Reviews, Notes and Comments 103
Resolutions adopted by
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
at its Annual Meeting held at Columbus,
Ohio,
December 27-29, 1923
WHEREAS, there has been in progress for
several years an
agitation conducted by certain newspapers, patriotic
societies,
fraternal orders, and others, against a
number of school text-
books in history and in favor of
official censorship, and
WHEREAS, this propaganda has met with
sufficient success
to bring about not only acute
controversy in many cities but the
passage of censorship laws in several states,
therefore,
Be it resolved by the American Historical Association, upon
the recommendation of its Committee on History Teaching
in
the schools and of its Executive Council, that genuine
and in-
telligent patriotism, no less than the
requirements of honesty
and sound scholarship, demand that
textbook writers and
teachers should strive to present a
truthful picture of past and
present, with due regard to the
different purposes and possibili-
ties of elementary, secondary, and
advanced instruction; that
criticism of history textbooks should
therefore be based not upon
grounds of patriotism but only upon
grounds of faithfulness
to fact as determined by specialists or
tested by consideration
of the evidence; that the cultivation in
pupils of a scientific
temper in history and the related social
sciences, of a spirit of
inquiry and a willingness to face
unpleasant facts, are far more
important objectives than the teaching
of special interpretations
of particular events; and that attempts,
however well meant, to
foster national arrogance and
boastfulness and indiscriminate
worship of national "heroes"
can only tend to promote a harm-
ful pseudo-patriotism; and
Be it further resolved, that in the opinion of this Associa-
tion the clearly implied charges that many of our
leading
scholars are engaged in treasonable
propaganda and that tens
of thousands of American school teachers
and officials are so
stupid or disloyal as to place
treasonable textbooks in the hands
of childen is inherently and obviously
absurd; and
Be it further resolved, that the successful continuance of
such an agitation must inevitably bring
about a serious deteriora-
tion both of textbooks and of the
teaching of history in our
schools, since self-respecting scholars
and teachers will not stoop
to the methods advocated.