Yankee Doodle Was a British Diss Track. We Made It Our Anthem.
I went down a Yankee Doodle rabbit hole at midnight and I have no regrets. Turns out the song you sang in 2nd grade was originally a 1750s British diss track — and the colonists stole the chorus out of pure spite. The pettiest founding story they never taught you.
America's Almost-Bird: Why Ben Franklin Was Right About the Turkey
Ben Franklin spent a 1784 letter trying to talk America out of the bald eagle. He wanted a turkey. He was right.