Sanitize Hands, Not History

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not."  So said John Adams.  He was wrong.  Although the vote for independence was taken on the 2nd, the 4th is when congress formally adopted the declaration and has become the day we celebrate the birth of our country.  However, shouldn't the 2nd be just as important as the 4th?  Do we teach the importance of both dates, or do we just gloss over the whole thing and focus on the history and mythology of the 4th?

Another one of my favorite quotes from Adams (although I'll admit I like its paraphrased version in the musical 1776 better) is:  "The History of our Revolution will be one continued Lye from one End to the other. The Essence of the whole will be that Dr Franklins electrical Rod, Smote the Earth and out Spring General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his Rod—and thence forward these two conducted all the Policy Negotiations Legislation and War. These underscored Lines contain the whole Fable Plot and Catastrophy. if this Letter should be preserved, and read an hundred Years hence the Reader will say “the Envy of this J.A. could not bear to think of the Truth”!"  (In the musical the words convey the same feeling, but with a more modern understanding:  "Well, I'll never appear in the history books anyway. Only you. Franklin did this, and Franklin did that, and Franklin did some other damn thing. Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George Washington - fully grown and on his horse. Franklin then electrified him with his miraculous lightning rod and the three of them, Franklin, Washington and the horse, conducted the entire revolution all by themselves.")  

Here's the thing; our forefathers were NOT Gods.  (Not even Demi-Gods).  While we need to appreciate their work, for after all without them there would be no celebration of the 2nd or 4th of July; we should not sanitize history.  We need less mythology (chopping down of cherry trees or having wooden teeth when it comes to George Washington) and more fully executed fact (George Washington, who set precedent as our first President was also a slave owner and while it is true that he freed his slaves upon his death; the majority of the slaves that the Washington family owned were considered to be his wife's property and hence continued to live in slavery after his death.)

When we present "history" it needs to tell the whole story.  Thomas Jefferson was a great man.  He wrote the Declaration of Independence and without that we would not be where we are now.  He was the third president of our country.  However he was also a slave holder and had six children with his slave, Sally Hemings.  You could argue that it was a consensual relationship or forbidden love (she was in her teens and he was in his forties), but the odds of that being factual are about as good as my odds of winning the MegaMillions jackpot.  She was his property and as such he could do what he pleased.  That might be hard to hear or hard to accept, but it IS part of the life and history of Jefferson.  We should not just be setting him on a pedestal as the author of the Declaration of Independence and ignore all of the other parts of his life  (both good and bad).

It's not just about our forefathers either.  In more recent history, FDR may have lead us through one of the darkest times.  His leadership during the Depression and WWII is certainly well known, but lesser known was his decision to "inter" over 100,000 people of Japanese descent (the majority of who were American citizens) in "camps" from 1942-1945.   

Every facet of history has its proud moments and it's moments of atrocities.  We need to learn; we need to KNOW about both.  This is NOT re-writing history; this is revitalizing it.  It's time we showed ourselves the full picture and taught the same. Seeing all the facets of our leaders and our world only enhances our understanding of the world as it was and as it is.