The Louisiana populist., 1898-02-18
HISTORY CORRECTED.
SCHOOL CHILDREN HAVE BEEN
TAUGHT ANARCHY.
The Sisners of the Declaration Of In
dependence Were the Same Kind Of
Disturbers as the FopulIsts of To-
day.

Disturbers as the Fopulists of To-
| day.
Frederick Upham Adams, in the New
Time, publishes clever satire upon
the attitude Of the plutocratic press to-
wards reforms and reformers showing
it to be simply renewal of the tory
ism of revolutionary times. He writes
as follows:
"There is no defense for the part
played by George Washington in the
so-called war Of the revolution. For
mer school histories have almost del
fled this Virginian revolutionist, who
took up arms against the government,
and cast his wealth, position and influ-
ence on the side Of disorder. The un-
trained and incautious historians of
the past were ignorant of the fact that
resistance to the established order Ot
things is always wrong While we may
admire the personal character Of
George Washington and respect ana
praise him as the first president of our
glorious republic, We must not lose
sight Of the fact that he raised his hand
agaist the law and, aided by his genils,
such demagogues as Pat Henry, Sam
Adams, Tom Jefferson and Ben Frank
lin. His conduct is the more inexcus-
able by reason Of the fact that he was
the wealthiest man In the country.
"This is partly explained when it is
considered that Washington was a
farmer. You can never depend on a
farmer to conserve the interests Of
wealth-the true interests of a nation.
Had George Washington been bank
er and lived in New York he would
never have led the lower classes of the
country against their betters.
There was no such thing as the war
OF the revolution. There was civil
war, or a. period Of riots and anarchy,
between a half-organized mob, COM
posed mainly of the debtor classes, and
opposed to them were the wealthy and
respectable people Of the country The
latter had some assistance from Eng
land and the former we're aided by
France, which country was already on
the verge Of that period of anarchy,
which eliminated in the hideous
French revolution, iii which nearly all
OF the best people of France were
killed. Some American historians
even glorify the French revolution.
THE fact cannot be too plainly stat
ed and too often repeated that from
the first Inception Of the trouble, which
resulted in 6ur separation from Eng
land; the forces Of revolt and disorder
were recruited from the dangerous
Glasses, and that this growing sedition
was steadily opposed by the wealthy
and conservative element of the efm-
munity. Demagogues, Missionaries, i'd
lers, debtors and irresponsible charae-
ters famed the flames of discomfort
and started c0Iiiissratien which re-
suited in a loss of untold billions OF
dollars to the merchants and bankers
of the country. More than that, it Ell
couraged revolt against settled condi-
tions, and fool writer's and teachers
have unwittingly kept alive this senti-
ment by making heroes Of the misguid.
ed men who sacrificed their lives OF
their time in a fight against England
1t Is d pleasure to record the fac. that
to-day England ewns in this country
five times as much property a. oil Of
the revolving colonies were worth, and
that we are about to borrow from lei
$200,000,000 more of gold. The total
expenses Of the War of the Reyou-
ton were less than S50,o0O,eoo,
I'm this book, which is now drawing
to a close, the historian will touch but
briefly on one incident Of this period
viz, the framing and signing of the
Declaration of Independence. This doc.
ument should never be printed in d
school book. AS government We have
long since outgrown it's foolish, vapid
and bombastic statements, but il
should be rigidly suppressed the same
as other seditious and Unsafe pamph.
let's. It was written by Tom Jefferson
aided by Tom Paine. both Of whom
drew their inspiration from the es.
says of French revolutionary writer's
Its platitudes about all men being
free and equal and that the people
have right to alter or abolish Il gov
ernment,' have long since been laughed
to scorn by Our statesmen, our clergy
and by Our best public educators. 1t i
pleasure to reflect thai the cOnven
tion of 1887, which framed our presen
constitution, never even considered
this Declaration of independence in de
signing that wise document. The con
vention was controlled by slave-hold
ers, and they rather effectually settle,
the free and equal clause when the,
decided that in fixing the basis Of rep
resentation negro was equal to three
fifths of white man, and that hi
owner could vote for him on that basis
The constitution also wisely provide
that the people could not vote for
president. senator. cabinet officer
: or, in fact, for anything but membe
of the lower house Of congress. The
then arranged it so that the senat
} could veto any legislation comirg fro1