HOW TO STUDY HISTORY

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LEARNING TO STUDY HISTORY
Just as there are grammar rules that must be mastered before one can write well, and mathematics rules that must be learned before one can try to solve equations, there are some basic rules for studying history that all students should strive to adhere to throughout the year:

1) Avoid judging people in the past based on values of the present, when our current values were not prevalent at that time in history.

For example, Abraham Lincoln's leadership during the Civil War led to the destruction of slavery in the United States of America, and for that reason he has been called “The Great Emancipator.” However, President Lincoln did not believe that men and women of all races were equal in all ways, and early in the war, he would have probably allowed slavery to continue if the war could be ended quickly. By today's standards, we would call Mr. Lincoln a conservative—someone in favor of slow, gradual change—in spite of his decision to fight to end slavery. By 19th Century standards, however, he would not be considered a conservative. Instead, his actions were considered by many to be radical. President Lincoln's actions required great courage in his time. In fact, he was ultimately murdered for his sympathy for the plight of America's slaves. To call Mr. Lincoln a racist, then, would be to judge him by today's standards, rather than those of his time. That is called presentism.

2) Before we even begin our study, recognize that no human being is perfect, and that all (including us) have the capacity to do both good and bad things.

When we encounter great men and women in history--George Washington, Louis & Clark, Frederick Douglas, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr., for instance--the flaws they have do not mean that their great accomplishments as Americans were not important. Unfortunately, human history has plenty of examples of men and women whose flaws led them to commit terrible acts and who did little to help others, but the fact that a hero (someone who has done much to help others) is not perfect should not take away from the value of his or her accomplishments.

3) Base your opinions about ideas, people, and events on knowledge that you've acquired through reliable sources. We will discuss how to tell when a source is reliable prior to the assignment of the first essay.

Note to self: no matter how many times it comes up first on your Google search, Wickipedia is not a reliable source!

4) Remember that while many things in history are factual, there can be honest disagreements among people (including professional historians) about what those facts mean, and what the consequences of certain human actions really were. There isn't always one 'right answer' to questions about history.

Sometimes there is (the Constitution was drafted in 1787, for instance), but sometimes there is not (how to interpret the 8th amendment to the US Constitution—no “cruel or unusual punishment”—is not so clear cut: does that mean the death penalty for a terrible crime is allowed or not?).