The use of logic in history classes is not hard. People who study history are often interested in cause and effect, just like a scientist. First, they need to ascertain (verify) what the facts are.
That’s not always easy. Events that happened a long time ago may not have a lot of documentary proof. However, any major event can be understood in a general way based on both oral traditions and the written record.
Today’s students of history also benefit greatly from the findings of other disciplines, such as archaeology and linguistics. In other words, enough facts are handed down to us that we understand what probably happened, in broad outline, if not in detail.
When we study the American Revolution, for example, we do not have videos or tape-recordings or photographs. Thus, from a single portrait painting of one patriot at a single moment in time, we have to try and “see enough” in that person’s face to ascertain something of their character and temperament.
Imagine if you had to choose only one photograph of yourself from any year in your life to give to others who have never met you, to give to “posterity”, as it were: which picture would you choose?
Would that drawing or photo be a fair likeness of you for how you looked ten years earlier or ten years later? Imagine that one picture being used to represent your whole life!
Students should keep this in mind and realize that from the oil paintings of men like Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and Paine we learn very little about how they looked or acted earlier in their lives. If famous enough, a few such men may have been privileged to sit for more than one portrait. Perhaps there may be a half dozen portraits or more and yet all of these paintings taken together still provide only a very small glimpse of their and how they appeared to others during different periods of their lives.
Often the Founding Fathers appear “old” in such oil paintings when we finally get our first glimpse of them, since usually it took them years to become sufficiently distinguished to have an oil painting done. We must enhance our understanding of these images by combining our visual clues with our knowledge of whatever documentary records exist to shed light on the temper of their times.
These were fiery revolutionaries willing to risk it all during the War of Independence; that kind of steely-eyed determination often burns brightly in their eyes. Franklin, who lived to be 84, even in his advancing years seemed to retain a vigor and vitality about his features that is truly amazing!
With a good oil painting likeness, we get at least one small glimpse into the soulful eyes of men who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. There were, after all, too few artists who could paint them all or truly well, like Gilbert Stewart—and yet, that is our only visual connection to these men of giant intellect and unwavering political principles.
With the documentary record, carefully studied, there is actually much more information available, although understanding what is most significant remains a challenge. Establishing the facts is only part of the process for studying–and learning from–history. For example, why did the American colonists rebel against England? What were the root causes? This is a much harder question and involves a higher level of reasoning. Knowing dates and locations of key events helps but in itself does not provide the answers to questions concerning the inner motivation of men and women.
At first glance, “cause-and-effect” appears to some students like a piece of cake when they think chronologically. whatever happened “before” caused whatever happened “after”; it’s a neat theory and quite helpful in its own way but hardly capable of providing a truly insightful answer to understanding great moments in human history.
Hold up an eraser and drop it. Fact: the eraser dropped. What was the immediate cause? The person holding the eraser opened up his or her hand and let the pencil go and the force of gravity did the rest. That type of cause-and-effect phenomenon seldom confuses anybody because it is so immediate and “obvious”–but that’s just one person’s action at one moment in time.
Does it explain mass, gravity, or any law of physics? It is a superficial answer skating across the surface of time and space, claiming to be more than what it is. Of course the events of 1770 preceded those of 1773 which preceded those of 1775 ans 1776 and necessarily form a chain of causation, but is this chronological arrangement as far as our analytical reasoning ability can go?
A great event in human history like the American Revolution is the sum of the actions and thoughts of thousands of people, with similar but not always identical motives for acting as they did. Nor do all people always act rationally and “do the right thing” if such a phrase is permissible; to assume everyone in America’s past always acted in the most rational manner available, may in itself be a mistake.
Events overtake people as surely as tides overtake adventurous souls who wander too far away from shore. People like to believe of themselves they have an unshakable moral anchor which will never deceive or misguide them, but in the heat of battle moral anchors, motivations, and personal ambitions may mix in new and surprising ways.
Any epoch of history, therefore, necessarily represents all the actions, ideas, and knowledge of a long-gone generation of people. Our own day and time, our “now”, is subject to the influence of patterns of social development that got underway a very long time ago: much longer than a single person’s lifetime, to be sure.
The pain and anger of the peasants of France, which exploded in the French Revolution of 1789, derived in large measure from centuries of social persecution and oppression.
