 " Lisa the Iconoclast " is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons ' seventh season . It originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 18 , 1996 . In the episode , Springfield 's bicentennial approaches , and Lisa writes an essay on town founder Jebediah Springfield . While doing research , she finds a confession revealing that Springfield was a murderous pirate named Hans Sprungfeld who never cared about the people of Springfield . Lisa and Homer decide to get the message out but instead anger the town council . 
