5 August 2017. Session One Focus: The question of what caused the Civil War is really two questions. The first is “Why did the South secede?” The second is “Why did secession lead to war?” This seminar will analyze the roots of secession. At the beginning of the American Revolution all thirteen of the states that formed the United States had slavery. By the first decade of the nineteenth century, however, states north of the Mason-Dixon line and Ohio River had abolished the institution while slavery flourished more than ever south of those lines. A definite “North” and “South” with increasingly disparate socioeconomic institutions and distinctive ideologies had begun to develop. Yet for a half century these contrasting sections coexisted politically in the same nation. Why and how did that national structure fall apart in the 1850s? Was this breakdown inevitable, or could wiser political leadership have prevented it? Why did the election of Abraham Lincoln as president precipitate the secession of seven lower-South states? Readings: James M. McPherson, “What Caused the Civil War?” North and South, IV (Nov. 2000), 12-22, and responses to this article in subsequent issues of North and South Michael Perman, ed., The Coming of the American Civil War, 23-53, 90-113, 169-88, (excerpts from writing by Beard, Owsley, Craven, Randall, Holt, and Foner) James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 78-116, (or any other chapter of your choice among chaps. 2, 4, 5, or 6) “Premonitory Explanations of the Sectional Crisis,” from The Causes of the American Civil War, 1-27 (excerpts from Calhoun, Seward, Douglas, and Lincoln) The post Summer Podcast: Causes of the Civil War, pt.1 appeared first on Teaching American History.

Dr. Peter Myers, of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, gave this 74-minute presentation about Frederick Douglass, and his views on Abraham Lincoln. Introduced by Dr. Peter Schramm, Myers discusses Douglass' views on slavery, early Civil Rights, Reconstruction, and what he thought of Lincoln's handling of the same. The post Summer Podcast: Frederick Douglass on Lincoln appeared first on Teaching American History.

The last Documents in Detail webinar for the 16-17 school year took place on Wednesday, 17 May, and focused on George Washington's Farewell Address. A good question that kicked off the discussion was simply why? That is, why is Washington's Farewell Address so popular, so often read, and considered by so many over the last 200+ years to be so important. What's so special about it? Scholars brought up the point that Washington, while very popular at the outset of his first term, experienced the first presidential controversies - the Jay Treaty, the problems within his own cabinet between Jefferson and Hamilton, to name but two - and many Americans questioned his decisions and leadership by 1796. Also discussed were the various drafts of Washington's address, the first of which was written mostly by James Madison at the end of Washington's first term, when he seriously considered stepping down; and the one written by Alexander Hamilton in 1796. Both were based solidly on Washington's ideas, however. Additional suggested reading is from Ellis's Founding Brothers, specifically chapter 4, "The Farewell." Access the full archives, with documents links, here. iTunes podcast Podcast Feed (for folks who don't use iTunes)   The post Documents in Detail: Washington’s Farewell Address appeared first on Teaching American History.

The 1985 search and seizure case, at a high school in New Jersey, addressed standards for how school officials are to interpret Fourth Amendment rights. The original question that faced the court, interestingly enough, was not what the USSC eventually decided. Initially, the case was in regards to the exclusionary rule and how it applied to school officials. USSC justices, however, pulled back from that initial question, and instead focused on whether or not the Fourth Amendment even applied to school officials, and how it was to be applied to minor students. Also at issue is the definition and description of "reasonable suspicion," as compared to "probable cause." Interesting point of what might seem like legal trivia: in United States v. Place (1983) it was determined that a drug-sniffing dog is not considered a search. Beyond that, in relation to use of such dogs at schools, no reasonable suspicion is required in a school. This came up in response to a teacher question about drug-sniffing dogs operating at schools around students. Access the full archives of this program, including video, here. iTunes Podcast The post Saturday Webinar: New Jersey v. T.L.O. appeared first on Teaching American History.

April's Documents in Detail webinar was about Elizabeth Cady Stanton's address to the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. Stanton's use of John Locke, her view that women deserved the vote on moral grounds, and how greater involvement by women in society would improve society were all discussed, as well as the impact of her words alongside those of other women's rights leaders. Both scholars noted Stanton's blunt style and her tendency to say things how she saw them, including when expressing reservations about Catholics and the error she believed the 15th Amendment to be, since it gave the right to vote to African-Americans and not women. Access our podcast feed here, or our iTunes podcast here. View the permanent program page, including the YouTube archive here.   The post Documents in Detail: Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Address Delivered at Seneca Falls appeared first on Teaching American History.

The 9th of TAH.org's Landmark Supreme Court Cases webinars took place on Saturday, 8 April 2017, with University of CA Regents v. Bakke (1978) as the focus. Scholars provided a background on the case, the state of affirmative action policy and laws as of the 1970s, and the particulars of how these were being applied in higher education at the time. A number of interesting facts about the case were considered - including Bakke's professional background and how his case made its way through the California legal system, and finally to the United States Supreme Court. The 14th Amendment figured prominently in the early decisions, as well as the legal claims made by Bakke in his suits against the school, and how these could be reconciled with Civil Rights legislation from the 1960s. A significant undercurrent of the case and discussion was about whether the equal protection clause mandates color-blindness, for any reason, or if it permits some kinds of race-based considerations, but not others. This complicated case is a great opportunity to teach students how laws and the Constitution are analyzed, interpreted, and used, to reach court decisions. Access the full archives of the program iTunes Podcast The post Saturday Webinar: Regents of CA v. Bakke appeared first on Teaching American History.

