Myth: The Pilgrims Landed on Plymouth Rock
Myth: Pilgrims Dressed in Black
Not only did they not dress in black, they did not wear those funny buckles, weird shoes, or black steeple hats. So how did we get the idea of the buckles? Plymouth Plantation historian James W. Baker explains that in the nineteenth
century, when the popular image of the Pilgrims was formed, buckles served as a kind of emblem of quaintness. That's the reason illustrators gave Santa buckles. Even the blunderbuss, with which Pilgrims are identified, was a symbol of quaintness. The blunderbuss was mainly used to control crowds. It wasn't a hunting rifle. But it looks out of date and fits the Pilgrim stereotype.
Myth: Pilgrims and Puritans are the same.
Though even presidents get this wrong -- Ronald Reagan once referred to Puritan John Winthrop as a Pilgrim -- Pilgrims and Puritans were two different groups. The Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower and lived in Plymouth. The Puritans, arriving a decade later, settled in Boston. The Pilgrims welcomed heterogeneousness. Some (so-called "strangers") came to America in search of riches, others (so-called "saints") came for religious reasons. The Puritans, in contrast, came over to America strictly in search of religious freedom. Or, to be technically correct, they came over in order to be able to practice their religion freely. They did not welcome dissent. That we confuse Pilgrims and Puritans would have horrified both. Puritans considered the Pilgrims incurable utopians. While both shared the belief that the Church of England had become corrupt, only the Pilgrims believed it was beyond redemption. They therefore chose the path of Separatism. Puritans held out the hope the church would reform.
Myth: Puritans Hated Sex
Actually, they welcomed sex as a God-given responsibility. When one member of the First Church of Boston refused to have conjugal relations with his wife two years running, he was expelled. Cotton Mather, the celebrated Puritan minister, condemned a married couple who had abstained from sex in order to achieve a higher spirituality. They were the victims, he wrote, of a "blind zeal."
Myth: Puritans Hated Fun
H.L. Mencken defined Puritanism as "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy!" Actually, the Puritans welcomed laughter and dressed in bright colors (or, to be precise, the middle and upper classes dressed in bright colors; members of the lower classes were not permitted to indulge themselves -- they dressed in dark clothes). As Carl Degler long ago observed, "The Sabbatarian, antiliquor, and antisex attitudes usually attributed to the Puritans are a nineteenth-century addition to the much more moderate and wholesome view of life's evils held by the early settlers of New England
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CHARLES LINDBERG IS REPUTED TO HAVE BEEN THE FIRST MAN TO FLY NON-STOP ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. LINDBERG WAS ACTUALLY THE SIXTY-SEVENTH PERSON TO MAKE THE TRIP. HIS ACCOMPLISHMENT IS THAT HE DID IT SOLO. THE FIRST NON-STOP FLIGHT WAS MADE BY TWO BRITISH PILOTS, SIR JOHN ALCOCK AND SIR A.W. BROWN IN 1919.
BY 1842 IMMIGRATION INCREASED TO OVER 100,000; BY 1854 IT HAD INCREASED TO OVER 400,000. BY 1850 POLITICAL PARTIES BEGAN TO MANIPULATE IMMIGRANTS VIA VOTE FRAUD. DEMOCRATS CONTROLLED THE NATURALIZATION BUREAUCRACY AND WITH THIS THEY WERE ABLE TO CONTROL THOUSANDS OF VOTES USING BRIBES AND PHONY NATURALIZATION FORMS. THE MONEY CAME FROM WALL STREET, FEDERAL OFFICEHOLDERS (WHO HAD TO KICK BACK 3% OF THEIR SALARIES TO THE PARTY) AND FINALLY FROM MILITARY SUPPLIERS OF THE NAVY. DURING THIS TIME JAMES BUCHANAN BECAME PRESIDENT BY NEARLY A HALF MILLION VOTES.
