Michelle Bachmann’s recent pronouncements have led some to suggest that her grasp of history is as shaky as Sarah Palin’s. According to the Republican candidate, the founding fathers worked “tirelessly to end slavery”. Asked earlier today on Good Morning America to justify this claim, Bachmann cited the example of John Quincy Adams.
Unfortunately for Bachmann, Adams (born 11 July 1767) was only eight years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed by figures including his father, John Adams, on 4 July 1776. But when corrected on this point by host George Stephanopoulos, Bachmann refused to concede. Here’s the key exchange:
Bachmann: Well if you look at one of our Founding Fathers, John Quincy Adams, that’s absolutely true. He was a very young boy when he was with his father serving essentially as his father’s secretary. He tirelessly worked throughout his life to make sure that we did in fact one day eradicate slavery….
Stephanopoulos: He wasn’t one of the Founding Fathers – he was a president, he was a Secretary of State, he was a member of Congress, you’re right he did work to end slavery decades later. But so you are standing by this comment that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery?
Bachmann: Well, John Quincy Adams most certainly was a part of the Revolutionary War era. He was a young boy but he was actively involved.
Soon afterwards, John Qunicy Adams’s Wikipedia page (see below, click to enlarge) was edited to falsely state that he was a “founding father”. Bachmann’s supporters, it appears, have been attempting to rewrite history.
Hat-tip: Addicting Info.
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