Revolution | The Free Man | 5
American History Tellers
Audible
4.6 • 19K Ratings
🗓️ 25 July 2018
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Revolution was fought for freedom, at least in name. Calls for freedom filled the air. No taxation without representation! Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!
The Marquis de Lafayette, who had fought valiantly at Washington's side throughout the war, spoke for many when he wrote bitterly after the war:
"I would never have drawn my sword in the cause of America if I could have conceived that thereby I was founding a land of slavery."
This episode explores one man's experience of being a slave and then being free during America's founding decades.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music, |
| 0:05.6 | download the app today. |
| 0:13.6 | Imagine it's 1798, you're a businessman passing through Connecticut. |
| 0:17.8 | You've spent the night with your brother, a farmer who lives outside the rural town of |
| 0:21.6 | Hattam. |
| 0:22.6 | The two of you are riding into town passing by houses that lie on the outskirts, and as |
| 0:27.1 | you too often do, you're arguing politics. |
| 0:30.5 | George Washington's eight-year presidency ended a year ago. |
| 0:34.2 | The subsequent election of 1796 was fierce. |
| 0:37.6 | You supported John Adams, like most farmers, your brother supported Thomas Jefferson. |
| 0:42.8 | John Adams won. |
| 0:44.4 | One of his first moves was to sign the Sedition Act, making it a crime to oppose the federal |
| 0:49.8 | government or speak out against it. |
| 0:51.7 | How is it possible that you don't see the danger in this law? |
| 0:55.3 | Did we not just fight a war over freedom of speech? |
| 0:58.9 | Yes, but we have to protect our nation. |
| 1:01.4 | We must have order. |
| 1:02.9 | Order? |
| 1:04.2 | You mean tyranny. |
| 1:05.6 | If we can't speak or act except as we are told, then we are slaves. |
| 1:11.0 | Slaves. |
| 1:12.0 | That word is still ringing in the air as you arrive at the center of town at the general |
... |
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