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During the hot, humid Philadelphia summer of 1776, the writing of the Declaration of Independence was just another Congressional housekeeping chore which the delegates…
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No country venerates its “Founding Fathers” like the United States. Academics, legislators, judges, and ordinary citizens all frequently seek to validate their opinions and…
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There is a tendency today to lump the Founding Fathers together as though somehow they thought alike, acted in unison and actually got along…
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“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment…
2
THE TRIAL THAT GRIPPED THE NEW NATION The Grand Jury in Richmond determined that there was ample evidence of George Wythe Sweeney’s guilt. Virginia…
1
George Wythe was about the last person anybody would ever want to murder. At age 80, Wythe was an exceedingly kind and generous man…
2
Signers of the Declaration of Independence are treated with particular reverence in American historical memory. Caesar Rodney, Delaware’s delegate to the Second Continental Congress,…
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Each year, more than a million people walk through the cold, dark Rotunda of the National Archives in Washington DC to glimpse the U.S….
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“The day will be most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations…
3
Myth: “In 1776, when Maryland instructed its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote against independence, Chase launched a successful campaign to persuade the…
3
Myth: Within months of its publication, 120,000 copies (or 100,000 or 150,000 or 500,000) of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense were sold in the rebellious…
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Myth: Thomas Jefferson found the ideas for the Declaration of Independence “from deep within himself.” (Joseph Ellis, American Sphinx.) Busted: Not according to Jefferson….
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Myth: Americans did not formally resolve for independence until 1776. Busted: On October 4, 1774, the town meeting of Worcester, Massachusetts, declared that British…
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History is one giant game of telephone with information passed, often through multiple sources, to the present day. As such, it is full of…