Idaho State University Political Science Professor David Gray Adler examines what he describes as the great constitutional crisis of the day: the usurpation and abdication of constitutional roles by President and Congress. Building his argument on the concerns of the Framers, Dr. Adler points to the endangerment to liberty posed by the erosion of checks and balances.
Audio and video options are available.
Professor Robin Einhorn looks at the 19th-century understanding of the Constitution and the changes that were made to it following the Civil War.
Edward Turzanski of the Foreign Policy Research Institute attempts to sum up what students should be taught about the War on Terrorism, in order to prepare students to critically analyze world events and plan for and anticipate future events. He suggests that the languages of cultures beyond the Spanish-speaking and Western European world and world geography need to be more widely taught.
Audio and video options are available.
Patrick Clawson, Deputy Director of Research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, looks at Iran's development of nuclear weapons.
Audio and video options are available.
Harvey Sicherman, President of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, looks at the current war in Iraq; and asks what relationship it has with the War on Terrorism. He outlines previous presidential stands on terrorism, which largely ideologically opposed terrorism, but did not take direct, open action against it—contrasting them with Bush's active declaration of war against terrorism. Sicherman argues that the war in Iraq functions as an extension of the war on terrorism and of previous U.S. policy in the Middle East.
Video and audio options are available.
David Eisenhower of the Foreign Policy Research Institute considers the current necessity of approaching terrorism and the current war as teaching subjects, and looks at how national crises—such as 9/11—pose certain rhetorical and leadership demands on presidents, and how President Bush reacted to these demands.
Video and audio options are available.
Paul Dickler of Neshaminy High School reviews several points he considers important in teaching on 9/11 and terrorism, as well as in teaching history more generally.
Audio and video options are available.
On this electronic field trip, students get the chance to see up close historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Students will also have entry to the entire Independence National Historical Park with 21 historical sites available for fascinating tours.
A cooperative effort, this online repository presents 100 milestone documents in American history. The first document is the Richard Henry Lee Resolution of June 7, 1776, proposing independence for the American colonies. The last is the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In between, visitors will find Eli Whitney's 1794 cotton gin patent, the 1862 Pacific Railway Act, and the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson ruling.
Additional documents include the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916, and orders and addresses by several presidents, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower. There is a full-page scan and transcription of each document. In addition to the chronological list of 100 documents, the site includes a "People's Vote." Of the 100 documents, Americans voted the Declaration of Independence number one, followed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
As Elihu Root once put it, we study war "not to promote war, but to preserve peace." Indeed, it is impossible for students to learn U.S. or world history without frequent reference to war. The Foreign Policy Research Institute's Wachman Center presents two webcasts with Jeremy Black, one of the world's most distinguished historians of war, and enabled students from the online and live audiences to "interrogate" this guest as well.
The process explored a wide range of questions: How important is technology in war? How important is morale? What were some of the great errors on the battlefield? Who were the greatest commanders? Why were the 13 American colonies able to defeat the British, the world's greatest power, in America's Revolutionary War? Why did the U.S. play such a crucial role in World War II?
The session is divided into morning and afternoon sections, and is offered in video and audio formats.