Historical Books of Worth - elementary level

There is a series of books which are worth the investment in order that your elementary-aged children may read historically correct literature. These books first went into print in the 1950's, including both biographies as well as specific historical events. They are - Landmark Books. Whether with or without a dust jacket, you will see the logo at the bottom of the spine, Landmark Books over the outline of the Washington Monument. This series of books is superlatively well done and can play a large role in creating enthusiasm among young readers. (Plus, these provide a quick reference for the Instructor.)

Keeping the Lord's Day Holy

A South Carolina law of 1691 which called for a better observance of the Lord's Day began by pointing out that"...there is nothing more acceptable to Almighty God that the true sincere performance of and obedience to the most divine service and worship...."
-Reformation to Colonization, p. 419

Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh loved a good smoke. In fact, he was instrumental in popularizing tobacco in England, even though Europe had already been introduced to tobacco (Spanish and French explorers had picked up the habit from pipe-smoking Indians). Legend goes that when Raleigh's servant first saw him puffing away, he thought that Raleigh was on fire and doused him thoroughly with water. Raleigh's name went down in history not only as the name of a city in North Carolina but as the name of a pipe tobacco.
-Reformation to Colonization (p. 242)

Inventor's Day

Today is, "Inventor's Day." Here's one inventor's story...

When Bill Black, an Austin-area barber, noticed how hair clippings, which fell onto plants near his barber chair, seemingly improved their growth, he did a little research. He learned that hair contained 18 % nitrogen. Further research, on the part of Black, uncovered that plant fertilizers are nitrogen based. Eureka! Those hair clippings he had been throwing into the trash now became the foundation for FertHairLizer -a plant fertilizer product that still being sold today.
(Texas Trivia - Weird,Wacky, and Wild by Prosapio & Wojna)

What's lying on your floor?

Literature and a Nation

"Literature is the living memory of a nation. It preserves and kindles within itself the flame of a country's spend history, in a form that is safe from distortion and slander. In this way, literature, together with language, protects the soul of a nation."
-Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Strange Bedfellows: The Revered and the Reviled

Senator Joseph R. McCarthy

(R) Wisconsin

(1947 - 1957)

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Robert F. Kennedy

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John F. Kennedy
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For current mainstream political historians, the late Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin), was the devil incarnate, bent on destroying the personal and professional lives of freedom-loving, patriotic Americans. The term McCarthyism is synonomous with witch hunts, that are conducted in fits of blind rage with no regard for the truth. If one wishes to impugn the motivations of a political foe, either a reference to racism or McCarthyism does the trick.

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The author, M. Stanton Evans, offers a different perspective on the Senator from Wisconsin in his book Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy. Evans' opus is a fascinating and well-documented history of Joe McCarthy, and his quest to rid United States government of communist spies and sympathizers. To hear it today the mainstream media paints a picture of a crazed, hateful loner whose weapons included character assassination by careless innuendo.

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Evans has taken a decidely different tact, which included checking well-documented evidence. One of the interesting political alliances of the early 1950's involved the reviled, McCarthy. As a noted anti-communist, this Republican attracted others who shared his views. This included a Democrat from Massachusetts, Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of the revered John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. McCarthy and Joseph P. became so close, that when John ran for the Senate in 1952 against a noted conservative Republican, Henry Cabot Lodge, McCarthy offered no public support for Lodge's campaign at Joseph P.'s request. Lodge lost.

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After the 1952 elections, McCarthy and the Kennedy's remained close. Robert, a student at the University of Virginia Law School, worked pro bono for McCarthy. Robert's respect even ran deeper than that. He asked, and McCarthy agreed to be the godfather to Robert's oldest child, Kathleen, who is now known as Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former Lt. Governor for the state of Maryland.

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Would Abraham Lincoln be Electable Today?

Of the many icons that represent Abraham Lincoln, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., is clearly one of the most recognizable. Open twenty-four hours a day, it enjoys over three and a half million visitors every year. The focal point of this remarkable structure is the large seated sculpture, the work of Daniel Chester French.

Beneath that sculpture is a basement gift shop, and a room with large marble slabs that have etched in them significant quotes and statements of our sixteen president. One such quote doesn't match the political history that, if taught at all, is taught in the public schools in America. All that is taught about Lincoln is that he was the "Great Emancipator". Anyone who disagrees with that moniker is usually labeled as a "far-right-wing-red-necked bigot", ignoring what is etched in stone in the very memorial built to honor this historical figure's memory.

Twelve years ago, we visited that memorial, and when I read this particular slab, I was stunned at the brazened misrepresentation of government education. I was compelled to take a picture of the quote, but unfortunately, the technology I was using back then required a flash which obliterated a portion of the quote. The quotation engraved in this slab is taken from a letter written by Lincoln to Horace Greeley on August 22, 1862. Here is the balance of that quote:

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause." -- August 22, 1862 - Letter to Horace Greeley

Here is another quote that very rarely sees the light of day:

"I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything." -- September 18, 1858 - Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois

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There are certainly well-documented quotes of Lincoln impugning slavery and slave owners. It doesn't take long to find those, but it does take some doing to find these. In today's world, Abraham Lincoln's career would have ended in Illinois, BUT, on the other hand, Barack Obama's didn't, either.