It really is a shame the time frame involved leading to the final legislation that once and for all freed the slaves isn't included in the history lessons. It for sure isn't in the Black History month publications. They all say Lincoln did it and they give the Underground Railroad more word space than the entire legislative process. Maybe they don't want anyone to figure out it was not a slam dunk just because of Lincolns EP. Of course they're not going to go into realm of possibilities on the lack of real interest by some in the North for this freedom.
The lid is off this worm can, but no one wants to see just how many are sitting at the bottom. The old History 101 text has been replaced and they use History for Dummies but even then, most don't read it. It is very difficult to convince 4th and 5th graders that what is in the American History text will have a profound effect on their life for as long as they live. They think it's all old news. Forget the upper grades, most of them are more interested in the Human Anatomy section of their Biology book than History.

It is up to us, as parents and grandparents to teach our own as much as we can. We have seen how rampant the lack of information on the one area of History we talk about here. We have to go on the assumption that the rest of the Nation's struggles are at best, the short version. There is no way a person with no real knowledge of basic American History can make a really informned judgment on who they will vote for. They will always fall for the fancy speech and hearing what they want, not what is best for the entire nation. We are now seeing a new generation of Ameicans. They are going to grow up and vote and I do fear we are going to be in bigger trouble because they are also the 'clueless' generation. Even worse, they don't care. Being a citizen of the United States is not something they can grasp as a gift that is truly special.

The texts don't talk about the war in Mexico much. They really ought to because it gives a good background for the players in our own 'troubled' war a few years later. A bit of information on the relationships and common ground those who later would be officers on both sides in the conflict of our own may give enough to make them wonder why so many gave up so much to go with a cause that was radical to say the least in that day and time. Armed with that type of information, they just might (at least I would hope) understand the conflict that tore this land apart was not based on one simple reason. Most people today under say, 60, probably couldn't tell you who was POTUS before Lincoln and who his VP was that became the POTUS. I talked to a 16 year old the other day. Really eye opening. They only knew the name of 4 of our Presidents. Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy and Obama. They did think Franklin was the second one but weren't sure. He was "on money so he must have been the prez at some time". I kid you not. That is what they said. I wanted to cry. Our young people are being short changed in one of the most important lessons they need when they go out into the world. If this is all they are learning, can we really expect them to understand what an ammendment is?

Pam