"It's just critical that if we are going to survive as a nation, that all our citizens know and understand the fundamental beliefs that caused the formation of this country and stand at the bottom, the bedrock foundation, for the things in which we most strongly believe. So you have to start at the beginning--and that means the Declaration of Independence."

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, United State Supreme Court

"When we think about the country and how it started and why it started, we look first to the Declaration of Independence.  It has been an enduring and remarkable document and is the precursor and the foundation for the adoption of our constitutional form of government."

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, United States Supreme Court

"The Declaration of Independence became a sacred icon (of America) because it was the only national document and is the only national document that states that 'All men are created equal and that they have certain, inherent rights given to them by their Creator.'  These words are not in the Constitution or in the Bill of Rights.  The only national document that states them is the Declaration of Independence."

Paula Maier,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"I have sworn upon the alter of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

Thomas Jefferson, inscribed on Jefferson Memorial

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.  Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men.  We solemnly publish and declare that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour."

excerpt from Declaration of Independence
inscribed on Jefferson Memorial

"Our nation is the enduring dream of every immigrant who ever set foot on these shores, and the millions still struggling to be free. This nation, this idea called America, was and always will be a new world -- our new world."

George H. W. Bush

"The growing diversity of the American population makes the quest for unifying ideals and a common culture all the more urgent. In a world savagely rent by racial antagonisms, the U. S. must continue as an example of how a highly differentiated society holds itself together."

Arthur
Schlesinger Jr.

"Indeed, one good reason to preserve Western Civilization programs is to benefit and liberate minorities....
Those who yield to pressures to reject a Western civilization curriculum do minorities a singular disservice, by depriving us of the great opening to the world represented by this sort of curriculum....
But if relentless cries for relevance and diversity should ever lead to dismantling the program of common studies in Western civilization, then all students--including minority students--will be left ill-prepared for the role we all face as participants in a democratic society.  Our system of government under law--itself a triumph of the Western tradition--will inevitably suffer."

Jose' A. Cabranes,
U. S. Circuit Judge

"'No other nation,' Margaret Thatcher has said, 'has so successfully combined people of different races and nations within a single culture.' How have Americans succeeded in pulling off this unprecedented trick? We have always been a multiethnic country. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, who came from France in the 18th century, marveled at the astonishing diversity of the settlers.... He propounded a famous question:  'What then is the American, this new man?'  And he gave a famous answer: "Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men.'  E pluribus unum."

Arthur
Schlesinger Jr.

"President John F. Kennedy recognized Jefferson's accomplishments when he told a gathering of American Nobel Prize winners that they were the greatest assemblage of talent in the White House since Jefferson had dinner there alone."

Thomas Jefferson Memorial Visitor Center

"And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.  Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

George Washington

"I've lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing Proofs I see of this Truth — That God governs in the Affairs of Men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that except the Lord build the House they labor in vain who build it. I firmly believe this, — and I also believe that without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our Projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a Reproach and Bye word down to future Ages."

Benjamin Franklin

"In the course of two centuries, the ideals of our founding documents have defined America's purposes in the world. Since July 4th, 1776, to this very day, Americans have seen freedom's power to overcome tyranny, to inspire hope even in times of great trial, to turn the creative gifts of men and women to the pursuits of peace."

President George W. Bush, (President Unveils)

"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records.
They are written, as with a sun beam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of
the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."

Alexander Hamilton
1775

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 1863

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

John F. Kennedy

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Thomas Jefferson


 

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."

John Adams

"Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"

Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775

"The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth."

John F. Kennedy

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."

Ronald Reagan

"...[A] nation that does not know why it exists, or what it stands for, cannot be expected to long endure."

Dr. Bruce Cole,
American Revolution Center;
Former Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities

"These charters of freedom [the nation's founding documents such as the Constitution] are a promissory note, a pledge of justice to all who are denied it."

Martin Luther King
(Bush, President Unveils)

"The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission."

