We have move to West Point. It is closer to my husband's job. ....
                Everything is great here, we found a nice little
                church ...... They are nice
               and the minister is NOT into all the "everything goes" hype that seems
               to be coming around in the churches today.

               I wrote to you because I have something you may want to read. My son is
               researching American history using Clarence Carson's book, "Basic
               American Government," but he also looks at other textbooks as well. He
               came across the following in a textbook entitled, "American History"-
               revised edition by John A. Garraty (copyright 1986, 1982 by Harcourt
               Brace Jovanovich, Inc.):

               THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

               "Jefferson's Declaration of Independence is one of the best-known and
               most influential political documents ever written. No one has expressed
               so well the right of people to overthrow a government they do not like
               and make a new one they do like. The argument is easy to follow. It is
               shown by the notes at the margins of the Declaration, reprinted, with
               reading aids on pages 140-43 of this chapter.

               Jefferson originally wrote that the truths set forth in the Declaration
               were 'sacred and undeniable.' In polishing the Declaration, Franklin
               changed the phrase to read 'self-evident' ----that is, obvious. They
               make up only a small part of the document. Nevertheless, they are the
               part that makes the Declaration so important. For the first time in
               history, a group of revolutionaries were carefully explaining to the
               world why they had the right to use force to change their government.

               The Declaration of Independence is a superb statement of the principles
               on which democratic government is based. (Political power in a democracy
               comes from the people and is for the benefit of all.) Using historical
               imagination reminds us that the Declaration was also wartime propaganda.
               As a description of the causes of the Revolution, the Declaration is
               very one---sided. Many of the charges made against George III were
               strongly exaggerated. Some were untrue. The king had many faults. But he
               was not a tyrant, and he had no desire to become one.

               
            Those who put their names on the Declaration of Independence were
            burning their bridges behind them. In English eyes they were now
            traitors. If they lost the war, they could expect the treatment commonly
            given traitors---death." [END of Text from Text Book]

               My son and I wonder why the author is making it seem that the founding
               fathers were overthrowing the government simply because they did not
               like it. It goes much deeper than that, but this is all the author
               writes on the Declaration. We also think that the author is trying to
               make the founding fathers look like subversives that had no real good
               reasons to "overthrow the government." The author goes on to make claims
               that the charges in the Declaration are exaggerated and some untrue, but
               then he does not give examples to back up these statements. The author
               also says the king was not a tyrant and had no desire to become one, but
               then does not go into the well documented fact that the king was a
               madman with many mental problems and had no business running a country.
               Even using this "historical imagination" we do not see how the
               Declaration of Independence is wartime propaganda.
                The only propaganda we see is in this text book.
               
               I am glad my teenage son is on guard against this sort of tripe in
               textbooks. It is sad that public (and some private) school students get
               this garbage spoon-fed to them regularly. BTW, this is from a textbook
               that a private school uses in their day school, but they send it out as
               part of their curriculum package to homeschoolers. So no one is immune
               from exposure to these textbooks. It is up to us, the parents, to beware
               and to teach our children to look out for and question statements that
               these textbooks teach. We need to also research and find documentation
               on these statements as well.

               Thank you for your time. I am interested in hearing your thoughts on
               this matter. If you think we are way off base or overreacting I would
               like to know. I respect your opinion and I think you do an excellent job
               on your website. It is very informative and thought-provoking.

Yours in Christ,

xxxxx xxxxx
xxxx xxxxx xxxx
West Point, VA xxxxx