American Scripture

Identify three examples of Pauline Maier using religious imagery in American Scripture. Describe the contexts of these examples and explain how they do or do not support Maier’s argument against the sanctification of political documents in the United States.

Maier wrote American Scripture in 1997. Does her critique of Americans’ worship of the vital documents still apply now? Explain whether it applies and support the answer with two concrete examples from current events.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were two very different revolutionaries with the common goal of gaining the nation’s Independence. Their opinions about how Americans should remember them and their legacy were also different. How were their opinions different, according to Maier? Whose opinion best matches Maier’s perspective on the subject? Explain using textual support.

Consider how Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. “remade” the Declaration. How did King reopen the debate about the Declaration’s meaning in the 20th century?

What other founding documents have been similarly sanctified? Is there a similar mythology around the US Constitution, for example? If so, how does this mythology affect public understanding of how the Constitution should be applied in the present day?

Maier characterizes the drafting and revision of the Declaration as a process of adaptation and debate, rather than an act of inspiration by a single thinker. How does this characterization offer a different understanding of the Declaration’s significance?

Who are the protagonists and antagonists in Maier’s story of the Declaration? How do these roles differ from those found in the popular mythology of the Declaration?

What values and what understanding of history are on display at the National Archives exhibition? What does Maier mean in describing the exhibition as a “shrine”? What is the effect of opening and closing the book with this exhibition?