10 Myths about American Presidents

[@CynicalHistorian]

Thanks for watching! Please consider supporting the channel by buying merch: cynical-historian-shop.fourthwall.com or by donating to my Patreon: www.patreon.com/CynicalHistorian Click "read more" for corrections and bibliography. First, here are some related videos: Mr. Beat's episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2bWl39_r9OGoKssi=Hq4KDrtQZ_iIbkjC Myth-busting playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLjnwpaclU4wVmuFUhakKRvS6fghczRNgb Moral Panics: kzbin.info/www/bejne/baHcmn-ah7yXr5I WILSOOOON!!! kzbin.info/aero/PLjnwpaclU4wXmCcEx0vfIim_jFMkgtLmS Hamilton review: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYOWgJ2srdqCjc0 Reconstruction lecture: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJfKpHWZfpKZh9k POTUS tyranny: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lWPVYpSjjsx8jdE Iraq: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4rMlWmOhp59rLs Afghanistan: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bX_almObnbxlpLs Insurrections: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rme9pqqGipt7p9E Culture War: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qqHTlnqPpLx3rsk Political polarization series: kzbin.info/aero/PLjnwpaclU4wXxGRwtV4EGk_vuAH2VkODS *[reserved for Errata]* *Bibliography* Eric Foner, Battles for Freedom: The Use and Abuse of American History (London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2017). amzn.to/3AIl2OD Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past, edited by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer (New York: Basic Books, 2022). amzn.to/3J5XsNP Harriet F. Senie, Monumental Controversies: Mount Rushmore, Four Presidents, and the Quest for National Unity (Lincoln, Neb.: Potomac Books, 2023). amzn.to/3XuY0nA Andrew M. Schocket, Fighting over the Founders: How We Remember the American Revolution (New York: New York University Press, 2015). amzn.to/2NQV7b3 Richard Slotkin, A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2024). amzn.to/4dJoAPO A more general biblio that I keep for everything, though perpetually incomplete: docs.google.com/document/d/1o-NK65q4F-6S2QmMvUXlmNlwtmOfmB2FwGA7yOr5syI/edit?usp=drive_link

[@LonelyGamer4]

You forgot to pin this comment

[@CynicalHistorian]

​@@LonelyGamer4I didn't. KZbin unpinned it

[@HCDF-Productions]

Tell Mr Beat that I said he's cool

[@meemo32086]

😂

[@iammrbeat]

You hurt my feelings with your facts.

[@Tybr0]

MR. BEAT IS GOAT 🐐

[@reptar5.048]

As soon as he started roasting G Wash I knew Mr Beat would be upset

[@iamhereblossom1588]

The feelings don’t care about your facts!

[@michaelHassler-dl9ux]

Democracy deos not work just read James Burnham The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom and Chartism Book by Thomas Carlyle

[@rc7625]

​@@michaelHassler-dl9uxYeah, no thanks.

[@XOguitargurlOX]

that slip from Bush is gold. It makes me wonder if he regrets his actions or if he regrets he'll be remembered for them?

[@jeffengel2607]

I think he's relieved he's forgotten in Trump's shadow.

[@Soopahperry111]

look up "Bushisms". He's got a lot of those slip ups lol

[@lorenfranz3173]

Bush was the last Republican president before Trump, and many of his policies mirrored that of Trump's, so the Republican Party shifting towards authoritarianism was a trend decades in the making.

[@prussia1557]

@@jeffengel2607 That is a thought I was having the other day. When I think of the 2000s I don't really think much of Bush. Trump has Overshadowed Bush by a lot. Also fun fact, Bush and Obama are apparently EXTREMELY good friends with each other. I don't see anyone being friends with an opposition president these days. That just pushes that idea.

[@SonicRyan1992]

@@Soopahperry111 i thought those were mostly his odd way of "pronunciating" stuffs

[@awesomeinspector5270]

While Lincoln may not have been an “abolitionist” in the same mold as Thaddeus Stevens or Charles Sumner, he still attacked slavery in many different ways that went beyond opposing its western expansion. Over the course of his presidency, Lincoln signed at least 32 separate bills into law that either attacked slavery or provided new social and legal opportunities for African Americans. He signed bills that provided for the abolishment of slavery in the slaveholding border states as early as March 1862 (6 months before he issued his preliminary emancipation proclamation), forbade the Union military from returning fugitive enslaved people, abolished slavery in Washington D.C., abolished slavery in the western territories, validated a new treaty with the U.K. to combat the African slave trade, provided Black Union troops with equal pay (twice), freed the enslaved families of Black Union soldiers, repealed all Fugitive Slave Acts, allowed African Americans to serve as witnesses in Federal Courts, outlawed racial segregation in the streetcars, railroads, and railways in Washington D.C. (twice), provided funding and federal assistance to Black institutions in Washington D.C., created schools for African American children in Washington D.C., and much, much more. As for Lincoln’s colonization policy, a few things need to be clarified. Back in Lincoln’s day, being an abolitionist and being a supporter for colonization were not mutually exclusive. Thaddeus Stevens supported colonization and he was one of the most powerful abolitionists in the country. Also, Lincoln’s own policy of colonization was never compulsory, so anyone that was willing to go would never be forced to do so. Furthermore, while Lincoln publicly voiced strong support for colonization, he only did so because he was trying to persuade the great mass of white Americans to support the emancipation proclamation which many feared would flood the U.S. with newly-freed African Americans. But by and by, Lincoln had fully abandoned colonization by the summer of 1863 when previous attempts had failed (he even ordered for the U.S. Navy to bring back any colonized African Americans who had changed their minds). And lastly, it didn’t take long for Lincoln to open up to to the equal treatment of African Americans in the United States, and made a few speeches attesting to this, although they were few and far between. In 1864, Lincoln gave a speech supporting the equal treatment of Black Union soldiers and his last public address expressed support for Black voting rights. And in every account of Lincoln’s meetings with African Americans (famous ones such as Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Martin R. Delany along with several White House servants and more) Lincoln was always described as incredibly polite, professional, friendly, and respectful and showing no signs of prejudice.