Professors John Moser, Jason Stevens, and John Dinan discussed James Madison's Federalist 10 in today's webinar. The background, historical context, and meaning of the document were discussed at length, as well as its importance at the time it was written, and in the over two centuries since. The panelists discussed in detail Madison's concerns with factions, especially majority factions, and how in a republic it was possible for a majority for a develop into a faction that would seek to trample on the rights of the minority. Additionally, a number of questions were asked about Madison's assertion that an extended republic would be more conducive to protecting individuals' rights than a small republic - a key piece of evidence presented by the Federalists in favor of the Constitution. Access the full archives on the original Federalist-Antifederalist Debates exhibit, or the exhibit on the Ratification of the Constitution by the states and people. The post Documents in Detail: James Madison’s Federalist 10 appeared first on Teaching American History.

Roe v. Wade was the topic of  TAH.org's Saturday Webinar held on 11 March 2017, with Drs. Chris Burkett, John Dinan, and David Alvis discussing the legal, political, historical, and constitutional aspects of the controversial landmark case. Access the The post Saturday Webinar: Roe v. Wade appeared first on Teaching American History.

The second episode in our pilot webinar series, Documents in Detail, aired live on 15 February, with a focus on MLK's Letter from Birmingham City Jail, of 1963. Among a variety of issues and topics, the program delved into the historical context around the letter, its perceived and actual audience, and the particulars of King's citing of Abraham Lincoln in the letter. Teachers also asked questions about the role of King's faith in the content and wording of the letter, and King's relationship with other Civil Rights leaders, namely Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad. Access and subscribe to our iTunes podcast Access the full archive page for the program The post Documents in Detail: MLK’s Letter from Birmingham City Jail appeared first on Teaching American History.

The latest in our Landmark Supreme Court Cases Saturday Webinar series focused on Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), the landmark case that decided a school-based case about expressive speech and political protest. At the height of the Vietnam War, high school students in Iowa sought to protest America's involvement in the war by wearing black arm bands, and were prevented from doing so by school administration. Four years later, in 1969, the case was decided by the Supreme Court, changing American legal views on free speech, protest, and how these things could be expressed in a public schools. Questions raised by the audience of teachers focused on Justice Black's dissent, original intent of the Founders, and the power of the Supreme Court to interpret language and law. Access the full archives of the program on its original page on TAH.org, and subscribe to our iTunes Podcast. The post Saturday Webinar: Tinker v. Des Moines appeared first on Teaching American History.

TAH.org's first Documents in Detail webinar aired on Wednesday, 25 January 2017, focusing on Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Professors John Moser, Eric Sands, and Joe Fornieri discussed a number of perspectives on the document, from the prominence of Biblical language throughout, to the political impact of and reaction to the address. The scholars also discussed a counter-factual question regarding how Lincoln might have navigated the minefield of Reconstruction differently - and perhaps more successfully - than his successor, Andrew Johnson. Suggested further reading is Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural, by Ronald White. Access the full archive of the program, and related documents, here. Access our podcast here. Note: there is a slight echo on one scholar's voice at about the 34-minute mark, which lasts for about 20 seconds. It is the only place where this audio issue came up during the program. The post Documents in Detail: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural appeared first on Teaching American History.

Drs. Chris Burkett, Stephen Tootle, and Jeff Sikkenga discussed the background, constitutional questions, politics, and immediate and long-range impact of the landmark case Miranda v. Arizona (1966) during 7 JAN 2017's Saturday Webinar. Access the full archives here. The post Saturday Webinar: Miranda v. Arizona appeared first on Teaching American History.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) was the subject of December's Saturday Webinar. guest hosted by Dr. Jason Stevens of Ashland University. The case, which overturned a previous USSC case and forced states to provide legal counsel to defendants in criminal cases. Although a majority of states already required this, those that did not were required to do so, from this point forward. The panelists discussed not only the interesting background of the case, including Betts v. Brady (1942), but also the complex situation of determining the "special circumstances" mentioned in that decision that states had to somehow work through in each case. An interesting point brought up was that some 22 states filed amicus briefs in support of a single federal ruling, essentially asking the court to provide a single standard for them instead of the open-ended (and difficult) question left to them by the Betts decision. The broader discussion also looked at the Warren court in general, the concept of incorporation, and the original intent behind the ideas in the Bill Rights. Resources mentioned include... Reconstruction Amendment Debates Oral argument of the case Gideon's Trumpet Access the archives, including our YouTube recording and podcast, on the permanent program page here. The post Saturday Webinar: Gideon v. Wainwright appeared first on Teaching American History.