Several friends suggested I include some excepts from my book, United States History: Roots through Constitution on my blog as a method of getting you to understand just how badly you want to buy this book. It's available through Amazon, CreateSpace (if you link from my page), or you can buy it directly through me for much faster service and less expensive shipping.
The book is over 250 pages of factually researched history, with references provided in the bibliography. While I intended the book as a text for teens, of the 5 well-educated adults who read the book and provided feedback, they each said they were utterly surprised at how much they learned.
Perhaps you are thinking, "Look, I already passed American History." Maybe so, but the future of the American legacy is at risk, and most people can use a reminder of our roots. Secondly, consider all the worthless gifts we give people. Would an investment in the future of a son/daughter or grandchild be worth the $12.00? After having taught for 30 years in public schools, I can pretty much guarantee - most of today's teens are not getting this information unless they happened to get some throwback like me, or you made a personal commitment to provide this information yourself.
So, over the next few weeks, I'll be cutting and pasting portions of the chapters into my blog. Unfortunately, I cannot include the graphics and sidebars. If you'd like to contact me directly, you may email me at constitutiontoday@gmail.com. Thank you.
Chapter 1: The Indelible Beginnings that Define America
Judaism and Christianity
Want to know what the target is? Go to the end of this chapter and look at the review questions. Before you start a job, it’s always nice to know what people are expecting of you.
America is considered to be a Christian nation; have you wondered why? (Probably not, but play along with me, okay?) Granted, people of a wide variety of religious backgrounds have come here, but the USA is not considered to be a Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Muslim, Rastafarian, nor a Taoist nation. And here’s a thought: would the United States even be the same country if it were not for Christianity?
Christianity has had a huge impact on American History. I mean huge – as in really BIG. Even large, enormous, perhaps even gigantamundo. (Spellcheck didn’t recognize that last one.) Discussing the roots of American History without considering the role of Christianity would be like thinking about polka without dots, pizza without cheese, or Star Wars without the Force.
Am I suggesting other religions didn’t play a part in shaping America? Of course they did. Actually, they are now having a bigger affect than they did in our beginnings. Back in the day, though, Christianity was the MAIN player. Consider the metaphor of a cake. (You don’t remember what a metaphor is? It’s a comparison between two things to help form a conceptual understanding. There, now you remember. And I’m not even going to charge you for a Language Arts lesson.) Back to the cake. A cake has many ingredients, right? Flour, water, eggs, sugar, baking powder and some oil or shortening. Once the cake is baked and then frosted, you can add a bunch of decorations such as sprinkles, coconut, chocolate chips, candles, and pillow cases (just checking to see if you’re paying attention). Which parts are necessary to have the cake? Could we eliminate the coconut and still have cake? The flavor would change, but we could have a non-coconut cake, right? We could do away with the sprinkles, chocolate chips, and even the frosting (Calm down, I’m not going to make you give up frosting). The point is, the actual cake is the combination of the flour, sugar, water, eggs, baking soda, and shortening. How about cutting out the flour? We’re not going to get a cake by combining sugar, water, eggs, baking soda and shortening. In fact, if you serve that for your birthday, it’ll probably be the last time friends come over. Okay, now for the metaphor: Let’s say America is the cake. The American cake of today has many decorations on it. The ingredients
include many different religions and belief systems. What’s the flour? The flour of the American cake is Christianity. So, bon appetit. (Pronounced bone appa-teet - French for “Good Eating.”)
“Is this important?” you ask. Of course it’s important! Why else would I have included this information? Understanding that Christianity is a key part of the foundation of the United States is not only important – it is essential. Without this fundamental knowledge, understanding America’s DNA (genetic composition) is almost impossible. It would be like saying that I understand you without knowing what you believe, or how you arrive at the most important decisions of your life. If you are experiencing emotional conflict, guilt, depression, anxiety, etc – how could I possibly understand why if I didn’t know what is important in your belief system? Without understanding Christianity’s impact on America, it is impossible to understand many of the problems our country struggles with today. (More on this later.)
During the following explanations, you may periodically wonder, “What does all this religious background have to do with American History?” (Don’t tune out! If you tried to explain your favorite role playing game to a newbie - or especially a parent, it would take some time set the stage, right?)
History is much more than a listing of facts, and anybody who tries to present it that way should be banned from teaching. More than dates, names, places, and occurrences, history is a story that answers how and why. Knowing how something came to pass and the reason that something happened is what we’re after... or should be. Reciting that America was founded as a Christian nation reflects knowledge, but knowing why that is important, and how it occurred reflects understanding. When you can explain those kinds of things, people listen to you with respect, and start inviting you to all their parties. So, let’s begin...
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