[@mattd923]

Yeah, its a weird thing to call a "myth" based only on his actual policy positions. A policy position can fully reflect an underlying belief, but it can also reflect something the politician things is a reasonable goal, if the true goal is something that's not likely to be politically popular or achievable. The focus on slavery in the territories makes sense as that's something that he actually had the power to oppose.

[@tomtomtrent]

@@mattd923yeah, if he wasn’t an abolitionist, he wouldn’t have freed the slaves. He understood he had political limits, but after the south rebelled anyways, he took the opportunity that was given to him

[@jssamp4442]

@@tomtomtrent I think you are seeing it from a different direction than I. Lincoln didn't end slavery before the war because it was politically untenable, with the slave states still in the Union, there was too much opposition for his administration to survive the attempt. After the secession, he still didn't free the slaves until 1863, and when he did, it was not altruism that guided his pen. It was the practicality of denying the enemy resources that could help them prolong the war until the people of the North had enough of the burden of war and insisted on ending it without reunification. The emancipation proclamation was a strategy to hurry the conclusion of the war. Proof of this is the fact that slaves in Union states were not included in this proclamation. The five border states were allowed to keep slavery until reconstruction and the 13th amendment. I don't think he was an abolitionist, though he thought slavery was immoral. He believed in fairness for all, but at the same time he didn't think whites and freed blacks could or should live in close proximity. That was the basis for his recolonization idea. I don't know that he had any dislike for blacks, I think he did not. He just foresaw the extreme difficulty that would come from having blacks living among whites and wanted to avoid the problems it would cause. It turns out he was prescient in this. In all the years since Lincoln and the emancipation, we have witnessed unending conflict due to the deep seated racism of white Americans and the systemic racism that is still with us over a century and a half later. I can't see the future as well as Lincoln could, so I don't know if America can ever heal from the great evil that was inflicted on Africans brought here against their will to be forced into slavery, not only until their death, but continuing down generations. That trauma and the violent ignorance that perpetuates it even today, might be the undoing of this country. Some at the founding suspected as much, but the hypocrisy of the slave economy in a nation proclaiming freedom for all, was overlooked in favor of easy profit. That was our country's original sin.

[@awesomeinspector5270]

@@jssamp4442 A few points: First, before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863, Lincoln had already established a near year-long record of attacking slavery in a multitude of ways that extended beyond just being motivated by military practicality despite the need for publicly insisting upon it. Lincoln’s first initial moves against slavery were, in fact, aimed at the border states by way of proposing a bill to Congress that would initiate emancipation in those states. He first did this on March 6, 1862, which was not only 6 months before the preliminary proclamation (issued on September 22, 1862), but it also happened in the wake of two highly important military victories in the west won by the young Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant (the Battles of Forts Henry and Donelson). So if Lincoln was only moved by military practicality (i.e., where the Union would have been losing and desperate), there wouldn’t have been any need to insist on any form of emancipation after such victories, let alone in the border states which had not seceded and were therefore not in active rebellion. And as you pointed out, yes, the Emancipation Proclamation was practically designed as a war measure to weaken the Confederacy’s capacity to wage war by depriving them of the vital resource of slave labor, which in turn required that the border states not be included. But this was not some callous oversight, far from it. Lincoln knew that if the border states were included they would’ve most assuredly seceded and become apart of the Confederacy which would’ve resulted in a Union loss and a Confederate victory which would have left all enslaved people unfree forever. But even with this in mind, Lincoln still had hope that the border states could be convinced to abolish slavery on their own terms by crafting new state constitutions during the war. And this also included newly-reacquired rebel states when they fell under Union control after successful military campaigns. Lincoln was actively engaged in making sure this happened by dispatching political agents to those states and having them convince Union-supporting politicians to craft new state constitutions that abolished slavery. This largely worked because before the war ended, Arkansas, Louisiana, Virginia, Maryland, Missouri, West Virginia, and Tennessee had all abolished slavery within their states on their own political terms, thanks in no small part to Lincoln’s actions. And soon thereafter, all of these states ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, which Lincoln had propelled into being in late 1864 and early 1865, which was when Union victory was virtually inevitable, further proving that military necessity was not the primary motivator behind Lincoln’s anti-slavery achievements. Lincoln saw the opportunity to destroy slavery through shrewd and careful political maneuvering and he took it. And just to put a finer point on it, in August 1864 when Lincoln feared that he would lose re-election and emancipation would be dashed, he invited Frederick Douglass to the White House and tasked him to go into the Confederacy and orchestrate squadrons of Black agents to conduct more enslaved people out of slavery in case he lost (his election opponent George B. McClellan would’ve left them in slavery without hesitation). Lincoln wanted as many people freed as possible. Douglass was, of course, enthusiastic to help, but the Union started winning again and Lincoln won re-election so it became unnecessary. The Union Army would continue freeing people and Lincoln would bring the Thirteenth Amendment to everyone’s attention and bring about its successful passing a few months later. As Douglass himself said, “What he said on this day showed a deeper moral conviction against slavery than I had ever seen before in anything spoken or written by him. I listened with the deepest interest and profoundest satisfaction, and, at his suggestion, agreed to undertake the organizing a band of scouts, composed of coloured men, whose business should be somewhat after the original plan of John Brown, to go into the rebel States, beyond the lines of our armies, and carry the news of emancipation, and urged the slaves to come within our boundaries. This plan, however, was very soon rendered unnecessary by the success of the war in the Wilderness and elsewhere, and by its termination in the complete abolition of slavery. I refer to this conversation because I think it is evidence conclusive on Mr. Lincoln’s part that the proclamation, so far as least as he was concerned, was not effected merely as a “necessity.” As for Lincoln’s personal feelings on the subject of whites living in close proximity with African Americans, this was not the primary reason behind his efforts to implement the colonization of African Americans. Yes, Lincoln initially insisted that the racial tensions between blacks and whites was too great to the point where they couldn’t live together and he connected this to his initial colonization proposal in 1862, but when he said this, it was primarily for the great mass of American white people to hear so that they could more easily stomach the Emancipation Proclamation once it went into effect. But this did not result from any outgrowth of prejudice on Lincoln’s part. When Lincoln lived in Springfield before becoming President, 9% of the city’s Black population lived within three blocks of his home and he routinely and genuinely interacted with Black residents, including Black conductors on the Underground Railroad (he even represented many Black clients as a lawyer). But of course, Lincoln’s colonization program failed for many reasons (primarily because it was impractical and non-compulsory), and Lincoln flatly abandoned it once the writing was on the wall (he even signed a bill into law that retracted funds away from colonization). And not to belabor the point, but Lincoln ordered the Navy to retrieve African Americans who took him up on the offer to recolonize in the Caribbean but had changed their minds not long after. So, in that sense, Lincoln performed the exact opposite of colonization. If he was as rigidly pro-colonization as some have suggested, he never would’ve tasked the Union Navy to leave the country during wartime to bring a small settlement of African Americans BACK to the United States. Lincoln soon came to see that African Americans would be a permanent fixture in American society and he never lamented that realization.

