282

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I'm still, I still got to do this.

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I have to do this.

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That spells

C-O-U-R-A-G-E.

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Thank you.

286

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Albert Woodfox had four

decades in solitary confinement

287

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to think about freedom.

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In prison he learned to cast off

the chains that bound him physically

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and found that inner freedom.

290

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Nelson Mandela said, "To be free is

not merely to cast off ones chains,

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but to live in a way that respects

and enhances the freedom of others."

292

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Something we must all strive for.

293

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Life without the concept of freedom

seems alien to most of us today.

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For most of recorded history, freedom

was the domain of only a select few.

295

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Royalty, nobility and the wealthy.

296

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But in 1776, 13 British colonies in

North America dared to declare freedom

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as a basic human right.

298

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I'm headed to the American

Philosophical Society in Philadelphia

299

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to meet with its librarian Patrick Spero.

300

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He studies documents dating back to

the time of the country's founding.

301

00:20:41,528 --> 00:20:45,317

PATRICK: What you're looking at

here is one of the first printings of

302

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the Declaration of Independence.

303

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The first section is the preamble.

304

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And this is where they talk about life,

liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

305

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And the idea is that individuals

should be free to do these things

306

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and government is constituted

to protect those freedoms.

307
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These freedoms.

308

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And what the king has done

is broken that contract,

309

00:21:03,889 --> 00:21:06,890

broken that trust and so

they have to be freed from

310

00:21:06,926 --> 00:21:10,779

the king in order to be

free to do what they want.

311

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Now can you say taht this was the first

time a group of people decided that they

312

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wanted to be free to do whatever

the heck they wanted to do?

313
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Well I think it's the first time that

it was ever written in a official way.

314

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But this is not the only version of the

Declaration of Independence that survives.

315

00:21:32,870 --> 00:21:35,182

The other document that

I wanna show you is this,

316

00:21:35,222 --> 00:21:38,490

Thomas Jefferson's draft of

the Declaration of Independence

317

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and you can see on the

side there's these notes.

318

00:21:40,583 --> 00:21:41,087

Yep.

319
00:21:41,154 --> 00:21:43,502

Once Congress got their hands on

this they started changing words,

320

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changing meanings.

321

00:21:44,776 --> 00:21:48,914

I think the most notable one is in that

famous phrase, that people were endowed with

322

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certain unalienable rights,

Jefferson originally wrote

323

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"inherent and inalienable rights".

324

00:21:56,072 --> 00:21:59,201

Inherent rights, which

Jefferson used several times,

325

00:21:59,310 --> 00:22:00,648

means that all people are born with the...

326

00:22:00,684 --> 00:22:03,053

Born with these rights.

327

00:22:04,262 --> 00:22:11,367

OK, so if they rights are not inherent,

then you're not necessarily born with them,

328

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only a few people are born with them.

329

00:22:13,667 --> 00:22:16,896

And they're applied only to white society.

330

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- White male society?

- Yes, yes.

331

00:22:24,499 --> 00:22:27,953

MORGAN: It never occurred to me that

the rights to freedom spelled out

332

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in the Declaration of

Independence were deliberately

333

00:22:30,681 --> 00:22:34,718

phrased to exclude slaves and women.

334

00:22:35,507 --> 00:22:38,779

Thomas Jefferson's original

draft, preserved here in the

335

00:22:38,849 --> 00:22:43,938

American Philosophical Society,

describes the rights as inherent,

336

00:22:44,005 --> 00:22:47,449

meaning they should apply

to everybody from birth.

337

00:22:47,513 --> 00:22:54,365

But the final signed version only

describes certain unalienable rights.

338

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In other words, only rights land owning

white men already had, couldn't be taken away.

339

00:23:02,396 --> 00:23:08,835

The Declaration of Independence, it

says that all men are created equal,

340

00:23:08,871 --> 00:23:10,146

that's not what it meant?

341

00:23:10,208 --> 00:23:15,300

They aren't writing for the enslaved,

they aren't writing for women.

342

00:23:15,403 --> 00:23:19,810

The thing is about this document, is

that slavery existed in this period,

343

00:23:19,873 --> 00:23:23,353

but the word is never used and they are

purposeful about not using it because

344

00:23:23,429 --> 00:23:28,136

they know that it does not

comport with the idea of liberty,

345

00:23:28,175 --> 00:23:30,572

that there's that

contradiction, that paradox.

346

00:23:30,634 --> 00:23:34,841

Is it safe to say that

Jefferson was probably one of our

347

00:23:34,911 --> 00:23:39,548

most enigmatic presidents?

348

00:23:39,602 --> 00:23:40,461

Yes.

349

00:23:40,507 --> 00:23:44,616

Well you know, the thing is

Jefferson was imperfect you know.

350
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Jefferson had slaves, Jefferson's

imperfections got at the American paradox.

351

00:23:51,086 --> 00:23:55,200

Ok, so the Declaration of Independence

352

00:23:55,263 --> 00:24:00,068

is not a document guaranteeing freedom?

353

00:24:00,428 --> 00:24:03,566

Yes, I think that's fair.

354

00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:08,622

But once you put that writing in stone,

it empowered people, it inspired people.

355

00:24:08,708 --> 00:24:12,008

It drove them to realize

what those words meant.

356

00:24:12,083 --> 00:24:13,001

Could mean.
357

00:24:13,068 --> 00:24:16,760

Well it took a lot of fighting and

effort, heroic actions, bravery,

358

00:24:16,970 --> 00:24:20,987

people willing to risk their lives to

realize the promise of the Declaration.

359

00:24:24,689 --> 00:24:29,934

The Declaration of Independence was not

designed to free everyone in America.

360

00:24:30,025 --> 00:24:35,366

Its original purpose was to free

powerful American landowners from any

361

00:24:35,402 --> 00:24:37,749

obligations to the King of England.

362

00:24:38,618 --> 00:24:43,555

But, once those white men

had signed that document,

363

00:24:44,144 --> 00:24:50,102

they unwittingly opened the road to

freedom for the rest of us to walk along.

364

00:24:51,959 --> 00:24:55,184

(gunshots)

365

00:24:55,902 --> 00:24:58,830

Freedom doesn't come without a fight.

366

00:25:01,285 --> 00:25:05,336

What American revolutionaries

fought for over two centuries ago,

367

00:25:05,414 --> 00:25:09,267

other revolutionaries

continue to battle for today.

368

00:25:12,213 --> 00:25:16,697

I've come to Guatemala to meet

freedom fighter and Nobel Peace Prize

369

00:25:16,741 --> 00:25:19,311

winner Rigoberta Menchu.

370

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A Guatemalan Indian rights activist

who fled her country in 1981

371

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after security forces killed her family.

372

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She has dedicated her life

to securing a better future

373

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for the indigenous peoples of her country.

374

00:25:41,041 --> 00:25:42,688

(doorbell ringing)