Our mission

I believe an informed citizen is the foundation of a free republic, so I help everyday Americans understand their founding documents, their rights, and their history from primary sources, not talkin

I teach civics and constitutional history because I believe informed citizens are the last line of defense for a self-governing republic. My courses aren't opinion pieces dressed up as education — they're built on primary sources: the Federalist Papers, the Constitution's own text, Supreme Court holdings, treaty documents, and firsthand historical accounts. If a claim is documented, I show you the document. If it's contested, I tell you so.

My approach is straightforward. We start with what the text actually says, then we trace where it came from, and then we look honestly at where things have drifted and why. Whether we're reading every amendment in plain English, mapping the rise and fall of America's political parties, or examining U.S. federal Indian policy through the court rulings that shaped it, the goal is always the same: leave you better equipped to think for yourself than when you arrived.

I teach across a wide range — constitutional structure, the Bill of Rights, the founding era, political systems, American history, Native sovereignty, and practical civic engagement. These subjects connect. The person who understands the 17th Amendment understands something about why the Senate behaves the way it does today. The person who can read a treaty understands something about federal power that no cable news segment will ever explain.

If you've ever felt like you were handed a version of American history or civics that was too thin, too slanted, or too short on evidence — these courses are for you. Come in with your questions. Challenge the material. That's exactly what it's built for.

Dale Porter

Our ethos

  1. 1Primary sources over summaries — if the Founders wrote it, the Court ruled it, or the treaty said it, we go to the document itself rather than someone else's paraphrase.
  2. 2Honest complexity over comfortable simplicity — the founding era, American history, and constitutional law are genuinely complicated, and students deserve the full picture, not a version with the hard parts removed.
  3. 3Civic purpose over passive consumption — every lesson is oriented toward what you can actually do with this knowledge as a citizen, a voter, a neighbor, and a participant in self-government.

Learn with me

Constitutional Republic Studies