WHILE IT IS BELIEVED THAT AMERICA LOVES IMMIGRANTS, THE FACT IS THAT IT IS DIRECTED TO A SPECIAL CLASS: THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN HERE FIRST. WHEN IRISH CATHOLICS LATER CAME IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY PROTESTANTS RIOTED IN PROTEST BURNING OVER 30 HOMES AND KILLING SOME FOURTEENTH IRISH CATHOLICS. THE SAME RACIST ATTITUDES WERE DIRECTED TO OTHER GROUPS ARRIVING FROM EASTERN EUROPE.
LINCOLN’S EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION WAS NOT THE FIRST ISSUED. LORD DUNMORE, THE BRITISH GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA PROMISED TO FREE ALL THE SLAVES THAT WOULD TAKE ARMS FOR THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. WHILE IT DID FREE 800 SLAVES, THE MOTIVES OF LORD DUNMORE WERE NOT BASED ON COMPASSION OR ETHICS BUT RATHER WITH AGITATING THE VIRGINIA PATRIOTS WHO WERE SLAVEHOLDERS. EVEN GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS INCENSED AS HE ASSERTED THAT LORD DUNMORE WOULD “BECOME THE MOST FORMIDABLE ENEMY AMERICA HAS.” WHILE THE REBELS SAW THE PLAN AS DIABOLICAL, IRONICALLY THEY WERE TO DO THE SAME LATER WHEN IT WAS POSSIBLE. THE MYTH OF THE SLAVE’S CONTENTMENT IS THE DIRECT RESULT OF THE MASTER’S NEED TO JUSTIFY THE SYSTEM TO HIM AND OTHERS. IT WAS DESIGNED FOR NORTHERN CONSUMPTION, MOST USEFUL IN REASSURING SOUTHERNERS OF THE JUSTICE OF THEIR CAUSE.
THANKSGIVING IS GENERALLY SEEN AS A DAY OF GIVING THANKS IN THE FALL. IT IS INFERRED THAT RELIGION, COMPASSION AND FAMILY PLAY A ROLE IN THIS JOYOUS OCCASION. THE FIRST OCCURRED IN THE AUTUMN OF 1621. IN 1623 IT WAS CELEBRATED IN JULY. IT WAS NOT A FAMILY CELEBRATION NOR WAS IT CONNECTED TO RELIGION. IT WAS A COMMUNITY FESTIVITY AND RECREATION THAT LASTED FOR A WEEK. AS PROF. SHENKMAN ASSERTS, THE PILGRIMS WOULD NOT HAVE TOLERATED FESTIVITIES AT A TRULY RELIGIOUS TIME. THERE IS NO CONSENSUS ON WHETHER TURKEY WAS EATEN. THE ONLY FOOD FOR CERTAIN THAT WAS PRESENT WAS “FOWL” AND “DEER”.
THE STORIES OF THE LIBERTY BELL AND OF A “GRAY HEADED PATRIOT” RINGING THE BELL TO A CHEERING CROWD WHO “ANXIOUSLY AWAITED” THE SIGNING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IS A FRAUD INVENTED BY THE XIX CENTURY PHILADELPHIAN GEORGE LIPPARD. IF THIS WERE TO BE TRUE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN RUNG ON JULY 2 WHEN IT WAS ACTUALLY DECLARED OR JULY 8 WHEN CONGRESS CELEBRATED INDEPENDENCE FOR THE FIRST TIME. BUT THERE IS NO EVIDENCE. THE INSCRIPTION IN 1753 PROCLAIMING LIBERTY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE REVOLUTION. IT WAS NOT NAMED LIBERTY BELL UNTIL LONG AFTER THE REVOLUTION. THE LIBERTY REFERRED TO IN THE TITLE WAS INTENDED TO MEAN LIBERTY OF BLACKS AND NOT WHITES. THE NAME WAS COINED IN 1839 BY ANTISLAVERY ACTIVISTS.
