The photos are flowers that i took in france. It is bringing them altogether. That is what i think the Buffalo Bill Historical Center does. It brings together and hopefully, someday it will have a really good picture of the widespread influence. Thank you. [applause] in the i will be down bookstore, signing any books that anybody might be interested in. Interested in American History tv . Visit our website. Lectures,tch college archival films, and more. American history tv at cspan. Org history. A teacher of social studies and civics to middle and high school students, try our classroom resources at the cspan classroom website. There are ready to go resources including lesson plans. Also, enhanced teaching tools to engage your students in discussions with new content added regularly. Many teachers use these resources so you should try it, too. It is quick and easy. Sign up. Next, a visit to philadelphias museum of the American Revolution. In the first of a twopart program, we learn about the museums location and design and we tour the exhibit gallery exploring the origins of the revolution in 1760 up until 1776. My name is michael quinn. I am president and c. E. O. Of the museum of the American Revolution. I am standing on the plaza of the museum at the corner of third and Chestnut Street in old city philadelphia. Philadelphia was the headquarters of the revolution. This is where the delegates came when the protests against british oppression first mounted. This is where the declaration was written just 200 yards away at Independence Hall. This really is the most central element of the American Revolution, the birth of our nation, which is why this museum is located here. Just down the street from me is the first bank of the United States. That is Alexander Hamiltons branch bank when he launched our nations banking system. It is also the first building constructed by the United States of america. So, we truly are where the nation began and it is the right place to tell the entire story of the American Revolution, which is our mission in the museum. Behind me, you see cannons from the era, these are part of the city of philadelphias collection. Everyone of these cannons are old enough that it could have been used to fight the revolution. On the wall behind me, you see carved in stone, those Core Concepts that rose from the declaration of independence, the inspiring lofty ideals of equality, of freedom, liberty, selfgovernment, the whole purpose of the American Revolution. It began in 1776, but the revolution continues to this very day. Over here, we have some wonderful exterior features of the museum to really help extend our story and use the outside of the building to inform people about the revolution. These are things you will recognize. The first one is a giant sculptural relief that replicates the John Trumbull painting, the declaration of independence. What you are looking at is the drafting committee that wrote the declaration, led by angevin franklin, john adams, and of course, thomas jefferson, presenting their draft to the entire assembled congress in early july, 1776. That launched about three or four days of debate before the language was finalized and voted on, on the fourth of july. This sculptural panel really shows you the people who helped create the defining document of the american people. It is the power of the pen. Because it really is the ideals and concepts of the revolution that made it the most important event in our nations history and one of the most important events in world history, at least modern world history. The second panel we have, same scale, also cast in bronze, tells the other story of the American Revolution. And that is the power of the sword. This is a replica of the painting, Washington Crossing the delaware. We all recognize it. What this represents is the improbable feat of overcoming impossible odds against the British Military in the battlefield. It is really due to George Washingtons leadership that we were able to accomplish that. The painting really dramatizes washingtons leadership. There are a number of historians that will tell you there are a number of details of this painting that are inaccurate, but it is truthful in capturing washingtons leadership in the purpose and mission of the revolution itself. Both of these sculptural pieces are donations to the museum and they were donated to us by a naturalized american, a woman born and raised in china, but now an american citizen. She wanted to give these to the museum, to philadelphia, to the American Public in gratitude of the freedom and life she has been able to live as an american citizen. That is really the legacy of our revolution that we encompass , everyone who comes to this nation, no matter when their ancestors came, and they are a part of our nation. If they uphold the values of our founding, then they too are american. It is wonderful to be able to present the history of these two panels, but their meaning in terms of significance of the life of the donor today. Having looked at the outside of the museum, lets go in. We are entering into the entrance rotunda of the museum. This is a wonderful, classical, welcoming space. The architecture of the building was by robert stern and we selected him because he so thoroughly understands classical architecture, not that we wanted to copy a building from antiquity, but we wanted the same sense of scale and proportion and stature and he delivered beautifully. In fact, this rotunda is named in his honor. Lets go upstairs. The design of these stairs is intentional to evoke the curved, soaring stairways of some of the more elegant Residential Homes of the colonial and early republic period. They also welcome our visitors to come to the secondfloor atrium where