Many students enter high school government classes knowing very little about the way the American constitutional system really works. This summer we asked five teachers attending the residential program of the Master of Arts in American History and Government (MAHG) how they convey to students what self-government requires. They said that when they teach through primary documents, students discover that our Constitution is not self-enforcing. Citizens must understand and support it.

In the next few days, those who have completed all coursework for the Master of Arts in American History and Government (MAHG) program may begin writing their qualifying exams, so as to graduate with their degrees this December. The next iteration of the exam, which is offered three times a year, will be released on Friday, October 18.

Teaching American History has recently published World War I and the 1920s: Core Documents, a collection curated by Professor Jennifer D. Keene, Professor of History and Dean of the Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Chapman University. Keene, a specialist in American military experience during World War I, has published three studies of this subject, along with numerous essays, journal articles, and encyclopedia entries.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries American labor fought a sustained battle against American capitalists over who should determine the wages, hours, and working conditions in America's booming factories—ownership or the workers. Battle tactics included dueling messaging in friendly publications, lobbying for favorable laws, and confrontations between strikes and strikebreakers. As is well-known, the struggle grew intense and violent during labor protests like  the 1886 rally at Haymarket Square and the 1892 Homestead Strike. Less well known is  labor activists’ occasional resort to sabotage of anti-union business establishments. In 1910, the Los Angeles Times, a strident anti-union voice in a staunch anti-union state, was a target of domestic violence that took the lives of 21 of its employees.