People's History, Founding Myths, and the American Revolution
Ray Raphael - People's Historian

 

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Why We Remember:
United States History, American Revolution to 1914

Herman J. Viola
Scott Foresman / Addison Wesley, 1999
Middle school

Myths Perpetuated:

73-74: “Sam” (not Samuel) Adams was “a master at inflaming people.” See Founding Myths, chapter 3.

73: Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech.” See Founding Myths, chapter 8.

90: Paul Revere “spread the word that the British were coming.” (Revere himself was of course British.) See Founding Myths, chapter 1.

93: “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” (The distance cited, “15 or 20 paces,” is far less than any contemporary estimate.) See Founding Myths, chapter 9.

96: Thomas Jefferson as the sole author of the Declaration of Independence. See Founding Myths, chapter 6.

99: “Molly Pitcher” was a real person. See Founding Myths, chapter 2.

103: With the spring following Valley Forge, the hardships of the Continental Army ceased. See Founding Myths, chapter 5.

106: “Clark and his small force did do great things.” See Founding Myths, chapter 13.

108: Yorktown marked the end of the Revolutionary War. See Founding Myths, chapter 12.

Critical items neglected, which change our understanding of the Revolution:

The first seizure of political and military authority from the British — Massachusetts, 1774. See Founding Myths, chapter 4.

Over ninety state and local declarations of independence, which set the stage for the congressional declaration. See Founding Myths, chapter 6.

General Sullivan’s genocidal expedition against the Iroquois, the only significant American campaign of 1779. See Founding Myths, chapter 13.

The winter the Continental Army spent at Morristown — far colder than that spent at Valley Forge, and the harshest in 400 years. See Founding Myths, chapter 5.

The global context for the American Revolution — why the war continued after Yorktown. See Founding Myths, chapter 12.

 
 
 
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