"Sarah Palin yesterday insisted her claim at the Old North Church last week that Paul Revere 'warned the British' during his famed 1775 ride — remarks that Democrats and the media roundly ridiculed — is actually historically accurate. And local historians are backing her up."McConville, a history professor, contends that Palin's comments, though right, were "lucky". Let's hope he doesn't treat his students that way when they do well on an essay test even though he thinks they don't deserve a good grade.
. . .
"In fact, Revere’s own account of the ride in a 1798 letter seems to back up Palin’s claim. Revere describes how after his capture by British officers, he warned them 'there would be five hundred Americans there in a short time for I had alarmed the Country all the way up.'
"Boston University history professor Brendan McConville said, 'Basically when Paul Revere was stopped by the British, he did say to them, ‘Look, there is a mobilization going on that you’ll be confronting,’ and the British are aware as they’re marching down the countryside, they hear church bells ringing — she was right about that — and warning shots being fired. That’s accurate.'”
I've taught for over a decade at college level in two different cultures and never had a student able to bluff a short essay answer with an improbable interpretation.
Another professor (linked on my sidebar) gets to the heart of the issue:
"But Cornell law professor William Jacobson, who asserted last week that Palin was correct, linking to Revere quotes on his conservative blog Legalinsurrection.com, said Palin’s critics are the ones in need of a history lesson. 'It seems to be a historical fact that this happened,' he said. 'A lot of the criticism is unfair and made by people who are themselves ignorant of history.'”H/T The indispensible Drudge Report
UPDATE: LA Times' Andrew Malcolm chimes in:
No comments:
Post a Comment