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Students in South Dakota will now graduate from high school without studying early American history, under new teaching guidelines adopted by the state. After a year of deliberations, the state Board of Education adopted new curriculum standards that no longer require instructors to teach the first 100 years of U.S. history. Such milestone events and developments as the Revolutionary War and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution could be completely ignored. Cutting out early U.S. history in 11th grade hurts the ability of students to “think historically” when they reach higher education, according to a letter sent to the state...

They all pledged their “lives, fortunes and sacred honors,” and it was more than just an idle boast. The Founding Fathers were committing treason against the most powerful empire that the world to date had ever seen. It was also their Mother Country, to which many of their friends, family, and neighbors were still loyal. And while they certainly, in the words of Patrick Henry, “made the most” of their treason, the idea that they would establish the most free and powerful nation in the history of mankind was not the most likely outcome. So in singling out these 7...

LIBERTY! The American Revolution is a dramatic documentary about the birth of the American Republic and the struggle of a loosely connected group of states to become a nation. The George Foster Peabody award-winning series brings the people, events and ideas of the revolution to life through military reenactments and dramatic recreations performed by a distinguished cast. _________________________ EPISODE 1: "The Reluctant Revolutionaries" 1763-1774In 1763, the capitol city of America is London, George Washington is lobbying for a post in the British army, and no one thinks of Boston harbor when they hear talk of tea parties. In a dozen...

“It’s so bad….it’s like having a statue of Hitler” Liberals at the University of Texas signed a petition to remove a statue of GeorgeWashington and memorials to other founding fathers in another illustration of thepolitically correct insanity that has emerged in the wake of the Charleston massacre. (Watch video at link) Students at the University have started an actual petition to remove statues of Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Confederate army, and Albert Sidney Johnston, a Confederate general who died during the Civil War, remarking, “It is impossible to reach the full potential of an inclusive and progressive...

The replica ship called the Hermione and its crew made the trans-Atlantic trip from Rochefort, France; the same place where Lafayette left on his journey to America back in 1780. (Courtesy of York County, Virginia) WASHINGTON — It was a battle a young America was losing  —  the battle for  independence.  That was until the French stepped in, providing the edge America so desperately needed in its revolution against the British.A young Frenchman played a pivotal role in helping secure independence from Great Britain.   His name was Marquis de Lafayette, and he was on board a French warship in 1780 that...

Early pictures of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and many artifacts commemorating the centennial of the "Star-Spangled Banner," Baltimore's Washington Monument and other key aspects of American history were revealed Tuesday. The 1915 Centennial Time Capsule was one of two time capsules discovered during the renovation of Baltimore's Washington Monument, the first to honor George Washington. The monument has been going through a $5.5 million restoration by the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy since January 2014. The 1915 time capsule was opened Tuesday at the Walters Art Museum, while the contents of a time capsule from the 1815 cornerstone, some of...

"Freedom's Frigate" is the nickname of a sailing ship now on its way to America. It's a replica of the French vessel that helped our country win the war of independence. Before its departure, Mark Phillips went aboard: As memorials to American wars go, this one goes right back to the first one -- the Revolutionary War. And it is certainly among the most handsome and most intricate history lessons ever built. A newly-launched replica of the French frigate, Hermione, is now in mid-Atlantic, ploughing her way westward toward the U.S. East Coast. She's retracing the voyage of the original...

As a huge television buff, I'm uniquely qualified to render this opinion: "Turn" is the best show currently playing on any network.It's the story of young father caught up in the American Revolution, who, trying to keep his head down and nose clean, ultimately decides to become a spy for the Continental Army. Based upon a book I'd neither read nor even heard of, Alexander Rose’s "Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring,” it adroitly weaves in the exploits of Abraham Woodhull with the better-known stories and events of the war.I was first drawn to it due its...

A replica of the French navy frigate Hermione that brought General Lafayette to America to rally rebels fighting Britain in the US war of independence, will set sail for the United States again on Saturday, 235 years after the original crossing.

Abraham Lincoln and George Washington were gay, says a new book by a gay activist and award winning writer. Larry Kramer, 79, says he believes what's written in his history book is true though he is selling it as fiction to avoid legal troubles. In Volume One of his two part book 'The American People,' Kramer says that Abraham Lincoln was gay and his killer John Wilkes Booth was actually Lincoln's spurned gay lover. 'We know that Abraham Lincoln was gay,' Kramer told CBS in an interview about the book which came out this month.

