h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: They Founded America - A26556762
Author: Jodan - What am I myself but one of your meteors? - U201497

I sort of stole the title from Gnomon, with his excellent They Discovered America entry.

It's amazing how I've forgotten how to yo-yo, knit and purl and speak Latin, but I've remembered GuideML pretty well.

I haven't proofread this yet, because I did it in basically one sitting and so my back hurts right now, but I will... by tomorrow possibly.

Would you like to put something in about the bit in the constitution that mentions the right to arm bears? Or is it to bear arms? I never can remember which...

I think you need to mention at least once the strange lack of any Founding Mothers.


"we are such stuff as dreams are made on"
-Willliam Shakespeare

Normally misquoted as:

"we are such stuff as dreams are made of"

So I think you should alter your currency phrase to

"became such stuff as currency is made of".

Maybe referencing Shakespeare twice in an entry that has nothing to do with him is a bit much...

"I think you need to mention at least once the strange lack of any Founding Mothers."

Why is that strange? There are a few women who dance around on the periphery of the Founding, like Abigail Adams or Betsey Ross, but none did anything really important - due to chauvinistic attitudes of the time. In that time, in that place, I'd have been more surprised if there were any women who were allowed to participate.

I could put in something about the Second Amendment under the mortality section, but a lot of people don't agree with me that the Second Amendment was a mistake.

Oh, I fixed the 'dreams' thing to 'as'.

I think it is worth mentioning that there are Fathers but no Mothers.

Is the second amendement the one about guns? If so, it has no place here.

I didn't suggest you quote Shakespeare twice, just that you changed the such stuff phrase.

The Second Amendment is the right to bear arms one, yeah.

I'll look for somewhere to mention the mothers. A footnote maybe.

government in the United States may be very different today --> government in the United States might be very different today

>>In fact, in the case of several of them, the United States would have been better off to have started out founding a township or a smaller country, and then working their way up to getting America on its feet.

I think this could read better:

- In fact, in the case of several of them, the United States would have been better off if they had started out founding a township or a smaller country, and then worked their way up to getting an America going.



>>The honor and revolutionary street cred of these two so far exceeds those of anyone else that they are entitled to their own tier.

comment:

- Years later, people are still more hesitant to dish out the dirt on Washington (That whole cherry tree business was Victorian waffle, but he's still accorded as much dignity as he demanded), but Franklin didn't bother hiding any dirt about himself (raised his illegitimate son and his son's illegitimate son, didn't he?).

...actually, I've got a great Tom Paine quote on me now about Washington: "Treacherous in private friendship...and a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an imposter; whether you have abandoned good principles or whether you ever had any." That guy could write!

In history classes we get the impression of a unified front between these guys, but once you start reading the bios... modern political press hasn't got anything on the acerbicism of the founding fathers.

>>He stands head and shoulders above anyone else from that era in historical importance.

- Height too, I believe.


>>Benjamin Franklin is, in many ways the quintessential American. He was fighting the British when some of the Constitution’s signers were still in diapers.

- I thought he was the quintessential American because of the rugged individualism bit.


>>Almost no one holds any affection for the man, though. He worked as hard as any other Founding Father, but he died with far more enemies than friends due to his brash and paranoid manner.

- "Jefferson lives." Gotta love the bloke. From a distance.


>> John Hancock was the President of the Second Continental Congress, and was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence7.

- That's not what he's famous for! It's the size of his signature everyone remembers. His touching concern for the king's eyesight. Not many founding fathers have an idiom coined after something they did, but Hancock does.


>>The large quantity, relative obscurity and the uninteresting-ness of so many American Founders makes it impossible to cover them all in this entry.

- What about Paul Revere and the working class folks who make the legends but had little to do with the government? They're not counted?


>> one can look at the major documents of early America and point out some fairly ridiculous bits to undermine the rest.

- The most obvious mistake is the Articles of Confederation, I'd think.

>>America’s Founding Fathers were not men with stupendously great foresight. In fact, this misconception is responsible for many faulty arguments against reform in the United States. History should always remember that those who founded America did not intend to have the last word on it.

- Have you been reading that book, "What Would the Founders Do?" I skimmed it and it left me very .

"In fact, in the case of several of them, the United States would have been better off if they had started out founding a township or a smaller country, and then worked their way up to getting an America going."

An America?

"Treacherous in private friendship...and a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an imposter; whether you have abandoned good principles or whether you ever had any."

