If the Republican Party goes on to nominate one of its prominent female candidates as their 2012 presidential challenger, it might be a good idea to hire a tutor so they can brush up on their American history.

 

Both Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann have made inaccurate and embarrassing remarks on topics ranging from slavery to the FDR administration while pitching themselves to voters.

 

Bachmann got the year off to a rough start when she told an anti-tax crowd in Washington, D.C., that the founding fathers devoted themselves to ending slavery. Not so. Slavery was not an issue that the founders of the Declaration of Independence reached consensus on, because delegates from the Southern colonies were adamant about maintaining the practice. So the final version of the document left things well alone.

 

Bachmann further mangled history when she cited John Quincy Adams as an example of a founding father who fought to end slavery. She was off by a generation, for it was Adams’ father, John senior, who argued for abolition and was party to the Declaration of Independence. John Quincy was only a child when the colonies decided to break free from England.

 

The gaffe did not discourage Bachmann from moving on with her campaign, and stumbling again when she reached into the nation’s past for another political moment.

 

When she traveled in March to New Hampshire, home of the nation’s first primary, Bachmann hoped to score points with residents by proclaiming her passion for freedom. “What I love about New Hampshire and what we have in common is our extreme love for liberty,” the Minnesota Republican said. “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord.”

 

Bachmann, of course, was referring to the Battle of Lexington and Concord, which marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. But she was off by a state – for the “shot” took place in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire.

 

The battle was immediately preceded by another famous moment in American history – Paul Revere’s ride. That event too became distorted by a modern-day GOP politician, but this time the egg was on Sarah Palin’s face.

 

While making a stop in Boston, the former governor of Alaska spoke about Revere and how he “warned the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms, by ringing those bells and making sure as he was riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free.”

 

For the record, Revere’s purpose was to warn colonists—specifically Samuel Adams and John Hancock—that the British were on the way to arrest them. Revere fired no shots and did not ring any bells. He did use lanterns to signal from which direction (by land or sea) the Red Coats would approach.

 

But Palin partisans carried the fight to the pages of Wikipedia. Shortly after her misstatements became part of the 24/7 news cycle, the entry for Paul Revere was altered to reflect Palin’s version of the story. The revised version was quickly rewritten to acknowledge certain aspects of her story but essentially fleshed out an already-accurate story.

 

Palin has her work cut out, though, if she wants to catch Bachmann in the historical blunders department. In addition to flubbing late 18th century events, Bachmann got it wrong when discussing tariffs in the 1930s.

 

In addressing her colleagues from the House floor, Bachmann blamed Franklin Delano Roosevelt for the “Hoot-Smalley Act,” which, she insisted, raised tariffs and made the Great Depression even more depressing.

 

Correction No. 1: the act was Smoot-Hawley.

 

Correction No. 2: President Roosevelt opposed the tariff hikes.

 

Will the Real John Quincy Adams Please Stand Up? (by R.B. Bernstein, Huffington Post)

Palin’s Twist on Paul Revere (by Brooks Jackson, FactCheck.org)

Palin Says She Didn’t Err on Paul Revere (by James Risen, New York Times)

Sarah Palin, the Midnight Ride and Paul Revere in His Own Words (International Business Times)

Michele Bachmann Wins Fake Facts Title (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)