[@larsongramckow7495]

​@@jssamp4442he also legally couldn't.

[@daemonspudguy]

Oh, good, I was worried we'd have a video about presidents without Wilson dunking.

[@iammrbeat]

NEVER!

[@davidhochstetler4068]

Many thought Wilson was the worst EVER. This is not a myth, just true

[@warlordofbritannia]

@@davidhochstetler4068 *know

[@6thwilbury2331]

haha yeah, I almost typed "What, no 'WILSOOONNN???'" And then he came through, as always.

[@coralsnake8777]

favt that WGH followed I am not convinced Wilson wasn't incapacitated, and his vision fell flat. The fact that we had basically the League of Nations, as well as sovereign Israeli Nation 20 years later.I believe this similar to the Biden quietness last few months

[@lukaslambs5780]

Mr. Beat announcing himself like a pokemon entering battle never fails to bring a smile to my face. That said, I still loved his feature in this video!

[@ThunderHOWL16]

*I’M.. MR. BEAT!!*

[@Ugly_German_Truths]

Matt Damon?​@@ThunderHOWL16

[@edwardwalter3100]

Ah man, that kazoo rendition of Dixie gets me every time!

[@CynicalHistorian]

made it myself

[@edwardwalter3100]

@@CynicalHistorian A man of vast talents. Huzzah Cypher!

[@6thwilbury2331]

Came down here to post the same... my favorite part of a video packed with gems.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

@@CynicalHistorianDid you also make the kazoo cover of “Ain’t I Right” (used in an older video to represent “Crypto”’s straw man arguments)?

[@CynicalHistorian]

@@DiamondKingStudios yes! In fact, the Dixie kazoo cover was my first attempt at making a background song for Crypto, but I decided it didn't correctly fit the caricature. Someone on my Discord server suggested "Ain't I Right" which is perfect. Looking at the files, I made them only an 1.5hrs apart in 2021

[@BZAKether]

This is the kind of stuff that makes me love your channel. This is actual history, not a list of curious facts and the ranking of tanks. History is a complex social science and you are one of the few KZbinrs that really present it as it such and with the respect that it deserves.

[@Ugly_German_Truths]

Rankings of Tanks have their place too and can be enj7yable to watch. Like when a channel is only talking about vehicles of War and needs a "another year /another million subs" kind of video. 😜 I'll agree that it's not the deepest or most insightful "history" material. It rarely claims so though.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

I can see why the myth concerning Washington is prevalent. He is hardly remembered for anything he actually did during his presidency except being the first president and maybe also his farewell address. In my APUSH class when I was in eleventh grade, we talked about the Whiskey Rebellion and Jay’s Treaty as things that happened, not so much the contemporary political controversy, much less Washington’s role in it except “he was President”. The result was the impression of Washington as a stoic leader who stood above polarizing politics, which makes him out to be almost like that fresco of him up inside the Capitol dome. Practically apotheosis, ironically in a Catholic school, though it probably happens everywhere.

