Yesterday our friends who teach sixth grade were asking: how do I talk to my students about the insurrection that just happened at the U.S. Capitol? Today on Twitter, I saw an editor from Black Perspectives urging historians of the Reconstruction to put yesterday’s events in historical perspective. Are there lessons from history? How did we get here? What was that; what language should we use to talk about it? We’re working on acquiring new content to address these questions, but in the meantime, this previously published content puts a lot of what we saw yesterday in perspective and may help foster dialogue among students of the world. As always, the stories here and the underlying scholarship are free to all readers. We’ll be updating this syllabus and welcome suggestions.

Creating the Voter Fraud Myth

Livia Gershon

November 3, 2016

Although in-person voter fraud is close to nonexistent, it’s a big concern for many voters.

How Do White House Transitions Actually Work?

Erin Blakemore

November 14, 2016

How do presidential transitions really work? Political science scholarship on White House staffers provides some insight.

Political Divisions Led to Violence in the U.S. Senate in 1856

Livia Gershon

January 7, 2021

The horrific caning of Charles Sumner on the floor of the Senate in 1856 marked one of the most divisive moments in U.S. political history.

The First Ugly Election: America, 1800

Peter Feuerherd

July 4, 2016

The 1800 election saw America's first contested presidential campaigns: Thomas Jefferson vs. John Adams.

That Flag Again: The Meanings of the Confederate Flag and Iconography

Matthew Wills

June 24, 2015

Different interpretations of confederate flag and confederate battle iconography.

The Psychological Power of the Confederate Flag

Livia Gershon

April 6, 2015

An experiment in Political Psychology points to just how powerful the confederate flag continues to be in stirring up racist attitudes among whites.

Origins of the Confederate Lost Cause

Matthew Wills

July 15, 2015

The mythos of the The Lost Cause of the Confederacy.

Should Politics be Civil?

Livia Gershon

July 9, 2018

Some political philosophers suggest that arguments about civility are a distraction from the real political issues.

The Most Contentious Presidential Transition in American History

Peter Feuerherd

November 22, 2016

Was Abraham Lincoln's the most tumultuous presidential transition in American history?

Is Gerrymandering to Blame for Our Polarized Politics?

Peter Feuerherd

March 19, 2018

Gerrymandering is the process by which districts for the House of Representatives are drawn so that one party has a distinct election advantage.

What Violent Acts Get Defined as Terrorism

Peter Feuerherd

March 7, 2019

Why was the Weather Underground group labelled as a terrorist organization, while the KKK was not? A brief look at the history of domestic terrorism.

Talk About Terrorism: Metaphors We Live and Die By

Ben Ambridge

February 19, 2015

The four main metaphors of counter terrorism and their implications.

The Collapse of Meaning in a Post-Truth World

Chi Luu

December 21, 2016

2016 was certainly an unstable time in history. Even the way we use language to convey our collective fears about the state of society seems fractured.

Wittgenstein on Whether Speech Is Violence

Kevin Litman-Navarro

August 30, 2017

When is speech violence? Sometimes. It depends. That’s a complicated question.

Impeaching History

Matthew Wills

January 19, 2017

Got impeachment? Not much. In American history, there have only been a total of 19 impeachment trials in the U.S. Senate.

How @realDonaldTrump Won the Anxiety Voter

Alexandra Samuel

March 8, 2016

Donald Trump’s evil genius lies in using the unique capacities of online communication to fuel and ignite anxiety, fueling authoritarian sentiments.

How Trump’s Twitter Presidency Hijacked Hopes For E-Democracy

Alexandra Samuel

January 24, 2017

The first live-tweeting presidency resembles the broadcast-era version of democracy more than the kind of democracy the internet was supposed to enable.

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