The Politically Incorrect GuideTM to the Founding Fathers »

Brion McClanahan holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in American history from the University of South Carolina. Born in Virginia, he attended high school in Delaware and received a B.A. in history from Salisbury University in Maryland. He lives with his wife and children near Phenix City, Alabama, just across the river from Columbus, Georgia.

They were the greatest generation in American history.

Yet how much do you really know about the Founding Fathers? And how much of what you "know" is actually myth perpetuated by leftist history professors who dismiss the Founders as wealthy, racist, sexist, dead-white-males whose principles deserve to be as dead as they are? In The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, Dr. Brion McClanahan sets the record straight. He provides a neat summary history of America's founding documents, profiles all the leading Founders (and some unjustly neglected ones), and shows how they have better answers to today's problems than our politicians do.

Introduction 1

Part I Myths, Realities, and the Issues of the Founding Generation

Chapter 1 The Myths 9

Myth: The Founding generation created a democracy

Myth: The Founding Fathers really believed everyone was equal

Myth: Slavery was a sin of the Southern founders

Myth: Paul Revere single-handedly warned the Boston countryside of the impending British invasion

Myth: Benjamin Franklin had thirteen to eighty illegitimate children!

Myth: Thomas Jefferson kept a concubine slave and fathered children with her!

Myth: Washington had an affair with his neighbor's wife!

Myth: Alexander Hamilton had a gay lover!

Chapter 2 A Conservative Revolution 29

The Declaration of Independence

Who's sovereign now?

"Experience must be our only guide"

"The public mind... is extremely uneasy at the proposed change of government"

Chapter 3 The Issues 49

Give me back my gun!

A godless society?

The states (and the people) are sovereign

A limited executive

Abolish the Fed!

A "president's" war?

"No Taxation without Representation!"

Who said that's unconstitutional?

John Adams is a war-mongering scoundrel!

Give me my welfare!

Part II The Men The Big Six

Chapter 4 George Washington 89

The first American hero

The Revolution

Duty calls

The last years

The Washington effect

Chapter 5 Thomas Jefferson 109

Patriot

Diplomat and secretary of state

Retirement and vice president

The presidency

The Jeffersonian tradition

Chapter 6 John Adams 127

The Revolution

"His rotundity"

The insecure president

Retirement

Chapter 7 James Madison 141

"Father of the Constitution"

The Federal career

The fourthpresident

Death and legacy

Chapter 8 Alexander Hamilton 157

The Revolution

The best government the country will permit

Secretary of the Treasury

Retirement and duel

Legacy

Chapter 9 Benjamin Franklin 173

Cautious revolutionary

The man in the fur cap

The grandfather of the Republic

The Forgotten Founders

Chapter 10 Samuel Adams 187

Firebrand

Anti-Federalist

Chapter 11 Charles Carroll of Carrollton 199

Signer

Mild Federalist

Chapter 12 George Clinton 209

Anti-Federalist governor

Vice President Clinton

A states' rights patriot

Chapter 13 John Dickinson 219

"Penman of the Revolution"

The Convention

Retirement

Chapter 14 Elbridge Gerry 229

The "self-serving" politician?

Gerry vs. Mason

Chapter 15 John Hancock 239

"Treasonous" John Hancock

The governor

Chapter 16 Patrick Henry 249

The Revolution

The Constitution

Red Hill

Chapter 17 Richard Henry Lee 259

Those who love liberty

Virginian

Chapter 18 Nathaniel Macon 267

The Quid

The Republican of Buck Spring

Chapter 19 Francis Marion 275

The Swamp Fox

The politically incorrect soldier

Chapter 20 John Marshall 285

Chief Justice

The architect of big government

Chapter 21 George Mason 297

The "retired" revolutionary

"Objections to the Federal Constitution"

Slavery

Chapter 22 Roger Sherman 309

The Atlas

The Connecticut Compromise

Chapter 23 John Taylor of Caroline 319

Secessionist

The pamphleteer

Conclusion: What the Founding Fathers Would Do 329

Acknowledgments 337

Bibliography 339

Index 349