What do Ryan Grim, Matthew Yglesias, Ross Douthat, and Ben Dreyfuss have in common?"Getting Aaron Burr Wrong, Part Two": free preview on BAD HISTORY williamhogeland.substack.com/p/getting-aa...
William Hogeland
@williamhogeland.bsky.social
Author of "The Hamilton Scheme" and other works. Blog at HOGELAND'S BAD HISTORY: william.hogeland@substack.com. Liberal--so I mostly criticize liberal discourse. Also, "roots" music.
Become a paying subscriber to BAD HISTORY for a mere $50/year and read "Aaron Burr—270 Years of Giving People Crazy Ideas." There's some weird stuff out there. williamhogeland.substack.com/p/aaron-burr...
Aaron Burr—270 Years of Giving People Crazy Ideas
Including some who should know better.
williamhogeland.substack.com
Nobody thinks Washington didn't lie.
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · last mo.DOWD: “.. Washington was beloved by many for giving away power he could have kept. Trump is reviled by many for snatching power he isn’t entitled to. “.. One famously wouldn’t tell a lie. The other famously can’t stop telling lies.” @nytopinion.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/o...
Become a paying subscriber to BAD HISTORY at 5/mo or 50/yr and read this (along w. the entire archive) ... on the vacuousness of the term "dive bar" and a lost NYC.. open.substack.com/pub/williamh...
I mean even in this *250th* year since 1776, it doesn't seem possible for our public discourse to contemplate Washington's undeniable indispensability to the founding as presenting the country with an early and ongoing problem.
William Hogeland@williamhogeland.bsky.social · last mo.Wow--In the Netflix "American Experiment" series, Washington gets quite the pass on his response to the Proclamation Line. Just...wow.
You know you've made it when you're on a show with Ted Cruz and Yuval Levin.
Wow--In the Netflix "American Experiment" series, Washington gets quite the pass on his response to the Proclamation Line. Just...wow.
Unlocked and improved this one, on Gopnik's review of Allen's book, no paywall: williamhogeland.substack.com/p/adam-gopni...
Adam Gopnik's Great-Man Theory
Now it's all about the Duke of Richmond?
williamhogeland.substack.com
The NYT Alan Greenspan obituary says he oversaw "a period of immense wealth creation." In reality, his time at the Fed from 1987-2006 was a period of average GDP growth — BUT the growth that there was flooded to America's richest people, making them think it was a period of immense wealth creation.
"In Gopnik's US founding, it's as if remarkable events like American independence can be driven by things like reading and writing for The New Yorker." (paywall) williamhogeland.substack.com/p/adam-gopni...
Adam Gopnik's Great-Man Theory
Now it's all about the Duke of Richmond?
williamhogeland.substack.com
In the Burr case, the government had no such evidence.
STEMthebleeding@stemthebleeding.bsky.social · 2mo agoI know its kinda not the point, but "treason" is another one of those words where we've flattened it to mean "I don't like this". If Aaron Burr couldn't be charged for treason despite a signed letter saying to sell part of the US to France in exchange for making him a lord, almost no one can.
And here it is, my belabored retrospective on Gordon Wood. Of course they changed the title, as magazines do. I preferred "How Gordon S. Wood Became the Rhetoric and Reality of the American Revolution" but knew it probably wouldn't fly. newrepublic.com/article/2115...
How Gordon S. Wood Shaped the Idea of America
The acclaimed historian, who died at the age of 92 this week, spent decades at the center of a debate about the founding of the United States.
newrepublic.com
Back on Homer discourse, with a free post on BAD HISTORY: williamhogeland.substack.com/p/the-odysse... (that's Helen of Troy in 1927)
"The Odyssey" as Period Piece
Online Homer discourse got pretty riveting there for a minute.
williamhogeland.substack.com
After three grand juries declined to indict him, Burr was seized by federal military authority and subjected to a capital charge on the basis of concocted evidence and a presidential announcement, pre-trial, that he was guilty. Probably the darkest hour in Jefferson's political career.
Momus Jones@boyq.bsky.social · 6mo agoGood things have happened before, and can again. On this day in 1807 US Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested in Alabama for treason.
The plan to invade Mexico drew a misdemeanor charge (acquittal on that too, though he did keep pushing it). The treason charge, for which there was (and is) no legitimate evidence, was the result of an illegal executive-branch effort to railroad him and get him hanged (if you like conspiracy!).
John du Bois (He/Him)@johndubois.bsky.social · 4mo agoAaron Burr was guilty of the treason he was accused of, and his daughter Theodosia was trying to get him funds for a second invasion of Mexico when she was lost at sea.
Free preview: williamhogeland.substack.com/p/new-york-t...
New York Times "News Analysis": Trump Exposes the US Founders As Corrupt, Anti-Democratic, Authoritarian Elitists
Front-page and just above the fold (yes, I get the print version), under the kicker “News Analysis,” today’s New York Times presents this headline: “Founders Had a Blind Spot, and Trump Is Exposing It...
williamhogeland.substack.com
This lame Netflix thing on George Washington is particularly weak on the young Washington's disingenuousness in reporting to superiors after Jumonville's Glen and throughout and after the battle at Fort Necessity. Blaming the translator? That's GW, not objective truth.
I'm having a discussion with the Thomas Paine Historical Association regarding Paine's startling role in 1776--way beyond Common Sense--in bringing about American independence. On Zoom, and free, Saturday 5/9 at 4PM ET: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Common Sense Was Not Enough. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
With a May 1776 Pennsylvania election going sideways, was independence doomed? Not with Paine and compatriots, during the weeks before the Declaration, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Willi...
us02web.zoom.us
I find that the misconceptions that Aaron Burr murdered Hamilton and committed treason are even more prevalent on BlueSky than on Twitter.
Become a paying subscriber to BAD HISTORY and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bicentennial with Robert Altman's "Nashville." williamhogeland.substack.com/p/the-50th-a...
2026: 50th Anniversary of the Bicentennial and Altman's"Nashville"
It don't worry me.
williamhogeland.substack.com
If you were a paying BAD HISTORY subscriber ($5/mo. or $50/yr.), you'd be reading about how Patrick Henry's 1775 "liberty or death" speech was made up forty years after the fact. williamhogeland.substack.com/p/patrick-he...
Patrick Henry's Made-Up Speech
For some reason, references to Patrick Henry’s famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech have been crossing my screen recently, even though there’s no semiquincentennial hook, since the speech ...
williamhogeland.substack.com