Has America Lived Up to Its Founding Promise? 34%

By Reveal78%

6/27/2026, 7:01:00 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 11 faulty reasoning types, including Hasty Generalization, Framing Effect, and Appeal to Authority, with Recency Bias as the most egregious example at 23.8% saturation with 40 hits. Analysis detected 298 faulty-reasoning hits from 168 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 42.3% and a BS Rank of 34% (13,971 of 21,180 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 66.00% of the article peer group.

Elizabeth Freeman was an enslaved person living in Massachusetts when the Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years ago. 
The document’s famous words “all men are created equal” did not apply to her, but she thought they should. 
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“She is somebody who heard the words of the declaration, knew that they were real in her life, and argued for that to be true,” says Errin Haines, editor-at-large at The 19th. 
Eventually, Freeman fought to abolish slavery in Massachusetts. 
This week on Reveal, as America marks 250 years since its founding, we share stories of people who were denied equality and the battles they fought to attain it. 
In addition to Freeman’s story, we hear about one of the first Native American communities to encounter white settlers more than 400 years ago and learn why the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment for women continues to this day. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 11.3%Reveal: 1.0%Mother Jones: 4.0%Confirmation Bias11.3%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 1.2%Mother Jones: 0.7%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 17.3%Reveal: 4.7%Mother Jones: 3.2%Availability Heuristic17.3%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.8%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 1.7%Mother Jones: 0.8%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.5%Mother Jones: 1.1%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 22.0%Reveal: 13.7%Mother Jones: 7.2%Framing Effect22.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 2.1%Mother Jones: 0.6%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.3%Mother Jones: 0.6%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.2%Mother Jones: 1.6%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 4.6%Mother Jones: 1.8%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 4.8%Reveal: 13.6%Mother Jones: 9.6%Negativity Bias4.8%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.8%Mother Jones: 0.8%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 1.0%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.7%Mother Jones: 1.1%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.5%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 2.7%Mother Jones: 1.6%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.7%Mother Jones: 0.4%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 23.8%Reveal: 2.5%Mother Jones: 1.1%Recency Bias23.8%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 1.5%Mother Jones: 0.3%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 1.9%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.6%Straw Man0.0%This article: 19.0%Reveal: 2.6%Mother Jones: 3.6%Appeal to Authority19.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 1.0%Mother Jones: 1.4%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 2.2%Mother Jones: 1.7%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 23.8%Reveal: 7.0%Mother Jones: 4.7%Hasty Generalization23.8%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.8%Mother Jones: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.3%Mother Jones: 0.5%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 11.2%Mother Jones: 6.5%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 11.3%Reveal: 1.7%Mother Jones: 1.1%Begging the Question11.3%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.2%Mother Jones: 2.1%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.3%Mother Jones: 0.6%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.3%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.3%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 17.3%Reveal: 3.9%Mother Jones: 2.3%Anecdotal17.3%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 1.8%Mother Jones: 1.5%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.3%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 19.0%Reveal: 3.0%Mother Jones: 1.8%Unattributed Quote19.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 1.4%Mother Jones: 1.5%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 9.3%Mother Jones: 9.3%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 5.3%Mother Jones: 1.8%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 4.7%Mother Jones: 4.6%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Reveal: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 7.7%Reveal: 10.9%Mother Jones: 0.7%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…7.7%

168 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers27%attributed speech123writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageMother Jones • 13 words • 100.0% coverageErrin Haines • 32 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 29 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 40 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Errin Haines

100%flagged-word coverage
32 attributed words71% of attributed speech78% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote+100.0 ptsWriter: 0.0%Errin Haines: 100.0%100.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.