{"id":7622,"date":"2022-06-02T20:56:45","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T20:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=7622"},"modified":"2022-07-25T19:12:55","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T19:12:55","slug":"historical-hack-page-1","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/chapter\/historical-hack-page-1\/","title":{"raw":"Examining Historical Context","rendered":"Examining Historical Context"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Demonstrate the importance of historical context, including milieus like religion and social norms, in interpreting primary source documents<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"font-size: 1rem; text-align: initial;\">Examine the historical context of documents composed during the rise of Reagan-era conservatism<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nSuppose for a moment that you were a zoologist trying to learn as much as you can about a given animal. You could study its anatomy, memorize its physical characteristics, and even observe it in captivity, and still walk away with some profound misunderstandings of this creature. To truly understand the animal, you would need to know more about its environment, its habitat, and the world with which it interacts.\r\n\r\nSo it is with history. Documents and other primary sources come to us as individual artifacts from the past, but to truly understand them, we also need an understanding of their context. The primary sources that you have read in this course do not exist in a vacuum. A knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the document\u2019s composition is essential for understanding the document correctly. As such, the reader needs to see the document on its own terms and a product of its own time and place, rather than our own.\r\n\r\nOne website puts its nicely: \u201cScholars and educators rely on historical context to analyze and interpret works of art, literature, music, dance, and poetry. Architects and builders rely on it when designing new structures and restoring existing buildings. Judges may use it to interpret the law, historians to understand the past. Any time critical analysis is required, you may need to consider historical context as well.\u201d[footnote]Fleming, Grace. \u201cUnderstanding Historic Context Is Key to Analysis and Interpretation.\u201d ThoughtCo. ThoughtCo, August 19, 2019. https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/what-is-historical-context-1857069.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nWithout historical context, we are only seeing a piece of the picture and cannot fully understand the influence of the time and place in which a situation occurred. Understanding the context also helps us to avoid presentism\u2014it helps us to better relate to society at a time when things were different than they are now.\r\n\r\nThis may seem like an obvious way to understand history, but it was not always so. Perhaps the first historian to intentionally employ an understanding of historical context was the Enlightenment thinker David Hume, in the 1750s. His biographies of prominent scientists emphasized their interactions with one another and with society at large, creating a rich and highly contextualized understanding of how scientific advancement took place in a collaborative environment. In the mid-20th century, historians such as Fernand Braudel went even further in their use of context, exploring long-term economic shifts, climate, technology, and geography to better understand their subjects. You will be happy to know that in this hack, we will not be going <em>quite<\/em> as far as Braudel!\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/historical-context\/#:~:text=is%20historical%20context%3F-,A,the%20text%20and%20its%20details\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Watch the video or read the text transcript on this page<\/a> to learn about historical context. There, you'll read about the example of the book, <em>Animal Farm<\/em>, which tells the story of uprising animals on a farm. If you know its context, you can understand that the book is not a children's story, but a parable with a distinct social message intended for its readers.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c7c8304e-0045-44e2-905f-548c0d2d8776\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nGeorge Orwell\u2019s <em>Animal Farm<\/em> is just one of many possible examples. Is there a similar case where you read a novel or other work of fiction that could only be understood by a grasp of historical context? You can write down any ideas you have in the space below.\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[practice-area rows=\"2\"][\/practice-area]<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2>Context and Milieu<\/h2>\r\nWhen considering historical context there are two principal forms to take into account. We might call the first circumstantial context, relating directly to the document's purpose and intention. The second form might be called its milieu (pronounced mil-you), or its broader cultural or social environment.\r\n\r\n<strong>Circumstantial Context<\/strong>: This looks at the immediate particulars of the document itself. This might include:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">What do we know about the author and his or her beliefs, biography, and character?<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Who was the intended audience? Who did the creator of this primary source intend it for? Even if the answer is \"the general public,\" spend a moment thinking about what slice of the general public may have been intended.<\/li>\r\n \t<li aria-level=\"1\">What is the document's genre? For example, if we know that a piece is intended as satire, that will shape how we understand it. Or alternatively, is a letter \"open\" or written for public consumption? Or is it intended as something confidential between the writer and the recipient?