ELEVEN YEARS EARLIER THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA HAD TRIED TO SELL THE BELL FOR SCRAP; THERE WERE NO TAKERS.
THE IDEA THAT PILGRIMS LANDED AT PLYMOUTH ROCK IS CREDITED TO THE DUBIOUS TESTIMONY OF A 95 YEAR OLD MAN MORE THAN A CENTURY AFTER THE MAYFLOWER ARRIVED. IN ACTUALITY, THE PILGRIMS FIRST LANDED IN PROVINCETOWN. PLYMOUTH WAS NEITHER THE FIRST EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT NOR THE FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT. THE FIRST SETTLEMENT WAS JAMESTOWN IN 1607. ACCORDING TO PROF. SHENKMAN, THE EXPLANATION FOR THE HISTORICAL MANIPULATION IS DUE TO “NEW ENGLAND HISTORIANS, WHO UNTIL THE XIX CENTURY DOMINATED IN THE WRITINGS OF, BY AND FOR NEW ENGLANDERS.”
ART HAS ALSO PLAYED A ROLE IN SUPPORTING AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY. GENERAL CUSTER IS GENERALLY SEEN CLEAN SHAVEN WITH A NEATLY TRIMMED MUSTACHE AND DECIDEDLY DEBONAIR. CUSTER SCHOLAR W. A. GRAHAM STATES THAT CUSTER “WAS A WEARY, DIRTY, UNKEMPT MAN WHO WAS FIGHTING DESPERATELY FOR HIS LIFE...WHOSE HAGGARD FEATURES MADE HIM APPEAR OLDER THAN HIS AGE BY MANY YEARS.” WASHINGTON HAS ALSO BEEN MADE TO APPEAR LIKE A GOD. AS PRESIDENT HIS HAIR WAS USUALLY POWDERED. HE DID NOT OFTEN WEAR A WIG. HIS COMPLEXION WAS SALLOW, HIS FACE POCKMARKED BY SMALLPOX SCARS, HIS SHOULDER NARROW WHILE HIS ARMS AND LEGS LOOKED LIKE THAT OF AN OLD RETIRED ATHLETE. HE WAS SIX FEET THREE, LIKE LINCOLN AND HAD ILL FITTING DENTURES. PRINTS LIKEWISE HAVE POLITICAL AGENDAS AND CONTRIBUTE TO ERRONEOUS CONTENT: A CASE IN POINT IS PAUL REVERE’S PRINT OF THE BOSTON MASSACRE, THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON, WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE. THE LATTER DESERVES COMMENT. WHILE WASHINGTON DID CROSS THE DELAWARE, HE WAS NOT STANDING, NOR WAS HE IMPASSIVE AND THERE WAS NO FLAG WAVING IN THE BOAT. THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES WAS STILL TO BE APPROVED BY CONGRESS. ACCORDING TO HISTORIAN ANN HUTTON, THE PAINTING WAS DONE IN THE 1850’S BY A GERMAN NAMED LEUTZE TO STIR UP FEELING OF REVOLUTION IN HIS COUNTRY.
AMERICANS FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT PILGRIMS LIVED IN LOG CABINS. PILGRIMS HAD NO IDEA WHAT A LOG CABIN LOOKED LIKE. THEY WERE VIRTUALLY UNKNOWN IN ENGLAND AND WERE NOT BUILT IN AMERICA UNTIL THE LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY BY THE GERMANS AND THE SWEDES. THE TERM LOG CABIN CANNOT BE FOUND IN PRINT BEFORE THE 1770’S.
