The Harvard Case Method Institute, which began at the Harvard Business School, trains high school teachers of history, social studies, and civics at no cost, using actual cases from our government’s inception to the present day. Professor David Moss of the Harvard Business School writes about our country’s many conflicts and the outcomes, both positive and negative.

The cases provide historical context, and student discussions are an integral part of this transformative method of teaching civics. The LWVLC has nominated three teachers in Lane County who have completed the program and will teach cases this academic year. We are currently continuing to read through case studies without a formal facilitator. 

The current case study we are reading is: Democracy, Sovereignty, and the Struggle over Cherokee Removal (1836). 
This case describes how the United States (and its colonial precursors) set policies with respect to Native Americans, from first contact through the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Much of the case is told from the perspective of the Cherokee Nation, as its various political factions lobby for and against the Treaty of New Echota, which, if ratified by the U.S. Senate, would remove the Cherokee from their native lands.