Grant said in his Second Inaugural Address that it was his “firm conviction that the civilized world is tending toward republicanism, or government by the people through their elected representatives, and that our own great Republic is destined to be the guiding star to all others.” In my readings of Grant, I think he would have argued for American Exceptionalism.
Would you agree or no? Is Grant an example of “how Americans’ concept of their own exceptionalism (superiority) has shaped how Americans approach each other and approach the world”?

But do I teach that Americans are better? Nope. That would tend to promote some of the very problems I highlight when I explore how Americans’ concepts of their exceptionalism have shaped the course of American (and world) history.

Query: If Americans are so exceptional, then why did those pesky white southern secessionists want to leave?

I’ve never heard of the text assailed by Mr. Williams. I have heard of the ones you mention.

While textbooks used in the survey classes of Texas are generally adopted by textbook committees at both the state and local levels, teachers in Texas may supplement with a variety of resources of their own choosing so long as they are generally supported as fact-based resources within the educational community. (So, I guess I won’t be using H. W. Crocker, III’s “resource,” darn it!) What neither Mr. Williams nor the original story make clear is whether this was the adopted text or a supplemental text.
– — -
As I approached base texts for one of my two electives this year (American Constitution & Civil War Studies), I was free to choose what I wanted to use in the classroom. I am using We the People…The Citizen and the Constitution published by the Center for Civic Education and Joy Hakim’s A History of US — Book 6: War, Terrible War published by Oxford University Press. For the other one (The Bible in History & Literature), I was given a text that administration and the local board felt would pass muster from the legal sense in much the same way I use an approved text for my US History survey classes.

Richard Williams has no problems with having teachers impose upon students view with which Richard Williams agrees.

I did chuckle at his highlighting the textbook used in a Texas school. I’ve never heard of the text, or the publisher. That said, Richard may want to investigate how texts are chosen, and who exactly elects school boards.

The irony in this situation is that it’s common knowledge that some people water down their survey texts to increase the chance of an adoption in Texas, given the size of the market. The Texas market’s not particularly known as a PC one.

I think that if we only teach the puritan side/AE (Jamestown story for all the southern readers out there) of that story we are doing a disservice to history. Teaching the full story, as best we can in a survey class, is not anti-American nor pro-American…it is jut plain history.