VA's social studies reform legis.: Lincoln-Douglas debates were Lincoln and Frederick Douglass

[Nevilledog]

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Anna Yonas
@annayonas
·
Jan 13, 2022
Virginia’s proposed social studies reform legislation is terrible for myriad reasons, but the assertion that the Lincoln-Douglas debates were between Lincoln and Frederick Douglass is a new level of historical inaccuracy. https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB781…

kevinwatts
@kevinwatts
Oh my gosh, I couldn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.
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5:16 PM · Jan 13, 2022

https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+HB781

[rurallib]

1. Better than a 2 falls out of three rasslin match

[Srkdqltr]

2. Well OK. You can't make this stuff up

I think they should take a history class.

[Solly Mack]

3. Don't ask them who was at the Yalta Conference.

[Wounded Bear]

4. Well, they were virtually identical...twins, really...

[TheRealNorth]

5. Wonder what the curriculum says about the Bowling Green Massacre

I heard Frederick Douglass was there.

[PortTack]

6. JHC!! Where do they get these idiots??!!

[Igel]

7. They were elected.

In my experience, state standards aren't decided by the legislature.

Teachers are the standards writers, with academic/industry experts. The State BOE authorizes them for public comment, and finally approves them.

The Legislature doesn't. This is quick, rushed, and will be fixed. (And if not, it'll be years before this changes apply to the classroom.)

Note that I've been on a standards revision board.

[paleotn]

8. No reason to think those running some of our state governments...

are any brighter than the complete morons who make up our minority party.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Hey, Virginia lawmakers, the Lincoln-Douglas debates did not involve Frederick Douglass

The Washington Post is having fun here

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Section B3 of the bill, which was sponsored by Republican freshman Del. Wren Williams, defined what could be taught as “the founding documents,” like the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, excerpts from the Federalist Papers, the writings of the Founding Fathers and Alexis de Tocqueville’s classic “Democracy in America.” Oh, and one more thing: “the first debate between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.”

It was a clear reference to the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates, one of the high points in this country’s intellectual, moral and civic history, but there’s just one problem: Lincoln did not debate Frederick Douglass.

By Friday morning, Frederick Douglass was trending on Twitter, and the bill had been withdrawn.

Link to tweet

......The Lincoln-Douglas debates took place in the late summer and fall of 1858, when Lincoln was the Republican candidate for Senate challenging Democratic incumbent Stephen A. Douglas. At the time, senators were chosen not by popular vote but by state legislatures; their respective campaigns were designed to help their parties win control of the Illinois legislature, which would then install one of them as senator.