The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-02-04
HISTORY CORRECTED.
SCHOOL CHILDREN HAVE BEEN
TAUGHT ANARCHY.
The SiSners of the Declaration of In
dependence Were the Same Kind of
Disturbers the Populists Of To-
day.

lie attitude OF the plutOCraClc 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
lied this FirSinian reyolutionist, who
TOOK up arms against the government,
anu cast his wealth, position and in1lu-
ence on the side Of disorder The IN
trained and incautious historians Of
the past were ignorant Of the fact that
resistance to the established order CI
things is always wrong. While we may
admire the personal character Of
George Washington and respect and
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 genius
such demagogues as Pat Henry. Sam
Adams. Tom Jefferson and Ben Frank
I'm. His conduct is tho 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 nation
Had George Washington been a bank
er and lived in New York he would
never have led the lower classes Of the
country against their betters.
here was no such thing as the war
OF the revolution. There was a civil
war, or period of riots and anarchy
between half-organized mob, com
posed mainly of the debtor classes, and
opposed to them were the wealthy aud
respectable people of the country. The
latter had some assistance from Eng
Iand and the former were aided by
france. which country was already on
the verge of that period Of anarchy,
which eliminated in the hideous
French revolution. in which nearly all
OF the best people Of France were
killed. Some American historians
even glorify the French revolution.
u he fact cannot be too plainly stat
ed and too often repeated that from
the first inception Of the trouble, which
resulted in our separation from Eng
land. the forces of revolt and disorder
were recruited from the dangerous
classes, and that this growing sedition
was steadily opposed by the wealthy
and conservative element of the COM
munity. Demagogues, Missionaries, i'd
lers, debtors and irresponsible charac-
tiers famed the flames of discomfort,
and started connagration which re-
suited in loss of untold millions OF
dollars to the merchants and bankers
OF the country. More than that, it en-
couraged revolt against settled Cordi-
tons, and fool writer's and teachers
have unwittingly kept alive this senti-
ment by making heroes of the lnisglid-
ed men who sacrificed their lives or
their time in a fight against England.
1t is pleasure to record the fac. that
to-day England owns in this country
five times as much property as all Of
the revolving colonies were worth, and
that we are about to borrow from her
$200,000,000 moro OF sold. The total
expenses Of the War Of the Reyolu-
ton were less than $50,00O,00O.
*'In 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 doe
ument should never be printed in a
school book. AS a government We have
long since outgrown it's foolish. vapid
and bombastic statements but it
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 cs-
says of French revolutionary writer's.
It's platitudes about all men being
free and equal and that the people
have right to alter or abolish a gov
ernment,' have long since been laughed
to scorn by our statesmen, our clergy
and by our best public educators. 1t is
pleasure to reflect that the cpnven-
ton of 1887, which framed our present
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 settled
the free and equal clause when they
decided that in fixing the basis of rep
resentation negro was equal to three
fifths of white man. and that his
owner could vote for him on that basis.
The constitution also wisely provided
that the people could not vote for a
president. senator. cabinet officer.
or, in fact, for anything but member
OF the lower house, of congress. They
then arranged it so that the semitic
could veto anx LEGISLATION cnrninr e.....,a