The French peasants were being ground under the heels of powerful aristocrats who were a law unto themselves and could be brutal in their despotism. To say the cause of the French Revolution resides in the events of 1788 (the year before their Revolution began) is undeniably true, of course, regarding immediate cause and effect.
The King squandered the royal treasury and inflicted burdensome new taxes on the people. The poor people of Paris were facing starvation as their rations were reduced to a few ounces of bread per day, followed by actual starvation; meanwhile, the wealthy aristocracy lived lavishly cared not a whit for the pain and suffering of millions of French peasants and the poor of Paris. The coming revolutionary explosion had been building not merely for years but for decades, even centuries!
With the American Revolution, the immediate cause-and-effect certainly would include the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the new taxes stifling economic independence and restrictions on personal liberty imposed by King George III.
Yet beyond the obvious and immediate causes, there are long-term causes as well. An in-depth examination of the historical record necessarily becomes multi-dimensional and multi-layered.
People may choose to study many different aspects of this history: intellectual, moral, religious, military, political, artistic, etc. After years of such study one person may conclude that it is “the exchange of ideas” that was the most important cause in bringing about a revolution.
Another student of history, lay or scholar, might disagree and argue that it’s the political process—especially a specific crisis within the existing government–that was crucial to triggering historical change and understanding best the pattern of cause-and-effect.
Yet another author might say historical change is all about religious belief and conflict between different religious groups–that is the most important catalyst in history. Someone else says it’s economics; that underneath all the slogans, America in 1776 simply needed required economic freedom to flourish than England was willing to allow; and so on the interpretations go.
There are many disciplines and viewpoints possible; all of them may be right to a degree and yet inadequate too, at least to the extent they neglect other relevant views. The conscientious student must recognize that there will seldom be a single answer to critical events and long-term historical development.
Appreciating diverse viewpoints is usually the wisest course of action to take in order to get a more complete picture concerning the multiple causes and dimensions of historical change.
In college, the acquisition of knowledge is a never-ending process; there is always room to learn more. The search for the most insightful interpretations becomes more rigorous once competing points of view appear, especially with regard to the causes of the American Revolution.
Not all facts are of equal importance, of course, so here, too, the conscientious college student must learn to weigh the facts—in order to discard the less important details and focus on the most pertinent kernels of historical truth available: the best we can discover.
The student of history must learn to describe actual events as accurately as possible, along with the actions and motives of men and women who “made history”.
But not only that: besides trying to understand causes as a way to gain a handle on history (what happened and why), a good student must also develop an awareness of the moral issues involved and the practical consequences that followed: the effects of a person’s word or actions, the effects of major events and their influence on later generations.
Do we not typically praise famous men and women precisely for this reason? They earn our respect because their words and actions exerted a tremendous influence on others, not only in their own day but–even more remarkably–but on generations not yet born! Their best deeds and thoughts continue to extend their influence far into the future, even down to the present day.
A critical thinking question, going beyond asking students to remember and repeat “facts” (names, dates, etc.) would be: among the Founding Fathers, which one had the greatest influence on our political democracy and why?
Studying the consequences of the Revolution and asking such questions will help teachers and students to remain focused on the fundamental values of the American Revolution: how and why did it create new kinds of political and economic liberties? How did the Founding Fathers help create a new society? Who was included and who was left out? Where do we find principled consistency and where do we find moral contradiction and political hypocrisy?
These kinds of questions involve more than just names and dates, as important as they are. This approach involves analytical reasoning requiring a logical and orderly presentation of well-chosen facts in order to present their real significance: i.e., the art of historical interpretation.
It is not enough merely to regurgitate facts as a way to show understanding; it is also a question of interpreting those facts and learning how to derive deeper meaning from them.
The Secrets of History are not given up easily but for people who love studying history, everything they learn teaches them something new about the human story and character. Instead of always being puzzled, they begin to find answers; instead of always being mystified by the ups and downs of human drama, the why and wherefore of long-term patterns of social development make sense.
They can see what different cultures from around the globe have in common and what they contributed one to the other; they can recognize more easily the unique aspects of each culture as well as their commonalities.
Analytical reasoning, at the college level, is in some sense distinct from and far more advanced than “ordinary thinking”–represented (for the purposes of this essay) as being simply a collection of generalized thoughts and low-hum mental activity, with no great display of curiosity, depth of thought, or purposeful research involved.
