Notes To Consider

The 27 May 2026 issue of the Jackson County Sun included the final updated reprints of all “Notes to Consider” published while writing at a previous newspaper for some five years. If you only became a regular reader of this column when I came home to the Jackson County Sun at the end of July 2020, you may now rest assured you’ve not been denied the opportunity to read any of our previous pieces.

This column begins a somewhat herculean task. Fittingly in light of our nation’s marking this week of her Semiquincentennial Independence Day, our county newspaper of record’s centenary, and the fact I am a firm believer in Cicero’s axiom that being ignorant of what occurred before we were born dooms us to forever remain a child; we are now embarking upon arranging in these pages a solid framework of American History in a format (most importantly) that can be easily recalled and made use of.

I wrote here back in September 2020 of Dr. David Sousa’s work on not just how the brain works, but most importantly how to use that structural knowledge of the brain to develop filing systems to help us easily recall information we put into our long-term memories (long-term memories stay with us until they put us into the ground). For an American History filing system, no better readily available template exists than the Presidents of the United States.

Here’s how it will work: 1. We will divide American History into a half-dozen thematic periods. 2. Within each period we will cover the US Presidents in order, marking their political party affiliation; years of office (using even, election year dates); and most significantly the foreign and domestic policy “big ideas” for their term(s).

Statistically, I will (as I have for decades) lean upon the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and the Library of Congress; but the heart of the pieces will focus upon gathered anecdotes and connections to our current day to better lay out before us the scope and breadth of American History. As in the past, we will break things up by touching upon world, national, state, and local current events about every two months (and have “Special Reports” as significant developments from our current day warrant).

Finally, if you’re the type of individual that still enjoys compiling sets of things on increasingly endangered, yellowing newsprint; it may be worth your time to pick up a couple of composition books and an Elmer’s CraftBond Glue Stick to collect these upcoming US Presidents Timeline pieces. If you have children or grandchildren, those scrapbooks could come in handy in building their historical literacy. I promise you what they’ll get from this column won’t be the sad “failure studies” peddled to them by their public school textbooks.

Next Week: The “Founding Brothers” Era Overview

Shane Morris is a retired soldier and teacher. Contact at sigm11@yahoo.com (Subject: NtC)