| This week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal begins with Allen Guelzo’s review of Noah Feldman’s recent book, “The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Refounding of America.” According to Guelzo, Feldman’s argument that a moral constitution based on equality was established after the Civil War, which was superior to the “compromise Constitution” of 1787, is flawed. Rather, Guelzo contends that the real history of Lincoln and Reconstruction shows us that “the compromise Constitution simply never went away in the first place, and that the moralized Constitution Feldman describes had to wait until well into the twentieth century to take shape in the minds of American jurists.” In the latest piece in our ongoing civic institutions series, Mike Sabo highlights the Civic Literacy Curriculum, a product of the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University. Developed by scholars, the curriculum is a set of free, comprehensive resources on American history and government. It features over 100 lessons and 200 videos, flashcards, study guides, and teacher guides and is divided into seven units, including ones on the U.S. government, rights and responsibilities, and geographic symbols and holidays. Helen Andrews reviews "The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story," which forwards the twin claims that slavery is the fundamental interpretive key to American history and that nearly all of our previous history books and materials erased black people from our history. Andrews argues that the arguments of the 1619 Project show that we should “reject racial accounting altogether.” “American history is full of episodes of racial injustice and racial progress, episodes when pursuing greater equality for black Americans redounded to everyone’s benefit and when doing so required non-black Americans to bear great costs, and episodes in which race played hardly any role at all,” she notes. “Nothing could be more toxic to our ongoing effort to build a multiracial democracy than to cast any race as a perennial hero or villain.” Original Posts Mike Sabo, RealClearWire Essential Reading Helen Andrews, First Things In 1930, Lorenzo Greene traveled around the United States selling books about black history on behalf of his boss, Carter G. ... In the News Mark Sherman & Jessica Gresko, Associated Press Kimberly Hermann & Braden Boucek, American Mind No Labels, RealClearPolicy Candra Flanagan, Eden Cho, & Phoebe Hillemann, Smithsonian Magazine Carl M. Cannon, RealClearPolitics Katherine Hutt Scott, US News & World Report Jo Nalven, Minding the Campus Christopher Klein, History.com John O. McGinnis, Law & Liberty Brandon Millett, Philanthropy Roundtable Mark Walsh, Education Week Summer Ballentine, Associated Press C. Bradley Thompson, Substack Bobby Caina Calvan, Associated Press Don Feder, Washington Times Bradford Wilson & Shilo Brooks, Free Mind Season Two of The Free Mind podcast launches with a conversation between Shilo Brooks and Bradford Wilson, Executive Director... Bob Woodson & Martin DeCaro, History As It Happens After The 1619 Project sparked a scholarly uproar over its provocative reinterpretation of U.S. history, the longtime activist... Mary Patterson, Bill of Rights Institute How did African Americans experience education during Reconstruction? In today's episode of BRIdge from the Past, Mary... Debby Applegate, Sean Beienburg, Donald L. Miller, & David Randall, NAS In the 1920s, life in the United States took a dramatic turn towards modernity. Cars, telephones, radios, and appliances began... Michael Warren, Patriot Lessons Learn how Article I of the Constitution vests legislative authority in the Congress. Review how the Constitution creates two... John McWhorter & Bill Kristol, Conversations with Bill Kristol Where did the term woke come from? How did it come to prominence in our politics? John McWhorter shares his perspective... Keith Whittington, Bernard Haykel, & Antonin Scalia, Madison's Notes The James Madison Program's new Initiative on Freedom of Thought, Inquiry, and Expression (the "Free Speech Initiative") will.... Carl Cannon's Great American Stories Sixty-one years ago today, Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his farewell address to the American people. "Ike," as he was affectionately ... It's Friday, Jan. 14, 2022, and the day of the week when I reprise quotations intended to be uplifting or ... It's Jan. 7, 2022, the first Friday of the New Year, and the day of the week when I reprise ... |
