1. he got the date of the Revolution wrong. Rich people did not flee America in the 1760s because of the revolution; the American revolution did not even start until 1775, which every schoolkid knows. The Constitutional Convention did not take place until 1787, FOUR years after America became a country.
2. George Washington may have been a "wealthy squire", if you want to call the richest man in America at the time a wealthy squire. It also bears saying that the average American was wealthier than the average Englishman, and the English knew it. That's why so many of them left to emigrate to America, but few Americans left to immigrate into Britain.
3. Washington did not free his wife's slaves because he was poor. He didn't give them freedom until he died; it was in his will.
4. This notion that Jefferson died poor is completely false; he didn't keep money in a bank, because he didn't value wealth that way. So it may be technically accurate to say he died with no money, but it was because all his wealth was in hundreds of slaves and large landholdings! Jefferson died one of the wealthiest men in America.
4. It is nonsense to say that land wasn't worth very much back then. How much land a man owned was the STANDARD for wealth measurement. Banks were not particularly big the way they are now; people kept their wealth tied up in land ownership, rather than stuffing dollars in a bank account.
5. Sure, Delaware's Convention attendees were "farmers", if you want to use that term. A more accurate term is "plantation owners". "Farmer", as applied to the Convention attendees, did not mean "poor peasant", as we tend to think of today.
6.The reason the Madison's notes were held secretly during the Constitutional Convention is that the Framers were essentially committing treason again; this time, not against the British, but against the American government! Between 1783 and 1789, America was ruled by a constitution called the Articles of Confederation; to replace the Articles with the Constitution was to overthrow the existing government, and replace it with a new one with increased national government power.
7. The Jefferson quotes are cute, though taken out of context. Hartmann makes it seem as though all the Framers agreed with Jefferson. Actually, Jefferson was considered kind of a kook by the other Framers; even his friend Madison sought to distance himself from Jefferson during this time, as he considered Jefferson too nutty. If you really want a look at how most of the Framers thought about the wealthy and poor, look at the Alien and Sedition Acts brought in by President Adams, which were specifically designed to suppress peasants like Daniel Shays who led a rebellion against the wealthy and the banks.
8. Hartman is even wrong in his summary statements. He casually mentions that the Founders (confusing the Founding Fathers with the Framers) fought the British. some did, and some sat on the sidelines. Jefferson was notorious for being a coward during the war. While he was governor of Virginia during the war, the British invaded Virginia. Rather than stay and organize the defense, (as his position obligated him to do), he ran out of Virginia faster than a chicken with its ass on fire.
9. He is also wrong that the Framers were against big banks. Actually, one entire wing of the Framers were in favor of switching the country from an agrarian-based economy, to one dominated by big industries and big banks. The agrarian faction was led by Jefferson, the bank faction led by Alexander Hamilton. Although hamilton failed to get a central, national bank as he wanted, he got the ball rolling by making sure the Framers recognized that the national government would dominate the state governments, by making the national government the sovereign over state government debts.
10. He mentions that the Constitution does not say that rich white males are the ones allowed to run the country. He completely glosses over the fact that the Occupy kid was right: the Constitution was created by rich white males to ensure their dominance. First of all, it is disingeneous to say that blacks were allowed to vote. Yes, an extremely tiny number of blacks voted in a handful of northern states; the vast majority of blacks did not vote, BECAUSE THEY WERE SLAVES, which the Constitution recognized. Secondly, women were not mentioned at all in the Constitution, because the Framers took it for granted that women were not equal to men, and should not have the vote. Even today, we don't have an equal rights amendment for men and women. Thirdly, the reason why property qualifications for voting are not in the Constitution is because the Framers agreed that setting property qualifications was to be a STATE ISSUE. The reason it was a state issue is that the northern and southern states disagreed on how to count slaves as property for voting purposes; hence what is called the "Great Compromise".
Very bad segment.
= new reply since forum marked as read