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<strong>Milieu<\/strong>:\u00a0This term simply means the culture and society surrounding the author. This can range from political beliefs, religious beliefs, the customs of social class, common prejudices, and the level of technology available.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Look at the language that is used. Are there any words that you do not understand? Are there words that seem to have a different meaning than what you understand them to be?<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Many documents are written to help solve or understand a problem. What problems does the writer of the document perceive in U.S. society?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What are the broad cultural currents taking place in society at the time? Are there broad shifts in the economy (such as the Market Revolution or the Great Depression)? What cultural movements or trends are underway? What are the mainstream political beliefs at this time?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3>Context vs. Cause<\/h3>\r\nIt is important to differentiate between context and cause. One historian\u00a0offers this warning:\u00a0\u201cMany students confuse the context with the causes of an event. A cause is something that brings an effect. The effect may be immediate and obvious, or it may be deeper and not so evident. In all cases, however, it generates a consequence that one can clearly relate to the factor that precipitated the action.\"[footnote]B\u00e9langer, Claude. \u201cQuebec History.\u201d Historical context. Accessed June 27, 2022. http:\/\/faculty.marianopolis.edu\/c.belanger\/quebechistory\/Historicalcontext.html.[\/footnote] For example, the Iranian hostage crisis was caused because the U.S. allowed the deposed Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to enter the U.S. for cancer treatment, which increased anti-American sentiment and concerns that the U.S. would try to reinstall him as the Iranian leader.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_8603\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"623\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2022\/06\/28190713\/President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Jerry_Falwell.jpeg\"><img class=\"wp-image-8603 \" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2022\/06\/28190713\/President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Jerry_Falwell.jpeg\" alt=\"Jerry Falwell meeting with President Reagan.\" width=\"623\" height=\"412\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. President Reagan Meeting with Jerry Falwell in the Oval Office in 1983.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nBy contrast, the context is understood as the events, or the climate of opinion, that surround the issue at hand. They help to understand its urgency, its importance, its shape, or even its timing. What was happening at the time of the event or the decision that sheds some light on it? In what type of society did the event occur? An urban one? A rich one? An educated one? An unstable one?\u201d[footnote]B\u00e9langer, Claude. \u201cQuebec History.\u201d Historical context. Accessed June 27, 2022. http:\/\/faculty.marianopolis.edu\/c.belanger\/quebechistory\/Historicalcontext.html.[\/footnote] Relating to the Iranian hostage crisis, you'd want to look beyond the admission of Pahlavi to the U.S. for cancer treatment to understand the full context of why Americans were held hostage in Iran. Consider the broader context and milieu. Anti-American sentiments in Iran were high, but at that time, people were also upset with Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, because they thought he was planning to normalize relations with the U.S. and extinguish Islamic revolutionary order in Iran. The broader context of the Cold War also came into play, as Marxist and Islamist organizations favored the\u00a0Soviet Union over the United States in the early months of the Iranian Revolution, which had concluded just earlier that year. The Revolution had replaced the pro-Western Pahlavi with an anti-Western theocracy, led by Ayatollah Khomeini.\u00a0Though he didn't orchestrate it, the Khomeini embraced the hostage takeover and used it to deflect criticism of his controversial\u00a0theocratic constitution. Tensions between the two nations was also exacerbated by religious differences between Christianity and Islam and ideological differences, as well as religious tensions between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam. As you consider historical context, think about the beliefs (religious or cultural), attitudes, knowledge, moods, conditions, and circumstances surrounding the issue.\r\n<h2>The Reagan Revolution<\/h2>\r\nOne of the most significant themes in this module was the \"Reagan Revolution\" toward political conservatism. As you may remember, one of the key groups supporting this movement was the Religious Right. Let's take a look at a primary source written by one of its foremost leaders, Rev. Jerry Falwell to better understand how context works.\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Reading:\u00a0Listen America (1980), Jerry Falwell<\/h3>\r\nJerry Falwell\u00a0was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservative activist as well as the founder of Liberty University and a co-founder of the Moral Majority in 1979. He published numerous materials outlining his beliefs about the decline of America. He published a book in 1980 titled <em>Listen America!<\/em>\u00a0in which he called for a wake-up call as a nation. A short excerpt is included below.