PragerU’s Will Witt recently traveled to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and asked passersby about American history. Their answers were less than encouraging.
“Who was the first president?” Witt asked a woman wearing a red beanie.
After a lengthy pause, the woman replied, “That’s a good question. I don’t know.” Witt then asked her who the 16th president was (Abraham Lincoln), and she replied: “If I don’t know the first, I don’t know the 16th.”
They were standing directly in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
Witt asked a woman wearing a black jacket who her favorite president was. After a brief moment of reflection, she stated: “I would say Obama, and Lincoln, and Jackson.”
“You like Andrew Jackson? Trail of tears?” Witt asked.
“Yeah, I guess” the woman replied.
Witt also asked others who their favorite presidents were. Typical answers abounded – Obama, Clinton.
“When was the Declaration of Independence signed?” Witt asked several individuals.
While some answered correctly (1776), an alleged “history major” guessed “1773.” She also failed to identify the 16th president.
“When did World War II end?” Witt queried. The history major guessed that the war ended in 1952. Witt then corrected her, noting that the war actually came to an end in 1945.
Witt asked two individuals who appeared to be a couple when the Declaration of Independence was signed. The woman first stated that “it was nineteen something.” After Witt joked that she was “close,” the woman guessed 1904 and 1901. Following the reveal that the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, the woman replied, “That was not close.”
A man wearing a Chicago Bulls beanie seemed to know at least a bit of history, quickly and correctly identifying the first president, George Washington. However, he misidentified the second president as “Samuel Adams.”
“Like the beer,” Witt joked.
Moving on, Witt asked several people to what political party Abraham Lincoln belonged.
“Democratic?” stated a woman wearing a huge white scarf.
“No,” Witt shot back.
“No?” the woman, seemingly surprised, responded.
As Witt informed the woman that Lincoln actually helped develop the Republican Party, the woman in the white scarf suggested that her belief must have been a “misconception.”
“I guess Republicans aren’t so bad,” Witt said.
“No. I guess not,” white scarf replied.
Witt asked the same question of the history major. Like the woman in the white scarf, the history major claimed that Lincoln was a member of “the Democratic Party.” When Witt corrected her, she seemed somewhat gobsmacked.
The following is an exchange Witt had with a man wearing a camouflage jacket:
CAMO: Republicans had a very different outlook back in the 1800s.
WITT: They wanted to free the slaves back then.
CAMO: Was that the Republican Party, or was that just kind of a general consensus?
WITT: That was the Republican Party. The Republican [Party] was pretty much the anti-slavery party. The Democrats were like the party of the KKK, things like that.
CAMO: Ironic how things change, isn’t it?
Once again, the man wearing the Bulls beanie knew some history. “He was part of the conservative party,” he said.
When Witt asked the man if he was surprised by Lincoln’s involvement in the Republican Party, the man said, “Not at all. Nope.”
“Are you a Republican?” Witt asked.
“I am. Proud Republican,” the man stated.