The History Department of the University of North Texas
today held its annual Teaching Conference on History (TCON), an event that has
been taking place for almost twenty years. Begun by UNT professors Randolph B.
Campbell and Donald Chipman, this year’s conference took place under the
direction of history professor Walt Roberts. This conference provides recent
information on history for secondary teachers throughout the region.
Traditionally, several hundred teachers attend. Each year TCON revolves around
a special theme. This year’s special emphasis was “Turning Points in History.” This is also the theme for the 2012 National History Day. Guest speakers included: Dr. Sam Haynes (University of Texas at
Arlington), Dr. Todd Moye (University of North Texas), Dr. Owen Stanwood
(Boston College), Dr. Alan Gallay (Texas Christian University), Dr. Nancy
Stockdale (University of North Texas), Dr. Robert Citino (University of North
Texas), Dr. Ricky Dobbs (Texas A&M University at Commerce), Dr. Christian
Fritz (University of New Mexico School of Law), and me.
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| Light Cummins speaking at TCON |
I spoke on the Sieur de la Salle
and his seventeenth century explorations as a turning point in North American
colonial history. In my remarks, I noted that the teaching of turning points can be a very valuable pedagogical strategy. It is thus understandable that the unifying theme for the 2013 National History Day is
“Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, Events.” As the current promotional literature
for this program notes of a turning point: “It is an idea, event or action
that directly, and sometimes indirectly, caused change. This change could be
social or cultural, affecting a society’s way of thinking or way of acting. It
could be political, leading to new legislation or to a new government taking
charge. It could be economic, affecting how goods are produced, bought and
sold, or how much or how little a society has to spend on such items. A turning
point can even cause all of these changes and more.” This certainly the case in
considering the exploration and colony-founding attempts of Rene-Robert
Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, one of the best-know Frenchmen of the colonial
period of United State history.
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| La Salle |
His activities constituted a
significant turning point that moved the European frame of reference from the
Atlantic coast to the interior of the continent and the Gulf of Mexico. It was
his activities that opened the vast interior of North America to European
expansion while it ushered into reality the beginnings of intense
inter-colonial rivalry between France, and Spain, eventually spilling over to
England as well. This took place for La Salle in three waves of effort: first,
his attempt to dominate the fur trade on the western Great Lakes during the mid
to late 1670s; second, his trip down the Mississippi River to its mouth in the
early 1680s; and thirds, his unsuccessful attempt to establish a French post on
the western Gulf of Mexico in Spanish territory within the modern boundaries of
the state of Texas. A single vision comprehended all of these activities: to
locate a water route to the Indies while, at the same time, weakening King
Louis XIV’s great international rival Spain in the Americas. In the process, as
well, La Salle naturally hoped to garner a great personal fortune as well as
part of the process.