\r\n<blockquote>We must reverse the trend America finds herself in today. Young people between the ages of twenty-five and forty have been born and reared in a different world than Americans of years past. The television set has been their primary baby-sitter. From the television set they have learned situation ethics and immorality\u2014they have learned a loss of respect for human life. They have learned to disrespect the family as God has established it. They have been educated in a public-school system that is permeated with secular humanism. They have been taught that the Bible is just another book of literature. They have been taught that there are no absolutes in our world today. They have been introduced to the drug culture. They have been reared by the family and the public school in a society that is greatly void of discipline and character-building. These same young people have been reared under the influence of a government that has taught them socialism and welfarism. They have been taught to believe that the world owes them a living whether they work or not.\r\n\r\nI believe that America was built on integrity, on faith in God, and on hard work. I do not believe that anyone has ever been successful in life without being willing to add that last ingredient\u2014diligence or hard work. We now have second-and third-generation welfare recipients. Welfare is not always wrong. There are those who do need welfare, but we have reared a generation that understands neither the dignity nor the importance of work...\r\n\r\n...There is no excuse for what is happening in our country. We must, from the highest office in the land right down to the shoe shine boy in the airport, have a return to biblical basics. If the Congress of our United States will take its stand on that which is right and wrong, and if our President, our judiciary system, and our state and local leaders will take their stand on holy living, we can turn this country around.[footnote]Falwell, Jerry. <em>Listen, America!<\/em> \/ Jerry Falwell. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1980, 17\u201323[\/footnote]<\/blockquote>\r\n<a href=\"http:\/\/inside.sfuhs.org\/dept\/history\/US_History_reader\/Chapter15\/FalwelllistenAmerica1980.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">READ THE FULL EXCERPT HERE<\/a> so you are prepared to answer the questions that follow.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/fb0d41d6-85ec-4a9d-be78-d6d00de10b4b\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nWe know that this piece was written in 1980. Based on what you have learned in the text about the 1970s and 80s, how would you describe the piece\u2019s historical context (including religious, cultural, political, or economic influences)?\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[practice-area rows=\"4\"][\/practice-area]<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[reveal-answer q=\"631469\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"631469\"]Falwell seems to be addressing a number of social changes that began in the 1960s and became engrained in American society in the 1970s. These include LGBTQ rights, second-wave feminism, and the questioning of leaders' motives following the twin crises of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal.[\/hidden-answer]<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nLet us also consider: who is the author of this piece? What do we know about Jerry Falwell?\r\n<p class=\"p1\">[practice-area rows=\"4\"][\/practice-area]<\/p>\r\n[reveal-answer q=\"425553\"]Show Answer[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"425553\"]Jerry Falwell is a conservative activist and a pastor. As a leader in the Moral Majority, he pushed for legislation and elected politicians in line with his socially conservative views. He believed that society became far too liberal in the 1960s and 1970s and was moving away from both its traditional Christianity and the ethic of hard work.[\/hidden-answer]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\r\n<strong>context<\/strong>: the setting of an idea or action that must be known in order for it to be fully understood\r\n\r\n<strong>milieu<\/strong>: a\u00a0particular kind of context that is concerned with one's social and cultural environment\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Demonstrate the importance of historical context, including milieus like religion and social norms, in interpreting primary source documents<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 1rem; text-align: initial;\">Examine the historical context of documents composed during the rise of Reagan-era conservatism<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Suppose for a moment that you were a zoologist trying to learn as much as you can about a given animal. You could study its anatomy, memorize its physical characteristics, and even observe it in captivity, and still walk away with some profound misunderstandings of this creature. To truly understand the animal, you would need to know more about its environment, its habitat, and the world with which it interacts.<\/p>\n<p>So it is with history. Documents and other primary sources come to us as individual artifacts from the past, but to truly understand them, we also need an understanding of their context. The primary sources that you have read in this course do not exist in a vacuum. A knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the document\u2019s composition is essential for understanding the document correctly. As such, the reader needs to see the document on its own terms and a product of its own time and place, rather than our own.<\/p>\n<p>One website puts its nicely: \u201cScholars and educators rely on historical context to analyze and interpret works of art, literature, music, dance, and poetry. Architects and builders rely on it when designing new structures and restoring existing buildings. Judges may use it to interpret the law, historians to understand the past. Any time critical analysis is required, you may need to consider historical context as well.\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Fleming, Grace. \u201cUnderstanding Historic Context Is Key to Analysis and Interpretation.\u201d ThoughtCo. ThoughtCo, August 19, 2019. https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/what-is-historical-context-1857069.\" id=\"return-footnote-7622-1\" href=\"#footnote-7622-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Without historical context, we are only seeing a piece of the picture and cannot fully understand the influence of the time and place in which a situation occurred. Understanding the context also helps us to avoid presentism\u2014it helps us to better relate to society at a time when things were different than they are now.