the core of our exhibits are. In the atrium, you see magnificent paintings. These are paintings that are historic and capture the spirit of the American Revolution. The one you are looking at now is by harrington fitzgerald. He is a pennsylvania artist and he painted this in the early 20th century. This is his depiction of Washingtons Army marching into valley forge for what was to be a very terrible winter encampment after the british captured philadelphia. Now behind me is a magnificent painting, but it is a copy. The original is by a frenchman and the original hangs in versailles. This was created in the middle of the 19th century, this copy was. What it shows is the siege of yorktown. Since a french artist painted this for the king, the most prominent individual is general roshambo, the one in the pink sash. Himge washington is behind to the left. It captures the critically Important Role that the french played not only at yorktown, but throughout the American Revolution. One other feature that attracted us to this painting is that it shows a tent. This is really a french tent, it looks more napoleonic, certainly not the kind of tent George Washington would have used, but we love the fact that it did show how armies traveled, living in tents. Since one of the crown jewels of our collection is George Washingtons war tent. Scott i am scott stephenson, and we are standing on the second floor of the museum. This is where our core exhibition, just 16,000 square feet of exhibition space wraps around this court that i am standing in. We enter here on my left and we wrap around through 16 galleries and theaters, behind the big painting you see on the south end of the court all the way around and you actually exit , just opposite where we are standing here. You enter a subject of king george the third, when you leave, you are a citizen of the american republic. The core narrative is 17607090, but we carry you through to the present day to explore the legacies of the American Revolution. But first, we have to step back to 1776. And we start with a recreation of the moment on july 9, 1776, when a group of soldiers and sailors in new york city first heard the words of the decoration of independence and gathered down at the bowling green, which is now near the raging bull on wall street, a landmark familiar to many viewers, and tore down an equestrian statue of king george iii. Really marking the beginning of the war of independence, the beginning of the American Revolution. And so this is really our first gallery displaying objects from the period. After you have been in that moment of 1776, we take you back 15 years, really the end of what was known as the seven years war, the french and indian war, of the new king the born monarch in first the century. This is the period in which britain wins this incredible victory in what the king called the first world war. It vastly expanded britains territories from india to africa to the west indies and , particularly, north america. More than doubled the territory that britain laid claim over in north america. In the case behind us, we have a collection of objects owned and used by colonial americans that speak to the presence of the king in everyday life. One of the great objects here, this is a castiron fireback made at Oxford Furnace in new jersey in 1746. This is essentially a castiron plate placed in the back of a fireplace that would radiate heat out into the room. As you can see, it includes the arms, the royal arms of the king of england. So an everyday object like this. Right above it is a similar coat of arms for queen anne, the monarch of the early part of the 18th century. This was found in the attic of Independence Hall in 1844. It had been taken down to have the new arms of the new king placed up there and was kind of forgotten. But this is the type of symbol of the crown that you would have seen in public and private spaces throughout the colonies. It was a reminder of the sovereignty of the king, who was the glue that held society together in this period when they were subject to the crown. We also have objects that introduce you to british heroes. In the upper right, a tavern sign. This is on loan to us from the connecticut historical society, a wonderful society with amazing collections. They generously placed this on loan to the museum. You see a british general who died after being mortally wounded at the battle of quebec in 1759, helping to capture french canada for the british empire. And he was celebrated by americans. This tavern sign hung in front of the tavern kept by israel putnam, who would be famous as an American General in the revolutionary war, fought at the battle of bunker hill. Our second gallery we titled the price of victory. More empire, more problems. After the british victory in the seven years war, with this vastly expanded empire, particularly in north america, britain faces this challenge. Of course, everyone is excited about having this larger empire, but there are now tens of thousands of new subjects. Iii,ooked to king george desiring him to act as their sovereign or in the case of people who do not recognize him as a sovereign like native , americans, at least seeing him as a person who they can ask for assistance with their problems. So you have tens of thousands of native americans, more than 70,000 french catholic and some former spanish colonists who now britain claims as its subjects. In addition, you have 2. 