We wish to learn from history so that we can hopefully prevent the mistakes of the pass and re-create the circumstances that brought success. A surface or cursory study of history will not reveal to us the factors that led to the historical event that is being studied and critiqued. If we wish to know how our culture got to the place it is now, we must look at all the forces that led to the state of today’s society. To focus the blame for what we consider the failures of society on one person does nothing but diminish the character of the citizens of this nation.
Since a society is dynamic, no one event can be expected to make a significant or lasting impression without first going through a period of developing and being shaped by forces which have long been in motion. However, when those things that both added to the continuity and became a part of the forces of a society are studied then it can be better determined what factors led to certain results. A society, government, religious group, or any other social organization can then take measures to increase the possibility that unwanted results do not reoccur, or that desired results have a better chance of reoccurring.
Individually we can benefit from the application of historical mindedness to our own lives. We each have gone through situations that have either brought joy or pain to our lives. If we wish to prevent unwanted results to happen again we must determine what circumstances, events, forces and so forth let to the undesirable situation. Once we think we have discovered what those forces were we can then take steps to ensure that we do not allow those circumstances to once again invades our lives.
With the same approach we can also attempt to bring back some of the more joyful situations of our lives. Although we may not be able to precisely predict outcomes, when we make the effort to live in such a way that led to the joyful situation then, more often than not, we will experience similar outcomes. We do this by asking ourselves what things happened in our lives that led to the situation that we so much enjoyed. Who was involved? What were the circumstances preceding the event? What sacrifices were made in the long run in order to attain the final pleasurable situation? When these factors, and others, are revealed we better understand why we felt joy—or pain.
Caution is due here. Any attempt to recreate a previous outcome does not always guarantee the same outcome. There are many variables in a person’s life that cannot be recreated to exactness. Some variables are not even consciously realized. It is more a matter of learning from life’s experiences than recreating past experiences.
But the real point is that we never enter into a situation by chance. Many forces (including prayer), actions, and much planning brings each one of us to the point where we are today. All the plans and decisions we have made in the past, whether good or bad, to some degree influence the decisions from that day forward. By the way, all this in turn will likely have a large effect on the type of life our children will themselves experience.
If we can see how this works on the personal level we can begin to better apply the same principles of historical mindedness on the way we view history. What a nation does in its youth lays the groundwork for all that will happen to that nation throughout history. Each event in a nation’s history is not only dependent on what happened in that nation before the event, but is also a predecessor, a predictor in many cases, of what will happen in the future of that nation.
As an example, let’s look at the peculiar institution known as slavery. Any true historian will have to admit that slavery is a blot on the history of the United States. But that same historian will also need to admit that, since before The Declaration of Independence was signed, there were forces put into motion that eventually led to the abolishment of slavery in America. Granted, it took the Civil War to bring about the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves, and the 13th Amendment which made slavery unconstitutional, but these were the result of those previous forces.
Some might even say that those forces began with the example provided by our first President, who, in his will, provided for the emancipation of all his slaves immediately upon the death of his wife, Martha. He had previously expressed his feeling that slavery should be gradually abolished through legislative action.
The problem at the time of the American Revolution was that slavery was embedded into the consciousness of most British Colonies including the thirteen colonies in what would soon become the United States. Even from the time of the Pilgrims, “there was nothing unusual about enslaving a rebellious Native population. The English had been doing this in Ireland for decades.” (Mayflower, p. 253) At the time of the signing of the Constitution slavery was common throughout the world, in virtually every country. The flow and forces of history surely resulted in a mindset which was able to justify slavery. Many who owned slaves in the English colonies did not bear any moral qualms concerning slave holding. Slavery was seen more as an economic issue than a human rights issue; a deep-seated mentality first formed in Europe.
These long held beliefs as to the efficacy of slavery were not to be overcome easily. This is especially true when economic considerations are added. When judging their reasoning for accepting slavery from the perspective of today’s societal mores this reasoning is not acceptable. But we must consider what historical forces were initiated at the founding of the United States that led to the abolition of slavery.