{"id":16944,"date":"2023-10-02T17:14:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T00:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/?p=16944"},"modified":"2023-10-02T17:14:24","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T00:14:24","slug":"presidential-candidates-interpreting-americas-founding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/presidential-candidates-interpreting-americas-founding\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating political wilderness: Are presidential candidates correctly interpreting America\u2019s founding history?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                          \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/10\/Mancall_Top-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/10\/Mancall_Top-1920x1080.jpg 1920w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/10\/Mancall_Top-1280x720.jpg 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/10\/Mancall_Top-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  role=\"none\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  This 1876 wood engraving depicts the 1620 embarkation of the pilgrim fathers in America. (Image source: iStock. Original drawing by Felix Darley. Engraving by Albert (Alfred) Bobbett.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=politics\">Politics<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Navigating political wilderness: Are presidential candidates correctly interpreting America\u2019s founding history?<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  How early American immigrants\u2019 beliefs and writings are often misquoted or taken out of context by GOP candidates for the nation\u2019s highest office.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Peter Mancall<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">October 2, 2023<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 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10.8c-1.087-2.114-4.046-6.053-6.798-7.995C2.566.944 1.561 1.266.902 1.565C.139 1.908 0 3.08 0 3.768c0 .69.378 5.65.624 6.479c.815 2.736 3.713 3.66 6.383 3.364c.136-.02.275-.039.415-.056c-.138.022-.276.04-.415.056c-3.912.58-7.387 2.005-2.83 7.078c5.013 5.19 6.87-1.113 7.823-4.308c.953 3.195 2.05 9.271 7.733 4.308c4.267-4.308 1.172-6.498-2.74-7.078a8.741 8.741 0 0 1-.415-.056c.14.017.279.036.415.056c2.67.297 5.568-.628 6.383-3.364c.246-.828.624-5.79.624-6.478c0-.69-.139-1.861-.902-2.206c-.659-.298-1.664-.62-4.3 1.24C16.046 4.748 13.087 8.687 12 10.8\"  fill-rule=\"evenodd\" \/>\n              <\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Bluesky<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                                <a class=\"a2a_button_email\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#email\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"E-mail\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_print\">\n              <svg height=\"12\" viewBox=\"0 0 18 12\" width=\"18\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>During the first Republican presidential primary debate, on Aug. 23, former Vice President Mike Pence spoke of founders of the nation conquering the American \u201cwilderness.\u201d It was one of many mentions of American history: Candidates also name-checked the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the legacy of President Ronald Reagan. Toward the end of the evening, Pence stressed the wilderness theme: \u201cIf we renew our faith in one another and renew our faith in Him, who has ever guided this nation since we arrived on these wilderness shores, I know the best days for the greatest nation on Earth are yet to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Historical references are so ubiquitous in presidential debates and stump speeches that they can seem superficial. This year\u2019s Republican candidates seem especially committed to the idea that the past matters, perhaps because of battles over history and ethnic studies curricula spreading in some states. If, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis opined, \u201cwe cannot be graduating students that don\u2019t have any foundation in what it means to be American,\u201d then perhaps we also need to pay closer attention to what kind of American identity candidates are finding in history.<\/p>\n<p>When Pence referenced conquering the wilderness, he used a keyword lifted from the Puritans. Those early American immigrants make cameos in plenty of political speeches, but often in ways that are misquoted or misunderstood because their writings reflect a world of the 1600s, whose concerns are not identical to those of our time.<\/p>\n<p>In England, the Puritans constituted a religious minority that opposed the state-sanctioned Church of England, which they believed had betrayed true faith. By leaving for North America, many believed they were testing whether their distinct vision of Protestant Christianity could survive in a new continent.<\/p>\n<p>The concept of conquering a wilderness came into American vocabulary from these immigrants. Between 1630 and 1650, Plymouth Colony governor William Bradford penned a history of the Puritans\u2019 settlement of Plymouth, known today as \u201cOf Plymouth Plantation.\u201d In the text, the governor offered a vivid depiction of how the Puritans who sailed to the coast in the autumn of 1620 met a land \u201cwith a weather-beaten face\u201d and how \u201cthe whole country, full of woods and thickets,\u201d had \u201ca wild and savage hue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In reality, Bradford and those who sailed with him on the <em>Mayflower<\/em> did not encounter a wilderness as we typically use the word now. As even other Europeans like <a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=pst.000007661587&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=511&amp;skin=2021\" target=\"_blank\">Samuel de Champlain<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/voyagessam00chamrich\/page\/n17\/mode\/2up\" target=\"_blank\">Captain John Smith <\/a>acknowledged at the time, these English arrived in long-settled Wampanoag territory. Cornfields, not thick woods, surrounded Patuxet, the town the English renamed New Plymouth. Residents of the town had suffered through a devastating epidemic, possibly caused by rats that had stowed away on ships from Europe, that tore through coastal New England in the late 1610s.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<blockquote><p>[Puritans] make cameos in plenty of political speeches, but often in ways that are misquoted or misunderstood, because their writings reflect a world of the 1600s, whose concerns are not identical to those of our time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Despite the loss of life, the Indigenous community survived. Yet because Christians did not inhabit these places, Bradford and the other Puritans saw them as part of the \u201cwilderness\u201d that needed to be conquered. Later in the same book, Bradford celebrates the destruction of a Pequot village, which left 400 to 700 dead in a single night. The Puritans rounded up survivors and sold them into slavery.