This is a fascinating essay by Timothy Messer-Kruse of Bowling Green State University. It covers Josh Hawley’s “Love America Act” and Hillsdale College’s 1776 Curriculum. For most of the last two centuries, patriotic schooling was not a partisan issue. Both […]
history and patriotism
Trump announces members of his “President’s Advisory 1776 Commission.” There are no American historians.
As COVID-19 cases reach record heights and our country faces unprecedented cyber-attacks, Donald Trump is making appointment to his 1776 Commission. Trump established the commission by executive order on November 2, 2020 and Joe Biden is likely to eliminate it […]
Ed Ayers on Trump’s White House history conference
Here is University of Richmond historian Ed Ayers at The Washington Post: Despite the sustained offensive by those who would save America’s honor, the insidious enemy apparently endures, as dangerous today as ever, worthy of frontal attack by the president […]
When historians on the Left and the Right engage in “the pleasures of condemnation”
Yesterday I wrote about the White House’s conference on American history. Read that post here. Conservatives are cheering the event. Those on the Left–particularly academic historians–are trashing the event. There are a lot of reasons to be critical about what […]
The Trump White House does American history
On Thursday, Constitution Day, Donald Trump announced something called the “1776 Commission.” Here is a taste of his speech: Today, I am also pleased to announce that I will soon sign an Executive Order establishing a national commission to promote […]
Another Monday in Trumpland
Monday, August 31, 2022, in Trumpland began with news that House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican and Trump supporter, doctored a video to make it appear that Biden wants to defund the police. I am expecting Scalise’s GOP […]
Christian historians and sin
A lot of people in the media today, especially those in the Trump camp, are talking about American greatness. Many evangelical Christians, who last time I checked believed in the existence of human sin, want to ignore their country’s past […]
Politically Motivated Violence Was Wrong During the Stamp Act and It Is Wrong Today. The Christian Right “Historians” Must Reckon With This
Everyone knows that the American Revolution was born through violent protest. Yes, the colonies fought a war that secured their liberty, but they also engaged in civilian violence in major British-American cities well before the outbreak of war. Here is […]
The 1619 Project: A “patriotism not of hagiography but of struggle”
Over at Boston Review, Princeton graduate student David Walsh wonders why the conservative view of “patriotism” is so “fragile.” He comes up with three reasons for this: The conservative propensity for “viewing freedom and equality as incompatible.” Conservatives are invested in […]
The Author’s Corner with James Davis
James Davis is Professor of Musicology and Chair of the Music History Area at the School of Music at the State University of New York at Fredonia. This interview is based on his new book, Maryland, My Maryland: Music and […]
James Grossman: History for Patriotism
Jim Grossman In this month’s Perspectives on History, AHA Executive Director James Grossman describes why he thinks history education in the United States should be “patriotic.” I love his answer. Here is a taste: Whether history education should be “patriotic”…begins […]