Political commentators routinely treat rural America as an undifferentiated bastion of strength for Republicans. In fact, rural America is a deceptively simple term describing a remarkably diverse collection of places encompassing nearly 75 percent of the U.S. land area and 50 million people. Voting trends in this vast area are far from…

After the Civil War (1861-1865), the United States faced a problem of "reconstruction" similar to that confronted by other nations at the time and familiar to the US since at least the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). The problem was one of territorial and political (re)integration: how to take territories that had only recently been…

One of a series of modules designed to help people in Oklahoma become more self-sufficient in their personal and professional lives, this document is designed to introduce students to the function of various levels of U.S. government, symbols considered to have particular relevance to U.S. citizens, and how adults can make a difference as…