Peter Karsten of the University of Pittsburgh outlines what he believes should be taught in schools about the wars the U.S. has participated in, including the effects of the wars on U.S. society and on the relationship of the military with U.S. society at large. This lecture was part of "What Students Need To Know About America’s Wars, Part I: 1622-1919: A History Institute for Teachers, held July 26-27, 2008 at the First Division Museum in Wheaton, IL, sponsored by the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Wachman Center and by the Cantigny First Division Foundation.

Video and audio options are available.

Smithsonian National Museum of American History curators share secrets of how they develop the individual stories presented in exhibitions such as "America on the Move." They then help students who are creating their own family stories by analyzing objects, documents, and other resources. This presentation continues from the presentation "America on the Move, Part One: Migrations, Immigrations, and How We Got Here."

To view this electronic field trip, select "America on the Move, Part Two: Creating Stories" under the heading "Electronic Field Trips."

Historian Gail Sylvia Lowe discusses the importance of artifacts in preserving and interpreting history. She uses a church fan as a theoretical example, looking at what could be gleaned from examining such an object.

To view this video, select "Scholars," followed by "Gail Sylvia Lowe." Choose one of the Windows Media options.

Lynne Cheney talks about the way Americans have come to perceive their past. She uses her recent book, A Time for Freedom: What Happened When in America, as a jumping-off point for discussing her longstanding interest in the education of young people in American history.

To listen to this lecture, scroll to "Lynne Cheney" and select "Watch the Video."

In this presentation, students will discover how modes of transportation have changed over time and how those changes have affected North Carolinians.

Professor Robin Einhorn seeks to define the concept of federalism in U.S. government, detailing what precisely a federal government entails. She looks at how the term has been used and changed over U.S. history.

Professor Jon Gjerde looks at how the concepts of democracy and citizenship have changed over the course of U.S. history. He focuses particularly on how these concepts have affected and reacted to immigrants and immigration throughout that history.

Editor John B. Judis discusses the foreign policy of George W. Bush and his War on Terrorism in relation to previous foreign policy trends in the U.S., from the early U.S. of the Founding Fathers onwards.

Dr. Steven Mintz narrates a general overview of U.S. history, beginning with colonialism and the American Revolution. The presentation focuses on the themes of freedom and equality and the struggle by minorities for both.

To watch this video, scroll to "Flash Movies." From there, select "An Overview of American History."

Professor Harry V. Jaffa analyzes the text of the Declaration of Independence, focusing particularly on its reference to equality. He interprets equality as resting on freedom of religion and on the separation of church and state—that is, on rejecting individual divine favor as setting anyone above anyone else.

This lecture continues from The Declaration in American History and World History, Part One.