I was talking to a young guy the other day who is a professor of history. He was just passing through and we had sat next to each others table at a local restaurant and I struck up a conversation. When I heard he was an American history teacher I was thrilled because I have lately been reading through Bill Bennetts American History and a few Civil War memoirs, one from a Confederate Private, one a Union Private who rose through the ranks, and Ulysses S. Grants. I was a bit taken aback though when I asked him what affect he thought the Kentucky and the Virginia Resolutions had on the thinking of those who seceded from the Union in the Civil War. He didnt know what they were. Now, if it had been anyone but a professor of American history I would have thought nothing of it, but as he was one it bothered me. You see those resolutions, for the people not familiar with them, were written by Thomas Jefferson and his protege James Madison and were the first writings that started the South on the idea of nullification and therefore secession. Jeffersons first draft of his, the Kentucky Resolution, was much more forward in pushing the idea, but Madison held him back and an edit kept him from openly advancing the idea, but just barely. You know, what are we coming to when American History professors teaching at university level know less than some amateur history buff? I have been absolutely chagrined at the thought ever since.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 20:33:26 +0000
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