Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
I’m sure most Americans are aware that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has been on a bus tour along the east coast of the United States. What is the purpose of her tour?
Only Palin knows for sure. She did, however, provide people with her reason for taking this tour of historical places on her Sarah PAC website.
It’s interesting when (for the 100th time) reporters shout out, “Why are you traveling to historical sites? What are you trying to accomplish?” I repeat my answer, “It’s so important for Americans to learn about our past so we can clearly see our way forward in challenging times; so, we’re bringing attention to our great nation’s foundation.” When that answer isn’t what the reporters want to hear, we’ve asked them if they’ve ever visited these sites like the National Archives, Gettysburg, etc. When they confirm that they haven’t, it’s good to say, “Well, there you go. You’ll learn a lot about America today.” (They usually don’t want to hear that either!)
Last Thursday, Palin stopped in Boston for a tour of three Revolutionary War sites. She said she was “getting goose bumps’’ from all the history she was glimpsing in Boston. She added, “You’ve got to know a lot about our past in order to know how to proceed successfully into the future.’’ And thanks to Palin we’re learning history anew as she provides reporters with her version of American historical events when she speaks to them on stops along her way.
After visiting the Old North Church in Boston’s North End, she hailed Paul Revere and what he did on his “famous ride.” Here is how Palin described that event: …he who warned the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringin’ those bells and, um, makin’ sure as he’s ridin’ his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we’re gonna be secure and we were gonna be free. And we we’re gonna be armed.
Got that? Revere warned the British! That’s news to me. And to think that I thought for decades that Paul Revere had been riding around on his horse warning certain American colonists about the British. The archivist at the Cambridge Public Library doesn’t know what really happened that fateful night either. The archivist wrote the following in a blog post: “Paul Revere and his famous midnight ride is so much a part of the collective memory of the American Revolution that it is often forgotten that Revere was just one of several men and one woman who alerted the Minutemen of the impending British advancement.”
I guess the History Channel got it wrong too. Following is what I found on the channel’s website. It includes no mention of bells.
By 1775, tensions between the American colonies and the British government had approached the breaking point, especially in Massachusetts, where Patriot leaders formed a shadow revolutionary government and trained militias to prepare for armed conflict with the British troops occupying Boston. In the spring of 1775, General Thomas Gage, the British governor of Massachusetts, received instructions from Great Britain to seize all stores of weapons and gunpowder accessible to the American insurgents. On April 18, he ordered British troops to march against Concord and Lexington.
The Boston Patriots had been preparing for such a British military action for some time, and, upon learning of the British plan, Revere and Dawes set off across the Massachusetts countryside. They took separate routes in case one of them was captured: Dawes left the city via the Boston Neck peninsula and Revere crossed the Charles River to Charlestown by boat. As the two couriers made their way, Patriots in Charlestown waited for a signal from Boston informing them of the British troop movement. As previously agreed, one lantern would be hung in the steeple of Boston’s Old North Church, the highest point in the city, if the British were marching out of the city by Boston Neck, and two lanterns would be hung if they were crossing the Charles River to Cambridge. Two lanterns were hung, and the armed Patriots set out for Lexington and Concord accordingly. Along the way, Revere and Dawes roused hundreds of Minutemen, who armed themselves and set out to oppose the British.
Tim Murphy—snarking little fellow—wrote this in an article at Mother Jones: “We don’t mean to nitpick—we just think that if you launch a major publicity tour on the subject of great moments in American history, it might make sense to brush up on the details first. We can only imagine how Palin might try to spin this: ‘Listen my children and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. If the story doesn’t sound like what you read on Wikipedia, you know who to blame: the elite liberal media.’”
It’s just not fair! Tim Murphy and other members of the “lamestream media” love to make fun of Palin. I don’t understand why. She’s only trying to give us the scoop on what really happened in our country’s past—just like Representative Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota. Thank heavens we have women so well versed in American history that they can enlighten us today with their knowledge.