Let me start black history month a few weeks early. Barack Obama has plans of running for President of the United States, But will he be the first Black President or the 8th Black President? I know this posting will stir controversty but George Washington was not the first President of the U.S. Let's take a look at history. A "Black" Man, A Moor, John Hanson Was the First President of the United States! 1781-1782 A.D.??? George Washington was really the 8th President of the United States! George Washington was not the first President of the United States. In fact,...

Don't miss the Season 2 premiere of TURN: Washington's Spies, returning Mon., April 13th. Only on AMC. Go behind the scenes for a look at what's in store in Season 2 of TURN: Washington's Spies. he cast looks back on their characters' journeys through Season 1 of TURN: Washington's Spies.

MOUNT VERNON, Va., Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- George Washington's home, Mount Vernon, celebrates our first president's birthday with three days of special events including an outdoor cooking demonstration by celebrated chefs, a new food exhibition with more than 125 objects from the Washingtons' kitchen, a surprise birthday celebration for "George Washington", book signing with PBS's A Taste of History host Chef Walter Staib, and much more! Saturday and Sunday events are included in Estate admission, and admission to all events on Monday, February 20, events are FREE in honor of George Washington's birthday! Saturday, February 18All events...

Researchers announced Wednesday that remains excavated in the last three years were those of the long-sought dwelling, on the old family farm in Virginia 50 miles south of Washington. The house stood on a terrace overlooking the Rappahannock River, where legend has it the boy threw a stone or a coin across to Fredericksburg.

The cellars held a large number of artifacts including pieces of the house's ceilings and painted walls, fragments of 18th century pottery and other ceramics, glass shards, wig curlers and toothbrush handles made of bone. Muraca said they also recovered larger objects such as pieces of a tea set that probably belonged to George's mother, Mary Ball Washington; wine bottles, knives, forks and 10 pieces of a group of small figurines that might have stood on a mantle. They also discovered a well-used pipe bowl, blackened from smoking, that was marked with a Masonic crest. Washington joined the Fredericksburg Lodge...

The third Monday of February is President’s Day, when we celebrate the birthday of George Washington, at least when we’re not pre-occupied with President’s Days sales. This year the holiday fell on the 16th, and predictably the New York Times chose this day to publish a hatchet job on our first President. You see, for the op-ed page editors of the Times, America (or Amerikkk with an A!) is a fundamentally flawed, perhaps uniquely evil country. And so on a regular basis they will print the See How Bad America Was Back Then (And Still Is) op-ed piece. The Times’...

Media and potential opponents are scandalized that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is considering a run for president even though he didn’t graduate from college. But if Walker (who dropped out of Marquette University in his senior year) won in 2016, he would be joining an exalted group that includes the two presidents most frequently named as the favorites of the American people. Eleven presidents — exactly 25 percent — were not college graduates. Most prominent on that list are George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, who make up half of Mt. Rushmore’s foursome and are in the top three or top...

The History channel’s new miniseries, Sons of Liberty, will anger the purists and the prudes. But it will delight the swashbuckler in the rest of us. It is a big, bodacious screening with superb production values that covers the lead-up years to the American Revolution, 1765-1775. Yes, certain liberties are taken with some of the facts and events.

In 1783, with the Revolutionary War nearly over, the American dream of an independent republic almost died at the hands of the army that fought for it. While Continental Army officers waited in camp at Newburgh, New York, for negotiators to end the conflict, their long-simmering frustration with Congress finally boiled over. Anger swept through the corps from the lieutenants to the generals. These men had had enough—enough of inedible rations, inadequate clothing and supplies, and, most important, years of foregoing pay. A coup was in the making. Even the British knew it. As one of their spies reported, military...

Let the politicians debate equal pay and pursue the folly of a war on women in America. Personally, I would like to take a moment to salute woman at war—one woman and one war in particular: Agent 355, the female covert operative of the Revolutionary War’s Culper Spy Ring. When my book "George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution" ,written with co-author Don Yaeger, was first released in November 2013, over half-a-million people scrambled to buy it and one of the elements that struck a chord most strongly with readers was the enigmatic figure of...