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Social Studies 5: Cough it Up: How America (Didn't Really) Pay Its Revolutionary War Soldiers 19 Views
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Description:
Turns out that if you fought to liberate the United States back in the day you may have been paid $96 a year for your troubles. And that's just if you were lucky. Yikes. But yay liberty?
Transcript
- 00:04
[Coop and Dino singing]
- 00:13
America has a checkered history when it comes to taking care of its war veterans. [Veterans wearing checkered suits]
- 00:18
And no, that doesn't mean we have a history of playing checkers with them.
- 00:21
Though that would be fun…
- 00:23
After World War II, the GI Bill helped returning soldiers go off to college… [Man graduating from college]
Full Transcript
- 00:27
… where they got an education that allowed them to find good jobs.
- 00:31
After Vietnam however, soldiers were scorned and criticized for fighting in an unpopular war.
- 00:38
And many Vietnam vets had trouble re-adjusting to society.
- 00:42
But surely America’s first veterans – soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War for our [Soldiers fighting in Revolutionary War]
- 00:47
nation’s independence – were treated with the respect and gratitude they deserved, right?
- 00:51
…Um, turns out, not so much. [Men in costume on stage with no audience]
- 00:54
See, even though England had lost, it was a country with a strong central government
- 00:59
and colonies, as well as a known and trusted currency.
- 01:01
This allowed Great Britain to trade and collect taxes and pay off the debts it had incurred [King George holding a bag of money]
- 01:06
in the war.
- 01:08
The new U.S., on the other hand, had, well, none of that.
- 01:13
And when Revolutionary War veterans – including soldiers, officers, and the women who had [Officers and veterans walk up to army payment desk]
- 01:19
followed the army as cooks, seamstresses, and nurses – came a-knocking to collect
- 01:23
the pay they’d been promised, Congress suddenly got a serious case of alligator arms. [Man's arms transform into alligators and closes army payment desk]
- 01:28
How’s that for a “thank you for your service”?
- 01:31
With no money to give, Congress offered some veterans land in place of pay.
- 01:35
But it rarely worked in the veteran’s favor. [Veteran holding a land deed]
- 01:38
Even the ones who did actually get some land often had to sell it to predatory speculators
- 01:42
in order to pay off their debts, or to just get some spending cash.
- 01:46
The Federal Pension Act of 1818 promised to give war veterans a pension of $96 a year.
- 01:52
But the Act didn’t provide payments to women or African Americans who had served in the army. [Women and African American appear at payment desk and man disappears]
- 01:57
Everyone who's surprised by that fact, raise your hands!
- 02:00
…Oh look, no hands.
- 02:02
And even soldiers who did receive this pension felt that they’d done more for their country [Soldier empties pension bag]
- 02:06
than their country was doing for them.
- 02:08
Like this guy.
- 02:10
This guy is Joseph Plumb Martin.
- 02:12
He served seven years in the Continental Army.
- 02:14
In 1830 he published a memoir titled, “A Narrative of [Joseph Martin picks up his book]
- 02:17
a Revolutionary Soldier."
- 02:19
Try saying that five times fast…or just five times without needing a nap in between…
- 02:24
In it, Martin took the government to task for failing to take care of its veterans. [Joseph selling his narrative book]
- 02:28
Unfortunately, the book didn’t sell in his lifetime.
- 02:31
Though it did do well when it was eventually republished.
- 02:33
We’re sure that shortening the title to “Private Yankee Doodle” didn’t have
- 02:37
anything to do with that…
- 02:39
Anyway, the nation heeded Martin’s words and today’s veterans face none of the problems
- 02:43
Martin and his fellow soldiers did 200 years ago. [Joseph looks at newspaper article of iraq/afghanistan war veterans]
- 02:47
Oh…
- 02:48
Right.
- 02:49
Never mind.
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