5 million british colonists, people like George Washington, like Benjamin Franklin and others, who fought in a war they believe to enjoy the fruits of that victory in the west. So the king all of a sudden has to face this challenge of, how do i balance the interest of all these subjects . How do i keep American Indians happy so they dont rise up and cause costly wars on the frontier, and at the same time, honor promises i made to people like George Washington who think they fought this war in order to enjoy those lands. What do i do about these french catholic citizens who want to continue to practice their faith, they are using to using they are used to using french ecclesiastical law. The king has to act as the arbiter of these various people. This gallery really sets up that problem for the crown of how how does it trying to balance these different interests. What is the view from the interior . What is the view from the colonies . What is the view from britain on this problem about the empire . So the objects in here and the media piece really pull that story apart. For native people, for instance, in 1763, they are the first group of people to really rise up and push back against an increased british control of their lives in a rebellion known as pontiacs rebellion. They push the crown to guaranty their sovereignty over their lands in the west. The british conclude that the best way to get their arms around this new empire is to build forts and stations, more than 10,000 British Regular troops in north america. Not necessarily to oppress colonists, just to keep these various populations separated from one another. That is a very expensive proposition. British taxpayers have funded this war. They have driven their National Debt up very high. In the parliament, no one is thinking we should just continue to tax british taxpayers for this. American colonists have enjoyed the fruits of this victory, we should ask them to contribute. And so, the idea comes up and eventually passes through parliament of what eventually becomes known as the stamp act. This is the depiction on the wall here of the design of that stamp. This is not a stamp you put on a letter, of course. This is a very old method of taxation, very familiar to british people. Because it was essentially a stamp that was placed on paper, and you can see an original example here, this is a london newspaper. And in the lower righthand corner, you can see the design stamped on the paper. That design meant a tax had been paid on that paper and the newspaper would be printed on. This also applied to parchment you would use for legal documents. It was on playing cards. This was the design for the stamps that would have been used in america to help pay for those british troops that were supposed to police the empire. Of course, this was a challenge americans view because they view themselves as transplanted englishmen. They may not have had any anguished ancestry whatsoever, that was the remarkable thing about being british colonists. Whether you were swedish or dutch, you came from any number of european backgrounds, once you become a naturalized citizen, you believe you have these fundamental rights as english men. One of the most fundamental of those is the right not to be taxed without your own consent. That would be given through elected representatives. In britain, thats parliament. In the colonies, the view was this was through colonial assemblies. So if you come to philadelphia and you visit Independence Hall, we know that as Independence Hall now because of something that happened in 1776. To people in the period, that was the Pennsylvania State house. Thats where the Colonial Legislature met. If you go to williamsburg, you see the house of burgesses. If you go to boston, the old statehouse. These were the legislative assemblies where men met who were elected. Those were the people in the view of colonists who could pass taxes and impose taxes on them. Differente two visions of empire that collide in this room. Is the empire going to be managed locally from the colonists or are colonists going to tax themselves and provide the manpower to make decisions about defense . Or is that going to come from above, in this case from parliament . That is what is represented by the tax stamp behind me here. Iscourse, very famously it Benjamin Franklin serving as the colonial agent for them. He recognizes nobody likes taxes, but does not anticipate virulent reaction in the colonies. He even recommends some friends of his to become tax collectors and then has to react and recover his reputation a little bit after the stamp act is passed. The next room which we call resistance is about the decades stretching from the stamp act from 1765 to the outbreak of the revolutionary war in 1775. This is a room that also introduces one of the exhibition techniques we use, which is to create these immersive spaces to try and make you feel transported back in time. So we recreated here the elder we recreated the elm tree that stood in boston in 1765 that became known as the liberty tree. This was a phenomenon that spread through other towns and colonies in the period. It was a place where sons and daughters of liberty gathered in an open air, political meetings to talk about how they would react to these efforts are the by the british to impose taxes through parliament on them. We embedded in the trump of this tree a piece of wood from the last standing liberty tree or it liberty tree. It was standing until 1999 on the grounds of the college in maryland. This was a piece blown down during the hurricane. Some of the wood was salvaged wonderful to have kids in particular feel like they are touching a piece of history here. This also is a gallery in which we explore some of the symbols of the resistance movement, forms of resistance. Nonimportation, the impulse to boycott goods that were in manufactured in britain and replace them with locally made goods. Buyhink nowadays this American Movement is something we invented, but this has roots going all the way back to the 1760s. Save your money, sa