SOURCES
Palin hits town to pick her spots, take her shots (Boston Globe)
Just passing through (Boston Globe)
Reminding Reporters, too, of America’s Foundations (Sarah PAC)
Sarah Palin’s Reasons for Bus Tour Misguided (Yahoo)
Paul Revere’s Ride, Reimagined by Sarah Palin (Mother Jones)
The Other Paul Revere: William Dawes’ Midnight Ride through Cambridge (The Cambridge Room)
Revere and Dawes warn of British attack (History.com)
@lottakatz
warn as in “to inform someone in advance of an impending or possible danger, problem, or other unpleasant situation.” I don’t see qualifiers in there for exaggerations, lies, and mindf**kery. A warning that contains lies is still a warning — a false warning. Duh.
The good vicar and historian David Hackett Fischer agree with my interpretation.
The game is over, after losing 60 to 10, thus disgruntled, losing Quarterback has said to the TV interviewer “My work is done here”
and retired to the locker room. Two minutes later, he emerges ball in hand and sprints from one end zone to the other ejaculating TOUCHDOWN! He then runs for the extra two points. He kicks off to himself, receives the ball repeats the process 6 more times, except for the last, when he doesn’t run for the extra point. He faces the now empty stadium, saved for those remaining fans amazed at this performances and at the fifty yard line, hands raised like goalposts: “I WIN 64 TO 60, TAKE THAT YOU FOOLS!”
The next day he’s dropped from the team after interrupting the Coaches angry speech about the loss yelling: “WHAT LOSS YOU FOOL WE’VE WON AND I DESERVE A GAME BALL AND A NEW CONTRACT! He’s escorted off the grounds. Two days later his parents, his wife has already filed for annulment, have him committed for delusional behavior. The Psychiatric Hospital has a therapeutic football team for its’ patients. They being a large State hospital win most of their games. They naturally install him at Quarterback and go on to lose their next 22 games. He’s benched, goes into a severe depression and needs electroshock treatment. Finally after 10 years and the perfection of psychotropic medication he is released. Curiously though, for the rest of his life, he still believes he won the game.
kderosa ” Elaine, I direct your attention to the first paragraph, last sentenec.@ Elaine, I direct your attention to the first paragraph, last sentenec”
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I submit that the the folks that have latched on to Revere’s statement to the British troops that had captured him are so preoccupied with glossing over Palin’s ignorance that they simply have not thought about what Revere was actually doing with his statement.
Revere had no way of knowing if the Minutemen other than the ones he roused had or would be warned or be able to mobilize. For all he knew his confederates had also been intercepted. The British force might march to meet a very, very, small group of resistors that were out-gunned. The British had superior weapons and the confidence of being the best fighting force on earth. They also thought they had the benefit of darkness and surprise. They probably thought it was going to be a walk in the park.
Revere engaged in a bit of guerilla phy-ops to counteract a couple of those advantages. He told his captors that they no longer had the advantage of darkness and surprise, and that to the British meant that they would be met by patriots that well might shot them down from cover in a battle-space they knew well and controlled. If his captors could just get that information to the British force it would be a devastating blow to their confidence. Revere wasn’t “warning” the British, he was mind-f++++++ them.
The Reverend says it is in ‘an odd order” because he surmised that Palin is talking about the bells Revere made as a teenager and which came before his famous ride.
A surmise is a guess. Apparently, he didn’t tell Palin about any bells. And, he conveniently ignores the shooting of guns part.
So it appears that the vicar’s guess wasn’t a very good one. Perhaps, he didn’t know that bells were rung and shots were fired that night as part of the alarm system.
Putting ringing bells together with warning shots is too coincidental for Palin to get so wrong and be so historical right.
@Elaine, Really? I mean, really? You am having a hard time believing you are that dense and that ignornat of what went on that night.
To clarify: Paul Revere road his horse steathfully through towns so he wouldn’t get caught in. He did this in order to tell others in each town to muster the troops. The mustering of troops was accomplished by the ringing of church bells and the shooting of muskets. (That part wasn’t intended to be stealthy and, in fact, the British regulars in the area heard it and recognized that their plan had been diascovered)
Do you get it now? I think I’m finally starting to understand why you had so much trouble parsing Palin’s words.
