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U.S. History 1877-Present Videos 173 videos
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U.S. History 1877-Present 1: The Third Great Awakening 60 Views
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Description:
That's right folks, another Great Awakening. We're never going to get any sleep at this rate...
Transcript
- 00:03
In the 18th century there came a...
- 00:05
heavy-hitting Enlightenment thinker... [a baseball player hitting the ball]
- 00:07
named Montesquieu.
- 00:09
We like to call him "The Slugger." [ball going out of the stadium]
- 00:11
But noboby else does,
Full Transcript
- 00:13
so we don't recommend repeating that. [a baseball player blowing a chewing gum]
- 00:14
Montesquieu's biggest hit was a book called...
- 00:16
The Spirit of Laws.
- 00:18
It was published in 1748, right before...
- 00:20
the American Revolution. [a group of men riding horse]
- 00:22
Well, Montesquieu's writings had a big influence on...
- 00:24
the founders of the United States...
- 00:26
as they tried to brainstorm a system of government... [Jefferson and his men at the court]
- 00:28
that could promote freedom.
- 00:30
It helped them keep on track when Thomas Jefferson...
- 00:33
said stuff like, "Let's call it Jeffyland."
- 00:35
Eh, would've been cool. [picture of a circus tent and a giant wheel]
- 00:37
One of Montesquieu's big things was examining...
- 00:40
how different kinds of government go... [a lab with microscope, funnels and test tubes for experiment]
- 00:42
bad. How talks about how monarchs can...
- 00:44
become big, bad tyrants if they stop.. .[Montesquieu examining sample in the microscope]
- 00:46
following the law. You know,
- 00:48
absolute power corrupts absolutely.
- 00:50
Yeah, we're looking at you King George. [image of King George]
- 00:52
Montesquieu also talked about how democracies can...
- 00:54
stop being democratic if, for example, [Montesquieu examining another sample in the microscope]
- 00:57
one group takes advantage of another.
- 00:59
Yeah, read Animal Farm, if you're wondering about this.
- 01:01
Unfortunately, the Founding Fathers... [an animal farm with pigs, hen and a cow]
- 01:03
didn't quite take the idea to heart when they kept...
- 01:05
slavery legal in the newly minted Land of the Free. [a maid serving beverage to guests]
- 01:08
The free white men.
- 01:10
Anyway, one solution Montesquieu came up with to keep...
- 01:13
the government from goin' rotten was... [Montesquieu performing another experiment]
- 01:15
to create a separation of powers.
- 01:18
His big idea was that government's ought...
- 01:20
to split up political authority between legislative,
- 01:23
executive and judiciary branches. [images split into 3 parts as legislative, judicial and executive]
- 01:26
That way each branch could,
- 01:28
you know, keep the other honest-ish.
- 01:30
If the government were sliced up like a...
- 01:32
pie, the whole thing would be less likely to be ruined by one... [man throwing a slice of pie in the trash bin]
- 01:35
bad slice. Sound familiar?
- 01:37
It should. This is exactly how...
- 01:39
the U.S. is set up, with Congress...
- 01:41
as the legislative branch, the office of the president is the... [Obama giving a speech]
- 01:44
executive, and the Supreme Court...
- 01:46
as the judicial. Well,[ judge slamming the hammer]
- 01:48
seems like the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution...
- 01:50
with Montesquieu crib notes scribbled on their hands. [some information written on a person's palm]
- 01:52
Good thing they didn't have sweaty palms.
- 01:55
Of course, Montesquieu didn't think there was only... [image of crown]
- 01:57
one good form of government. He recognized[
- 01:59
that people around the world were different,
- 02:00
and he thought that each group of people should pick whatever form of... [image of flags of different countries]
- 02:03
government best fit their culture, religion,
- 02:05
and climate, you know, whatevs.
- 02:07
The importance thing wasn't democracy vs. monarchy. [Uncle Sam and Queen Elizabeth in a boxing ring]
- 02:10
It was that people felt protected from...
- 02:12
harm, both from other citizens...
- 02:14
and from their own government. [man hiding under his blanket]
- 02:16
So how does Montesquieu weigh in on the whole state of nature debate?
- 02:19
Well, it's kind of complicated, but mostly he emphasized...
- 02:21
the importance of balance.
- 02:23
Montesquieu said that in most situations... [man offering cookies to Obama]
- 02:25
people are pretty selfish.
- 02:27
But with the right mix of patriotism,
- 02:29
personal liberty, and respect for chosen leaders, people are...
- 02:32
able to think about the greater good. [crowd clapping after speech]
- 02:35
In other words, people in democracies have the right...
- 02:37
to pick their leaders and replace those leaders... [man pointing at Obama]
- 02:39
if they do a bad job.
- 02:40
But they don't get to make every decision ever.
- 02:43
That's like another form of self-interest. [man pointing at the woman and laughing]
- 02:46
This balance is very delicate.
- 02:48
It's like the country is a tightrope walkers at a circus. [image of American Flag with wheels balancing on a rope]
- 02:50
One misstep in either direction, and...
- 02:52
...yeah.
- 02:53
Our peaceful democracy is transformed into...
- 02:56
a gory pancake.
- 02:57
And when the clown comes to clean up the mess, [a clown entering the stage]
- 02:59
well they aren't gonna laugh, and...
- 03:01
ugh what a mess. Where are the clowns? C'mon.
- 03:03
Send in the clowns. [some more people entering the stage]
- 03:04
Oh, don't bother. They're here.
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