Posted on 07/04/2008 6:45:54 AM PDT by angkor
"Even before the list was published, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts."
Lovely sentiments.
However, it is greatly embellished at best and just plain untrue at worst.
The story of the American founding is dramatic and inspiring enough that it does not need to be “supported” by half-truths and untruths.
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/pricepaid.asp
bttt
So Snopes’ dopes are now the official history revisionist?
Those who misrepresent the facts are the revisionists.
Probably with the best of intentions, this story has been greatly embellished. Since it’s been passed around on the web, it’s likely the inaccuracies grew with each passing on, and without real intent to deceive on most people’s part.
I suspect with a little effort at least several dozen inaccuracies or exaggerations could be extracted from this text.
One jumps out. Rush specifically says “not one” of the signers ever recanted. This is untrue. One did. This does not invalidate the great resolve shown by all the others, but it does illustrate the exaggeration of the piece.
BTW, most of what happened to the Signers was representative of what happened to many others who were not Signers. The country was involved in a brutal foreign and civil war. Many suffered.
There is no great body of evidence that the Signers were particularly singled out as a group. It’s highly unlikely that British officers rode around with a deck of cards with the Signers’ names and faces on them.
In fact, it’s pretty well known that the Declaration was more or less forgotten for a number of years. It’s only in retrospect that it was considered of enormous importance.
Such embellishment is not harmless, IMO. The embellishments of the Washington and Lincoln legends were used as the opening chink in the armor of these great men by those who wanted to show them not just as great but flawed humans but as evil dead white men, oppressors, slavemasters and violators of civil rights. They then used this to discredit the entire American experiment. Our country is based on lies, they say.
I prefer to live by the truth and nothing but. The real truth is always, BTW, much more interesting than the hagiography. America has much to be ashamed of in our past, as does every nation that has ever existed. But it has a great deal more to be proud of.
Compare them to the politicians of today who are fleecing American for their own personal gain.
First, common mistakes in John Hart histories:
John Hart's father did not come from Connecticut, his grandfather came from Long Island, but may have been born across the Sound in Connecticut. The signer was born in Hopewell township.
John Hart did not have to hide for months from the British. They were not in the area but from December 8th. 1776, when Washington retreated into Pennsylvania, until at most December 26th, when he captured Trenton. In reality, the actual time was a few days when troops were in the area. They damaged his house and farm, but it was not destroyed. As the outline shows, his wife died in October, so the British did not drive him from her side. Most of his children were grown, so he did not lose them. The two minors went to family nearby while he hid, then everything went back to "normal" after a few days. He did not die a "broken man" from losing his family- he did not lose them, he died of kidney stones after a long, very painful illness- surrounded by family, in his intact home, on his large, still working, farm."
http://www.doublegv.com/ggv/JHart.html
Wow. And while we have been relinquishing our hard-fought freedoms bit by bit it now seems many are prepared to glibly throw it all away in the name of “Change”.
My point exactly. Today’s pols should be embarassed by the contrast with the real Founders.
Nobody can be really embarassed because they fall short of a standard set by saints.
Does anyone know if Rush is going to be back today?
The only real US Senator I could compare as being close to these guys in Dr. Tom Coburn.
The man is terrific in every sense of the word.
Nope...’Best Of’ show today.
Aww man.
That stinks!
I saw the morning update and thought he was going to be back
We’ll just have to muddle through somehow. ;o)
Au contraire.
"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."
I’ll listen to yesterday’s show or something. :)
History does not record the names of all who inspired or supported the Revolution. History will not record the name of every soldier who now serves in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The argument is reminescent of Spike Lee’s recent attack on Clint Estwood for making a film about Iwo Jima and not featuring the African Americans who were on the island.
What is the point of the Snopes piece? Egalitarianism? As a proud decendant of a variety of Revolutionary “patriots” no one ever heard of, I am not in the least offended that we don’t hear of their individual sacrifice. Everyone knows that 56 individuals did not carry out the Revolution alone, any more than the six flag-raisers took Iwo Jima on their own.
Somehow, I suspect members of Bootlegger Joe’s Klan wouldn’t have signed the Declaration of Independence.
An alcoholic hive is an obedient hive.
Tyranny of the appetite.
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