Pirates pursued democracy, helped American colonies survive

Physorg.com ^ | June 28, 2006 | Cathy Keen

[JmyBryan]

Blackbeard and Ben Franklin deserve equal billing for founding democracy in the United States and New World, a new University of Florida study finds.

Pirates practiced the same egalitarian principles as the Founding Fathers and displayed pioneering spirit in exploring new territory and meeting the native peoples, said Jason Acosta, who did the research for his thesis in history at the University of Florida.

“Hollywood really has given pirates a bum rap with its image of bloodthirsty, one-eyed, peg-legged men who bury treasure and force people to walk the plank,” he said. “We owe them a little more respect.”

Acosta, a descendant of a pirate who fought for the United States in the Battle of New Orleans, studied travel narratives, court hearings, sermons delivered at pirate hangings and firsthand accounts of passengers held captive by pirates. Comparing pirate charters with the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, he said he was amazed by the similarities.

[LS]

You won't believe this . . . then again, you might:

Richard Burg, an Arizona State University professor and expert on pirates, said Acosta is performing a great service by emphasizing pirates’ democratic and egalitarian ways. “The men who sailed under the skull and crossbones were ordinary folk, like America’s revolutionaries, standing firm against oppressive governments and economic systems,” he said.

Richard Burg and I once wrote an article together for "The Historian," which remains, I think, the ONLY article ever written on pirate historiography. Burg's a hoot!

[Hoplite]

[SlowBoat407]

Actually, it's kind of murky whether or not the pirates who adopted the skull and crossbones were masons or they just adopted a known frightening symbol to signal their prey to surrender before the "joli rouge" went up.

I think a real distinction needs to be drawn as well between "privateers", rogue pirates, and islamic pirates such as the ones still operating off of the Horn of Africa.

Oh, and... "Aaaarrgghh!"

[billbears]

The founding fathers were no better than pirates. More from the moral equivalence crowd.

In some ways they weren't. In many ways the pirates were not the low down scum that tabloid history paints them to be. This has nothing to do with 'moral equivalence' but rather what pirates did that is historical fact. Sorry you can't understand that.

[Springman]

You say it, I believe it.

[smith288]

"This chair be hi, says I"

[mrsmith]

Pirate society was the epitome of pure democracy.
A greedy mob ruled by it's elected tyrant.

Undoubtedly fun to study from a far distance though.

[Boiler Plate]

Just 81 days till

Talk Like A Pirate Day

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

[Jaysun]

My disagreement is with the idea that the Skull and Crossbones, or Jolly Roger, is a Masonic symbol. And that pirates were Masons. And that they had anything in common with the Founding Fathers.

To want personal gain is human.

[LibWhacker]

But, then again, it might be a Freudian slip? Have something you want to share with us?

Huh? Try to make more sense, will 'ya?

[LibWhacker]

Well, let's just compare the Framers to Neanderthal while we're at it. They had lots in common, after all. So Og and Thomas Jefferson "deserve equal billing for founding democracy in the United States and New World."

Makes about as much sense as Acosta's ridiculous slander; i.e., no sense at all.

[yayforlater]

It's okay LibWhacker. Happens to the best of us.