October 7, 2022.

I am deactivating my affiliate account with McClanahan Academy.  

The more I study and learn about the founding era and the Founders, and particularly, the anti-federalists, Patrick Henry, Samuel Bryant, Luther Martin, and more, it is clear that it was never the intention of the Federalists to write a benevolent Constitution for posterity.  It was a cash grab for those who funded the Revolution and a way to put an end to the term limits of the Articles of Confederation. 

History courses for the self-driven student willing to accept ideas not in the mainstream canon.

Beyond here, we slay dragons.

McClanahan Academy is created by Brion McClanahan, Ph.D., a student of history and a professor as well.  Real history study takes no sides, but dives deep into the events and examines them with no expectation or agenda.

American Constitutions

Did you know there was more than the one?  Is it “living and breathing” or was it intended to render the government almost powerless, citing a handful of specific enumerated powers?

How Alexander Hamilton Screwed Up America

Oh sure, there’s a play about him and songs songs songs, but, is he worthy?  He reads great in The Federalist Papers but then changes his mind. Which Hamilton did we end up getting all these years on?  Was he just saying anything to get the Constitution ratified? Subscribe to the class to learn.

The War for Southern Independence

The common thought about the fight for Southern independence was slavery. As if the highly complex and intricate systems that make societies function can be ignored and reduced to one thing. This is a college level course which gives a fair shake to both North and South. That there is a Southern position apart from slaves might surprise many.

Secession

Often seen as illegal and improper but so often those same folks don’t see the Revolutionary War as an act of secession. The War for Independence and the War for Southern Independence are only two of more examples of secession.

The Declaration of Independence

Perhaps the most famous and least understood Founding document in American history.  Most people know the first lines, if any at all, but few know the last paragraph which is the most important.

 

Reconstruction and Recreation, 1862-1975

The ravages of post-war America, with the deliberate efforts to recreate America not as she was, a Republic, but as a Union under the thumb of a federal government. Reconstruction wasn’t just rebuilding the shattered South, but rebuilding America into something never intended.

 

United States History to 1865

Most US History courses are slavery blah blah blah.  They are almost all bad and all predictably bad.

If you want a REAL story of the United States from the earliest human settlements in the Americas to the end of the War for Southern Independence, this course provides it. This is the first part of my United States History survey sequence. Students are provided a detailed “lesson plan,” reading material, video and audio lectures, and quizzes to help measure progress. This course can be used as a high school homeschool curriculum or as a continuing education course for anyone interested in American history without the modern politically correct guilt. This is your American history red pill.

United States History 1865 to Present

Learn the REAL story of the United States from Reconstruction to the modern era with this course. This is the second part of Brion’s United States History course. Students are provided a detailed “lesson plan,” reading material, video and audio lectures, and quizzes to help measure progress. This course can be used as a high school homeschool curriculum or as a continuing education course for anyone interested in American history without the modern politically correct guilt. This is your American history red pill.

Founding Fathers

The Founders had a better understanding of the problems we face today than do our own hopelessly progressive and self-serving members of Congress. If you want real insight into the issues of banking, war powers, executive authority, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, states’ rights, gun control, judicial activism, trade and taxes, you’d be better served learning the Founders’ vision for America than you would be watching congressional debates on C-SPAN or reading the New York Times.

With traditional America under daily assault by deranged mobs and self-righteous do-gooders, this course is a timely reminder of why the Founding generation is vital to modern society.

American Presidents: Good, Bad, and Ugly

Presidential rankings typically list men like Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt as the greatest presidents in American history. The bottom dwellers always include Franklin Pierce, John Tyler, and Andrew Johnson. Why? Lincoln and Roosevelt displayed energy and activity in the executive mansion, saved the Union, and won wars. Pierce, Tyler, Johnson, and a host of other “do-nothing” presidents did the opposite. They didn’t have sweeping legislative agendas, did not establish dangerous precedents for unconstitutional executive powers, and were “on the wrong side of history” on several issues.

But is this accurate? Short answer: no. Pierce, Tyler, Johnson, and several other no-name presidents generally did a better job of upholding their oath to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution” than most of the men historians call “great.”

This course reviews the record of all forty-four men who have been President of the United States under the Constitution using a simple method: Did they defend their oath? The results may surprise you.

Brion also includes one bonus lecture on an “American President” not usually included in any presidential list. And he offers several solutions on how we could rid the United States of tyrannical executive government.

United States History Bundle of both courses

The growth in the American economy is described as a period of “income inequality.” The successful shredding of the Constitution by the progressives is a triumph of “democracy” and “social justice.” And while establishment historians correctly rail against American imperialism, they miss the obvious connection between the American empire and the nanny state, precisely because they admire the nanny state. Anyone taking an establishment modern United States History course will walk away believing that things would have been better off had the Marxists won the Cold War.

If you want a REAL story of the United States from the earliest human settlements in the Americas to the end of the War for Southern Independence, this course provides it. This is the first part of my United States History survey sequence. Students are provided a detailed “lesson plan,” reading material, video and audio lectures, and quizzes to help measure progress. This course can be used as a high school homeschool curriculum or as a continuing education course for anyone interested in American history without the modern politically correct guilt. This is your American history red pill.

This course contains 108 lectures totaling nearly 50 hours, lesson plans, reading seminars, suggested reading material, quizzes, and almost 500 pages of lecture notes.

War and Reconstruction Bundle

If you want “Righteous Cause Mythology,” this course isn’t for you. If you seek a “Civil War” course that supports the positions of cultural Marxists like Eric Foner, you need to move along. But if you want a course on “The War for Southern Independence” that contains a critical evaluation of both the North and the South along with the longstanding and immediate causes that led to the bloodiest war in American history, you’re in the right place.

Lincoln won’t be worshiped. The War won’t be reduced to a dark corner of “race and slavery.” And the South will be given a fair shake.

This is a college-level course for a fraction of the price with 50 commute length lectures totaling around 24 hours, nearly 400 pages of lecture notes, and a substantial recommended reading list. You won’t be disappointed.