[Fitzcarraldo]

Presumably you regard the actuality of the Civil War as mere "hypothesis" - none of us were around to experience that directly either...

In that case there is a witness chain extending into that time period, documents, photographs and other evidence. That there was a Civil War can classified as a proven theory from our perspective.

[Prodigal Son]

In that case there is a witness chain extending into that time period, documents, photographs and other evidence.

Photoshop? ;-)

[general_re]

In that case there is a witness chain extending into that time period, documents, photographs and other evidence.

How do you know the witnesses and the evidence are reliable? For that matter, how do you know that the "witnesses" ever really existed? You weren't there to experience that either. Clearly, the Civil War is a simple hypothesis by your standard...

And what about events with no eyewitness accounts? Are they mere "hypothesis"? Nobody saw who murdered Nicole Brown, so any theory that asserts that OJ did it must be mere "hypothesis". Seems awfully unfair to put someone on trial based on a simple hypothesis...