Today only 20% of our colleges and universities require any U.S. history to graduate. During a question and answer session one student asked David McCullough, “outside of Harry Truman and John Adams were there any other presidents he interviewed?” At one university a student remarked, “until I listened to you speak I didn’t know the original 13 colonies were all on the east coast.”
McCullough wrote, “the best way to bring people to history is to go to an historic landmark. To visit the places where it happened. To be inspired standing among the spirit and greatness of those who created our American legacy."
John and Abigale Adams along with their son John Quincy and his wife Louisa lay in a crypt in the basement of the United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts. When you enter the room, you are struck by the simple, unadorned starkness of the surroundings. This is not the celebration of royalty. This is the resting place of humble people who sacrificed and dedicating their life to turn an idea into a country. When you leave, you are not the same as when you entered.
"Our history is a rich and inspirational story. Imagine how much we could learn if we could go back in time and sit in on the first congress when everything was new and untried. Today we are so busy being occupied by how our history is being judged and measured by the present that we often forget how much needs to be told and retold. We need to talk about all of our great victories. America's vision that proves to us and to the world how good and decent we are as a nation.”
George Orwell warned, “those who control our past control our future.”