John F. Kennedy

"A people can only be free, happy and great in proportion to the virtue and intelligence of the people."

Stephen F. Austin

"When you go home, tell them for us and say, 'For your tomorrows, we gave our today.'"

Semper Fi
American Marines who did not come home,
Iwo Jima Island

About AHEF

Our Mission
Founders and Board of Directors
Staff Bios and Essays by Dr. Richard Gonzalez, Co-Founder
Our Philosophy
Our History
Our Preface

_____________________________________________________________________________________

 

Our Mission

AHEF is a non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation (501.c.3) dedicated to the understanding and teaching of America's factual and philosophical heritage to promote constructive citizenship and Freedom, Unity, Progress, and Responsibility among our students and citizens.

AHEF accomplishes this patriotic mission by writing, producing, and distributing FREE K-12 lesson plans to teachers, students, and families in all 50 states and through additional initiatives, programs, and partnerships.

AHEF is inclusive of individuals of every race and creed and every religious or non-religious persuasion.

                                                                                
 

Founders
Dr. & Mrs. Richard J. Gonzalez
Mr. John R. (Jack) Kamrath

Board of Directors
John R. Butler, Jr.
Eugenie "Jeannie" Sampson Kamrath Gonzalez
Angela Kamrath
Jack Kamrath, President
Peter Maffitt
Doug McMurrey
Robert C. McNair
Dr. Mike Owens, Director of Education
James Roeder
Dr. Linus Wright
_________

Dr. Roderick R. Paige, Advisory Director
Carol S. Vance, Advisory Director
                                                                                                                                

Staff Biographies
and Essays by Dr. Richard Gonzalez, Co-Founder
 

Our Philosophy

Freedom, Unity, Progress, and Responsibility are central themes in America's heritage that generations of Americans from diverse backgrounds have embraced for over two centuries. While diversity has always contributed to the strength of our republic, the recent focus on what sets us apart rather than on what binds us together clearly tends to divide and weaken our nation. The effort in our schools to celebrate diversity for diversity's sake without a corresponding understanding that diverse peoples are only one part of our national character will result in a 'house divided' with potentially catastrophic social, cultural, and economic division. AHEF believes that the concepts and themes of our American heritage must be objectively studied and continually improved for today's students and citizens to understand, appreciate, and perpetuate the ongoing miracle of our unique republic of the people, by the people, and for the people.  Through a renewed study and understanding of historical events, founding documents, national symbols, and significant individuals, students can better understand the foundational philosophical ideas underlying the establishment of the United States of America.  Our students and citizens can therefore become increasingly aware of and proficient in the inspired, noble, and virtuous ideals of our constitutional republic that is founded on certain unalienable rights and the equality and freedom of all persons.  As a result, students will become more patriotic, informed, responsible, active, enthusiastic, and united citizens able to perpetuate the ideas of Freedom, Unity, Progress, and Responsibility that we value as members of the American family.

Our History

The American Heritage Education Foundation (AHEF) is a non-profit (501.c.3) corporation established in January 1995.  In 1993, current members of the Foundation worked with the Houston Independent School District (HISD) to establish American Heritage Month. Today, schools throughout HISD and the nation celebrate our nation's heritage each November through creative activities and projects.  AHEF has assisted HISD in the development and subsequent revisions of an American heritage curriculum guide for grades K-12, entitled America's Heritage:  An Adventure in Liberty.  This curriculum continues to be introduced and activated throughout school districts in Texas and the nation.  American Heritage education workshops have also been developed to assist teachers in fully understanding and putting into practice the ideas and concepts included in the curriculum.

America's Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty is a curriculum project designed and written by teachers with AHEF and HISD and is available in Texas and National Editions with correlating standards and objectives. The initial phase of the project included development of material designed for middle school students, published in 1996. The curriculum was later expanded to include lessons for K-12 and was published as a first complete edition in the spring of 2001. It is available free of charge as a download, in hard binder format, or in CD format via mail (see "Curriculum" page).

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