[@CynicalHistorian]

Catholics believe in apotheosis sometimes too. Saints are merely those the church guarantees have ascended to heaven and will witness the apocalypse from on high

[@DiamondKingStudios]

@@CynicalHistorian I’ve always heard of apotheosis in the context of deification, or ascent into godhood. We are by no means polytheists, but the expansion of the definition from my preconception might make such a term apt.

[@CynicalHistorian]

I suppose that's a definitional difference. Apotheosis can mean godhood or simply ascent to heaven

[@GorgeDawes]

I’d forgotten how deeply weird Buchanan was.

[@CynicalHistorian]

He's so much worse then I can even depict

[@BenjaminWirtz]

Funny he would endorse Bish if he was running a third party campaign against him.

[@seannolan9857]

​@@BenjaminWirtzHe endorsed Bush senior after losing the primary. He ran third party against Dubya.

[@AHumanBeingNamedAlex]

The angry moths have been summoned by this flame

[@DemonSliime]

I’m just a regular moth. :(

[@ThunderHOWL16]

Cypher, you are one of my favorite history youtubers because your previous videos have shattered so many of my pre conceived, poorly informed, notions about American history. I really appreciate what you do!

[@SiVlog1989]

I remember from The Presidents, they burst the myth of Abraham Lincoln being always the Great Emancipator: "Lincoln was not the Great Emancipator, he becomes the Great Emancipator over the course of the Civil War."

[@HeyItIsMichal]

That's why I like Lincoln's presidency, it has a character arc.

[@SiVlog1989]

@HeyItIsMichal indeed, they elaborate a bit on that as well, where they quote him by saying: "If I can save the Union without freeing a single slave, I'd do that. If I could save it by freeing some and leaving others in bondage, then I'd do that,"

[@avatarmikephantom153]

Phenomenal video cypher, extremely well researched and produced. However, I REFUSE to give up on Taft getting stuck by being fat. I’m a #BathtubBeliever Bathtubs can’t melt Fat Tafts!

[@DiamondKingStudios]

Do you think the Taft Bathtub was an inside job? (Not in the sense that it was installed inside a building; obviously it was)

[@avatarmikephantom153]

@@DiamondKingStudios what I’m saying is that there had to be a second soaker! Somewhere behind the towel knoll.

[@lorenfranz3173]

When Lincoln proposed that freed slaves be resettled elsewhere, including Africa and Cental America, it was in the context of that the enslaved would be free to pursue their own happiness in those places, while pro-slavery advocates argued that all blacks, whether free or enslaved, would be subordinate to whites. Robert E. Lee once said that black people were better off in America than in Africa, in the context of that he wanted to maintain the status quo of white supremacy and African slavery. Lincoln wasn't trying to deport black people because he didn't want them around, he was trying to push for more anti-slavery legislation.

[@SmittyWerbenJagermannJensen]

“Your race suffer from living among us, while ours suffer from your presence… It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated..” Lincoln words to black leaders when debating “colonization.” Lincoln was still a white supremacist and separatist.

[@richardbond258]

Being an abolitionist didn't always equate as not being racist. I have some disagreement with how this video is interpreting this part of history and how Washington was against political parties.

[@warlordofbritannia]

wtf this isn’t mr beat

[@iammrbeat]

Yes it is

[@warlordofbritannia]

@@iammrbeat Will the real Mr Beat please stand up?

[@iammrbeat]

@@warlordofbritannia I'm standing right now.

[@Pikachu2Ash]

​@@warlordofbritanniaAre you high????

[@pamr.429]

I came here from Mr. Beat's channel.

[@SomasAcademy]

BUSTIN MAKES ME FEEL GOOD

[@JediJared-bs1wt]

😂

[@blueninja012]

who you gonna call?

[@JediJared-bs1wt]

@@blueninja012 GHOSTBUSTERS!

[@Cannon4545]

bustin a... what?

[@SomasAcademy]

@@Cannon4545 A myth, of course! What else?

[@sethmaki1333]

I was never convinced with TR riding that moose. As anyone who has ever encountered a moose can tell you, it's something that will end in one of two ways. Either the moose never sees you, or you're dead.

[@Aldo_raines]

@22:16 Molly Ivins was a spitfire! God, her quips are numerous and hilarious. While reporting on a Texas house vote on criminalizing homosexuality, she saw the two authors giving each other a high five. She remarked that they were breaking the law, since “it’s now illegal for a prick to touch an asshole.” One of the last of a kind of sharp-tongued, quick-witted, unapologetically liberal Texans in the political sphere. We could use more folks like her.

[@dingusdingus2152]

Molly Ivins was a burr under the saddle of a lot of pricks and assholes. A truly great American 👍

[@historianKelly]

You are not a "cynical" historian. You, sir, are just a historian. Bravo, BTW, for the mythbusting.

[@Apocrypha303]

oh man, I haven't seen that clip of old man bush saying that. Made me lose it. That's the hardest I've laughed in a while.

[@LargeBasstafarian]

So good. The illustrations, political cartoons specifically, tend to make me tune out on you, so I find myself rewinding and listening like 7 times every 10 minutes.

[@CynicalHistorian]

I suppose that's a good thing for me

[@LargeBasstafarian]

@CynicalHistorian i don't mind it. I also wouldn't mind a video on the history of political cartoons .. if you ever get bored or run out of content ideas and stuff. Love your channel! ✌️

[@CynicalHistorian]

I've been thinking about doing a livestream where I break down various past political cartoons. They used to packed with so much meaning. Thanks for saying that, because I've got more motivation to do it now

[@LargeBasstafarian]

@CynicalHistorian pleasure is all mine. Yea just thinking about back before internet memes, TV and even radio, these were the only images that were seared into the minds of the reading public. For sure it had to have an impact.

