Hats off to documentary makers Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, & David Schmidt. Their work The American Revolution just aired on PBS last week.
This documentary just might advance the American political psyche. This my review.
Two Versions of American History
The popular story of the revolution is that the British were oppressors of the colonies, extracting American resources for profit. This kept the Americans poor. People in Britain were using American wealth to live much better lives than the American colonists.
But Americans united and rebelled. Their political leaders had great orations that motivated the colonists to make the rightful choice. American soldiers faced extreme hardship. They, after eight years of war, defeated the British — just so their descendants could live in a free country.
Another story of a righteous David beating an evil Goliath.
As a Canadian, I did not study American history in high school. But somehow this myth crept into me via culture. I envied the USA for its superior system that made it into a powerful country. So I held onto the sanitized version of the Revolutionary War being an important reason for the American success story.
That is until I was about 30 years old. Because I was an avid reader, I eventually encountered different bits of American history to see the popular version was not exactly true. Perhaps the 1995 book called Lies My Teacher Told Me completely dispelled the myth in my mind. The author of this book, James Lowean, believes that the American psyche has been warped by the myth — and the truth needs to be told.
Having viewed a few Ken Burns documentaries in the past, I had no doubt the Ken Burns would stay away from the David-and-Goliath version.
I was able to watch most of this 12-hour series last week. I did not find any incongruities with my current understanding. And there were more interesting new facts and angles that I picked up on.
I’ll just list a few arcs that spoke to me
The historians in the documentary spent some time with “all men are created equal” clause in the Declaration of Independence. It seems the founding fathers had meant this clause only for their socioeconomic class of the rich, white men. But this clause became an inspiration to include people outside that class, even during the Revolution. Then political movements in other countries also used it, including the French to cast aside the monarchy. The historians were debating whether the actual writers of this clause deliberately snuck these inclusive words past their more exclusive co-writers and into the Declaration, knowing it would be literally applied later.
Life as a Continental soldier was harder than I had realized. Cold winters, hot summers, long marches, dead bodies, disease and illness were normal for American soldiers. I still have trouble envisioning soldiers, mostly common people, joining and staying in the army just because they wanted a new country. In my opinion, the 1770s British were not that bad of rulers, even by the standards of the 21st century. Especially of this last decade.
The historians agreed that George Washington was a great leader. The documentary shows the many challenges he had to face, like keeping a poorly equipped army motivated and somewhat effective. He made wrong decisions, and there was talk of replacing him. But he certainly made more right decisions. The revolution was never so righteous to be a fait-a-accompli that could have been successful with a mediocre leader.
I knew about the French financing the Revolution and the French naval presence in the war. The documentary told me that the French army also had many French boots on the ground. Without the large French support, the British would have easily defeated the “rebels.” The myth does not like to admit that its David had a lot of outside help.
I knew the Americans were not united in this revolution. But the documentary suggested that they were more contentious than I had thought. As cities and towns changed hands, the residents who supported the wrong side were chased out. No inalienable rights for the losers. One battle actually had only one British man on the battlefield. That battle was between American Patriots and American Loyalists.
African-Americans and Native Americans fought for both sides. And both sides betrayed these soldiers. The documentary was not shy in mentioning the American betrayals.
Where were all these facts?
I believe all these facts have been around for a long time. Probably since 1850. Yet they have been ignored or downplayed by the popular American myth, sometimes called “Manifest Destiny,” which is still part of the American mindset today.
Lies my Teacher Told Me is now 30 years old. It was very popular. Its main premise was to teach a more honest version of American history in American high schools. With this history, Americans will have a more truthful understanding of the USA , which will then lead to a better nation. Has this high school premise been fulfilled in a meaningful way? I suspect not.
I also posit that because this book has not been tangibly influential, this is another sign of a broken democracy that cannot change things that should be changed. My lukewarm Medium fans know I have a new democracy — Tiered Democratic Governance (TDG) — that should be worthy of a serious inspection — especially in the last decade of excessive political turbulence. A mature TDG will be more able to put the more correct version of American history into high school classrooms.
I see similarities between Americans not willing to investigate their own history and Americans not willing to investigate a new democracy. The former are doubling down on the David-and-Goliath story — and seem willing to fight for their country again. The latter are doubling down on the Democratic Party saving the USA — I’m not sure what they will do if they don’t get their way.
Had the Continental soldiers decided the war was too hard, the USA would not have taught the world important lessons about living in a democracy.
Yet my TDG does not ask for soldiers to fight a war. Instead, it asks TDG builders for 10 volunteer hours a month, mostly from the comfort of their living room. Think about that!
The American Constitution
The end of the documentary gets a bit into the writing of the American Constitution. But it is fitting that the documentary ended where it ended. The Constitution is another big topic, fitting for another Ken Burns documentary. For sure, there are myths about that part of American history as well.
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
We should thank PBS for funding and airing this documentary.
The documentary’s magic is how quickly it moves from arc-to-arc. Each arc is a tidbit of history. Each arc supports the other arcs, giving a compelling, logical history. My attention was retained.
In my opinion, this documentary has the potential to move many Americans forward with their history than the history books. Maybe in 30 years, we will see the David-and-Goliath version of American Revolution finally being a historical footnote.
https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-american-revolution
Since I have mentioned the PBS, I will introduce a few more points about the PBS that I will add to this article.
I believe PBS Newshour is the glue holding the USA together right now. While this news show is far from the most watched news shown in the USA, it is setting the standard for good journalism. The other somewhat responsible media outlets, who need sensationalism to earn ratings and attract advertising revenue, know they should not depart too far from the PBS model.
This Canadian has been donating to KSPS (the Spokane affiliate of PBS) for several years. Please support PBS.
BTW, I have recently written an article about how a future media can fund itself. You might like this solution.
The PBS documentaries on American history are another layer of glue. Great kudos to all the historians, writers, editors, producers, researchers, voice-over actors, camera operators, funders, and other contributors behind The American Revolution.
I have approached KSPS several times to send a journalist to Calgary and interview me about the TDG. Such an interview would not be that expensive to produce. KSPS has ignored my request. I can’t say I blame them: until I have a following that is actually working on the TDG, the media do not have a responsibility to report on a one-man show, even if the TDG might solve the current political mess the USA is in these days.
Unfortunately, I am getting older — and my mind is not as sharp as it was five years ago. Hopefully these interviews will happen sooner than later.
Where the TDG goes next depends more on other people than on me.
The USA needs a new revolution, hopefully a peaceful one. A violent revolution is not likely to produce anything like the TDG.
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