“I will not take the blame for the odd order those factoids came out. Perhaps it was too much information in too short a period of time to digest properly.” Rev. Stephen Ayres
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Chances are, the groups of schoolchildren he or his assistants give that talk to as part of the regular tour for tourists don’t have any problem comprehending it. I think the Rev. has a sly wit.
Mike A.,
Maybe we should ask Sarah Palin to interpret/parse kderosa’s written language for us.
Mike A.,
How can you have a problem understanding the eloquence and clarity of kderosa’s use of the English language?
kderosa: “Paul Revere’s alarm system which he helped design and implement, by stealthfully riding though towns that night, and which included the ringing of bells and the shooting of gunfire, served to warn (to inform someone in advance of an impending or possible danger, problem, or other unpleasant situation) the British (British regulars) that the Americans (colonials) would resist their attempts to disarm them, symbolizing that the Americans (colonials) would remain secure in their freedom.”
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Paul Revere was quite a talented Patriot. It isn’t easy to ride through towns STEALTHILY while ringing bells and shooting a gun.
😉
@ Mike Appleton, I wrote, in pertinent part, “… and implement, by stealthfully riding though towns that night,…”
It should have been clear that the phrase set off in commas modifies implement.
Your interpretation leasds to a ridiculous result, so it’s not a reasonable interpretation. Kinda like how you interpreted Palin’s words.
@Elaine, it’s cute how much chattier you’ve become now that you think you’ve found something that supports your original view.
@ Elaine, I direct your attention to the first paragraph, last sentenec.
Yes, and I also don’t believe that Paul Revere’s alarm system ever stealthfully rode through the town at night.
kderosa,
The following was was written by the vicar of the Old North Church. BTW, the vicar chose the title of his blog post.
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Vicar tells all: Sarah Palin’s history flub, and how it happened
By Stephen T. Ayres
http://www.episcopalcafe.com/daily/politics/vicar_confesses_sarah_palins_h.php
Excerpt:
I gave them our standard talk about Paul Revere and the two men who hung the lanterns in the steeple, Robert Newman and John Pulling. I added a bit about the debate between John Hancock and Sam Adams after they received the warning from Revere (Hancock: “Staying and fighting will look good on my resume when I run for president.” Adams: “You are too rich to fight. Let’s get out of here.” Adams ultimately won that debate.) I did mention that Revere was arrested by British troops and led back to Lexington, warning those British troops that the minutemen had been alerted.
After the introductory talk, we climbed up to the bell ringing chamber, where I talked about how Paul Revere how founded our bell ringing guild in 1750 as a teenager. Governor Palin was particularly interested to see a copy of the original bell ringing contract between Paul Revere and his friends and the rector of Old North, Dr. Cutler. The contract portrays a group of teenagers using democratic principles to organize their bell ringing guild. We did not have the time to get to the top of the steeple to see the lanterns.
We briefly toured the tombs beneath the church before exiting to a large and excited crowd. Governor Palin handed out signed copies of the Constitution. Like John Hancock, her signature was clearly visible. The governor then went into the gift shop to buy a few souvenirs (like all good visitors should!) Her visit to Old North stay lasted nearly an hour.
We left the campus and walked down the street to Parziale’s Bakery. I cannot testify to what happened inside, as I was distracted by The Daily Show’s John Oliver, who was haranguing me about giving our fair city back to the British and questioning Old North’s role in betraying the Crown and head of our church. The truth be told, my predecessor, the Rev. Mather Byles, Jr. left the employ of the church the morning the lanterns were hung and cannot be blamed for the unfortunate rebellion that ensued.
