Tea at Trianon: Vilifying The Founders

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Vilifying The Founders

From The Federalist:

A recent documentary asked college students: “What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say ‘George Washington’?” One student’s response: “him owning slaves.” Another believed that Washington was just “not as important” today. If this is what students think, maybe we need to study the Founders and the American Revolution more.

[...]

The creation story of the nation has diversified tremendously in recent decades. Still, at a June meeting of early American historians, the Founders’ writings were mocked as “ego documents” filled with lies, and the unity of Revolutionary ideology was ridiculed as “bullsh-t.”

The public cares about the Founders, and their ideals are accessible to all, as the success of “Hamilton” has proven. American liberty, freedom, and equality should transcend their creators’ flaws. Let’s use the term “Founders” rather than “Founding Fathers” to symbolize that people of different races and sexes helped to found the nation. But including other figures shouldn’t be at the expense of Washington, Jefferson, or Franklin. (Read more.)