[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.71,0:00:09.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"All men are created equal
Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.75,0:00:11.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they are endowed with the rights to
Dialogue: 0,0:00:11.71,0:00:16.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.11,0:00:18.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not so fast, Mr. Jefferson!
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.40,0:00:21.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These words from the Declaration of Independence,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.45,0:00:24.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the facts behind them, are well known.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.00,0:00:26.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In June of 1776,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.32,0:00:29.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a little more than a year after the war against England began
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.89,0:00:32.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the shots fired at Lexington and Concord,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.99,0:00:36.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.82,0:00:40.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to discuss American independence.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.05,0:00:43.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After long debates, a resolution of independence
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.50,0:00:47.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was approved on July 2, 1776.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.95,0:00:49.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,America was free!
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.84,0:00:54.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And men like John Adams thought we would celebrate that date forever.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.60,0:00:57.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it was two days later that the gentlemen in Congress
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.68,0:01:01.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.28,0:01:03.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,largely written by Thomas Jefferson,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.86,0:01:08.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,offering all the reasons why the country should be free.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.50,0:01:11.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,More than 235 years later,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.24,0:01:15.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we celebrate that day as America's birthday.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.54,0:01:19.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But there are some pieces of the story you may not know.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.00,0:01:21.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,First of all, Thomas Jefferson gets the credit
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.57,0:01:23.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for writing the Declaration,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.36,0:01:25.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but five men had been given the job
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.49,0:01:28.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to come up with a document explaining why
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.81,0:01:31.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,America should be independent:
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.07,0:01:32.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Robert Livingston,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.35,0:01:33.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Roger Sherman,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.74,0:01:35.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Benjamin Franklin and
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.19,0:01:37.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,John Adams were all named first.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.77,0:01:40.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it was Adams who suggested that the young,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.59,0:01:43.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and little known, Thomas Jefferson join them
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.74,0:01:48.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because they needed a man from the influential Virginia Delegation,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.15,0:01:53.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Adams thought Jefferson was a much better writer than he was.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.24,0:01:56.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Second, though Jefferson never used footnotes,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.47,0:01:58.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or credited his sources,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.61,0:02:02.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some of his memorable words and phrases were borrowed
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.02,0:02:05.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from other writers and slightly tweaked.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.04,0:02:08.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then, Franklin and Adams offered a few suggestions.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.92,0:02:13.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the most important change came after the Declaration
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.72,0:02:16.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was turned over to the full Congress.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.26,0:02:19.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For two days, a very unhappy Thomas Jefferson
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.84,0:02:24.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sat and fumed while his words were picked over.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.18,0:02:28.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the end, the Congress made a few, minor word changes,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.93,0:02:31.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and one big deletion.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.62,0:02:34.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the long list of charges that Jefferson made
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.35,0:02:36.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,against the King of England,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.04,0:02:38.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the author of the Declaration had included the idea
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.96,0:02:43.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that George the Third was responsible for the slave trade,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.20,0:02:47.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and was preventing America from ending slavery.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.50,0:02:49.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That was not only untrue,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.61,0:02:52.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but Congress wanted no mention of slavery
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.60,0:02:55.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the nation's founding document.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:55.87,0:02:57.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The reference was cut out
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.19,0:03:01.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before the Declaration was approved and sent to the printer.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.38,0:03:03.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it leaves open the hard question:
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.71,0:03:05.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How could the men,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.19,0:03:07.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who were about to sign a document,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.29,0:03:10.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,celebrating liberty and equality,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.20,0:03:14.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,accept a system in which some people owned others?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.37,0:03:16.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is a question that
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.39,0:03:19.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would eventually bring the nation to civil war
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.29,0:03:22.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and one we can still ask today.