A review is given of our experimental knowledge of the spin dependent structure functions of the proton, which is based on inclusive high energy scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons by longitudinally polar ized protons in both the deep inelastic and resonance regions, and in cludes preliminary results from our most recent SLAC experiment. Impli cations for scaling, sum rules, models of proton structure, and the hyperfine structure interval in hydrogen am given. Possible future directions of research are indicated.