How did we get here? How did the Senate become such a joke? I think it’s because our civic education has been all but non existent in the past few generations. So I compiled some easily accessible resources to begin the long slow process of turning this ship of state around. George Grant has said that, in a way every act of learning is an act of repentance. It is confessing that we don’t know something which we should, and doing something about it. Our nation needs repentance, in many areas, and civic education is not to be neglected. Our system is built upon generations of faithful Christians attempting to work out their faith in public organization. Before modernism taught us to think of everything including ourselves and our public arrangements as machines, Christians were thinking Biblically about how to live and arrange ourselves on this planet before a Holy God. They called it Political Philosophy. It was an art requiring finesse, diligent study which leads to wisdom, and a lot of prayer. The key to a successful future is looking back.
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States. Howard Chandler Christy. 1940. Key.
The Problem
These are a couple of studies, because we moderns love numbers, outlining the problem; higher education simply does not teach American History or Civics. I would like to lay a lot of the blame at the feet of the Democrats and the Academic Liberals. As these studies show the ivy league is completely derelict in its duty to teach these things. And this stands in stark contrast to Christian Private Universities which go out of there way to teach these things. Liberals have an interest in an ignorant populace, it’s much easier to sell Socialism and Communism to them. Conservative Christians have an interest in preserving the work of our forefathers and building upon it. This is why they want more banana republic illegals and we want more citizens. They deliberately tear us down, we must build back up.
This study done by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) points out that many students in the ivy League actually do worse on tests as outgoing seniors than they did as incoming freshmen. Students became less educated about these important things by going to schools like Yale, Brown and Georgetown.
Press Release:
https://web.archive.org/web/20081029002311/http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/content/civlit_9-26-06.pdf
Full Website, including the study, findings and other resources:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190101154215/http://americancivicliteracy.org/
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni(ACTA) had similar findings “just 23 of the institutions among the 76 deemed to be the ‘best’ by US News & World Report’s 2016 rankings require history majors to take at least one US history course” And it goes on from there.
ACTA Report, A Crisis in Civic Education:
https://www.goacta.org/images/download/A_Crisis_in_Civic_Education.pdf
Resources
Primary Sources
The Best way to learn any subject is to use primary sources. Do you want to know about an event? Ask someone who was there. Do you want to know what a scientist discovered? Read his research. Do you want to know why an author wrote a story as he did? Read what he wrote about it. Do you want to know about the ballot initiatives you are voting on? Go and read them.
The Primary source of the United States is the Constitution, it’s very clearly and concisely written, because our government was meant to be accessible:
The Constitution:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript
Amendments 1-10 known as the Bill of Rights:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript#toc-the-u-s-bill-of-rights
Later amendments 11-27:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27#12
The Declaration of Independence, lays out the reason for our separation with England has always been considered a sister document to The Constitution:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
Surrounding the ratification of The Constitution were a series of debates which were originally newspaper articles, know as the Federalist Papers and Anti-Federalist Papers. The Federalist Papers discussed improvements which their writers thought necessary to our original governing document, The Articles of Confederation. The Anti Federalists were opposed.
Federalist Papers:
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1786-1800/the-federalist-papers/
Anti Federalist Papers:
https://www.theconstitutionalistsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TheAntiFederalistPapers.pdf
Debate on the Constitution Timeline:
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/fed-antifed/timeline/
The Articles of Confederation:
https://www.revolutionary-war.net/articles-confed-transcript.html
There were many important documents leading up to the Constitution, including one of the earliest the document drafted on the Mayflower between the enterprising settlers, the Mayflower Compact:
http://www.ushistory.org/documents/mayflower.htm
Following The Constitution, George Washington’s Farewell Address has long been treasured for it’s wisdom:
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=15&page=transcript
This two volume set includes most of the important documents from the founding:
https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/0132169940/
Wall Builders has one of the largest collections of early American Documents anywhere:
https://wallbuilders.com/library-2/
Understanding Primary Sources
These are some great lectures on The Constitution:
https://www.hillsdale.edu/academics/free-online-courses/#politics
Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) has a wealth of information on Conservative Thought
Their archive which includes over 500 lectures from past and present including many debates:
https://isi.org/lectures/
Their website has a lot of resources and current events:
https://home.isi.org
They also publish a number of fine books on many subjects:
https://isibooks.org
A good place to start is understanding America is their list of 11 Thinkers:
https://get.isi.org/11-essential-conservative-thinkers/
On Contemporary Issues and the Constitution:
The Claremont Institute:
https://www.claremont.org
National Review:
https://www.nationalreview.com
Collections On America
George Grant’s, The American Patriot’s Handbook includes a lot of documents, speeches and even songs:
https://www.amazon.com/American-Patriots-Handbook-Writings-History/dp/1492618462/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1538251788
William Bennett has a collection organized as and Almanac so you can get a little each day:
https://www.amazon.com/American-Patriots-Almanac-Readings-America/dp/1595555668/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1538251847&sr=1-1&keywords=patriots+almanac+bennett
The American Vision has a lot of resources:
https://americanvision.org
They published a collection of early American sermons, which is actually free for a few more hours:
https://store.americanvision.org/products/passing-the-torch-of-liberty-to-a-new-generation
A Couple of Wise Men
The Right Honorable Edmund Burke was one of the wisest men of his time and his wisdom lays the foundation for much of American Conservatism. In his book Reflections on the Revolution in France he lays out the difference between the American and French Revolutions and why the French would fail, where the American Revolution succeeded.
Audio:
https://librivox.org/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france-by-edmund-burke/
In his speech before the English Parliament, he encouraged his colleagues to let the United States leave rather than fight a war. He was proven correct.
Speech on Conciliation with America, Audio:
https://librivox.org/uk-commons-speeches-vol3/
Speech on Conciliation with America, Text:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5655
Frédéric Bastiat is one of he clearest and most concise economists ever to live. His essays The Law and That Which is Seen, and That which is Not Seen, are essential reading for any American.
Audio:
https://librivox.org/essays-on-political-economy-by-frederic-bastiat/
Text:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15962
Enjoy!