ABSTRACT
Chronological thinking and what causes certain factors to be related are essential building blocks for historical thought. Many critics of historical study share the perspective of an oft-repeated aphorism that history is “one damn thing after another.” The memorization of events in sequential order has been a constant in history instruction for generations. Causality is a fundamental building block of historical thinking. Causality is central to many of historical investigations because it gets to the heart of the discipline. While still mired in calamitous politics of Reconstruction, the United States suffered from economic depression and an increasing tension between social classes. With chronology established, and the context set, students return to the image examined at the lesson’s outset. Traditional time lines are still useful and important to the investigation and understanding of the past. Just as students do with change over time, multiple perspectives, or causality, they can use chronological thinking in a manner similar to that used by historians.