<\/p>\n<p>This may seem like an obvious way to understand history, but it was not always so. Perhaps the first historian to intentionally employ an understanding of historical context was the Enlightenment thinker David Hume, in the 1750s. His biographies of prominent scientists emphasized their interactions with one another and with society at large, creating a rich and highly contextualized understanding of how scientific advancement took place in a collaborative environment. In the mid-20th century, historians such as Fernand Braudel went even further in their use of context, exploring long-term economic shifts, climate, technology, and geography to better understand their subjects. You will be happy to know that in this hack, we will not be going <em>quite<\/em> as far as Braudel!<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/historical-context\/#:~:text=is%20historical%20context%3F-,A,the%20text%20and%20its%20details\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Watch the video or read the text transcript on this page<\/a> to learn about historical context. There, you&#8217;ll read about the example of the book, <em>Animal Farm<\/em>, which tells the story of uprising animals on a farm. If you know its context, you can understand that the book is not a children&#8217;s story, but a parable with a distinct social message intended for its readers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_c7c8304e-0045-44e2-905f-548c0d2d8776\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c7c8304e-0045-44e2-905f-548c0d2d8776?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_c7c8304e-0045-44e2-905f-548c0d2d8776\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>George Orwell\u2019s <em>Animal Farm<\/em> is just one of many possible examples. Is there a similar case where you read a novel or other work of fiction that could only be understood by a grasp of historical context? You can write down any ideas you have in the space below.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"2\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Context and Milieu<\/h2>\n<p>When considering historical context there are two principal forms to take into account. We might call the first circumstantial context, relating directly to the document&#8217;s purpose and intention. The second form might be called its milieu (pronounced mil-you), or its broader cultural or social environment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Circumstantial Context<\/strong>: This looks at the immediate particulars of the document itself. This might include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">What do we know about the author and his or her beliefs, biography, and character?<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Who was the intended audience? Who did the creator of this primary source intend it for? Even if the answer is &#8220;the general public,&#8221; spend a moment thinking about what slice of the general public may have been intended.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">What is the document&#8217;s genre? For example, if we know that a piece is intended as satire, that will shape how we understand it. Or alternatively, is a letter &#8220;open&#8221; or written for public consumption? Or is it intended as something confidential between the writer and the recipient?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Milieu<\/strong>:\u00a0This term simply means the culture and society surrounding the author. This can range from political beliefs, religious beliefs, the customs of social class, common prejudices, and the level of technology available.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Look at the language that is used. Are there any words that you do not understand? Are there words that seem to have a different meaning than what you understand them to be?<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Many documents are written to help solve or understand a problem. What problems does the writer of the document perceive in U.S. society?<\/li>\n<li>What are the broad cultural currents taking place in society at the time? Are there broad shifts in the economy (such as the Market Revolution or the Great Depression)? What cultural movements or trends are underway? What are the mainstream political beliefs at this time?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Context vs. Cause<\/h3>\n<p>It is important to differentiate between context and cause. One historian\u00a0offers this warning:\u00a0\u201cMany students confuse the context with the causes of an event. A cause is something that brings an effect. The effect may be immediate and obvious, or it may be deeper and not so evident. In all cases, however, it generates a consequence that one can clearly relate to the factor that precipitated the action.&#8221;<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"B\u00e9langer, Claude. \u201cQuebec History.\u201d Historical context. Accessed June 27, 2022. http:\/\/faculty.marianopolis.edu\/c.belanger\/quebechistory\/Historicalcontext.html.\" id=\"return-footnote-7622-2\" href=\"#footnote-7622-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a> For example, the Iranian hostage crisis was caused because the U.S. allowed the deposed Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to enter the U.S. for cancer treatment, which increased anti-American sentiment and concerns that the U.S. would try to reinstall him as the Iranian leader.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8603\" style=\"width: 633px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2022\/06\/28190713\/President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Jerry_Falwell.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8603\" class=\"wp-image-8603\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2022\/06\/28190713\/President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Jerry_Falwell.jpeg\" alt=\"Jerry Falwell meeting with President Reagan.