It is not my intent to violate the policy of the group by introducing modern political discussion into the list. However, a bit of it must come into this message so that I can make my point about conveying the importance of learning history to our youth. The quote "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will eat for life" (or something like that) is informative, but should have a further qualification: "But he will only catch edible fish if he is guided to good water." The same is true of learning history. The book Founding Brothers is extremely well researched. I occasionally offer American and Tennessee history courses at the college where I teach. I teach for Tusculum College which is the one of the oldest institutes of higher learning West of the Unaka (Smoky in East Tennessee) Mountains. I am a quantitative Political Scientist by education so my primary teaching responsibility is Social Science Research Methods. My department assumes that because I am the local "expert" on American Government I am also qualified to teach American and Tennessee History. Actually I have learned most of my history so that I can do a decent job representing my Revolutionary War ancestor who was one of the Pioneers of Tennessee. One of the things that continues to surprise me in my introductory courses is the slanted approach to history brought to my classroom by my students who have been taught in a variety of secondary schools. My students have often never heard of Adams, Madison or Hamilton. If they have it is only as peripheral players in the e! arly settlement period. Many think Jefferson wrote the Constitution instead of Madison being the principle author. The words American Revolution have fallen out of favor and many historians now call that war the American War of Independence. Some even describe it as America's first Civil War. Every effort is being made to make the Framers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution appear to be virtueless men with only their own self interest at stake in the Revolutionary War. The names of Washington, Jefferson and even Lincoln are being removed from schools and public buildings and replaced with the names of obscure individuals whose contributions to the creation and stability of our Nation were negligible, if they contributed at all. I have had secondary teachers in my own state tell me there is nothing of interest historically until after Reconstruction. Although not a state during the Revolution, the settlers here contributed to resisting the British out of all proportion to the size of their population by sending militia units to North and South Carolina. They did so at the risk of leaving their farms and families unprotected from attacks by British inspired Indian war parties. Those that remained in the Valley acted as the Rearguard of the Revolution by keeping the British off the backs of the Continentals fighting in North and South Carolina. They distinguished themselves at the Battle of King's Mountain and brought considerable honor to the epithet "Overmountain Men." The early settlement period (1768 - 1782) is rife with heroic acts and deeds both on the part of the settlers and of the Native American inhabitants. When the region became the Southwest Territory it was America's first "Wild West." Only one state had more Civil War battles fought in it and that was Virginia. Probably no state went through a longer period of agony before secession. Even then one-third of the state retained Union sympathies while the Civil War dragged on. Yet that is taught in very few of our secondary schools. Do our secondary schools do a good job teaching history? I would venture to say that many teachers make every effort to do so. But there are those who are more interested in indoctrination than education and those are the ones we must be watchful to provide a counterbalance for. I am sure that some of you will try to attach a denigrating political label to me after this, my first (and probably my last) brief venture out of lurkerdom in this group. If you must label me, then use the one I use when asked my political leaning. I am a Jeffersonian Liberal. Jefferson said, "The government that governs least governs best." I personalize that by believing that the government that interferes the least in my life, governs best. I suggest that by extension, the government that interferes the least in the educational process also provides the better opportunity for a true education. When governments tell teachers what to say in the classroom, it isn't education, it is political indoctrination. So the Southwest Territory was what is now Tennessee and East Tennessee was Unionist during the Civil War. In fact, the legend goes that the Union could not have won the war without the Tennessee Volunteer Riflemen who sneaked through KY and VA to get to PA to enlist. Sadly there is a jaundiced view of history currently being provided to school children that destroys the reputations of our Founding Fathers. We have academics, and others, who want to judge 18th Century people by 21st Century standards of morality. What was right and proper for them is in some cases totally repugnant to us. But what would George Washington or Thomas Jefferson think our generation if they were to see a video of Brittany Spears or Madonna? I hope that our descendents 200 years from now are kinder to us than we have been recently to our Revolutionary War ancestors. Remember what George Santana said about failing to learn the lessons of History and being doomed to repeat them. If for no other reason than that we should stress to our children the importance of learning about our past. For that reason I encourage everyone of you to become involved in a local living history program. Yes it can be expensive. Yes it takes time and effort to do the research. Yes you often end up having to make most of your attire yourself by hand. Yes you have to scratch and scrape to find the time to prepare and put on the presentations. But when you see the look on the 6th grade troublemakers face when you show him (or her) how to build a fire with flint and steel, or pour a lead ball over an open fire, or explain the utility of carrying a longrifle (which you built yourself) to feed your family on the frontier, it is well worth the price. I have found that the parents have as many or more questions than the children and often the least informed audiences ! are the folks who are members of the genealogical societies. So get off you chairs, walk away from your piles of paper and your computer for a while and go out and teach our children some of the history you have learned. Believe it or not, they love to hear history delivered from a personal perspective. They don't get that from a textbook. Respectfully I remain, Your Humble & Obedient Servant, Arthur McGinley Interpreting Lt. Col. James McGinley Blount County Militia Territory of the United States Southwest of the River Ohio mcginley@chartertn.net --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "All you need for happiness is a good gun, a good horse, and a good wife." - Daniel Boone