Iconic Myths Worthy of Destruction

What do these nine statements have in common?

1. Republicans are fiscally conservative and believe in smaller government.

2. Democrats are staunch defenders of the first amendment.

3. Herbert Hoover responded to the stock market crash with laissez-faire economic policies.

4. FDR lifted the country out of the Great Depression.

5. Robert E. Lee fought for the South because he wanted to preserve slavery.

6. Ulysses Grant fought for the North because he wanted to end slavery.

7. The Puritans were teetotalers.

8. The Constitution's commerce clause was always understood to authorize federal regulation of all business activity.

9. The Constitution's general welfare clause shows that the founders favored central government primacy over states' rights.

Pose these assertions as true or false questions to several randomly selected college graduates, and each will be marked "true" by the majority.

The nine assertions have this in common: they are widely believed, and completely false.

Recommended reading: 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask by Thomas E. Woods.