The American Revolution conditioned citizens to equate resistance to conspiracy with national identity

Evidence

The Declaration is one of many instances of American conspiracism attached to major events—so many, in fact, that in his collection of conspiracist texts from the Revolution to 1971, historian David Brion Davis asks, “Is it possible that the circumstances of the Revolution conditioned Americans to think of resistance to a dark subversive force as the essential ingredient of national identity?” — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 59

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Hofstadter’s paranoid style and to conspiracism-as-citizenship themes across the reader’s American history sources. — connects to: American conspiracy thinking dates to the founding fathers themselves. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 52; Nearly a hundred independent 1776 declarations built conspiracist narratives toward revolution — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 57; Conspiracy belief has long spanned the American political spectrum — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 26 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Conspiracy belief has long spanned the American political spectrum #expands (0.85) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 26