\" width=\"623\" height=\"412\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-8603\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. President Reagan Meeting with Jerry Falwell in the Oval Office in 1983.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>By contrast, the context is understood as the events, or the climate of opinion, that surround the issue at hand. They help to understand its urgency, its importance, its shape, or even its timing. What was happening at the time of the event or the decision that sheds some light on it? In what type of society did the event occur? An urban one? A rich one? An educated one? An unstable one?\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"B\u00e9langer, Claude. \u201cQuebec History.\u201d Historical context. Accessed June 27, 2022. http:\/\/faculty.marianopolis.edu\/c.belanger\/quebechistory\/Historicalcontext.html.\" id=\"return-footnote-7622-3\" href=\"#footnote-7622-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a> Relating to the Iranian hostage crisis, you&#8217;d want to look beyond the admission of Pahlavi to the U.S. for cancer treatment to understand the full context of why Americans were held hostage in Iran. Consider the broader context and milieu. Anti-American sentiments in Iran were high, but at that time, people were also upset with Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan, because they thought he was planning to normalize relations with the U.S. and extinguish Islamic revolutionary order in Iran. The broader context of the Cold War also came into play, as Marxist and Islamist organizations favored the\u00a0Soviet Union over the United States in the early months of the Iranian Revolution, which had concluded just earlier that year. The Revolution had replaced the pro-Western Pahlavi with an anti-Western theocracy, led by Ayatollah Khomeini.\u00a0Though he didn&#8217;t orchestrate it, the Khomeini embraced the hostage takeover and used it to deflect criticism of his controversial\u00a0theocratic constitution. Tensions between the two nations was also exacerbated by religious differences between Christianity and Islam and ideological differences, as well as religious tensions between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam. As you consider historical context, think about the beliefs (religious or cultural), attitudes, knowledge, moods, conditions, and circumstances surrounding the issue.<\/p>\n<h2>The Reagan Revolution<\/h2>\n<p>One of the most significant themes in this module was the &#8220;Reagan Revolution&#8221; toward political conservatism. As you may remember, one of the key groups supporting this movement was the Religious Right. Let&#8217;s take a look at a primary source written by one of its foremost leaders, Rev. Jerry Falwell to better understand how context works.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Reading:\u00a0Listen America (1980), Jerry Falwell<\/h3>\n<p>Jerry Falwell\u00a0was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservative activist as well as the founder of Liberty University and a co-founder of the Moral Majority in 1979. He published numerous materials outlining his beliefs about the decline of America. He published a book in 1980 titled <em>Listen America!<\/em>\u00a0in which he called for a wake-up call as a nation. A short excerpt is included below.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We must reverse the trend America finds herself in today. Young people between the ages of twenty-five and forty have been born and reared in a different world than Americans of years past. The television set has been their primary baby-sitter. From the television set they have learned situation ethics and immorality\u2014they have learned a loss of respect for human life. They have learned to disrespect the family as God has established it. They have been educated in a public-school system that is permeated with secular humanism. They have been taught that the Bible is just another book of literature. They have been taught that there are no absolutes in our world today. They have been introduced to the drug culture. They have been reared by the family and the public school in a society that is greatly void of discipline and character-building. These same young people have been reared under the influence of a government that has taught them socialism and welfarism. They have been taught to believe that the world owes them a living whether they work or not.<\/p>\n<p>I believe that America was built on integrity, on faith in God, and on hard work. I do not believe that anyone has ever been successful in life without being willing to add that last ingredient\u2014diligence or hard work. We now have second-and third-generation welfare recipients. Welfare is not always wrong. There are those who do need welfare, but we have reared a generation that understands neither the dignity nor the importance of work&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;There is no excuse for what is happening in our country. We must, from the highest office in the land right down to the shoe shine boy in the airport, have a return to biblical basics. If the Congress of our United States will take its stand on that which is right and wrong, and if our President, our judiciary system, and our state and local leaders will take their stand on holy living, we can turn this country around.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Falwell, Jerry. Listen, America! \/ Jerry Falwell. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1980, 17\u201323\" id=\"return-footnote-7622-4\" href=\"#footnote-7622-4\" aria-label=\"Footnote 4\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/inside.sfuhs.org\/dept\/history\/US_History_reader\/Chapter15\/FalwelllistenAmerica1980.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">READ THE FULL EXCERPT HERE<\/a> so you are prepared to answer the questions that follow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_fb0d41d6-85ec-4a9d-be78-d6d00de10b4b\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/fb0d41d6-85ec-4a9d-be78-d6d00de10b4b?