<\/p>\n<p>In his references to wilderness, Pence left unspoken the irony of representing a party bent on restricting access to newcomers while praising the idea that the nation emerged only because newcomers ran roughshod over those who already lived in North America. In his version of early American history, Europeans were the only important actors, so his view of the nation\u2019s history concentrates on them alone.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s second Republican debate took place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley on Sept. 27. Like Pence, Reagan invoked the Puritans to boast of American exceptionalism. In his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reaganlibrary.gov\/archives\/speech\/farewell-address-nation\" target=\"_blank\">farewell address<\/a> to the nation on Jan. 11, 1989, he cited a lay sermon delivered in 1629 by soon-to-be governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony John Winthrop and referred to the United States as a \u201cshining city on a hill.\u201d Reagan famously interpreted Winthrop as stating that America was \u201ca beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom.\u201d He also called Winthrop \u201can early freedom man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6316153\/tim-scott-running-mates-pompeo-sununu-gowdy\/?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=sfmc&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter+brief+default+ac&amp;utm_content=+++20230921+++body&amp;et_rid=206609483&amp;lctg=206609483\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Time <\/em>magazine<\/a>, Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott repeated this invocation of Winthrop. He stated that he hoped to lead \u201ca team anchored in conservatism that wants to make sure that America remains the city on the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Winthrop wasn\u2019t bragging about the colony being a yearned-for destination, like a freedom-minded Emerald City. He didn\u2019t even use the word \u201cshining\u201d at all \u2014 that was Reagan\u2019s addition. The original text was Matthew 5:14: \u201cYe are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill, cannot be hid,\u201d the verse reads in the 1599 Geneva Bible the Puritans favored. Winthrop understood what the apostle meant: Creating a biblically centered community was a challenge, and if the Puritans succeeded, they would be the envy of the world. But if they failed, everyone would see their shortcomings. They would make an embarrassment of the Protestant agenda to reform the world in the way they believed God intended.<\/p>\n<p>Reagan took the line out of context. His proud, sunny version missed the Puritan theologians\u2019 point, which was made at a time when religious wars were driving Catholics and Protestants against each other across much of Europe. For Winthrop and his contemporaries, the fate of the world was at stake. They knew that the English migrants could lose their battle. That possibility did not fit into Reagan\u2019s belief in the inevitability of American greatness. (For what it\u2019s worth, when John F. Kennedy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jfklibrary.org\/learn\/about-jfk\/historic-speeches\/the-city-upon-a-hill-speech\" target=\"_blank\">invoked Winthrop\u2019s speech<\/a> shortly before he became president in 1961, he understood that it referred to a challenge rather than an assertion of inevitability.)<\/p>\n<p>But if Pence and Reagan twisted the meaning of the twinned ideas of conquering wilderness and building a city on a hill, they are right that these concepts are foundational to American history. The English migrants to New England believed that what happened to them had world-historic significance, but that success was not pre-ordained. Bradford and Winthrop each recognized that danger lurked. They believed that survival depended on adherence to their faith \u2014 and that even so, the risk of failure was high. Those views shaped early New England and, by extension, much of what became the nation\u2019s culture in the years after the American Revolution.<\/p>\n<p>A different kind of existential threat seems to animate at least some of the candidates for the Republican nomination. In some ways, it appears, these candidates feel the kinds of pressure that the Puritans faced four centuries ago. They too look to stake out a moral position, based on the notion that the future of our culture depends on who comes to occupy the Oval Office.<\/p>\n<p>Though they are battling to govern in the future, the Republican candidates seem obsessed by how we understand the past. Those who cite the legacies of President Reagan and the conquest of wilderness want to emulate what they see as the heroic steps the Puritans took to establish a nation. Yet they seem blind to the complexity of the actual past, in which Europeans pursuing one vision of the future displaced and attacked Indigenous peoples who had their own plans for what was to come. If the Puritans are to serve as inspiration, it seems time to reckon with their actual ideas and actions.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>About the author<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/profile\/peter-mancall\/\">Peter Mancall<\/a> is a Distinguished Professor of History, Anthropology, and Economics and Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n<p><em>Note: This story was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zocalopublicsquare.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Z\u00f3calo Public Square<\/a>. It is republished here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Related Stories\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/5-elections-to-watch-in-2025\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >5 elections to watch in\u00a02025<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/underrepresented-voters-shape-2024-election\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >How underrepresented voters could influence the 2024 election<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/5-kinds-of-american-evangelicals-and-their-voting-patterns\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >5 kinds of American evangelicals and their voting patterns<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How early American immigrants\u2019 beliefs and writings are often misquoted or taken out of context by GOP candidates for the nation\u2019s highest office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":16953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,50],"tags":[120,87,71],"class_list":["post-16944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","category-politics","tag-elections","tag-expert-viewpoint","tag-history"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Navigating political wilderness: Are presidential candidates correctly interpreting America\u2019s founding history?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Early American immigrants\u2019 beliefs and writings are often misquoted or taken out of context by GOP candidates aiming for the nation\u2019s highest office.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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