Part 1

The Importance of Getting History Right, Part 1
7/22/16
Defog Your Rearview Mirror
In this post we examine the Three-Fifths Clause in the original draft of the US Constitution. It authorized that when state populations were counted to determine representation in the House of Representatives and for taxation purposes, slaves would be numbered in a manner different from the way free individuals would be counted. For every 30,000 free individuals, each state got a representative in the House. It took 50,000 slaves, however—not 30,000—for a state to merit a representative. Thus, on paper, one could argue that for representation and taxation purposes, every enslaved person counted as three-fifths of an individual. Today this approach sounds cruel and inhuman, but we allow ourselves to be misled if we jump to conclusions. What was behind the Three-Fifths Clause and the compromise it represented? What did this provision really mean? The answer  almost certainly will surprise you.

Part 2

The Importance of Getting History Right, Part 2
Examining the Evidence: Do Racist and Pro-Slavery Elements Exist in the Constitution of 1787?
7/29/16
The Three-Fifths Clause isn’t the only clause in the Constitution to which people point when they claim the Constitution of 1787 was pro-slavery and racist. But was it really? This post explores this question by looking not only at the wording of the Constitution, but also at the world of 1787, the thinking of the several of the Founding Fathers, and some of the challenges confronting the new nation.

Part 3

The Importance of Getting History Right, Part 3
8/5/16
Years After the Constitutional Convention of 1787, in the Throes of the Civil War, America’s Leaders Look to the Founders—and the Constitution—to Guide the Nation out of Slavery
Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Maryland in 1818, yet he became a powerful advocate for freedom and liberty throughout the United States. Significantly, in making his case for liberty for all people, regardless of race, Douglass upheld the US Constitution and defended the work of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Douglass understood what many today have either forgotten or never heard. After highlighting a primary theme in Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, this post introduces readers to Frederick Douglass. Do not miss meeting him!

Part 4

The Importance of Getting History Right, Part 4
The Pervasive Myth of Maniacal Racism Among America’s Founders
8/12/16
Just how does the perception that America’s Founders were racists affect life in America today? More than you might think. For one thing, the idea that the Framers of the Constitution were ardent racists is pervasive. It also is reinforced often in the black community and in higher education. Yet this idea is a misconception fueled largely by a misunderstanding of—you guessed it—the Three-Fifths Clause in the Constitution of 1787.

Part 5

The Importance of Getting History Right, Part 5
How Black Political Leaders Misrepresent History to Exploit Their Own People
8/19/16
Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, Barak Obama, and others have a track record misrepresenting the Constitution and the intentions of its Framers. These liberals are not leaders, but misleaders. This post explores how their work keeps them in power and how it utterly fails to liberate their people.

Part 6

The Importance of Getting History Right, Part 6
Affirming the Priceless Contributions of Black Americans to the Cause of Liberty During the Eras of the American Revolution and Reconstruction
We find many black heroes when we study the American Revolution and the Reconstruction Era. This post examines several of them. We can be grateful for their service to America and to the cause of liberty.

Part 7

The Importance of Getting History Right, Part 7
8/2/16
Forgetting Flaws and Fabricating Fantasies: The Democrats’ Revisionist History
After the Civil War, slavery was officially terminated in the United States by the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments afforded equal protection under the law and the right to vote to African Americans. How many congressional Democrats voted for these measures? The answers might surprise you. Also after the Civil War racist supporters of slavery no longer had slavery to use against blacks, so they resorted to other means, including intimidation, violence, and murder. Our journey into history this week is not especially pleasant, but it is interesting and enlightening. It’s a journey that Americans of every political persuasion need to take.

Part 8

The Importance of Getting History Right, Part 8
9/9/16
Don’t Be Fooled!
Conventional wisdom says that especially during the last several decades, Democrats have been champions of the poor and downtrodden while Republicans have been advocates of the wealthy and privileged. History doesn’t bear this out, and we’ll prove it! Join me as we take a trip through the 20^th century and into the early part of the 21^st century. We will examine the policies and politics of both Democrats and Republicans. Prepare to be amazed! You’ll learn things your history professors never told you.

Part 9

The Importance of Getting History Right, Part 9
An Opportunity Seized by Progressives—and a Turning Point for America
9/16/16
Arthur W. Mitchell was the first black Democrat to be elected to the US Congress. He arrived at the House of Representatives in 1935 and proclaimed, “What I am interested in is to help this grand President of ours [FDR] feed the hungry and clothe the naked and provide work for the idle of every race and creed.” Roosevelt had won the 1932 election in a landslide and would go on to win the presidency three more times. His policies fostered a great deal of support nationwide for Democrats, but not all were happy with his approach to the economy. In fact, the “New Deal” has been called “a massive vote-buying scheme” for Roosevelt’s party. Thus, Arthur Mitchell’s statement about his task in Congress is more significant than you might think. While it sounds compassionate and noble, it actually reflected the beginning of a shift in Americans’ thinking on a number of important liberty-related issues. In this post we examine that shift, as well as its negative implications.

Part 10

The Importance of Getting History Right, Part 10
Launching Ad Hominem Attacks and Stoking Racial Tensions
9/23/16
In Don’t You Believe It! Poking Holes in Faulty Logic ([Moody Press, 1982], 60), Professor Arlie J. Hoover exposes the weaknesses of bad arguments. One such argument is an ad hominem attack—calling one’s opponent names, for example, and ignoring the substance of the debate altogether. Dr. Hoover states, “You are guilty of this error when you make an attack on a man’s character that is irrelevant to the thing you really wish to destroy.” Progressives, most of whom are Democrats, use ad hominem attacks against conservatives all the time. They do this because can’t win on the issues themselves. Black conservatives are true heroes in the marketplace of political ideas because liberals love to target them and hit them with verbal assaults. This post examines this liberal strategy and commends African American conservatives for their stands. It also emphasizes, one more time, the importance of having an accurate understanding of history and of passing on that understanding to the next generation.

Copyright © 2016 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.