Blog #4 - Revolution Article

Five Things I learned:

1. The Founding Fathers edited how they would be remembered in history. Both Adams and Franklin created memoirs, and Washington allowed the creation of a biography.

2. The forth of July has lost its original significance. Initially, it was a memorial day, focusing on the American men who fell in battle,  and the suffering of the war years. Now we just blow stuff up...

3. Paintings of the Revolutionary war fall short of proving accurate to actual events. A good example of this, mentioned both by the article and The American Pageant was Emanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware. Shortcomings in historical accuracy in this piece include the featuring of a black soldier, when blacks were not allowed in the continental army, as well as being set in the day, when the actual event happened at night.

4. The horrifying details of the actual fighting are downplayed. History focuses primarily on the revolution and events leading up to it. Gruesome realities of the fighting, including a near fifty percent death rate among POW's, and pummeling conditions like cold and hunger are often left out.

5. American civilians suffered a great deal. They faced disease spread by both armies, as well as murder by British soldiers in several instances.