Just today I received one of those distorted chain emails regarding what happened to the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and went to Snopes to see what they had to say about it. (Yes, I know it's not gospel)
The part that I liked/irritated me most was this:
Author Joseph J. Ellis [received the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2001 for Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation] noted they [Thomas Jefferson and John Adams] … were keenly aware of the "distinction between history as experienced and history as remembered":
“Adams realized that the act of transforming the American Revolution into history placed a premium on selecting events and heroes that fit neatly into a dramatic formula, thereby distorting the more tangled and incoherent experience that participants actually making the history felt at the time. Jefferson's drafting of the Declaration of Independence was a perfect example of such dramatic distortions. The Revolution in this romantic rendering became one magical moment of inspiration, leading inexorably to the foregone conclusion of American independence.”
Barbara Mikkelson: “So great is our need for simplified, dramatic events and heroes that even the real-life biographies of the fifty-six men who risked their lives to publicly declare American independence are no longer compelling enough. Through multiple versions of pieces like the one quoted above, their lives have been repeatedly embellished with layers of fanciful fiction to make for a better story.”
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/pricepaid.aspSue
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