And Tom Paine was shunned from American society after he attacked Washington. There was some press that did attack Washington and got away with it, but that sort of press was heavily subsidized by Jefferson and his friends. The people who criticized Washington were the exception, rather than the rule. Washington really doesn't have that much dirt to dish, as far as I'm aware. Franklin was so open that no one felt the need to attack him, because his personal life was well known.

"In history classes we get the impression of a unified front between these guys, but once you start reading the bios... modern political press hasn't got anything on the acerbicism of the founding fathers. "

Indeed. I especially liked it when the High Federalists accused Jefferson of having improper relations with a goat.

"I thought he was the quintessential American because of the rugged individualism bit."

Good point, I'll add that in.

"That's not what he's famous for! It's the size of his signature everyone remembers. His touching concern for the king's eyesight. Not many founding fathers have an idiom coined after something they did, but Hancock does."

He's famous for that, but that doesn't make him any great Patriot or Founder as far as I'm concerned. If we're talking in terms of legends and stories of the Revolution, that would be important to the entry, but if we're talking about the formation of a government, that's not important at all.

"What about Paul Revere and the working class folks who make the legends but had little to do with the government? They're not counted?"

Not in this entry, nope This entry isn't about the Revolution so much. It's about the founding of the US Government, and more specifically, the people who made it happen.
Paul Revere was a Revolutionary figure, but his role in the actual revolution is peripheral at best. He was one of two or three riders who went throughout Boston alerting the colonists of the advance of the British. I've never quite figured out why he's given such a prominent place in the retelling of the Revolution.

"Have you been reading that book, "What Would the Founders Do?" I skimmed it and it left me very"

Nope, never read it.

Just for fun, I added a section about how indecent the Founders could be, along with a couple of visualizations of how political advertisements from the 1700s would look today.

Typos:

18 th century >> 18th Century (and again in footnote 2)
descendents >> descendants
These included- >> These included:
honor >> honour
preeminent >> pre-eminent
resume >> resumé
favor >> favour
19 th century >> 19th Century
principle >> principal
Gods >> gods

Stayed loyal to America, if not to its governments throughout his life >> Staying loyal to America, if not to its governments, throughout his life

<>
suggest instead something like <>

<> Something missing at the end of this sentence

Thanks, all done. Sorry about the last one, that was just stupid, but I had just written that section about 45 minutes before you read it, I'd say.

<> needs a comma after governments

A good read

Done

"an America" - OK, not 'an America'. Though it is (and was, since it began) a sort of institution.

re: Paine - that's why I despise writing. It's so easy to leave out key information and leave someone misinformed. Of course there's no dirt on Washington. The man was a total bore. Which is why it's so easy to believe he fessed up to chopping down a cherry tree.

Argument: was Hancock's being the first to sign that important? Or was it the brashness and bravery with which he signed? After all, these guys were about to do something incredibly brazen. You can just imagine them all standing there thinking, "Do I really want to do this?" And then Hancock goes and puts his John Hancock on the bottom, fully declaring his willingness to be hung for the cause.

Otherwise, nice entry.

I've really missed reading your work, Jodan, I wish you'd drop by more often

Another fine piece, much more exciting than the textbook version .

Sorry I ignored your comment, Leo. I was meaning to get back to it, but forgot.

I think Hancock's signature was something that wasn't a big deal at the time which was elevated to the legendary level it is at today. There are a lot of things like that which don't really merit inclusion. That's my logic.

Thanks Milos I dunno about exciting, but it does have the benefit of being quite a bit shorter than the textbook version.

If you would, I think a footnote explaining what diapers are would be helpful. We call them nappies, by the way.

Should "The" in "The Bible" be capitalised?


Since not all readers will be American:

"America's founding citizens are not only held us" -> "held by modern-day Americans"

"The Founders, the Framers of the Constitution, the veterans of the Revolution, would roll over in their graves if they saw the way our modern political system operates, some say." -> "...America's modern political system..."

Very nice entry, always good to see you in PR!

"If you would, I think a footnote explaining what diapers are would be helpful. We call them nappies, by the way."

Is that right? I provided a link to an h2g2 entry called "Diapers", which says they're also known as nappies. A link is about as good as a footnote, maybe better, because it's not a distraction.

"Should "The" in "The Bible" be capitalised?"

I would have thought so, but maybe someone knows for sure?

The other two are fixed. It seems that though my abilities of GuideML have not left me, I've forgotten how to write from a non-American perspective. So thanks for keeping me honest.