Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Point/Counterpoint with David Barton at World Magazine

Warren Throckmorton informs us here. Drs. Throckmorton and Coulter's argument is here. Barton's argument is here.

1 comment:

Tom Van Dyke said...

Barton writes: "In fact, I make only one brief reference to this treaty in Chapter 5, and of my book’s 6,417 lines, only 16 concern this treaty. In other words, it is hardly a “key claim.” Many of Throckmorton’s criticisms are of this nature. He regularly insists on ignoring the major point under discussion and instead seeks to focus attention on a minor corollary point he wrongly labels a “key claim.”

Without taking sides on the factoid in question ["key" or otherwise], this has always been my complaint against the Barton critics' method. The search for error is not the same as the search for truth.

As for the treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians itself, the argument seems to be one of interpretation, Barton giving it more weight and significance than his critics do.

But in funneling money through the Catholic Church to help the Kaskaskias, in the least we can say this was American history's first "faith-based" initiative!

There's where the forest meets the trees.