Last month Florida governor Jeb Bush signed a law revising
teaching standards in the state's public schools in ways that
have caused some dismay among historians. (PDF file here.) At
the top of the list of what will be taught is: (a) The history
and content of the Declaration of Independence, including
national sovereignty, natural law, self-evident truth, equality
of all persons, limited government, popular sovereignty, and
inalienable rights of life, liberty, and property, and how they
form the philosophical foundation of our government.Later (in
section f) the law adds: American history shall be viewed as
factual, not as constructed, shall be viewed as knowable,
teachable, and testable, and shall be defined as the creation of
a new nation based largely on the universal principles stated in
the Declaration of Independence. This law is, of course, a
construction of U.S. history. The words "shall be viewed" show
that, even as lawmakers insist on one interpretation of American
history, they acknowledge others.