THE BOSTON MASSACRE IS STEEPED IN MYTH. IT DOES NOT REPRESENT A SKIRMISH BETWEEN REDCOATS AND PATRIOTS. THIS HAD HAPPENED MANY TIMES. THE FACTS REVEAL THAT FIVE AMERICANS DIED AND SIX OTHER WERE WOUNDED. BUT THE FIGHT WAS INTENTIONALLY STARTED BY THE AMERICANS WHO ROAMED THE CITY AT NIGHT ARMED WITH CLUBS AND ROCKS LOOKING FOR A CONFRONTATION. THE MYTH OF THE BRITISH MOWING DOWN A GROUP OF PEACEFUL CIVILIANS WAS NOTHING BUT PROPAGANDA. BUT WHAT IS REMARKABLE TO PROF. SHENKMAN, IS THAT WE CELEBRATE THE EVENT WITH PRIDE.
USUALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE REVOLUTION IS THE SLOGAN “TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION IS TYRANNY”. THE FACTS REVEAL THAT AMERICANS WERE UNREPRESENTED
IN THE LEGISLATURES AT HOME AND IN PARLIAMENT. IN VIRGINIA ONLY 6 PERCENT OWNED ENOUGH LAND TO BE ENTITLED TO VOTE. IN MASSACHUSETTS IT WAS 16 PERCENT AND ONLY 4 PERCENT EXERCISED THE RIGHT. IN PHILADELPHIA ONLY 2 PERCENT COULD VOTE.
PIRATES ARE USUALLY PORTRAYED AS FIENDS OR TERRORISTS OF THE SEAS BY THE PRINT AND VISUAL MEDIA. THE TRUTH IS THAT PIRATES DID NOT TERRORIZE INNOCENTS, THEY ROBBED THEM. THEY ACTUALLY HAD A DEMOCRATIC AND REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM AMONG THEMSELVES. WHEN A SHIP WAS CAPTURED, THE CAPTAIN WAS JUDGED ACCORDING TO HOW HE TREATED HIS MEN. THEIR VICTIMS DID NOT WALK THE PLANK. THEY MERELY THREW THEM OVERBOARD. NOR WERE THEY UNCIVILIZED; THEY PROVIDED FOR THE LAME AND THE POOR; THEY COMPENSATED SAILORS WHO WERE INJURED AND LIMITED THE POWERS OF THE CAPTAIN WITH A MAJORITY ROLE ON ALL MAJOR DECISIONS. EVERYONE’S PAY WAS THE SAME AS EVERYBODY ELSE.
AMERICANS BELIEVE THAT TOKYO ROSE TO BE ONE OF THE WORST VILLAINS IF NOT CRIMINALS OF WORLD WAR II. THE U. S. TRIED AND CONVICTED HER OF TREASON IN 1949. THE FACTS REVEAL ANOTHER PICTURE. SHE WAS “A HELPLESS AND HAPLESS YOUNG JAPANESE AMERICAN GIRL, IVA TOGURI, WHO HAS BEEN STRANDED BY THE WAR IN JAPAN.” SHE DID BROADCAST ON RADIO TOKYO BUT SHE WAS MADE TO BY THE JAPANESE BECAUSE SHE SPOKE GOOD ENGLISH. SHE NEVER DENOUNCED HER U. S. CITIZENSHIP. SHE DID NOT HAVE A SWEET, SEDUCTIVE VOICE BUT RATHER SOUNDED MORE LIKE GRACIE ALLEN OF OLD. THE CONTENT OF HER BROADCASTS DID NOT DEMORALIZE THE TROOPS. IN FACT THEY WERE SLYLY ORCHESTRATED BY AN AUSTRALIAN POW TO COMFORT THE TROOPS. THE JAPANESE NEVER CAUGHT ON ACCORDING TO PROF. SHENKMAN. IT WAS DISCOVERED MUCH LATER THAT WITNESSES AGAINST HER WERE TOLD TO LIE BY THE U. S. OCCUPATION POLICE. WHEN FLOWN TO SAN FRANCISCO FOR TRIAL, “THEY WERE TOLD WHAT TO SAY AND WHAT NOT TO SAY FOR TWO HOURS EVERY MORNING FOR A MONTH BEFORE THE TRIAL STARTED.” EVEN THE JUDGE ORDERED THE JURY TO LEAVE OUT VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE ARGUMENTS OF TOGURI’S LAWYER. THE JURY FOREMAN LATER ADMITTED THAT THEY WOULD HAVE ACQUITTED HER HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR JUDGE’S INSTRUCTIONS. THE SAME OCCURS FOR THE GERMANS WITH AXIS SALLY OR MILDRED GILLARS OF MAINE WHO CLEARLY DID COMMIT TREASON. . IN ONE OF HER BROADCASTS SHE BLURTS: “DAMN ROOSEVELT! DAMN CHURCHILL! DAMN ALL THE JEWS WHO HAVE MADE THIS WAR POSSIBLE.” ALTHOUGH SHE WAS CONVICTED AFTER THE WAR, NO ONE WANTS TO REMEMBER HER. AS ONE HISTORIAN STATED: “AXIS SALLY WAS WHITE AND TOKYO ROSE WAS ASIAN. THAT SURELY HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT.” ANOTHER MANIPULATION BASED ON NATIONALISM AND POLITICS, THE TWO GREATEST BARRIERS OF A PLURALISTIC DEMOCRACY.
