Common historical fallacies: Difference between revisions - A+ Club Lesson Planner & Study Guide

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** but even the most objectively-minded teacher has as a point of view, an underlying outlook

== US History fallacies ==

== US History fallacies: general ==

~~=== George Washington didn't cut down a cherry tree =~~==

=== George Washington did not cut down a cherry tree ===

* that Washington cut down a cherry tree and, when confronted about it by his father, replied, "I cannot tell a lie" has been considered a fabrication

* Parson Weems told the story in the 5th edition of his "The Life of Washington" (1806)

** long considered apocryphal (a made up story to make a valid point), there is no evidence that Washington <nowiki>''did not''</nowiki> cut down the cherry tree

=== contrary evidence 1: the story is plausible ===

** whether or not apocryphal, Weems related the story to illustrate Washington's high character

** but the story is not implausible (unlikely):

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*** a hatchet would be a very valuable gift for a young boy and one that would certainly not go unused

*** a six-year old could plausibly chop down a small Cherry tree

* evidence of the ~~story:~~

=== contrary evidence 2: primary source witness to the event ===

** Weems was told the story by an elderly woman who had been friends with the family

* Weems was told the story by an elderly woman who had been friends with the family

** it is, therefore, from a primary source (a witness)

** Weems did not give her name, so she remains an anonymous primary source

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** https://www.nps.gov/articles/george-washington-and-the-cherry-tree.htm

=== The Declaration's "All men are created equal" only applied to white males ===

== The Declaration's "All men are created equal" only applied to white males ==

* the phrase "all men" logically refers to "all people" because:

** as included in the Declaration of Independence, the clause "that all men are created equal",

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== US History fallacies: slavery ==

=== Slavery was the basis of the colonial and antebellum American economy ===

* here we must distinguish between slave and free economies, generally North and South

* modern historians have argued that slavery was the basis for the entire US economy

* this entry will look into evidence for and against that claim

==== background notes on colonial slavery ====

* by 1790, Virginia and Maryland had by far the highest slave populations (w/ North Carolina following)

** slavery in the Upper South was focused on tobacco planting and processing

** however, with the advent of mass cotton production, demand for slaves grew in the deep South

*** 500,000-800,000 slaves were sold from the Upper to the Lower southern states

**** note that this movement of people constituted one of the largest forced migrations in history

**** In the book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Harriett Beecher Stowe called it "to be sold down the river"

** this expansion was significant in western portions of the South, principally in the Mississippi River valley that was part of the Louisiana Purchase

*** where lands were fertile, available and inexpensive

** as cotton production grew, the southern economy became focused on the slave system that sustained it

*** not all slaves produced cotton (about 56% of slaves worked on cotton plantations by 1860)

**** but most of those who did not produce cotton worked to support the cotton economy

**** as did poor whites

* sources:

** http://pressbooks-dev.oer.hawaii.edu/ushistory/chapter/the-economics-of-cotton/

** https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/167224

** https://reason.com/2018/07/19/slavery-did-not-make-america-r/

** https://networks.h-net.org/node/11465/discussions/4297558/poor-whites-antebellum-us-south-topical-guide

==== logical fallacy 1: slave-produced exports were the driving force of the antebellum U.S. economy ====

* while cotton represented a significant portion of antebellum exports,

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* Note that about75% of total cotton production was exported

~~Year Exports GDP Exports as~~ % of ~~GDP~~

~~1820 0.07 0.07 10%~~

~~1830 0.07 1.01 6.90%~~

~~1840 0.12 1.55 7.70%~~

~~1850 0.14 2.56 5.40%~~

~~1860 0.33 4.32 7.60%~~

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[[File:Slavery in the 13 colonies.jpg|thumb|Enslaved populations in the Thirteen Colonies in 1770.[1]]]

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**** just as an office building has a value but its economic output is measured not by its value but by the sum of its rents

==== logical fallacy 4: black population growth ~~for about~~ slavery ====

==== logical fallacy 4: black population growth higher without slavery ====

* according to the decennial Census count:

** only in the 1810 Census count did black population growth ''under slavery'' exceed that of non-black population growth

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=== Slavery was not profitable ===

* in the early to mid 20th century, Confederacy apologists and "Lost Cause" historians argued that slavery was not profitable and had stagnated by the time of the Civil War

** these historians argued that, as a result its unprofitability and inefficiency, slavery as an institution would have died off on its own in the American South

** and that more profitable and efficient uses of labor and capital would replace slavery

==== contrary evidence 1: antebellum South had highest per capital wealth ====

==== problem with contrary evidence 1: Southern wealth was tied to land and slaves ====

* the principal source of the wealth of the slave South was due to land and slave speculation

** which drove up prices and thus values

** as a result,

==== contrary evidence 1: slavery was profitable ====

*

=== Slavery

=== Colonial and early Republic southern white slave owners & manumission ===