Stephen,

You may be right, but I wonder about the designation "Founding Fathers" and 
whether it is as inclusive in your mind as it is in people who were educated 
in other states. What about Governor Clinton in New York who battle the 
tories in his state hot and heavy to keep the new nation from becoming an 
aristocracy instead of a true democracy? What about the brave men from New 
England who did the actual fighting in the Revolutionary War. I've read some 
reports that do not credit Washington with great military gifts - I once 
told a class of first graders about a little story that Washington had a 
special uniform made to attend the Continental Congress to improve his 
chancs of being named Commander of the forces, along with the other more 
usual details. The next week when the class was to put into a powerpoint 
what they knew of each of the Famous Americans we'd discussed, one boy, who 
was asked to provide the text for Washington, said with the clear surety of 
a little one, that Washington became General because he had the best looking 
uniform. Sometimes the real gems of history spill forth from the rosy, 
innocent lips of our children!

BTW, in some parts of the country, the identity of the woman who made the 
first American flag is controversial. Again, the evidence that it was Betsy 
Ross was handed down in oral history which does not suit all historians. I 
don't know that they have proposed any other instead of Ms Ross, but I've 
seen some ugly comments about historial "proofs" in that controversy as well 
as this one.

Anne

Anne Pemberton
[log in to unmask]
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org 

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