[@AHumanBeingNamedAlex]

@@CynicalHistorian I hope there’ll be a good chunk of such a stream dedicated to 1912 election political cartoons

[@bjkarana]

Man, I didn't realize I needed this, but I did. Thank you!

[@slipstick985]

The presidency is like a ukulele. You're never sure if the fellow holding it is using it or just fiddling with it.--Will Rogers

[@pjk9225]

You know how quite a few medieval myths lead back to the Victorians? Fellas I think we’ll be viewed as the new Victorians

[@WookieeMonster1]

You are one of the only people I have encountered that are aware of what the term "Hoover Flags" refers to. Kudos for that, and for the very informative list.

[@TQFMTradingStrategies]

Who would pay for human teeth when you could use shark teeth?

[@nakoruruwantspepsi1556]

I'm surprised I'm more sad about Teddy ridding the moose is false than Lincoln not being an abolishionist is.

[@6thwilbury2331]

Cypher, I know you're not a sports fan, but you still might be aware of the origin story of Abner Doubleday and the invention of baseball. Aboslutely preposterous, yet I think I believed it until I was a teenager. Nowadays, any self-respecting baseball fan (and most self-disrespecting ones) knows the Doubleday story to be a classic myth on the level of Washington's cherry tree. However, it really illustrates how easy it was to get people to believe a total bit of fiction, especially if it's in writing and purported by something that sounds like a legit authority. Thus, it's not surprising how many myths surround U.S. Presidents, especially from the first century of our country's existence. Something something when the legend becomes fact, print the legend something something. Great video, as always.

[@CynicalHistorian]

I remember hearing the myth and thinking, "Didn't baseball predate the Civil War?" Looked it up and instantly knew. Sadly, official MLB books often repeat the myth to this day

[@MichaelBrown-rg8oi]

How dare you attempt to ruin my childhood (that came from my history class) by saying Teddy didn't ride that bull moose... He named a party after that mount damnit!

[@EnigmaticGentleman]

There are a lot of myths surrounding Washingtons time period in general for the sake of patriotism, my favorite one is that the founding fathers were fighting against the monarchy when instead they were fighting Parliament, most of them had positive opinions on King George.

[@CynicalHistorian]

Yes and no. Remember that the king gave royal assent to the Intolerable Acts, hence why the Declaration of Independence rebukes him specifically and Paine had convinced them to fight for independence from monarchy in the first place

[@matthewstarliper4074]

The kazoo dixieland while highlighting slavery was a great bit

[@ClericOfPholtus]

Union Dixie 🎉

[@ilirlluka6789]

I love that Freudian slip by Bush about the Invasion as his own invasion of Iraq and he just shrugs after as if to say "c'mon guys, what can you do, you know how it is".

[@pamelaheath4567]

To bad the newly elected guy, didn't study the facts

[@valmid5069]

Cant wait for more historical content from this channel!!!!

[@daemonspudguy]

I expect this video to have only the most civil of comment sections. /s

[@warlordofbritannia]

Tbh I didn’t know most people believed these myths, outside of maybe the Lincoln being an abolitionist part which is more of a simplification

[@RobKristjansson]

😆 Nice cut to Clinton during the moral culture chapter

[@mariovaccarella6854]

Thank You for confirming what I had heard, Abraham Lincoln was more interested in the keeping of the country/states together than getting rid of it (Slavery) altogether, ab initio.

[@toxictony1423]

Thanks for expanding my brain

[@freddyjefferson5164]

Why aren’t all electoral college delegates decided by popular vote…..if you get 35% of the votes in your state, you should get 35% of the electoral delegates

[@sststr]

Reagan Revolution requires obligatory reference to The Onion article: "Embarrassed Republicans Admit They've Been Thinking Of Eisenhower Whole Time They've Been Praising Reagan". That was published way back in 2011, but it's still just as funny today as it was then :)

[@DiamondKingStudios]

“I remember when the Ronald W. Reagan National System of Interstate and Defense Highways was established in 1986 to be a series of controlled-access highways spanning the entire country…”

[@samwill7259]

What I'm learning is that a lot of things in our wider government, shockingly, are not controlled by the whims of one man. And that I should be very thankful for that.

[@olzt100]

Washington did not chop down the tree in his youth. He chopped down the tree when he needed teath, lol!

[@petermcgill1315]

Anti-slavery is good enough for me. Lots of semantics in this one. Didn’t “cause” the depression, just made it worse. Wasn’t an abolitionist, but went to war over slavery.

[@TacticalToast99]

Abraham Lincoln didn't go to war over slavery, the Confederacy did leave the union over slavery because they wanted to expand it into the territories, while the federal government did not, Abraham Lincoln had no plans to ban slavery in the south but did want to halt its expansion. The civil war was fought to reunite the union, and really the only reason the union even fought the war was because the Confederacy forced them to do so when they attacked Fort Sumter, therefore forcing the union to declare war, if the Confederacy never attacked fort Sumter the civil war probably wouldn't have happened. During the civil war the union was under the control of border states which were union controlled slave states that were used to produce food for union troops and cotton for the uniforms through the use of slave labor, Abraham Lincoln took zero steps to end the practice of slavery in those states, yes he did create the emancipation proclamation but that was only meant for slaves in the south not the ones in the union, and by 1863 when the proclamation was made, the south had already left the union and therefore was not under Lincolns control, making the proclamation purely symbolic as it had no legal authority. The only reason slavery was outright banned was because of US senators like Lyman Trumbull who wrote the 13th amendment and John Henderson, and Charles Sumner, who came up with the idea for the 13th amendment, which was later passed by Congress, not Abraham Lincoln, and it didn't go into affect until seven months after the civil war. So basically, even though Abraham Lincoln wasn't a supporter of slavery, he wasn't an outright abolitionist either.

