Learning to Think Like a Historian in Order to Better Understand History and Enjoy Its Challenge

Slave auctions often times separated families. The idea that slaves were property and not people lasted for many years.

This is the beloved hero of the young United States, George Washington. When it became time to pick a leader for the new nation he was chosen unanimously!

The decade of the Great Depression was a struggle for the entire country. It was a triumph for families to survive.

However, this photo gives us just a hint about one family during the Dust Bowl. What of the stories of the millions of other people in the past? How can we ever hope to understand all of them? We can’t really…

The past is gone. All we have to go on are the “primary sources”—that is, the records we still have. Photos like this are one kind of record.

Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View

Pause: Write a sentence or two about what happened in lunch yesterday As a class, discuss what happened and how accurate your accounts of it are

Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View

Representatives from the colonies gathered to discuss their options

How did the Patriots organize themselves for the possibility of independence? Why did Loyalists feel such a devotion to England? What efforts were made to try to negotiate with King George? How did the Patriots organize themselves for the possibility of independence? Why did Loyalists feel such a devotion to England? What efforts were made to try to negotiate with King George?

The evidence is in the primary sources. The problem is that the sources do not all agree.

I adore my Country. Passionately devoted to true Liberty; I glow with the purest flame of Patriotism. Silver’d with age as I am, if I know myself, my humble Sword shall not be wanting to my Country; (if the most Honorable Terms are not tendered by the British Nation) to whose Sacred Cause, I am most fervently devoted. The judicious Reader, will not impute my honest, tho’ bold Remarks, to unfriendly designs against my Children ---- against my Country; but to abhorrence of Independency; which if effected, would inevitably plunge our once pre-eminently envied Country into Ruin, Horror, and Desolation. Plain Truth by James Chalmers

“Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer...” Common Sense by Thomas Paine

Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View

Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View

Modern large scale industrial farming Grain field painting with local wildlife Adam Oswald

Horse drawn grain harvester Modern grain combine L.K.Wood& His 12 Horsepower, 1899 Aultman Taylor Early colonial harvest by hand

Pause: List two things about you that have changed over your lifetime List two things that have stayed exactly the same Think about change and continuity in your own life

Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View

“A relentless arms race was bound to lead to all-out war.” “Nationalism turned European states against one another as never before.” “Stupidity and sheer accidents were key factors.” “It was the frenzied drive for colonies and empire.” “A tangle of alliances locked diplomats into a choice for war.”

Social & Political FactorsIndividual Choices “Stupidity and sheer accidents were key factors.” “A tangle of alliances locked diplomats into a choice for war.” “A relentless arms race was bound to lead to all-out war.” “Nationalism turned European states against one another as never before.” “It was the frenzied drive for colonies and empire.”

Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View

No cell phones No cars or trucks No TV or Internet No health clinics No pensions Work from sunup to sundown Different ideas about children Different ideas about family Different ideas about religion Different ideas about community

Tasks ahead: Examine secondary sources for background information Interpret primary sources Draw your own conclusions about this event in the past. Tasks ahead: Examine secondary sources for background information Interpret primary sources Draw your own conclusions about this event in the past. Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View Five Habits of Historical Thinking History Is Not the Past Itself The Detective Model: Problem, Evidence, Interpretation Time, Change, and Continuity Cause and Effect As They Saw It: Grasping Past Points of View