History took a beating in the “Patriot game” quiz that appeared in Currents June 30 in anticipation of Independence Day. Readers pointed out that the quiz, billed as a review of “our American history,” included a correct answer marred with misinformation, repeated legend as fact, and provided answers that were imprecise or not detailed enough.
“We wanted to teach the readers a history lesson but, truth be told, they taught us one,” said Chris Lavin, senior editor for special sections.
By far, the most embarrassing part of the quiz was contained in a correct answer to the second of 20 questions. It said: “These famous words — ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal … ‘ are part of: a. The Constitution of the United States b. The Bill of Rights c. The Declaration of Independence.”
The answer, of course, was The Declaration of Independence. So far so good. But then came the spoiler: “If you were thinking the Bill of Rights, that starts with, ‘We, the people, in order to form a more perfect Union … ”
“Help, help,” Gerald Lamb of La Mesa lamented in an e-mail. “What are you teaching my grandchildren?” As Lamb and others correctly pointed out, “We, the people … ” is the Preamble to the Constitution.
In the third question, readers were asked “who was commissioned to make the first United States flag?” The choices were “a. Betty Crocker b. Betsy Ross c. Martha Washington.” Betsy Ross was listed as the correct answer.
“Unfortunately, there is no truth to this,” wrote reader Adam Grimm of San Diego.
While some textbooks may credit Betsy Ross, the “Americana Encyclopedia” labels the story a legend perpetuated by her family. Because little importance was attached to the first flag, there are no records about its origin. Although numerous towns claimed to have had the first flag, the Betsy Ross story is the one that “has caught the popular imagination,” the encyclopedia explained. However, facts prove otherwise.
Some answers indeed were based on an eighth-grade textbook. Other information was taken from the Internet.
“History is best taught by scholars who study with more care and thoroughness than we brought to preparing this effort,” senior editor Lavin said. “We can and should do better.”
Other items readers challenged included a question on “the shot heard round the world” and a quotation attributed to Nathan Hale. Other answers did not explain nearly enough, some said.
The question on where “the shot heard round the world” was fired shows how much of history is an inexact science.
Jerry Waller of Rancho Bernardo said in an e-mail that the answer, Lexington, was incorrect. He pointed out that a monument near the North Bridge commemorates the deed with verse from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Concord Hymn.” The first stanza reads: “By the rude bridge that arched the flood,/Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,/Here once the embattled farmers stood,/And fired the shot heard round the world.”
Even so, there apparently is no clear answer about whether it was in Lexington or Concord. The “Encyclopedia of the American Revolution” probably best explains why the controversy exists. The encyclopedia describes a skirmish between the British and the patriots at Lexington and then explains what may have led to the confusion. The politicians of the day, the encyclopedia said, “apparently wanted to conceal that there was any return fire from the Americans in Lexington; as a result, Concord claimed the honor of firing ‘the shot heard round the world.’ ”
Readers also were told that it was Nathan Hale who said: “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
Reader Grimm said the quotation, based on Joseph Addison’s tragedy “Cato,” was not exact, and he’s right. George DeWan, a reporter for Newsday who writes articles on Long Island history, provided the best explanation in an article headlined: “Nathan Hale: Failed Spy, Superb Patriot.”
DeWan wrote that not everyone agrees on what Hale’s last words were, but it is generally accepted that Hale was paraphrasing a line from “Cato.”
Wrote DeWan, “A 1777 newspaper article reported Hale as saying that ‘if he had ten thousand lives, he would lay them all down, if called to it in defence of his injured bleeding country.’ Four years later another newspaper story quoted Hale’s last words as: ‘ … my only regret is, that I have not more lives than one to offer in its service.’ ” A 1848 memoir by Hale’s friend, Capt. William Hull, supplied the version used in “Patriot Game.”
The quiz was a worthwhile attempt to engage readers, but failed because fact checking did not go far enough. As a result, many share in the blame for a good idea gone wrong.
