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Our purpose is to provide resources for critical thinking and to educate without bias. We do not express opinions on our research projects ("issue websites"). Our mission statement is: "Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format."

Host: Joan Neuberger, Professor of History and Editor, Not Even Past Guest: H.W. Brands, Dickson, Allen, Anderson Centennial Professor of History, UT-Austin After the chaos of the American Civil War, Congress and lawmakers had to figure out how to put the Union back together again-no easy feat, considering that issues of political debate were settled on the battlefield, but not in the courtroom nor in the arena of public opinion. How did the defeated South and often vindictive North manage to resolve their differences over issues so controversial that they had torn the Union apart? Historian H.W. Brands from UT's Department of History reflects on this issues and how he has dealt with them in his thirty years of experience in teaching about Reconstruction: "It's one of the hardest parts of American history to teach, in part because I think it's the hardest to just understand."

Youtube Playlist The Civil War and Reconstruction - 1850 -1861 Discover how the issue of slavery came to dominate American politics, and how political leaders struggled and failed to resolve the growing crisis in the nation. A House Divided: The Road to Civil War, 1850-1861 is a course that begins by examining how generations of historians have explained the crisis of the Union. After discussing the institution of slavery and its central role in the southern and national economies, it turns to an account of the political and social history of the 1850s. It traces how the issue of the expansion of slavery came to dominate national politics, and how political leaders struggled, unsuccessfully, to resolve the growing crisis. We will examine the impact of key events such as Bleeding Kansas, the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, and end with the dissolution of the Union in the winter of 1860-61. This course is part of the series, The Civil War and Reconstruction, which introduces students to the most pivotal era in American history. The Civil War transformed the nation by eliminating the threat of secession and destroying the institution of slavery. It raised questions that remain central to our understanding of ourselves as a people and a nation - the balance of power between local and national authority, the boundaries of citizenship, and the meanings of freedom and equality. The series will examine the causes of the war, the road to secession, the conduct of the Civil War, the coming of emancipation, and the struggle after the war to breathe meaning into the promise of freedom for four million emancipated slaves. One theme throughout the series is what might be called the politics of history - how the world in which a historian lives affects his or her view of the past, and how historical interpretations reinforce or challenge the social order of the present. Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor o

US History Fellow Kim Kutz explains how slavery was an issue at the birth of the United States and how the issue became more and more central as the country expanded.

'Welcome to the Bureau of Land Management(BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records Automation web site. We provide live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image access to more than five million Federal land title records issued between 1820 and the present. We also have images related to survey plats and field notes, dating back to 1810. Due to organization of documents in the GLO collection, this site does not currently contain every Federal title record issued for the Public Land States.'

Article describing the Edict of Milan. Includes this important note on sourcing: "[The Edict's] terms are known to us only from a rescript issued six months later by Licinius. (This rescript was sent from his capital in Nicomedia-now Izmit in Turkey, just east of the Bosporus-to the governor of the nearby province of Bithynia. The Christian writer Lactantius has preserved its original Latin, while the church historian Eusebius gives it in Greek. ) "

Has articles and some source material links related to World History. The site (run out of University of Illinois, by the looks) has a strong focus on 'big history.' I hadn't encountered this term before; it seems to mean looking at history not through civilisations but rather periods or regions. If that description is wrong and someone could provide more accuracy on 'big history' that would be cool.

Again, the journal is not specifically focused on Big History but on the New World History, but it did have one issue on Big History as its forum: http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/6.3/ More links than you probably want here about Big History: http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/6.3/maunu2.html This month's forum is on Latin America. Other forums range the gamut of world history.

Thanks very much Jeremy. I'll check it out!

In which John Green teaches you about the Mexican-American War in the late 1840s, and the expansion of the United States into the western end of North America. In this episode of Crash Course, US territory finally reaches from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific Ocean. After Oregon was secured from the UK and the southwest was ceded by Mexico, that is. Famous Americans abound in this episode, including James K Polk (Young Hickory, Napoleon of the Stump), Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, and Winfield Scott. You'll also learn about the California Gold Rush of 1848, and California's admission as a state, which necessitated the Compromise of 1850. Once more slavery is a crucial issue. Something is going to have to be done about slavery, I think. Maybe it will come to a head next week.

"We talk a lot about civic education, usually about how little of it too many students get in school. In this charged election season, the subject has rarely, if ever, been more relevant. But here's a different kind of discussion: how kids are actually being engaged in it. Below are several examples that could be used in any school. All of the authors are working in Illinois, where a law was recently passed requiring high schools to provide a semester-long civics course that includes community action of some kind. It says, "Civics course content shall focus on government institutions, the discussion of current and controversial issues, service learning, and simulations of the democratic process." But what they say can apply across the country."

A re-creation of PT Barnum's American Museum as a lens into mid-19th century New York City and antebellum America. The Lost Museum website offers visitors a visualization and spacial interpretation of this extraordinary institution as well as an innovative way to learn and teach about the many issues and events of the period.

Compares US presidential candidates positions on foreign policy issues.

The Wilson Center seeks to be the leading institution for in-depth research and dialogue to inform actionable ideas on global issues. Independent Research, Open Dialogue & Actionable Ideas

The Redistricting Game is designed to educate, engage, and empower citizens around the issue of political redistricting. Currently, the political system in most states allows the state legislators themselves to draw the lines. This system is subject to a wide range of abuses and manipulations that encourage incumbents to draw districts which protect their seats rather than risk an open contest. By exploring how the system works, as well as how open it is to abuse, The Redistricting Game allows players to experience the realities of one of the most important (yet least understood) aspects of our political system. The game provides a basic introduction to the redistricting system, allows players to explore the ways in which abuses can undermine the system, and provides info about reform initiatives - including a playable version of the Tanner Reform bill to demonstrate the ways that the system might be made more consistent with tenets of good governance. Beyond playing the game, the web site for The Redistricting Game provides a wealth of information about redistricting in every state as well as providing hands-on opportunities for civic engagement and political action.

Includes land patents & surveys to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States & image access to more than three million Federal land title records for Eastern Public Land States, issued between 1820 and 1908. \n\n

And the issue, to put it in a nutshell, is this: Knowing all this stuff is worthless, if all you've done is learn it. You seem to think that we're teaching you Western Civilization because gee, it's a great civilization. It's not. Like all civilizations, it has it's strengths and it has its flaws. Just because it's part of the dominant culture today doesn't make it good. Maybe the dominant culture today would be much better if certain aspects of Western Civilization were different - or even non-existent. Most of your essays saddened me because they were so full of cheer-leading for the West. Civilizations, Western or Eastern, Northern or Southern, don't need cheerleaders. They need critics.

We've partnered with Google to offer our entire 137-year archive for free browsing. Each issue appears just as it did at its original time of publication, complete with period advertisements. It's an amazing resource that beautifully encapsulates our ongoing fascination with the future, and science and technology's incredible potential to improve our lives. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

This Teacher Resource Guide is designed for incorporation into history and social studies curricula. It will introduce your students to some of the events and issues that shaped George Washington's life. The activities should enhance your students' knowledge of Washington and expand their horizons about this complex and interesting man.