10 American Founding Myths

Perhaps the most mythologized event in US history is our founding. Myths lend identity, so of course the beginning of our history is the greatest target. Of course, that's a recipe for misconceptions. The founding of this Republic is not only ripe for misinformation, but outright disinformation, as everyone wants to see themselves in the founders especially at the first of their political enemies. But it's time to dispel ten of the most common myths.

Errata: Washington first acknowledged the name "town-destroyer" in 1755 b/c of his great-grandfather and Charles Brant later applied the name to the Sullivan Expedition (thx TheAlexSchmidt)
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The misconceptions and chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:07 Founders wanted Judeo-Christian values
5:37 Founders were fully original thinkers
7:23 Our government/revolution began in 1776
9:40 Slavery drove the Revolution
13:17 Independence birthed a modern nation
17:15 It was a conservative revolution
19:23 The constitution is flawless
21:02 Founders were like-minded men of the people
23:37 Patriots rebelled primarily because of taxes
27:16 Liberty means small government
29:58 Outtro

[CynicalHistorian]

Click "read more" for related episodes and bibliography. First some errata: Washington first acknowledged the name "town-destroyer" in 1755 b/c of his great-grandfather and Charles Brant later applied the name to the Sullivan Expedition (thx TheAlexSchmidt)

related videos:

*Bibliography*

[MFLuder-mevn]

One thing that I think should be emphasized more was how restricted voting was in the early decades of the United States. In elections up to Jacksonian democracy presidential elections involved something like only 5% of the population eligible to vote at most.

[pavelnadolski]

The Pledge of Allegiance should be dropped in favor of reciting the Preamble to the Constitution. The Pledge demands obedience without questioning while the Preamble is a reminder of what the purpose of our republic is.

[SunflowerSocialist]

Myth: The Founding fathers were exemplars of level headed, sober leadership.

They were DEFINITELY NOT SOBER.

[nobody]

So, you're not even going to mention the guy that gave Jefferson the first draft of the declaration and the constitution, as well as single handedly defeated the Brittish?

George Santos never gets credit for all of his contributions to humanity...

[phoenixshadow]

Myth 11: The early Presidents did not have rap battles during cabinet meetings.

[kuvasz]

My favorite quote from the Founding Fathers.

"A standing army is like a standing member. It's an excellent assurance of domestic tranquility, but a dangerous temptation to foreign adventure."
Elbridge Gerry - Constitutional Convention (1787)

[theCommentDevil]

Myth 11: George Washington had the Founding Titan and had to step away from the presidency due to Ymir's curse

[ginkiba]

This is the first time I've ever heard the term "Founding Generation" or "First Generation" in lieu of "Founding Fathers", and I kind of like it. Makes it sound like the Revolution was a much broader invention and affair that affected everyone (which it did) than the brainchild of a small handful of rural aristocrats.

Honestly this video was a relief for me; I taught the American Revolution last year for middle school and I was genuinely worried I'd end up dishing out myths as fact or the curriculum would instead, but I was mostly on the money. There's a lot to appreciate and admire about the Revolution, especially in how it did create a newer style of government that's been defining the world for the past two-hundred years, but it was just genuinely a bunch of colonists just wanting to do their own thing at the end of the day. There never was this grand vision for a mighty nation like we'd see near and after the Civil War.

[iammrbeat]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that some will be a bit triggered by this video.

[vortimerofkent]

I'm German and I had an advanced course in English back in school. I've learned all of this in school, and it's quite irritating that Americans at that time did not.

[jayglenn]

Another really important point to make is that Jewish values are not the same as Christian values. They should NOT be lumped together.

[jeffm]

Lost causers pretty much defeat themselves. We don't need to make things up to frustrate them

[fergu]

This was informative and very understandable.
As an African American I see now where even a small amount of misinformed people can literally derail truth to where people perish..
Thank you for keeping it right..

[sammisuejams]

My 8th grade teacher taught us this level of detail. (I am old, and she was Canadian.) It is nice to see a place where people can get American History so beautifully laid out and accessible.

[johnwu]

What do you mean that America's founding isn't a simple, clean narrative without any nuance?! This is unacceptable. You're making it impossible for people to understand our founding without actually reading books and learning about it now?! 😀

[f.prince]

Imagine if people had to actually learn about history. Not just how they want it to be.

[iattacku]

Looking at most of the list it boils down to the fact that “ the founders” like any group of people don’t completely agree with each other on everything. It cracks me up when people always tries to say “x” is what the founders intended I simply ask “ which founder”.

[johnmcnulty]

My blood boils when Christians say that the founding fathers were evangelicals. If they were, then Thomas jefferson's instructions to Lewis and Clark would have included giving bibles to the many Indian nations they visited and teaching about Jesus, neither of which they did.

[gardnerfiddle]

Thank you for this! And thank you for the transcript. I fight this fight every day living and working in the historic triangle of Virginia. Between Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown all of which I work at, tourists come here with these strong beliefs quite entrenched.

I’ve been trying to break these myths for years. Thank you for creating this resource!