Author: Ray Raphael

Ray Raphael’s latest book, coauthored with Marie Raphael and published by New Press, is The Spirit of ’74: How the American Revolution Began. His eighteen previous books include Founding Myths: Stories that Hide Our Patriotic Past (New Press, 2004 and 2014), Constitutional Myths: What We Get Wrong and What We Get Right (New Press, 2013), Mr. President: How and Why the Founders Created a Chief Executive (Knopf, 2012), Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation (New Press, 2009), and A People’s History of the American Revolution (New Press, 2001, and Harper Perennial, 2002). A complete list of his books and articles, as well as some key historical documents not published elsewhere, can be found at rayraphael.com.

 Critical Thinking Posted on

Declarations Before THE Declaration of Independence

When the Continental Congress approved its Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, at least ninety public bodies had already declared in favor of independence. In those times, local jurisdictions often gave specific instructions to their representatives in higher bodies. (In Britain, by contrast, lower bodies “delegated” authority to elected officials, who could then act […]

by Ray Raphael
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Was the Declaration of Independence Signed on July 4? How Memory Plays Tricks with History

Early in 1814, thirteen years into his retirement, John Adams received a bizarre letter from Thomas McKean, a former colleague in the First and Second Continental Congresses. “I will give you an historical fact respecting the declaration of Independence, which may amuse, if not surprize,” McKean wrote. “In the printed public journal of Congress for […]

by Ray Raphael
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Prewar Conflict (<1775) Posted on

Country Crowds in Revolutionary Massachusetts: Mobs and Militia

Peter Oliver, the Crown-appointed Chief Justice of provincial Massachusetts, knew how to discredit popular protest. Mindless and incapable of acting on their own, crowds that opposed British imperial policies “were like the Mobility of all Countries, perfect Machines, wound up by any Hand who might first take the Winch.” They needed a director who could […]

by Ray Raphael
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Postwar Politics (>1783) Posted on

10 Things Pauline Maier Taught Us About Ratification and the Bill of Rights

In writing Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788, Pauline Maier hoped to create, in her words, a “Constitutional thriller.” She invited readers to “forget for the moment much of what they know … and return to another time when there was no Constitution … and watch events occur, step by step, unaware of how […]

by Ray Raphael
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Marblehead Woman

In education circles, document-based learning is all the rage. The idea is to present a historical document, ask students to examine it closely, then pose some questions. These DBQs, as they are affectionately called, are expected to introduce young people to the process of historical inquiry. How sweet it would be, but it’s not that […]

by Ray Raphael
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Samuel Chase’s Wild Ride

Myth: “In 1776, when Maryland instructed its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote against independence, Chase launched a successful campaign to persuade the Maryland assembly to reverse its position. In the next two days he rode one hundred miles and arrived in Philadelphia just in time to sign the Declaration of Independence.” –American National […]

by Ray Raphael
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The Whites of their Eyes

Myth: During the so-called Battle of Bunker Hill, Israel Putnam (some say William Prescott) issued a command: “Do not fire till you see the whites of their eyes!” Displaying great courage and discipline in the face of advancing Redcoats, the untested patriots stood their ground and withheld their fire until they could gaze into the […]

by Ray Raphael
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The Federalist #10 and #51

Myth: The Federalist Nos. 10 and 51, written by James Madison, provided the closing case in the ratification debates. Opponents of the proposed federal Constitution argued that republican governments invariably failed if attempted over too large an area, but Madison contended a republic would work better in a large country than in a small one […]

by Ray Raphael
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The Federalist (Papers): Then and Now

Myth: During the ratification debates The Federalist Papers, with their reasoned arguments, convinced people to vote in favor of the Constitution. Busted: Numbers suggest a different story. The newspaper essays we now celebrate were less widely circulated than many other Federalist and Anti-Federalist tracts, book sales were miniscule, and references to them during the extensive […]

by Ray Raphael
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Tax Day and the Founders

Myth: The framers were anti-tax, and it is no accident they failed to provide for income taxes in the Constitution. Busted: “No taxation without representation” was the rallying cry of the Revolution, but the purpose of the Constitution was to create an effective government, and for that to happen, the framers granted Congress broad powers […]

by Ray Raphael
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Jefferson and the Declaration

Myth: Thomas Jefferson found the ideas for the Declaration of Independence “from deep within himself.” (Joseph Ellis, American Sphinx.) Busted: Not according to Jefferson. The “the object of the Declaration of Independence,” he wrote, was “not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had […]

by Ray Raphael