College students in history classes are expected to zero in on the content and make sense of it in an organized and insightful manner–not just repeat the views of another speaker or writer, whether textbook author, instructor, or classmate. It’s about what you think that is an essential part of real learning, alongside the need to develop your ability to explain how you reached your conclusions.
Needless to say, college students should expect and welcome critical disagreement; to hear and respect more than one viewpoint is healthy for the intellectual life of any academic community, be it small or large. Students need to listen with open minds but they are not required to change their beliefs to prove their liberality, unless persuaded to do by actual evidence and sound reasoning.
This intellectual exchange in college is an essential element of a first rate college experience: the exchange of ideas between inquiring minds searching for truth. Along the way, students should learn to express their own beliefs ever more fully that they may defend their values and opinions.
Each new generation needs to realize it is linked to all previous human generations. We don’t merely study the people of the past; we are also descended from them. We are, in the final analysis, part of them and part of their continuum, only further along the time span.
We are their genetic, cultural, and intellectual descendants. We inherit a legacy generations in the making. The historical umbilical cord tying us to the past may be invisible but it still exists.
Lastly, to study the lessons of history intelligently, college students need to pursue an objective view of themselves–prejudices, biases, and beliefs held without examination all need to be re-evaluated anew. In short, all possible intellectual weaknesses of the individual should be considered; even as we are quick to see vices and weaknesses in others, we must also consider whether any such quirks and shortcomings exist in ourselves as well.
To examine the rational human mind, to reflect upon our emotional nature is never an easy task but it is necessary to improve our capacity to study and learn, to think and understand. We can develop greater concentration when it comes to analyzing both the past and the present when we have first become masters of our own souls.
We can better discipline, then liberate, our imagination in acquiring still greater knowledge of mankind’s magnificent history if we are first honest with ourselves.
Most teachers don’t go so far to make such a link but self-reflection and other meta-cognitive practices invariably help develop sharper mental aptitudes and skills when we study our history.
There is a humbling expression, “No one is perfect”, and this is an important reminder to all of us that people should behave modestly and act in a humble manner. The study of history, the study of truth, helps keep a person anchored to the real world. It is not arrogance or ambition that is served by the study of history and by the search for knowledge.
Of course, we all recognize that it is very hard for the average human being to concede that he or she may be prejudiced in belief or illogical in reasoning capacity–weaknesses of the human character are usually much easier to see in others than in ourselves. We all want to believe we are reasonable and fair-minded individuals and sometimes it’s genuinely hard to grasp the concept that the very nature of a bias works to prevent that person from seeing it–not that it is impossible but it does take effort and great self-honesty to achieve.
The beauty of the matter is, in college such inner soul-searching is both allowed and encouraged—it becomes more than possible; it becomes necessary if a truly broad, humanistic education is to be acquired and appreciated. What we have in common with our fellow human beings, both past and present, is a precious discovery to make–but it takes a sustained effort to fully understand well.
In studying American history, we often find valuable examples of how other people faced their greatest challenges–how they lived and worked, how they dealt with the social crises and moral entanglements of their own day and age.
Hence, there is a great deal of moral wisdom that can be derived from the study of history.
That some teachers have succeeded in making the study of history something to hate or fear for their students is unfortunate, but it does not have to be that way.
I am always thrilled when meeting people who say how much they “love history” and how excited they are by the subject, how they recognize its importance for responsible citizenship, and how quickly they point out the lessons for personal growth that derive from the study of history.
Sometimes I nearly forget to acknowledge my own enthusiasm for the subject–so busily and constantly am I immersed in the acquisition of more knowledge, in the reading and teaching of this great subject! It is then that I am most appreciative when friends, colleagues, and students remind me in a timely way that history is a very rich field of inquiry indeed–the wellsprings of my own enthusiasm are replenished once again and ever more!
There is no more vitally important subject to study than history, and the use of reason in unraveling its mysteries and secrets is itself part of the process whereby humans seeks to achieve ever greater enlightenment and understanding.
Beyond knowledge, the study of history can become a source of great wisdom. History, after all, tells us about the good and bad in others and in ourselves. It therefore holds the key to human happiness and shows us the path to follow.
The study of human history starts with the past but it ends, as it always must, in the present, in the real live here and now. The past is not just in the past; it is also here, with us, today.
