uing America’s Heroes // (Scott Johnson).
We have three episodes of Douglas Murray’s Uncancelled Histories series posted — on Thomas Jefferson with Bowdoin College’s Professor Jean Yarbrough; on Abraham Lincoln with Andrew Ferguson and about Winston Churchill with Andrew Roberts.
We have reached a point of ignorance and malice where a rescue mission is required. This was my comment on the Lincoln episode. However, it applies to all episodes of the series. The series’ premise was presented by Murray in his New York Post column “We have to rescue America’s heroes form those who tear them down.” Murray echoes my thoughts. He writes about the 1619 Project.
Worst of all, they did this to our heroes. They have done this to every single one.
So I decided to make my small effort to help others earlier in the year. I don’t have the resources of The New York Times, but I did have a team of young researchers and technicians who helped me compile a list of American figures who have been most badly criticized in recent years. Sorry to say that the initial list was quite long. It would have been much easier to compile a list of American heroes that had not been lied about over the past years.
We decided to concentrate on the most important figures at the end. The Founding Fathers of America, Christopher Columbus, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt are just a few of the many. I have been able to sit down with some of America’s (and the world’s) leading historians over the past year to fill in the gaps of ignorance that have been intentionally inserted into American society.
It was called “Uncancelled History”, and you can listen to it on all podcast stations and watch each hour-long episode free on YouTube, among other places. It will be a great learning tool. It is a proud moment for me.
Here Murray is referring to the episodes about Jefferson and Lincoln:
Jean Yarborough, a great Jefferson scholar, told me many things about Jefferson that I doubt even one million Americans know. We have known for over 30 years that Jefferson abused his inherited slave Sally Hemings. The evidence was said be conclusive.
Yarborough, who was a member of the 1990s commission that investigated DNA evidence, said that this is not the case. She showed that one of Jefferson’s most base claims would have been dismissed if it ever made it to a court. This extraordinary man’s reputation has been utterly denigrated. Even Monticello, which was meant to preserve the great man’s legacy, has accepted such vilifications.
Similar nuggets were shared by historian after historian. What struck me the most was a question I asked each historian to explain why this is happening. Why would anyone want all our heroes to be attacked? Why would they want war against these people? Andrew Fergusson, a Lincoln scholar, gave me the answer. He said that loving Lincoln is a way to love America. Hating Lincoln is a way to hate America.
I fear that George Washington will need to be uncancelled. In a moving Wall Street Journal Best column, James Freeman reminded of the anniversary of Washington’s 1783 victory from the Army. Freeman uses Thomas Fleming’s 2007 Journal column “Washington’s gift” to illustrate Washington’s address at Congress, which was held in Annapolis.
Washington pulled out a speech from his jacket pocket and unfolded the text with trembling hands. “Mr. “Mr. “The great events upon which my resignation was contingent having at long taken place. I now have the honor to offer my sincere congratulations and to present myself before Congress to surrender to them the trust that they had committed to me and to receive the indulgence of retiring.
Washington continued to express gratitude for the support of his countrymen and the “army” in general. He had to hold the speech with both his hands to keep it straight. He said, “I consider it an essential duty to close the last solemn act in my official life by commending our dearest country’s interests to the protection Almighty God and to those who have the superintendence [Congress] of them to his holy keeping.”
Washington couldn’t speak for a long time. His cheeks were swollen with tears. These words touched a vein in his soul that was rooted in battlefield experiences that had convinced his of the existence a caring God who had always protected him and his country during wartime. He might not have been able endure the anger and frustrations he experienced over the past eight months without his faith.
Freeman adds: “Next Washington presented America the great and enduring present, as Fleming noted,” before returning to Fleming’s account.
Washington pulled out from his coat a parchment document confirming his appointment as commander-in-chief. “Having completed the work assigned to me, I retire form the great theater of actions and bid farewell to the august body under which I have long acted, so I offer my commission and take off from all the employments in public life,” he said.
This was and is the most important moment American history has ever seen.
Renouncing absolute power was the only way to disperse this feckless Congress, and get for himself and his troops rewards worthy of their courage. This visible, uncontrovertible act proved Washington’s commitment to America’s government of people more than any thousand declarations made by legislatures or treatises written by philosophers.
This is Fleming’s telling of Jefferson.
Thomas Jefferson, the author of the greatest declarations, was present at this drama as a Virginia delegate. He intuitively understood its historical dimension. “The moderation. . . . He later wrote that a single character “probably prevented this revolution being closed, like most others, by a subversion to that liberty it was intended.
Murray concludes his column by saying, “I believe this country is an exceptional place.” I wouldn’t have made it this far if I didn’t (like millions of other people). America is remarkable not by chance, but by design. It is high time that we understand the importance of design and pay respect to its creators. We have so much to be grateful for.