[@lorenfranz3173]

Tariffs before the New Deal and progressive income taxes were the federal government's primary source of revenue. Tariffs have always been a source of political infighting, as charging higher prices for imported goods can make exporting less profitable, which is why the South largely opposed higher tariffs, because it made cotton more expensive to export, while the North gained more wealth as a result. Despite what Donald Trump says about tariffs, China, or more specifically, Chinese companies don't pay for imports into the US; we, the consumer, pay for them. The reason he seems to like tariffs is to cause trade wars, which can cause chaos to the global economy, and Trump himself has admitted that he thrives off of chaos.

[@jssamp4442]

I think Trump does believe China pays the tariffs, but he can't continue the thought any further to understand that China would simply raise the prices of our cheap imports and we would end up paying them anyway.

[@lorenfranz3173]

@jssamp4442 why would China pay for things that we buy from them? What sense does that make?

[@jssamp4442]

@@lorenfranz3173 How did tariffs make cotton more expensive to export? Tariff on what by whom? But it's true tariffs have been a key political issue since the founding. It was one of the major divides separating the first two political factions, along with a federal bank.

[@jssamp4442]

@@lorenfranz3173 100% agree. China wouldn't pay for things we buy from them. They also won't pay the tariffs. It will just be another cost of production. Whatever the tariff amount, they just raise the prices they charge us when we buy their crap. The cost always falls on the consumer. Businesses would not say open long if it were otherwise.

[@jssamp4442]

@cheers2023 For many people it is all they can afford. They either buy cheaply made crap or nothing. Far too many families are barely scraping by in the richest nation on earth.

[@Mettle_DAD]

18:44 Its good to know at least that it haunts his subconscious

[@philliberatore4265]

I appreciate the story arc. Fron the trivial (George Washington shaving Nixon's cherry tree) to the absolutely important and relevant (Trump v. Whoever He Can Think Of). A well written and interesting documentary.

[@JediJared-bs1wt]

I never noticed that was a zero lantern until I checked the description

[@Arizonawatercolors]

Don’t forget the presidential myth that trumps is smart, decent, religious and loved by the whole world….ok?

[@Jason-Skywalker]

Your point about Lincoln and abolition, while accurate, doesn't really tell the while story. Aboliting slavery became politically expedient, sure, and that right there explains his earlier stance on the matter. Lincoln was at the precipice of a civil war. It wouldn't be wise to publicly condemn slavery in its totality, so he rook a moderate stance on it, which (in hindsight) didnt really help. Once it became possible (though not all that popular) he changed his rhetoric to gain more support. When he said he would maintain slavery to preserve the union, he was saying that he would put his desieres aside to that end, and his desire was the destruction of slavery. What helps us understand that Lincoln wanted *all* blacks freed was from his second meeting with Fredrick Douglass, where he told him to quickly warn blacks in the south of the possibility of his defeat in the next election, and to get them up north as fast as they could before the Democrats reversed all his carefully planned policies. E en Fredrick himself noted that this proved to him Lincoln's desire to free as many blacks as his power allowed him to. And if you read the lecture he had written down to propose colonizarion to Liboya for freed slaves, his rationale (while presented very condescendingly) was (also) very cynical. He believed that blacks could never be considered equals or be safe in the entire continent, and so it was better to simply go somehwere where they would be treated fairly. Honestly, theres a lot to say about Lincoln's race views and how he navigated them and how they changed over time, all of which deserve its own super long video. We all have to keep in mind that whether before or during his presidency, he was always a politician first and foremost. He had to be very careful with what he said and how he said it in order to get anything done.

[@GardenFootCreature]

highly well-written this one

[@tomhalla426]

Arguably, the proper contrast is how Harding/ Coolidge dealt with the depression of 1920-21 v Hoover/Davis in 1929-39. The 1920-21 was short and sharp, while the Great Depression dragged on. Intervention by Hoover and the Federal Reserve to maintain wages and prices were arguably the cause of the difference.

[@TheMattShow1011]

I do want to ask about Washington being the only president to lead troops in battle during the Whiskey rebellion. I’ve also heard that James Madison was also on the field and presumably partly commanding during the attack on D.C. during the War of 1812’s burning of it. Do we have evidence that he was just observing/present rather than commanding forces?

[@blessingkmalata]

Seeing my favorite KZbinr Mr Beat here, warmed my heart😂🎉

[@LuckyCrust]

26:37 I want that chart. Couldn't find it online.

[@CynicalHistorian]

Here you go: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Development_of_Political_Parties_in_the_United_States.svg

[@p.s6742]

13:26 Did I hear someone say.. tariffs? 😉

[@tylerd5515]

I’m already subscribed, but Mr. Beat told me to come here and I haven’t disobeyed him yet.

