The Constitutional Alamo

In 2008, two thousand high school students across the country were asked to name the greatest Americans, excluding presidents and presidents’ wives.  Their selections reflect our educational system’s priority on minority and women’s studies.

by Michael Naragon

While sitting in the Advanced Placement institute a week ago, the instructor posed a question to the history educators in the room.

“Not counting presidents or their wives,” he began, “who would you consider the five greatest, most influential Americans in history?”  My mind began to cycle through the most important figures to grace the stage.

My first choice was John Marshall.  As the first significant Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he established the principle of judicial review, greatly expanding the power of the Court and making the Constitution, according to Jefferson, “a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.”

Next, I chose Benjamin Franklin.  The exclusion of presidents ruled out many of the Founding Fathers I would have chosen, but Franklin fit the bill.  Many historians credit Franklin as the architect of the American ideal–a merge of the Puritan work ethic and moral compass with the tolerance and reason of Enlightenment philosophy.  He served as ambassador to France, securing French support for the Revolution effort, and Postmaster General.  Not to mention, he was an accomplished inventor, and many of his creations are still used today in one form or another.

Another name I could not leave off the list was Thomas Edison.  Of all the great inventors in American history, no one individual had the impact of Edison.  Among his inventions were the light bulb, motion picture camera, phonograph, and the alkaline storage battery, among hundreds of others.  He also participated in many projects for the government, including the detection of submarines and the use of sound to determine the range of enemy guns.

I also included Martin Luther King, Jr. in my top five.  King was instrumental in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, bringing attention and voice to the segregation present in many parts of the country.  His “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” in 1963 cemented his fame.  His “I Have A Dream” speech in Washington in August of that same year created his legend.

I was torn with my last choice, so I made none.  Leaving out the presidents made it difficult to decide on a fifth person.

I was pleased to hear that my choices were in line with those made by historians across the country.  On the historians’ list, in sequential order:

1. Alexander Hamilton – I felt silly that I hadn’t come up with Hamilton.

2. Benjamin Franklin

3. John Marshall

4. Martin Luther King, Jr.

5. Thomas Edison

As you may have guessed, the list provided by the 2,000 high school students did not match mine.  Here is the students’ list, in order:

1. Martin Luther King, Jr.

2. Rosa Parks

3. Harriet Tubman

4. Susan B. Anthony

5. Benjamin Franklin

6. Amelia Earhart

7. Oprah Winfrey

8. Marilyn Monroe

9. Thomas Edison

10. Albert Einstein

I’m not going to write that Harriet Tubman was not a great American, or that Rosa Parks wasn’t courageous.  You could make the case that Parks, not King, should be considered the most important figure of the civil rights movement.

But for those of you who believe that the education system in America is rolling along nicely and our children are being given a well-rounded education, I present this survey as Exhibit A for the contrary argument.