And many of us still believe some of the 18 absolute whoppers below!
George Washington Had Wooden Teeth
Washington wore dentures – that much is true – but they sure as heck weren’t made from wood! On the contrary, they were crafted from ivory, brass, and gold, and the president’s alleged love of red wine (coupled with the lack of adequate dental care in those days) discolored them into a darkish color, which caused people to assume they were wooden incorrectly.
Abraham Lincoln Fought To Abolish Slavery
While Lincoln didn’t condone slavery and did want it abolished, he didn’t advocate emancipation to occur in one big ceremonious instance. Instead, he wanted the process to be more gradual so that the state could compensate (pay off) slave owners with federal funds in a sustainable timeline.
The Emancipation Proclamation Freed Slaves
While the emancipation (AKA, the 13th amendment) did outlaw slave-owning, it wasn’t an instant, huge, country-wide day of freedom as many of us believe. Although it did free slaves in all rebellion states, the nationwide abolition of slavery didn’t come until much later.
George Washington Was The First President
He wasn’t even the second – or the third! Washington was the first president under the still intact Constitution, but the very first president, he was not – he was actually the 15th.
The Pledge of Allegiance Was First Uttered By The Founding Fathers
The Founding Fathers weren’t the first to warble “one nation under God”, et al. In fact, they didn’t say it at all. On the contrary, it was President Eisenhower who first spoke those words in the 1950s and coined the Pledge of Allegiance as we know it today.
Americans Ended The Holocaust
Many Americans believe it was their troops that saved the day – especially for the Jewish community imprisoned in Nazi Germany. On the contrary, America was the last country to join the war effort and they point blank refused to allow exiled Jews into the country for fear that they were Nazi spies or communists.
Thanksgiving Is About Peace, Abundance, & Gratitude
Of all the whoppers told during the history of the United States, the idea that Thanksgiving is based on anything good is probably the biggest humdinger. Thanksgiving marks the pilgrims taking land that wasn’t theirs, the mass slaughtering of natives, the bringing of disease, the slavery of indigenous people, and other such atrocities that have no business being celebrated.
The Founding Fathers Were Christians
Three of them were Roman Catholic and the remaining four practiced Deism (the belief that the Creator doesn’t intervene in matters of the universe). The idea that they were all Christians was religious-political propaganda created by later parties.
Indigenous People Sold Their Land To Settlers
In what is one of the biggest and most shameful examples of whitewashing, American settlers insisted they purchased land from natives. Some tribes sold a will to share land (because many native Americans don’t believe land is ownable), and others had their land taken from them.
George Washington Couldn’t Lie
This was made up by one of Washington’s biographers to try and paint the president in a pure and humble light. At best, this was pure propaganda. At worst, this was pure garbage.
Separation Of Church & State Wasn’t In Founding Father Documents
Because the Founding Fathers had different religious beliefs, they had opposing opinions regarding church and state. Even today, politics and religion bleed into each other in the American constitution, but in reality, there is a clause in the first amendment that states politics should be religiously ambivalent and unbiased.
Christopher Columbus Discovered America
Not even close. When Columbus stepped off that boat in 1493, America was already inhabited by settlers. So much so, that many historians believe, based on artifacts discovered, that Vikings had set foot in the Americas some five-hundred years prior.
Salam Witches Were Burned At The Stake
While the Salem witch trials were a very real and very shameful period of American history – no one was actually ever burned at the stake in Salem. Common witch execution in Massachusetts was public hanging, with one unfortunate soul being crushed to death with boulders. Oh, and they weren’t even witches.
Ben Franklin Wanted Turkey To Be The National Bird
This theory is more or less the product of Chinese Whispers. What actually happened was then-president Benjamin Franklin remarked that a painting of the national bird (a bald eagle) resembled a turkey. While it’s true that Franklin wasn’t wild about the bald eagle being the national bird, he never favored the turkey over it.
The Declaration Of Independence Was Created On The 4th of July
Fiction. Pure fiction. The declaration was drafted on the 2nd of July, revised on the 4th, but not actually signed until a whole month later on the 2nd of August.
Pocahontas & John Smith Weren’t Lovers
Given the fact that the Native American girl that Pocahontas was based on was only 12 when she met 28-year-old John Smith, it’s probably a good thing that they weren’t in love.
The Wall Street Crash Caused Mass Self-Inflicted Deaths
While the stock market crash in the United States in 1929 threw many people’s lives into disarray, there wasn’t a mass suicide, as previously purported. On the day the crash was announced, two people were taking their own lives, reported – and only one of which was proven to be related to the pending economic turmoil.
Nixon Was Pro-Environment
Tricky Dicky was not an environmental advocate – far from it. So much so that when the first Earth Day protests took place in 1970, he publicly condemned the activists as “hippies” and people “who wanted to go back and live like a bunch of damned animals”.
STUCK IN THE 60S: 10 THINGS BABY BOOMERS REFUSE TO LET GO OF
Memories of the “good old days” keep us trapped in the past. Baby boomers love to retell tales of how it was “in my day.” At the same time, millennials will tell them to get with the times. Being stuck in a time warp from which they don’t want to snap out of, here are things that baby boomers still think are fantastic. STUCK IN THE 60S: 10 THINGS BABY BOOMERS REFUSE TO LET GO OF
16 ANNOYING PHRASES THAT MAKE PEOPLE IMMEDIATELY HATE YOU!
We wanted to know the most irksome things someone can say that turns you off! These Reddit users didn’t hold back! 16 ANNOYING PHRASES THAT MAKE PEOPLE IMMEDIATELY HATE YOU!
OBSOLETE MILLENNIALS: 14 SKILLS THEY LEARNED IN THE 90S THAT HAVE NO PLACE IN TODAY’S WORLD
A lot has changed since the turn of the century – just ask this nostalgic lot!
OBSOLETE MILLENNIALS: 14 SKILLS THEY LEARNED IN THE 90S THAT HAVE NO PLACE IN TODAY’S WORLD
THE FALL FROM GRACE: 12 PROFESSIONS THAT WERE ONCE REVERED, NOW A TOTAL JOKE
These 12 professions that are now obsolete show how much the times have changed.
THE FALL FROM GRACE: 12 PROFESSIONS THAT WERE ONCE REVERED, NOW A TOTAL JOKE
FROM ‘OKAY BOOMER’ TO ‘UGH BOOMER’: 10 HABITS THAT IRRITATE MILLENNIALS
Each generation has its quirks. Most label it as an “old person thing” when asked why grandpa or grandma does something unusual. The defense from the other side is that “it was the way things were back in our day.”
FROM ‘OKAY BOOMER’ TO ‘UGH BOOMER’: 10 HABITS THAT IRRITATE MILLENNIALS