[@douglassauvageau7262]

Cynicism is often necessary for proper context. Well done, and 'stay-the-course'.

[@jimmyyu2184]

Great explanation on A. Lincoln. I am almost done with Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson. Keep up the good work/research!

[@CynicalHistorian]

The publisher wanted me to review that one, but I told them it is outside my specialty

[@jimmyyu2184]

@@CynicalHistorian I think you should read it, and review it, with or without sponsorship, I am always open to an honest opinion; on what A. Lincoln had to deal with/go through As always, love your works. 👍👍

[@CynicalHistorian]

@@jimmyyu2184 I don't have any reason to read up on the Sectional Crisis right now, so it would be a detriment. I do have it downloaded though

[@TheSci-fiAnarchist42]

21:07 I believe Pat Buchanan made that speech during the 1992 election. Bob Dole was the candidate in 1996.

[@Dylanhya]

Oh my God I believed some of these myths!

[@woodsmand]

remember when congress passed laws instead of just having the president do everything through executive action? that takes me back

[@LadyTylerBioRodriguez]

You forgot the true number 1 myth. Every historian must put out a top ten favorite presidents list. That is truly a harmful myth driven by the terror of information, algorithms.

[@CynicalHistorian]

I'm glad I never fell for that one, LMAO

[@BrianHartman]

I'm not sure it's accurate to say Lincoln didn't "want" a federal law for abolition. My understanding is that he thought such a law would be unconstitutional (at the time). He certainly supported the 13th amendment.

[@mariovaccarella6854]

I'd told people that he wasn't always the Savior Of Abolition as Lincoln is proposed to be

[@LadyTylerBioRodriguez]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Albert Bacon Fall also played a role in the Edith Wilson president myth. He once called the administration "a pettycoat government" and frequently demanded to see Wilson.

[@CynicalHistorian]

Haven't seen that before, but knowing him, it wouldn't surprise me

[@edenisburning]

I proudly subscribe to both your channels, and watched both videos as they were released.

[@maynardwayward12]

Imagine being so desperate you're selling teeth on eBay

[@warlordofbritannia]

Friendly reminder that by Executive Degree of His Excellency Richard, all bigots residing within the demarked comment section shall be forcibly removed.

[@dsxa918]

That was excellent thank you

[@swadizzy]

Number 1: Ronald Reagan was not the devil

[@jssamp4442]

He was certainly high up in the organization anyway.

[@billmozart7288]

He did ruin everything

[@alcarrillo]

He was the origin of modern union-busting and today's income inequality.

[@bluestrife28]

Nope. Just a shill.

[@aaronzegas5270]

He opened the door to a lot of bad shit, so he might as well be, even if, unlike Trump, he occasionally would tap the brakes.

[@theshenpartei]

What time is it? It’s historical myth busting time.

[@CynicalHistorian]

bustin' makes me feel good

[@theshenpartei]

@@CynicalHistorianyep it sure does

[@chrisoleson9570]

Illuminating work, Mr. Cynic. My grammarian and editing backgrounds compel me to cite misspellings of redbaiting (rebaiting) and separate (seperate).

[@CynicalHistorian]

Please timestamp where i made those errors

[@filmswithchase]

Someone wanna tell me why at 24:42 why there is a floating head?

[@chrisolmsted5678]

Some historian needs to work with a psychologist and a philosopher to explain how the framers of the constitution and Lincoln could write such lofty prose, hold themselves as virtuous and condone slavery at the same time. If I just explained it, my words would be lost. But here are some thoughts: Montesquieu's belief that climate sometimes requires slavery. When 75% of the signers of the declaration had to renounce the head of their church and their life long loyalty to their king, there was some PTSD to overcome. Multiple years of failing economy and insurrections (with legitimate grievances) would aggravate the emotional distress. Some circular logic about virtue would be expected. The theory of governance holds no individual should be trusted with authority. Also the people of a jurisdiction who rationally seek virtue in governance are the legitimate rulers of their jurisdiction. They should simply be referred to as " the people." almost religiously.

[@sethvanpelt5707]

Elihu root MIGHT just be a time traveling martin freeman

[@morganwells567]

You have your facts, I have my opinions

[@kentkrueger6035]

There was no resurrection!

[@claudiadarling9441]

So what you're saying is Edith Wilson was the first female president, but she had Bainbridge Colby in her pocket.

[@CherryRoverMusic]

I was sent here to gloat so I guess I can try *Gloating badly*

[@deboraholsen2504]

At 4:04 the poor horse looks alarmed and startled that he has to carry all that weight!! 😫 Oh, my poor back!!

[@mikeymememan]

YEEEEEEESSSS I NEEDED THIS CONTENT

[@ParisLawLess]

Thank you fpr your hard work on these videos

[@Musicchick60]

Those of us who know anything about moose know that no human, not even TR, would be able to ride one. They are extremely aggressive and, being wild animals, cannot be broken to ride.

[@CartersRemasters]

You could easily make an argue that 'the new deal' lived until the 70s with Ford/Carter. Nixon himself declaring himself a keynesian..People seemingly don't know this, and will use the EPA establishment as a gotcha for Nixon.

