Historian addresses U.S. apprehension
McCullough: Historian declined to answer questions on plagiarism
By Tim Williams
Senior Staff Writer
The principles upon which the United States was founded, and the individuals
who gathered at the First Continental Congress to attach their names to
these ideas, exemplify lessons pertinent to the country's collective sense
of apprehension after last fall's terrorist attacks, historian David McCullough
said in a lecture Thursday
evening at the UH Hilton Hotel.
To signers of the Declaration of Independence, the "pursuit of happiness"
didn't have material wealth connotations, McCullough said. "It was the
good life of the
mind. Learning," he said.
Former Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were among a flowering,
flourishing group of educated men who hailed from early American cities
more on
the scale of today's towns, McCullough said.
It was their extensive reading and a desire for knowledge that influenced
the U.S. Declaration of Independence and subsequent documents, he said.
McCullough is the author of <I>John Adams<P>, a best-selling biography
on the second president. He is also the narrator of several PBS documentaries
including
<I>The Civil War<P> and host of <I>The American Experience<P>.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the nation has been in a state of change
and apprehension, McCullough said.
"We as a nation have been through far worse," he said.
In 1941 and 1942, Americans were not sure if the Nazi machine could
be stopped, he said. German submarines were sinking oil tankers within
sight of the New
Jersey and Florida coasts.
The Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 killed more than 500,000 people
in the United States, and that was when the population was much smaller
than today, he
said. Every family lost someone.
Early on in the American Revolution, the country's future seemed bleakest.
Only one-third of the colonies' population supported the effort, 32,000
British troops
were within a two-day march of Philadelphia -- the largest city at
the time -- and Gen. George Washington's army numbered about 3,000, McCullough
said.
"The more I read, I see that determination and stubbornness are pseudonyms
for character," he said.
Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night and won small
victories in Princeton and Trenton, N.J., he said. It was then that colonists'
support for
the war solidified and the British realized the war would be long.
"Our obligation to our country ceases only with our lives," McCullough
quoted Adams as saying.
In later years, Adams was beset with multiple personal tragedies, including
the death of his wife Abigail and two children, McCullough said.
Adams became physically weak but kept his wits as he approached death,
which was fitting for a man who valued education and was quoted as saying
to fellow
town members about the 50th anniversary of America's independence in
1826, "Independence forever."
"He meant independence of mind," McCullough said.
McCullough refused to respond directly to an audience member's question
concerning plagiarism charges leveled against fellow historians Stephen
Ambrose and
Doris Kearns Goodwin, saying that both were friends and that all that
could be said about the incidents has been said.
"We're going through a spasm where people in all fields are being put
under scrutiny that hasn't happened in history," he said after the audience
question period
ended. "I hate it."
