NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 1FROM THE EDITORAmy Briggs, Executive EditorIn 1787 Thomas Jefferson wrote to James
Madison, “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing.”
The two men were fresh off a successful rebellion, one that gave
independence to North American colonists. Rebellions have been a key
part of the United States’ story from the beginning, but not all rebellions
and rebels are created equal.
One rebel, Jesse James, has been mythologized as an American Robin
Hood, stealing from the Northern rich to give to the Southern poor. The
violence of the Civil War turned James against the United States; after
the Confederacy lost, James and his comrades attacked the institutions of
the victorious Union: They held up banks, robbed trains, and murdered
Americans who stood in their way.
But the “noble outlaw” myth does not stand up to scrutiny. James’s
“rebellion” was not generous: Fueled by greed and a lust for revenge,
James stole from the rich and gave to himself. James was driven by self-
interest, what Jefferson called “the sole antagonist of virtue.” Woven into
the fabric of American identity, a little rebellion can be good, but when
fueled by ego, it’s dangerous, shortsighted, and destructive.