[@SamBroadway]

How on Earth did the nation such as ours go from the scandal free presidency of Barack Obama to the criminal scandalous presidency of The dRump?.... The comment is following the statements about moral compass

[@major_kukri2430]

Obama had his own scandals. But yeah, nothing as bad as what Trump did. Imagine if Obama got arrested and his mugshot spread on the internet. Lol

[@simoncohen9323]

Obama was far from scandal free he had a few scandals like his gayness in college while drugging people him hiding his true birth place and many other scandals I can get into i can give you almost 10 scandals I can remember from Obama and his tenure

[@dogood8750]

As far as presidential power I don't think that presidents were powerless but as arthur Schlesinger argues in imperial Presidency I do think FDR and the New deal should be seen as watershed moment were president were expected to take a more proactive role in stearing policy outside of major crisis like a war. In addition the ascendence or lack their of of congresses matter like I get why student who learn US history go right from Jackson to Lincoln; like I think learning about Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, then Seward, Douglas and Davis would be more important then the presidents in between.

[@matthewthomas3413]

Cassius clay pushed Lincoln to sign the emancipation proclamation.

[@Evan.280]

The 1960 debate look so clean in color. That election was so close most states could’ve been decided by a coin flip on Election Day

[@ericveneto1593]

Do people REALLY think Lincoln was an abolitionist?!

[@warlordofbritannia]

Most people don’t know the difference between emancipation and abolition, so yeah probably.

[@iammrbeat]

Some do, unfortunately

[@Mix1mum]

I think Lincoln was an opportunist. He took the mantle of abolition to keep France and the UK out of the war, after catching their ambassadors on a ship with southern diplomats. Abolition was the new norm in Europe, being something like only 15 years old and no country wanted to be seen going backwards, but the French and British economies (so did the Union north) took a huge hit with the loss of cotton from the south. Remember, the first thing industrialized was the manufacturing of clothing. With the emancipation proclamation Lincoln put Europe in a dilemma, either side with the south and take the moral hit, and economic hit, or simply stay the fuck out and suffer the same economic hit as everyone else is. We all know how it played out but there's definitely those who want to retcon history into purity and forget the efforts of strategy and diplomacy, however dubious those may be.

[@warlordofbritannia]

⁠​⁠@@Mix1mum Nah. I mean yeah, Lincoln had to balance things, but it wasn’t crude opportunism. His core principles-antislavery, preservation of the Union, prosecution of the war-dictated all his decisions. Plus, at least in hindsight, England and France were never going to intervene. And he never kidnapped any diplomats; the Trent Affair was a rogue Navy officer kidnapping Confederate ambassadors.

[@satorukuroshiro]

Unfortunately a lot do. It's been remedied somewhat thanks to us being in the information age and improved education in many progressive states, but anyone who started school before 2008 can likely remember being told that he was by their teachers prior to college-level history studies. Part of it can be summed up to a game of telephone and part of it can be summed up to the whitewashing of history for political gain.

[@francisbeall-nh9wm]

Taft lost weight when he was scotus by limiting carbs

[@LoathSam]

18:47-18:55 You should have kept the part where he says: ''Iraq too''. An admission that he knows and also thinks the Iraq war was illegal.

[@AHumanBeingNamedAlex]

Watch the Iraq War video, he included the aside

[@SaintSteven67]

I think the myth of Lincoln was catapulted after his assassination. After that, he became a martyr not just for the Union, but also for the abolitionists in their fight against slavery. What do you think? BTW, a Cypher History Video that's already great is made even better when Mr. Beat makes a visit!

[@CynicalHistorian]

Though William Lloyd Garrison in the _Liberator_ was quick to point out Lincoln was no abolitionist, even directly after the assassination, he was willing to declare that Lincoln had died for the cause

[@reaver9394]

I came here for the cat :3

[@nebulan]

What you're saying is it's not all reagan's fault eh?

[@JediJared-bs1wt]

35:31 I love that animal with the horns

[@JediJared-bs1wt]

Oh wait that’s a fox 😂

[@franciszeklatinik889]

The Dixie Kazoo LMAO

[@kengeejr]

Good analysis, with one minor quibble: though many major pieces of New Deal legislation remain intact to this day, a significant portion of the initial economic emergency relief program, specifically that which managed to survive the judicial review of a conservative Supreme Court, was deactivated or subject to severe budget cuts after the entry of the United States into World War II. There is also the matter of the reinvigorated “conservative coalition” of Dixiecrats and conservative Republicans that asserted itself in the wake of FDR’s ill considered scheme to “pack” the Supreme Court in 1937. The political fallout was significant. FDR’s conservative political opponents within the Democratic Party and outside of it, triumphed in the mid-term Congressional elections of 1938. This political realignment effectively ended the “recovery” and “relief” stages of the New Deal and a significant part of the “reform”. Americans would not see another large scale expansion of the welfare state until the mid-1960’s. Finally, the actual scope of the New Deal has been somewhat exaggerated by critics and supporters alike. The total cost of New Deal programs never exceeded 10% of America’s gross domestic product, even at their height in the mid-to-late 1930’s. By comparison, the cost of our current entitlement programs exceeds one-third of GDP

[@Laura-v9p7q]

they did get lots of teeth from the dead on the battlefield.

[@ivaniii9707]

As much hate as Wilson gets from the online historians he is my favourite US president. His opposition to the Paris treaty is the sole reason for this. He is the only one who fought against absurd territorial losses to Central powers who were agitated into a war by Britain and France.

[@larsongramckow7495]

Actually he really didn't

[@vernonwillis9975]

Agitated by Britain and France? 🐂💩

[@simoncohen9323]

Not really true and there's so much bad about Wilson and his presidency that I can't fathom people like you exist