Finkelman Files an Amicus Brief
Historians are part storytellers, part politicians, and their credibility depends on what they include and exclude. For years, I have been telling a historical fact that appears untrue in order to ascertain a person’s character. I considered my half-truth a test, and after ensnaring one of America’s top legal historians, I will now reveal my trap. Did the Founders of the United States envision a Catholic or Protestant nation? Answer: ex-Maryland, they wanted a republic with checks and balances rather than a king or a Pope, and they differed on how to distribute power to accomplish that end. No serious historian can refute my last sentence, but the next statement will reveal whether you understand human nature: did any legitimate or conforming Catholics sign the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution? To test so-called experts, I have been saying zero Catholics signed the Constitution and only one signed the Declaration of Independence. However, textbooks will tell you two Cath...
