
Indigenous Columbus Day
Did you celebrate Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day? The two holidays have a lot in common.

Did you celebrate Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day? The two holidays have a lot in common.

Every summer, something remarkable happens on the Ashland University campus in north-central Ohio. Social studies teachers from across the country pack a suitcase, leave home for a week (or two, or three, or four), and join us for our Master of Arts in American History and Government (MAHG) program.

Our Master of Arts in American History & Government is well-known to teachers in the TAH community. If you’ve been to our seminars, you’ve probably met someone who’s at least taken some graduate classes. If asked, they likely touted their experience with the MAHG degree. For many years now, our MAHG students’ advocacy is the best form of advertising we have.

Teaching American History hosted a record number of multi-day seminars in 2025. We sent over 500 teachers to 31 historic sites across 22 different states this year alone!

Teaching American History’s Spring 2026 webinar series is a five-part event exploring the Declaration of Independence from its creation to its lasting influence on American reform movements.

If he follows long-standing tradition, then sometime this coming November, President Trump will issue a proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving as his predecessors have done for generations. It will likely be written to inspire the nation and will include reminders of the origins of our very American Thanksgiving celebrations and will urge all Americans to feel gratitude for our myriad blessings, etc.

E Pluribus Unum, We the People, self-evident truths—these were the touchstones of the 1770s and 1780s. The historic collaboration between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison on the Federalist essays in the late 1780s quickly gave way to a political disagreement so sharp that it sundered US politics permanently into (at least) two rival parties.

As a classroom teacher, I’m no stranger to feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of resources out there. There’s no shortage of materials online—except, of course, for the one resource we wish we had more of: time.

Teaching American History’s philosophy is that the best way to learn American history is to read the words of those who lived it. That’s why we maintain an extensive database of original documents.

This volume of primary documents on the causes of the Civil War presents the history of the American political order during its most tumultuous and challenging time. More than a century and a half after the crisis came to an end, Americans remain fascinated by it, as they should be.