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Terrorism is often described as a twenty-first-century evil, a form of violence without context or precedent. But the questions that it poses and the responses that it has provoked in recent years are not altogether new. “Terrorism”—as a political tactic, a cultural concept, and a law enforcement issue—has an extensive history in the United States and around the world. This installment of Teaching the JAH introduces students to the historical study of terrorism in the United States. It asks them to think broadly about how to define terrorism and how to situate the history of political violence within the wide context of American history. The primary sources raise a range of questions: How did men and women who committed acts of terrorism explain and/or justify their actions within their own historical circumstances? How did other segments of American society understand and respond to their behavior? How did those particular understandings shape political and legal institutions in the United States? And what, if any, tradition of “terrorism” can be said to exist in—or against—the United States?

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“Teaching the JAH” uses online tools to bridge the gap between the latest scholarly research in U.S. history and the practice of classroom teaching. JAH authors demonstrate how featured articles might be taught in a U.S. history survey course.

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