I was surprised and bemused when the video of Governor Palin’s impromptu history quiz went viral the next day. I knew where all the factoids she cited came from and take responsibility for putting them in her head. I will not take the blame for the odd order those factoids came out. Perhaps it was too much information in too short a period of time to digest properly. Maybe if we climbed to the top of the steeple and viewed the lanterns, the governor wouldn’t have focused on the bells. Who knows?
I am amazed that this silly story refuses to die. Lots of pundits berated Governor Palin’s grasp of history. Many of them have made their own mistakes, usually of the Revere cried out “The British are coming!” variety. If Revere yelled anything streaking across the countryside, he might have been shot by a local Tory or by one of the many British patrols out that night. He never would have said “The British are coming!”, because everyone was British then. He may have said “The Regulars are out!”
@Mike Appleton, are you a native English speaker?
@Elaine, your new-found bravery is heartening, misplaced but heartening:
From the Vicar’s actual blog post:
“I did mention that Revere was arrested by British troops and led back to Lexington, warning those British troops that that the minute men had been alerted.”
This is an actual statement as opposed to the Vicar’s speculation which we’ll examine shortly.
So, I ask, you agin Elaine, do you wish to recant your original post about Revere warning the British, was was news to you at the time?
Sorry, but I don’t believe Ms. Palin meant to say that Paul Revere helped design an alarm system by stealthfully riding through town at night.
Palin visits Old North Church and gets confused
The Boston Herald carries the story about the Vicar of the Old North Church, the Rev. Stephen Ayres, and Sarah Palin’s visit and resulting confusion about Paul Revere and his role in the Revolution. Though the Herald read the essay as defending Palin, Ayres has already disputed on his Facebook page the Herald’s portrayal of his essay as a defense of Palin. Read the essay at Daily Episcopalian today and make up your own mind.
Posted by Ann Fontaine on June 12, 2011 4:10 PM
http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/episcopal_church/palin_visits_old_north_church.html
Were we all so foolish as our troll,kderosa, would have everyone else believe, what is one to think of the person who continues to rail against we intellectual savages. Here I have it:
obsession (əbˈsɛʃən)
— n
1. psychiatry a persistent idea or impulse that continually forces its way into consciousness, often associated with anxiety and mental illness
2. a persistent preoccupation, idea, or feeling
3. the act of obsessing or the state of being obsessed
To spare his feelings, I’m now voting for definition #1 since kderosa has now left for good for about the third time.
kderosa
1, June 13, 2011 at 3:16 pm
“@Elaine, again, sorry, new evidence changes things. Stilll sticking with your initial post?”
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My answer to your question: You betcha!
Considering the new evidence I provided, do you still stick by your argument that Sarah Palin was correct?
Vicar: It’s My Fault Palin Goofed on Revere
But Sarah presented my factoids in odd order, says Rev. By Mark Russell, Newser Staff
Posted Jun 13, 2011
http://www.newser.com/story/120853/vicar-its-my-fault-palin-goofed-on-revere.html
(Newser) – A vicar who gave Sarah Palin and her family a Paul Revere history lesson claims to have the “inside scoop” on the former Alaska governor’s “Boston history massacre.” I know “where all the factoids she cited came from and take responsibility for putting them in her head,” confesses Rev. Stephen Ayres. “I will not take the blame for the odd order those factoids came out. Perhaps it was too much information in too short a period of time to digest properly.” Ayres, the vicar of Boston’s Old North Church, was asked by the National Park Service to offer the family a tour of the church where patriots, operating on a signal from Paul Revere, held two lanterns to warn Americans that the British were coming by sea.
Ayres speculates that Palin talked later about Revere “ringing bells” to warn the British about American arms because he told her that a teenage Revere had founded the church’s “bell ringing guild” in 1750. He also offered the “standard talk” about Revere that included a mention of Revere’s capture by the British, “warning those troops that the minutemen had been alerted,” he writes in the church blog. Ayres is grateful for Palin’s historical mishmash, he adds. “She succeeded in her stated intention of drawing attention to America’s historical sites and inadvertently provided us with priceless free publicity by misplacing a few facts when quizzed on her visit,” he notes.