Western Trails: An Online Journey
This archive of thousands of photographs, paintings, maps, and other primary documents on the history and culture of the trails of the American West brings together the "western trails" collections of the six libraries and institutions. The main features are exhibits and search function, but the site also offers some limited teaching resources. "Trails through Time Exhibits" features 10 exhibits on Native American, explorer, military, settlement, freight, cattle, railroad, tourism, health, and population trails. Each exhibit has a short essay, images, and links to related exhibitions and websites. "Western Trail Collections" allows the visitor to browse through 10 pre-selected categories or conduct a keyword search by creator, title, subject, or date.
The teaching section, "Trails for Teachers," offers one lesson plan for grades 1-6, two plans for grades 6-8, and two multi-grade level plans, all utilizing the collection's materials. Subjects include such diverse topics as ranch life and the early history of Jews in Colorado. A useful resource for researching the history and culture of the American West and for a basic introduction to the various movements in and across the West.
The telephone was not invented in order to do what people eventually used it to do. It may seem obvious what a telephone is good for, but even its inventors—Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Thomas Watson—were not clear about it when they first demonstrated it. Nor were those who attended their demonstrations and gasped in astonishment at what they heard.
The lines might not be direct from point to point, but to and from ganglia in the form of central offices or stations, which have charge of the business, except where private parties see fit to maintain their own independent lines. Suppose this network to be established and in good working order. What a deal of running to and fro and of vexatious delay would be obviated! Smith in his office on State street, without moving from his chair, could say to Mrs. Smith at the Highlands, in his blandest tone of voice: "Going to New York tonight, my dear; have John take my carpet-bag to the Providence depot before 6 o'clock." Mrs. Smith's reply would be immediate and, of course, in a tone of cheerful acquiescence. Or Brown, in his store on Washington street, would ask a friend home to dinner, and communicate the fact to Mrs. Brown on the Back Bay, receiving at once a dutiful response which would be pleasant to the friend standing by and catching the sweet tones of her voice. Jones, in the midst of the distractions of his bills payable and bills receivable, would be interrupted for a moment by a familiar but far-away voice, informing him that his beloved wife was coming in town, shopping and would call at 2 o'clock for a little money, and then of course no pressing business elsewhere would keep him away from his counting-room at that hour. And equally, of course, his wife would receive a prompt and amiable answer, relieving her mind of all uncertainty. … The fancy will readily supply the thousand details of practical utility here suggested. State-rooms on steamboats, places in railway cars, room in a hotel, dinner from a restaurant, could be bespoken without the necessity of sending, and the satisfaction would be obtained which only a personal interview can secure. [2]
Roosevelt spoke these words on March 4, 1933, in his First Inaugural Address— which also included his famous phrase "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." In this speech, FDR first assured the American people that he had faith that the Constitution and current understandings of constitutionally-acceptable presidential power were sufficient to overcome the crisis posed by the Great Depression. He then went on to note that, if necessary for the good of the country, he would ask Congress for executive power equivalent to that granted in wartime.
In his book Democracy in America, French thinker, writer, and politician Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), considers the strengths and weakness of the American federal system of government as it was in the early 1830s, when he visited the young country on a 9-month tour. This passage comes from chapter 8 of the book's first volume: "On the Federal Constitution." Subheading "The Federal Constitution, Part V," "Why the Federal System is Not Adapted to All Peoples" looks at the uniqueness of the Constitution and of the expectations it sets out for the people putting it into practice. 
Fiery abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) included this condemnation of the Constitution in the December 29, 1832, issue of his abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. The article in which it appeared, titled "On the Constitution and the Union," denounced the Constitution for allowing slavery to exist in the U.S., calling it a document "dripping" "with human blood." 
Woodrow Wilson included these words in his 1913 book The New Freedom: A Call for the Emancipation of the Generous Energies of a People, which laid out many of the views on which he had campaigned for the presidency. Writing in 1885, in his earlier book Congressional Government, Wilson saw many problems in the United States' established form of government, arguing that the Founders' system of checks and balances obscured responsibility more than it ensured balance. Wilson saw the Constitution as a product of a certain time and place, with questionable relevance to the present day. 
