As with all history there myths that get passed around so much that soon become a fact….but in reality they are still a myth no matter how many times they are uttered.
As a political Historian I feel it necessary to corr4eect a bunch of the myths that we have lived with for generations.
10 myths that we all know and have heard…..
- The Declaration of Independence wasn’t signed on July 4, 1776. Though the Declaration was adopted by Congress on July 4, the document wasn’t signed by most of the delegates until August 2.
- Thomas Jefferson didn’t sign the Constitution. Though Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence, he missed the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia because he was serving as the United States’ envoy in Paris at the time.
- Neither did John Adams. Like Jefferson, Adams was away from the United States at the time it was signed. He was in London serving as the United States minister to Great Britain.
- The Founding Fathers didn’t originally want the turkey as the United States’ national symbol. The debate over the Great Seal began in 1776 and lasted six years, involving ideas about religious and mythical scenes. The turkey was not a close contender.
- The Liberty Bell probably didn’t ring after the Declaration of Independence was signed. Historians say it’s unlikely the bell rung because the steeple that housed the bill was rotted at the time. It’s also unlikely it cracked that day.
- There weren’t originally 13 colonies. Until 1776, Delaware was legally considered a lower county of the colony of Pennsylvania. It left to become an independent state in 1776.
- There’s no proof Betsy Ross created the the first American flag. According to National Geographic, the only evidence Ross played any part in designing or sewing the American flag that made its debut in 1777 is testimony from her family. Likewise, there’s no proof Ross didn’t create the flag, and several reasons she may have done so.
- Neither the Constitution nor the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper. They were both written on parchment, though some early drafts of the documents could have been written on the widely-used hemp.
- Most of the Founders who signed the Declaration of Independence didn’t sign the Constitution. Only six signed both: George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read,James Wilson and Roger Sherman.
- The Constitution doesn’t say “All Men Are Created Equal.” That language is contained within the Declaration of Independence; the original Constitution included provisions such as the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a person to determine representation in Congress.
That will do for now….
Class Dismissed
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
We might add the following, chuq…. The average age across the board of the signers of the Declaration was 44-45 years old in 1776. But let’s look at just those famous names of who we called “the Founders”…
Founder Age in July 1776
Thomas Jefferson 33
Alexander Hamilton 21 (not a signer)
James Madison 25 (not a signer)
Aaron Burr 20
John Adams 40
George Washington 44
Thomas Paine 39
Patrick Henry 40
John Hancock 39
Benjamin Franklin 70
A few observations:
• Jefferson (33) was viewed as a rising young intellectual.
• Madison (25) and Hamilton (21) were extraordinarily young by modern standards for the influence they would later wield.
• Washington (44) was already a seasoned military and political leader.
• Franklin (70) was the elder statesman—the one everyone else respected. To the younger founders he was almost a living legend.
If you take the most commonly cited founders (Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Hancock, Henry, Paine), their average age in 1776 works out to roughly 39–40 years old.
What is striking is not that they were all young—they weren’t. Rather, it was a coalition:
• Franklin represented experience and international prestige.
• Washington represented leadership and military credibility.
• Adams represented political drive.
• Jefferson represented a younger intellectual generation.
• Madison and Hamilton represented the generation that would later design and operate the new government.
That mix of ages may be one reason the movement succeeded. It wasn’t a youth revolution alone, nor was it led entirely by old men. It had energetic younger thinkers and ambitious middle-aged leaders, with a few respected elders lending legitimacy. Franklin at 70 was as important to the Revolution’s credibility as Jefferson at 33 was to its ideas.
I disagree about Washington….he owned a uniform….big deal….what myth was this? chuq
The signers were overwhelmingly from Christian backgrounds:
Affiliation Approximate Number
Anglican / Church of England (later Episcopal) ~32
Presbyterian ~13
Congregationalist (Puritan/New England) ~8
Quaker ~2
Catholic 1
So if you asked, “Were the signers Christians?” the answer is that virtually all identified with a Christian tradition culturally and publicly. If you asked, “Did all 56 share the same theology?” the answer is definitely no.
One thing that often surprises people is that the signers were not predominantly clergy or theologians. They were mostly lawyers, merchants, planters, physicians, and politicians who happened to live in a society where church membership and religious identity were normal parts of public life.
Who is ‘Someone’? I believe a good percentage were Deists….why does it matter what their religious leanings were? chuq
Yeah, a lot of them were deists. Jefferson wasn’t even what would be considered remotely “Christian”. He thought the Holy Trinity was bunk, rejected the idea of miracles and even the divinity of Jesus.
Trying to universally claim that the founders were Christian is entirely ignoring what they actually said and did during their lives, especially what they wrote outside of public life. Most of them belonged to orthodox Christian churches not because they wanted to belong, but because they had to in order to function in society at that time. Just like today I know a lot of agnostics and even atheists who still belong to a church because if their true beliefs were known it would cause family and/or issues with the public.
Thomas Paine denied that God ever communicated with human beings “by speech, language or vision”. He believed in a God, but not one that was remotely like anything envisioned by orthodox Christians. Ethan Allen was a non-christian deist. Monroe was officially Episcopalian but if you look at his private writings and private comments about him from his more intimate friends, he was probably a non-Christian deist as well. Ben Franklin was raised in a Puritan home but he, like Jefferson, rejected core Christian beliefs like the divinity of Jesus, but did apparently believe in some kind of “Providence” or deity and supported religious organizations.
Some were indeed devout Christians, like Adams and Henry. But no, you simply cannot make a blanket statement they were “Christian” because a lot of them didn’t even accept that Jesus was divine in their private writings.
Exactly. That lie has been passed around for way too long. There is even a Jefferson Bible….an interesting read. chuq
I’m glad you pointed some of that out. A lot of what we believe to be the “history” of this country is, frankly, pure fiction.
Indeed it is….a lie repeated over and over becomes fat? Nope a lie is a lie no matter how many times it is repeated. chuq
If the re-districting bull crap keeps on keeping on, we are liable to see the day when democrats will only count as 3/5th of a person…for the sake of national security.
Is that a myth or do you believe that? chuq
We can always rely on you for the accurate history and not the myth. Thanks, chuq.
Best wishes, Pete.
I try to help out for there is so much BS these days. chuq