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_fb0d41d6-85ec-4a9d-be78-d6d00de10b4b\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>We know that this piece was written in 1980. Based on what you have learned in the text about the 1970s and 80s, how would you describe the piece\u2019s historical context (including religious, cultural, political, or economic influences)?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"4\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q631469\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q631469\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">Falwell seems to be addressing a number of social changes that began in the 1960s and became engrained in American society in the 1970s. These include LGBTQ rights, second-wave feminism, and the questioning of leaders&#8217; motives following the twin crises of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Let us also consider: who is the author of this piece? What do we know about Jerry Falwell?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><textarea aria-label=\"Your Answer\" rows=\"4\"><\/textarea><\/p>\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><span class=\"show-answer collapsed\" style=\"cursor: pointer\" data-target=\"q425553\">Show Answer<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"q425553\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\">Jerry Falwell is a conservative activist and a pastor. As a leader in the Moral Majority, he pushed for legislation and elected politicians in line with his socially conservative views. He believed that society became far too liberal in the 1960s and 1970s and was moving away from both its traditional Christianity and the ethic of hard work.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\n<p><strong>context<\/strong>: the setting of an idea or action that must be known in order for it to be fully understood<\/p>\n<p><strong>milieu<\/strong>: a\u00a0particular kind of context that is concerned with one&#8217;s social and cultural environment<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-7622\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Examining Historical Context. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Mark Lempke for Lumen Learning. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Iran hostage crisis. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Iran_hostage_crisis\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Iran_hostage_crisis<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">Public domain content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Falwell with President Ronald Reagan in 1983. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/Falwell%20with%20President%20Ronald%20Reagan%20in%201983\">http:\/\/Falwell%20with%20President%20Ronald%20Reagan%20in%201983<\/a>. <strong>Project<\/strong>: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jerry_Falwell#\/media\/File:President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Jerry_Falwell.jpg. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/about\/pdm\">Public Domain: No Known Copyright<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section><hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-7622-1\">Fleming, Grace. \u201cUnderstanding Historic Context Is Key to Analysis and Interpretation.\u201d ThoughtCo. ThoughtCo, August 19, 2019. https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/what-is-historical-context-1857069. <a href=\"#return-footnote-7622-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-7622-2\">B\u00e9langer, Claude. \u201cQuebec History.\u201d Historical context. Accessed June 27, 2022. http:\/\/faculty.marianopolis.edu\/c.belanger\/quebechistory\/Historicalcontext.html. <a href=\"#return-footnote-7622-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-7622-3\">B\u00e9langer, Claude. \u201cQuebec History.\u201d Historical context. Accessed June 27, 2022. http:\/\/faculty.marianopolis.edu\/c.belanger\/quebechistory\/Historicalcontext.html. <a href=\"#return-footnote-7622-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-7622-4\">Falwell, Jerry. <em>Listen, America!<\/em> \/ Jerry Falwell. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1980, 17\u201323 <a href=\"#return-footnote-7622-4\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 4\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":169554,"menu_order":19,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Examining Historical Context\",\"author\":\"Mark Lempke for Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Iran hostage crisis\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Iran_hostage_crisis\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"pd\",\"description\":\"Falwell with President Ronald Reagan in 1983\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"Falwell with President Ronald Reagan in 1983\",\"project\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jerry_Falwell#\/media\/File:President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Jerry_Falwell.jpg\",\"license\":\"pd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"fb11bf0f-250a-41ba-a9ac-edc3c8501f12,e68e78ee-6e05-44ef-ad6d-d964879dd9d6","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-7622","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":420,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/7622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/169554"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/7622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8944,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/7622\/revisions\/8944"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/420"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/7622\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=7622"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=7622"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=7622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}