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS DID NOT EXIST IN COLONIAL AMERICA. UNDER JOHN ADAMS THE SEDITION ACT WAS PASSED AND AMERICANS WERE THROWN IN JAIL JUST FOR INSULTING THE PRESIDENT. THE NEW YORK PRESS WAS NOT EVEN PERMITTED TO REPORT THE VOTES OF LEGISLATORS WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE.
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON/VALLEY FORGE STORY IS RIDDLED WITH MYTH. THE STORY REPEATED IS THAT THE SOLDIERS THERE NEARLY FROZE AND STARVED TO DEATH AND THE MEN WERE SO NAKED THEY LEFT THEIR BLOODY FOOTPRINTS IN THE WHITE SNOW. WASHINGTON WARNS CONGRESS OF THIS AWFUL DEPRIVATION AND THE DANGERS OF THE ARMY “DISSOLVING” OR “DISPERSING”. THIS IS A MYTH BECAUSE THE WINTER WAS LESS SEVERE THAN OTHER WINTERS AND THAT THERE WAS CONSIDERABLE FOOD IN DECEMBER, JANUARY AND FEBRUARY. THE ARMY WAS SUPPLIED EACH MONTH WITH A MILLION POUNDS OF FLOUR AND A MILLION POUNDS OF MEAT AND FISH; THUS, EACH SOLDIER WAS ALLOTTED 3 POUNDS OF FLOUR AND 3 POUNDS OF MEAT OR FISH PER DAY. THE IDEA THAT THEY WENT “NAKED” STEMS FROM A MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY USE OF THE TERM. THEN IT MEANT NOT GOING WITHOUT PROPER CLOTHING. WASHINGTON CLEARLY ORCHESTRATED THIS FABRICATED PROPAGANDA TO GET MORE MONEY FOR CONGRESS.
WHILE AMERICANS BELIEVE THAT ELECTIONS IN THE PAST HAVE ALWAYS BEEN CONDUCTED FAIRLY AND HONESTLY WITH LITTLE MANIPULATION, MANY HAVE BEEN WON BY CUNNING AND FRAUDULENT MEANS. SUCH ARE THE CASES OF WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON IN 1840 AND JOHN KENNEDY IN 1960. MORE INTERESTING ARE ELECTIONS INVOLVING LESSER OFFICES; THESE WERE WON BY CANDIDATES WHO DISPENSED THE MOST ALCOHOL INCLUDING GEORGE WASHINGTON’S RUN FOR A SEAT IN THE VIRGINIA HOUSE OF BURGESSES IN 1778. HISTORIANS NOTE THAT THE SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME WAS DETERMINED BY 144 GALLONS OF RUM, BEER, WINE AND PUNCH. HE OBTAINED 307 VOTES OR 2 GALLONS OF ALCOHOL FOR EVERY VOTE GOTTEN.
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