For those of a certain age, you may remember Schoolhouse Rock's educational shorts. They aired on weekend mornings during the 70's and 80's, and tried to inflict some learning on us reluctant cartoon watchers... here are a few independence themed ones, my favorite first.
The Preamble
Hey, do you know about the U.S.A.?
Do you know about the government?
Can you tell me about the Constitution?
Hey, learn about the U.S.A.
In 1787 I'm told
Our founding fathers did agree
To write a list of principles
For keepin' people free.
The U.S.A. was just startin' out.
A whole brand-new country.
And so our people spelled it out
The things that we should be.
And they put those principles down on
paper and called it the Constitution, and
it's been helping us run our country ever
since then. The first part of the
]Constitution is called the preamble and tells
what those founding fathers set out to do.
We the people
In order to form a more perfect union,
Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
Provide for the common defense,
Promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our posterity
Do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.
In 1787 I'm told
Our founding fathers all sat down
And wrote a list of principles
That's known the world around.
The U.S.A. was just starting out
A whole brand-new country.
And so our people spelled it out
They wanted a land of liberty.
And the preamble goes like this:
We the people
In order to form a more perfect union,
Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
Provide for the common defense,
Promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our posterity,
Do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.
For the United States of America...
The Shot Heard Round the World
{The British are comin'! The British are comin'!}
Now the ride of Paul Revere
Set the nation on its ear,
And the shot at Lexington
Heard round the world.
When the British fired
In the early dawn,
The War of Independence had begun,
The die was cast, the rebel flag unfurled.
And on to Concord marched the foe,
To seize the arsenal there you know,
Waking folks, searching all around.
Till our militia stopped them in their tracks,
At the Old North Bridge, we turned them back
And chased those Redcoats back to Boston town.
And the shot heard round the world
Was the start of the revolution.
The minutemen were ready, on the move.
Take your powder, take your gun,
Report to General Washington,
Hurry men, there's not an hour to lose.
Now at famous Bunker Hill,
Even though we lost, it was quite a thrill.
The rebel Colonel Prescott proved he was wise.
Outnumbered and low on ammunition,
As the British stormed his position,
He said, "Hold your fire till you see the whites of their eyes."
Though the next few years were rough,
General Washington's men proved they were tough.
Those hungry, ragged boys would not be beat.
One night they crossed the Delaware,
Surprised the Hessians in their lair,
And at Valley Forge they just bundled up their feet.
Now the shot heard round the world
Was the start of the revolution.
The minutemen were ready, on the move.
Take your blanket, take your son,
Report to General Washington.
We've got our rights and now it's time to prove.
Well, they showed such determination
That they won the admiration
Of countries 'cross the sea like France and Spain.
Who loaned the colonies ships and guns
And put the British on the run,
And the Continental Army on its feet again.
And though they lost some battles too,
The Americans swore they'd see it through.
Their raiding parties %shut up, hit and run.%
At Yorktown the British could not retreat,
Bottled up by Washington and the French Fleet,
Cornwallis surrendered and finally we had won.
}} {The winner!}
}} {Hurray!}
From the shot heard round the world,
To the end of the revolution,
The continental rabble took the day.
And the father of our country
beat the British there at Yorktown,
and brought freedom to you and me and the U.S.A.
God bless America!
Let freedom ring!
No More Kings
Rockin' and a-rollin', splishin' and a-splashin',
Over the horizon, what can it be?
The pilgrims sailed the sea
To find a place to call their own.
In their ship Mayflower,
They hoped to find a better home.
They finally knocked
On Plymouth Rock
And someone said, "We're there."
It may not look like home
But at this point I don't care.
Oh, they were missing Mother England,
They swore their loyalty until the very end.
Anything you say, King,
It's OK, King,
You know it's kinda scary on your own.
Gonna build a new land
The way we planned.
Could you help us run it till it's grown?
They planted corn, you know
They built their houses one by one,
And bit by bit they worked
Until the colonies were done.
They looked around,
Yeah, up and down,
And someone said, "Hurray!"
If the king could only see us now
He would be proud of us today.
They knew that now they'd run their own land,
But George the Third still vowed
He'd rule them till the end.
Anything I say, do it my way now.
Anything I say, do it my way.
Don't you get to feeling independent
'Cause I'm gonna force you to obey.
He taxed their property,
He didn't give them any choice,
And back in England,
He didn't give them any voice.
(That's called taxation without representation,
and it's not fair!)
But when the Colonies complained
The king said: "I don't care!"
He even has the nerve
To tax our cup of tea.
To put it kindly, King,
We really don't agree.
Gonna show you how we feel.
We're gonna dump this tea
And turn this harbor into
The biggest cup of tea in history!
They wanted no more Mother England.
They knew the time had come
For them to take command.
It's very clear you're being unfair, King,
No matter what you say, we won't obey.
Gonna hold a revolution now, King,
And we're gonna run it all our way
With no more kings...
We're gonna elect a president! (No more kings)
He's gonna do what the people want! (No more kings)
We're gonna run things our way! (No more kings)
Nobody's gonna tell us what to do!
Rockin' and a-rollin', splishin' and a-splashin',
Over the horizon, what can it be?
Looks like it's going to be a free country.
Fireworks
Ooh, there's gonna be fireworks (fireworks!)
On the Fourth of July (red, white and blue!)
Red, white, and blue fireworks
Like diamonds in the sky (diamonds
in the sky!)
We're gonna shoot the entire works
on fireworks
That really show, oh yeah,
We declared our liberty two hundred
years ago.
Yeah!
In 1776 (fireworks!)
There were fireworks too (red, white, and blue!)
The original colonists,
You know their tempers blew (They really blew!)
Like Thomas Paine once wrote:
It's only common sense (only common sense)
That if a government won't give you your basic rights
You better get another government.
And though some people tried to fight it,
Well, a committee was formed to write it:
Benjamin Franklin, Plilip Livingston,
John Adams, Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson,
They got it done, (Oh yes they did!)
The Declaration, uh-huh-huh,
The Declaration of Independence (Oh yeah!)
In 1776 (Right on!)
The Continental Congress said that we were free (We're free!)
Said we had the right of life and liberty,
...And the pursuit of happiness!
Ooh, when England heard the news (Kerpow!),
They blew their stack (They really blew their cool!),
But the colonies lit the fuse,
There'd be no turning back (no turning back!).
They'd had enough of injustice now
But even if it really hurts, oh yeah,
If you don't give us our freedom now
You're gonna see some fireworks!
And on the Fourth of July they signed it
And fifty-six names underlined it,
And now to honor those first thirteen states,
We turn the sky into a birthday cake.
They got it done (Oh yes they did!)
The Declaration, uh-huh-huh,
The Declaration of Independence (Oh yeah!)
In 1776 (Right on!)
The Continental Congress said that we were free (We're free!)
Said we had the right of life and liberty,
...And the pursuit of happiness!
We hold these truths to be self evident,
That all men are created equal
And that they are endowed by their creator
With certain unalienable rights.
That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness,
And if there's one thing that makes me happy,
Then you know that it's (ooh!)
There's gonna be fireworks!
This concludes your unnecessary July 4th pop culture flashback.