Did you hear about Ben Carson’s latest misstep? Twitter was abuzz yesterday with a report that he had badly mangled Thomas Jefferson’s role in crafting the Constitution. Carson said that Jefferson, “tried to craft our Constitution in a way that it would control people’s natural tendencies” while his critics suggested Jefferson was in France at the time and had nothing to do with the document.
Oh really?
Here’s USA Today Deputy Editorial Page Editor David Mastio with a little history lesson:
@RealJamesWoods Guess who was wrong on Thomas Jefferson? Apparently not @RealBenCarson. https://t.co/sIF4F4QnOq
— David Mastio (@DavidMastio) November 24, 2015
.@USATODAY columnist criticizes news outlets, including USA Today, for Ben Carson-Thomas Jefferson reports https://t.co/VwXI8mru2l
— Nolan D. McCaskill (@NolanDMcCaskill) November 24, 2015
You see, Mastio knows this because Jefferson utilized something referred to as “letters” that we can read today while corresponding with George Washington and other framers of the Constitution:
Guess who was writing these letter thingies? Thomas Jefferson.
And do you know who was replying? George Washington and James Madison, among the most important framers of our Constitution.
So here’s the crazy thing: Jefferson, Madison, Washington and others were discussing how the U.S. Constitution should be written.
Whoops.
We did a quick search and found 15 verified Twitter accounts that need to apologize to Carson, but there are a lot more:
Ben Carson, author of book about the Constitution, incorrectly states that Thomas Jefferson crafted it https://t.co/CPkpubcLpJ
— deray (@deray) November 23, 2015
Carson says, wrongly, that Thomas Jefferson crafted the Constitution https://t.co/BMifOm1it4 | Getty pic.twitter.com/QjdFsHFvV5
— POLITICO (@politico) November 24, 2015
Recommended
Carson incorrectly taps Jefferson as Constitution craftsman https://t.co/7WBMg57OaK
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) November 23, 2015
.@RealBenCarson flubs Thomas Jefferson's role in the Constitution https://t.co/eZDkbHO3jo via @GregJKrieg pic.twitter.com/Eu2dgcnkvu
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 24, 2015
Thomas Jefferson wrote what? @RealBenCarson's Constitutional misstep https://t.co/utzn5FrFzi pic.twitter.com/OKytM3i98L
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) November 23, 2015
Not a knowledgable fellow > Carson Inaccurately Credits Thomas Jefferson With Writing Constitution @TPM https://t.co/Oe1q1tWI24
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 23, 2015
Ben Carson mis-cites Thomas Jefferson as an author of the Constitution: https://t.co/ZReJtGfL1c pic.twitter.com/TDRFdJeCDT
— SpeedReads (@SpeedReads) November 23, 2015
Ben Carson Praises Thomas Jefferson For 'Crafting Our Constitution' (He Didn't) https://t.co/hzOlThUKGS
— Matt Vespa (@mVespa1) November 23, 2015
No more calls. We have our Sarah Palin 2016 RT @USATODAY Carson incorrectly taps Jefferson as Constitution craftsman https://t.co/PmEkzmGlnR
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) November 23, 2015
Ben Carson still has no idea which one Thomas Jefferson was. https://t.co/R3lukoBvLg pic.twitter.com/kkvULVWWpK
— Gawker (@Gawker) November 23, 2015
https://twitter.com/WestWingReport/status/668787908153909248
Ben Carson, author of book about the Constitution, incorrectly states that Thomas Jefferson crafted it https://t.co/AxX9JYrRCI
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) November 23, 2015
https://twitter.com/AndrewKirell/status/668780800280821760
Can't believe @RealBenCarson is seemingly unfamiliar with contents of book he's selling while running for prez – https://t.co/4VNflvWkRE
— Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) November 23, 2015
Ben Carson is in over his head, cont.: He credited Jefferson with crafting the Constitution last night… https://t.co/I7cgQtn3NG
— James Hohmann (@jameshohmann) November 23, 2015
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