Note 655 — Chapter VII · The Attack on History Textbooks Since 1917

Ibid. This characterization of the colonials as “ignorant and superstitious” is in a chapter devoted to “Life in the Colonies” in which are discussed, among other things, “Colonial Ignorance and Superstition” and “The Salem Witchcraft.” In the paragraph on “Colonial Ignorance and Superstition,” the following sentence is indicative of the trend: “Hornets were thought to come from the decaying bodies of horses, and honey bees from cattle.” The quotation regarding Henry is as follows: “... Patrick Henry, a gay, unprosperous, and hitherto unknown country lawyer, who made his reputation by declaring with marvelous eloquence that there was a limit to the legal control which the King might exert over Colonial law-making,” page 141. McLaughlin, Andrew C., and Van Tyne, Claude Halstead, A History of the United States for Schools (New York, 1911).