Today is the anniversary of the signing of the US Constitution (September 17, 1787) and The L. A. Times has an interesting op-ed this morning by Lawrence Goldstone titled“The White Washing of American History”, which examines the white washing of US history in general and the role of slavery in constitutional history, in particular.
Goldstone, challenges the conventional wisdom that in order to be successful a book examing the early history of the USA have to be “a story of triumph.” And he is not just criticizing “popular histories” like those by McCullough. Goldstone says that historians like Jack Rakove and Bernard Bailyn offer superb analyses, but “by ignoring practical realities and human frailty,” their histories of the United States present the US as “a nation of citizen-philosophers standing around village greens in tricorn hats discussing John Locke, as much a caricature as updating Parson Weems.”
The biggest historical white wash is over the role of slavery. And Goldstone, the author of Dark Bargain: Slavery, Profits and the Struggle for the Constitution, argues for reappraisals of US history illustrate how “slavery was as unpleasant and repugnant a topic in 1787, as much a stain on American honor, as it is in retrospect today.”
“Certainly it is more comfortable to read accounts that deify the framers, but deification is dangerous, particularly now. Our nation is currently engaged in an unabashed campaign to instruct people around the world on how to live. We sent the citizens of Iraq off to write a constitution, and then tried to tell them what it should say. If we are going to dictate to others what their constitutional process should be, then we should be willing to look a little more honestly at our own.’
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