RATED TEXTBOOK

Myths Perpetuated:

279: Samuel Adams, by himself, “set up a Committee of Correspondence in Boston. Then he got cities and towns in other colonies to do the same.” See Founding Myths, chapter 3.

280: The “Intolerable Acts” do not include the Massachusetts Government Act, making it impossible to answer the question on 287 correctly: “Why did the Intolerable Acts make the colonists so angry?” See Founding Myths, chapter 4.

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

283-284, 323: Paul Revere and William Dawes (nobody else) rode and shouted “The British are coming.” (Revere and Dawes were of course British as well.) See Founding Myths, chapter 1.

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

296-297: Jefferson alone “planned” the Declaration of Independence and gets all credit for writing it. See Founding Myths, chapter 6.

299: Thirteen colonies declared independence on July 4, 1776. See Founding Myths, Conclusion.

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

305: Emphasis on patriotic slaves through misleading numbers: 5,000 fighting for Americans, only 300 for British; eight patriots listed by name (“Liberty,” “Freeman”), no names for those who fought for British. See Founding Myths, chapter 10.

310: By spring, 1778, the hardships experienced at Valley Forge were over. See Founding Myths, chapter 5.

313: George Rogers Clark’s mission was to defend settlers. See Founding Myths, chapter 13.

316, 323: “It was clear that victory had been decided at Yorktown.” See Founding Myths, chapter 12.

336-337: “Once the United States was independent, it opened the frontier to settlement” — Indians are non-existent at this point. See Founding Myths, chapter 13.

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.