Founding+Myths+Introductory+Notes

Introduction: Inventing a Past
The "invented" past has served as a nation-building exercise.

Simple Story Really:
 * Americans resist oppression --> Fought war --> Achieved independence --> Established own govt.**

Politicians use the founding to sell causes today that don't relate at all.

How did this happen?
 * 1) Oral tradition
 * 2) Visual Tradition





Skewed history = "We have fashioned a past we would like to have had."

Most of the famous stories of the American Revolution = created 100 years or more after the fact

Textbooks and popular history books propagate the myths.


 * Why do Americans cling to these stories?**
 * 1) Collective identity = WE the people --> WE become the heroes
 * 2) Good stories = Bad history, but they make great narrative tales.
 * 3) Patriotism = NO! Anti-patriotism --> Goes against the Revolutionary era: "Founders" vs. Ordinary men and women; Leaders vs. Followers; Action vs. Passivity; Militarism and war glorification

The PEOPLE's history of the Revolution needs to be told. Myths hide this extraordinary past--one that transcends the myths themselves.