America's founding fathers were hooligans.

[QuickSilver]

From this article on Yahoo (if it’s to be believed):

Here’s a curious trivia tidbit from U.S. history: In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams took leave from their Europe-based diplomatic duties and traveled to Stratford-upon-Avon to visit the home of William Shakespeare. Not much was recorded of the occasion, but one fact of their pilgrimage to the Bard’s birthplace stands out: At some point during the tour, the two American statesmen brandished pocketknives, carved a few slivers from a wooden chair alleged to have been Shakespeare’s, and spirited them home as souvenirs.

[Ice_Wolf]

The Monticello website is repeating that factoid:

In March of 1786, Jefferson went to England on diplomatic business, though in the two months he was there, he and Adams found time to make a tour of English gardens. They also visited Shakespeare’s home – and chipped off a bit of his chair as a souvenir, in Adams’s words, “according to the custom.”

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

And George Washington was a flashy dresser, a great & enthusiastic dancer, loved to ride his horse in a race (especially a steeplechase), & liked to ride to local housefires (he found them “thrilling”).

So?

[Inigo_Montoya]

“You know, those were different times.”
–Lou Reed

Well come on, what would you have expected? I mean it’s not as if Yurp’s Best were the ones settling the colonies. An argument could be made that The USA is what it is today because of bad manners.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Washington also liked to play cards, flirt with the ladies, go to the theater and drink madeira. But he was no hooligan.

Now, Paul Revere, Sam Adams and the other Sons of Liberty, c. 1773-75 - THEY were hooligans! Not the kind of guys you’d want to meet in a dark Boston alley if you were wearing a red wool uniform, buttons with “G III R” on them and a bearskin hat…

[tomndebb]

Ever see the coronation throne in Westminster? It has been so badly carved up that it appears to have been retrieved from the stuff that was thrown out of Delta House at Faber College. That really was the sort of thing that a lot of people did back in the days.