Founding Myths

November 22, 2004
Patrick Henry never said,"Give me liberty or give me death!" In fact, no record exists of what he said in his powerful call to arms of March 23, 1775. And Molly Pitcher never took her husband's place at a cannon after he fell at the Battle of Monmouth. Historian Raphael dissects these and 11 other myths of the American Revolution to uncover the truth of these famous events and the significance of their conversion into myth. These tales, argues Raphael, represent 19th-century ideals of"romantic individualism" more than the communitarian ideals of the revolutionary era. Raphael (A People's History of the American Revolution) continues in his populist vein by arguing that these myths, rather than encouraging patriotism and heroism, actually"take away our power," leaving us"in awe of superhuman stars" like Washington or Jefferson and"discouraging ordinary citizens from acting on their own behalf." This is arguable, but advocates of history as seen from below will find the author's point of view appealing. And all students of American history will find Raphael's correction of the historical record instructive and enjoyable. Illus.

June 1, 2014
A distinguished historian revisits the American legends he effectively debunked 10 years ago and discovers that they die hard.Over two centuries after the nation's founding, does the narrative change when we understand that Paul Revere didn't really ride alone, that Sam Adams wasn't a "one-man revolution," that the Declaration didn't spring full-blown from the mind of Thomas Jefferson, that Patrick Henry likely never said, "give me liberty or give me death," or that Molly Pitcher never existed at all? Raphael (Senior Research Fellow/Humboldt State Univ.; Constitutional Myths: What We Get Wrong and How to Get It Right, 2013, etc.) takes on a number of myths and legends that have crept unquestioned into our textbooks and popular histories, and he explains their persistence and the damage done if they remain uncorrected. He also highlights some stories we have failed to tell. How is our understanding changed if we discover that the tale of the cruel winter and patient suffering at Valley Forge has an unacknowledged twin, two years later, at the Morristown encampment, where the weather was colder and the soldiers mutinied? What if we learn that the American struggle for independence, itself only a small part of a worldwide conflict, was also a war of conquest in the West and featured a brutal civil war in the South? By slapping tidy beginnings and endings on stories, we distort a deeper, more complex history. By fashioning them into stick figures, we turn the Founders into an assembly of demigods. Worst of all, Raphael argues, we understate the central theme of the American Revolution-popular sovereignty-and marginalize the contributions made by millions of common citizens. Overlooking this genuine heritage, he insists, takes the Revolution out of the hands of the people, without whom the entire enterprise would surely have failed.A persuasive argument in favor of evidence-based history, even if it means surrendering some of our cherished fabrications.

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