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Social Studies 5: Notable Americans Promoting American History 27 Views
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Description:
Diversity is the bomb. So are all these old, dead people who said a lot of profound stuff.
Transcript
- 00:02
[Dino and Coop singing]
- 00:09
Most nations of the world are made up of people who have a common background. [Thousands of the same person stood together]
- 00:13
And… then there’s the United States.
- 00:15
Which is made up of people from all different backgrounds, places, religions, ethnicities.
- 00:19
You name it, America’s got it. [An eagle appears]
Full Transcript
- 00:21
We’re so diverse, in fact, that author Herman Melville…that guy you hate who wrote Moby-Dick…once
- 00:24
said, “You cannot spill a drop of American blood without spilling the blood of the whole [Melville pointing to his quote on a blackboard]
- 00:30
world....
- 00:31
We are not a nation, so much as a world.”
- 00:33
Yeah.
- 00:34
Hermie had a flare for the dramatic. [Melville stood in a boat pointing]
- 00:35
But…he might have been onto something.
- 00:37
On the subject of people with all sorts of different backgrounds…take a look at what
- 00:40
Thomas Jefferson, writer of that Declaration of Independence thingy…had to say:
- 00:44
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they [Jefferson stood next to his quote]
- 00:48
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life,
- 00:54
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
- 00:55
You could say that “we” might be one of the most important words in American history. [Washington handing a football to Jefferson]
- 01:00
After all, the Constitution starts with “We the People,” not “I the Person.” [We and people is crossed out and replaced with I and person]
- 01:04
Senator…and Forehead of the Year winner…
- 01:06
Daniel Webster doubled down on the idea when he said that our government was: [Webster with an advert written on his forehead]
- 01:10
“the people’s government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable
- 01:14
to the people.
- 01:15
The people of the United States have declared that this Constitution shall be the supreme
- 01:19
law.”
- 01:20
Yeah.
- 01:21
He was a super serious dude.
- 01:22
But he was all about not leaving any leeway.
- 01:24
The Constitution was the law of the land. [Person being arrested by the constitution wearing a police hat]
- 01:26
Period, end of story.
- 01:28
“We the people” means everybody.
- 01:30
Yep.
- 01:31
Even that guy. [Guy wearing a joker hat]
- 01:32
As President Teddy Roosevelt said, “This country will not be a good place for any of
- 01:36
us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.”
- 01:41
In other words, we can't in good conscience call America a great place to live
- 01:45
if we're ignoring the needs of countless groups currently living here. [Two men in suits look disgusted by a man that appears in a window]
- 01:48
Of course, for a lot of people, this country wasn’t always a great place to live in. [Old slave shop]
- 01:52
But even as a slave, another great American, Harriet Tubman, was idealistic:
- 01:56
“I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to: liberty [Tubman next to her quote]
- 02:02
or death.
- 02:03
If I could not have one, I would have the other.”
- 02:05
Tubman ran to freedom and became one of the most famous “conductors” of the Underground [Tubman running away]
- 02:10
Railroad.
- 02:11
America sometimes seems like it’s made for feel-good stories. [Rocky punches Darth Vader]
- 02:14
That’s what President Woodrow Wilson believed.
- 02:16
He said “Sometimes people call me an idealist.
- 02:19
Well, that is the way I know I am an American.
- 02:21
America is the only idealistic nation in the world.”
- 02:24
He…probably didn’t poll all the other countries, but…we’ll take his word for it. [Wilson doing a questionnaire with french people]
- 02:28
Every time America becomes more inclusive, the country becomes an even better place to [Differnt people together looking happy]
- 02:32
live.
- 02:33
This is what Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis meant when he said:
- 02:36
“America has believed that in differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress.
- 02:42
It acted on this belief, it has advanced human happiness, and it has prospered.”
- 02:47
Because of our first amendment right to free speech, Americans can express that diversity [People protesting]
- 02:51
however they see fit.
- 02:53
And boy do we often see fit.
- 02:55
Americans definitely like to talk.
- 02:56
But it’s an important freedom, one on which our democracy hinges.
- 03:00
As Abolitionist Frederick Douglas once declared, “To suppress free speech is a double wrong. [Douglas next to his quote]
- 03:05
It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.”
- 03:08
But “we the people” isn’t just something to live up to. [People appear looking happy]
- 03:11
It’s also a responsibility.
- 03:13
Benjamin Franklin, noted statesman, scientist, library founder, and O.G.
- 03:17
Post Master, said something to that effect shortly after he signed the Constitution. [Franklin on a horse]
- 03:20
A woman asked old Ben, “Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”
- 03:25
To which he cleverly replied, “A republic, if we can keep it.”
- 03:28
Then he probably said about three-hundred-and-eighty other clever things. [Franklin quotes appear]
- 03:31
’Cause that’s how Benny Boy rolled.
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