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

 

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A More Perfect Union
Beverly J. Armento, et al.
Houghton Mifflin, 1999
Middle school

Myths Perpetuated:

58: Samuel Adams, by himself, “formed a Committee of Correspondence.” See Founding Myths, chapter 3.

62: “Without plan or warning, the American Revolution had begun.” See Founding Myths, chapter 4.

63, 664-665: Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech. (Although text says the words “were never written down,” it still refers to “Henry’s words” and treats the speech as “reconstructed” rather than conjured.) See Founding Myths, chapter 8.

63: Paul Revere is the only rider mentioned. See Founding Myths, chapter 1.

65: “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” See Founding Myths, chapter 9.

68: The “bitter cold” at Valley Forge: “By the sheer force of his personality, [Washington] kept his ragtag army from falling apart.” See Founding Myths, chapter 5.

68: George Rogers Clark “ended British control of the frontier” (no mention of Indian control). See Founding Myths, chapter 13.

68: British “plundered” in the South. (And patriots did not?) See Founding Myths, chapter 11.

70: “Yorktown spelled the end of British control over the colonies.” See Founding Myths, chapter 12.

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

656-659: “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of American,” dated July 4, 1776. (This is the doctored version.) See Founding Myths, Conclusion.

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.

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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