Support for this program provided by Fred and Barbara Sutherland.

♪♪ >> Students and teachers across the country were selected for the Young People's Continental Congress.

Today, 10 of those students join us to discuss history, our foundational documents, and their hopes for the future.

I'm Avi Wolfman-Arendt, and let's meet the delegates.

>> Hi, I'm Nina, and I'm from California.

Hi, I'm Basil.

I'm from Delaware.

Delaware.

We're in Delaware.

Newark.

Newark, Delaware.

Not Newark, New Jersey.

No.

Don't confuse the two.

The better one.

Yes, the better one.

Hi, I'm Genevieve.

I'm from Indiana.

Hi, I'm Mirabelle.

I'm from Minnesota.

I'm Henry and I'm from Missouri.

We're in Missouri, man.

I'm from Kansas City.

Kansas City, Missouri.

Big Chiefs family.

Yep.

Big Chiefs family.

We'll let that sit out there.

Go ahead.

Hello everyone, I'm Ella and I'm from Montana.

Hi, I'm Sophia and I'm from Pennsylvania.

Hello, I'm Nitya, I'm from South Carolina.

Hi, I'm Theodora and I'm from Texas.

Texas.

Beautiful Texas, a lone star state.

Of course.

Yeah, alright, you've been in Philadelphia now for a little bit.

Yes.

Best thing you ate here in Philly?

That's a hard one.

I'm gonna have to say, I tried a Philly cheesesteak from like one of the local restaurants here and low-key it was really good.

I liked it a lot.

Low-key was good.

I thought you were going to say high-key, but we'll take low-key.

Hi, I'm Cooper and I'm from Washington State.

Alright guys, let's start here.

What were the grievances laid out in the Declaration of Independence?

Who wants to take a crack at that one?

I can give it a try.

Alright, go ahead Theodora.

So I know one of them was about taxation without representation.

A lot of times a lot of the revolutionaries really wanted to be represented by their government.

I think a lot of colonists were also unhappy about the soldiers being quartered in their homes.

Yeah, that's a big one.

You gotta feed them, you gotta put them up, laundry's expensive, right?

So people living in North America during the 1770s did not all agree about whether the United States should pursue independence at all.

What were some of the different perspectives on the American Revolution?

Nina, let's start with you.

I would say that some of the different perspectives in the American Revolution you have farmers like all the different colonies I think kind of represented different economic factors.

You had a lot of farmers, traders, merchants.

Those different taxes I think kind of had a little bit of different reactions for different people.

You also had like nobility but to my understanding there wasn't a lot of a lot of those people present in the colonies at that time.

Sophia what do you think what are some of the perspectives captured?

So throughout the week we looked at different primary sources that included different perspectives of those who didn't write the Declaration.

I read a primary source about Native Americans and this specific source was a Native American tribe pleading with the colonies for help of who to listen to because different states were trying to make treaties with them and they didn't know who to listen to and then they were also reaching out for help about a different tribe stealing their land so they were very much pro Team America as long as they were willing to help them.

Interesting, interesting.

Cooper what do you think some of the some of the perspectives?

I think that it's interesting to remember in hindsight how this decision is not as easy as we think it is today.

Often people made their they had they had different beliefs personally than they did in practice and they made these decisions based off of things like economic factors.

If they were a merchant selling goods they often traded with the British so that decision to revolt against this trade relationship that they already had pre-existing didn't suit them economically but maybe personally they did believe in the fight for independence.

So there's lots of nuance to people's decision that I think in hindsight it's really important to remember.

He had different opinions within groups but sometimes within the same person right.

Mirabel what do you think some of the perspectives captured?

I also read a source during that activity about Native Americans perspective.

It showed the division between how the younger generation of Native Americans viewed getting American independence versus the older generation.

From what I remember the older generation was more hesitant to make that switch while the younger generation was kind of pushing towards the revolution.

Yeah I bet that dynamic popped up in lots of different groups.

Genevieve, what do you think?

A really interesting perspective to look at during the American Revolution is that of the enslaved people.

Seeing who they supported whether they tended to lean more loyalist or more patriot is really interesting because they were really just looking for that autonomy for that liberty and seeing whether they found it with the Patriots and for what reasons or whether they found it with the loyalists and for what reasons can be a really interesting perspective to like delve deep into.

Nithya what do you think?

An interesting source that I learned about with enslaved people just like Genevieve said was Boston King.

He ran away from his owner to to side with the British and this is something that you don't hear every day and this was kind of stemmed from this idea of fear and I truly feel that these different perspectives were formed because these different groups of colonists had this fear in them.

Imagine you're on the precipice of history there's a lot of uncertainty.

Henry, all right let's jump in here.

Lots of different perspectives, lots of competing interests.

What do you think?

I think one of the most compelling reasons why people had their specific perspectives was that of people who are doing really well and people who are struggling.

And so wealthy landowning white people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, everyone, they obviously were for the side of independence and that's because they were kind of able to look at it from an ideological perspective and they could see what what makes society thrive.

Whereas a lot of other people who were not in such a good situation like enslaved people, the indigenous populations and people living in poverty.

They were just trying to survive with them and their family and just try to do what's best for them.

Day to day.

Basil, let's jump in there.

I know we've heard a lot at this point, but what do you want to add?

Within the Native American community, there was division based on who supported Great Britain and who supported the colonists.

And most of it really came down to who they thought would help them preserve their land the most.

I just think it's so interesting to see the enslaved people, the Native Americans, they're also fighting for their freedom and their rights at the same time that the colonists are.

Absolutely.

I think looking at different perspectives really allows you to capture the full picture of history itself.

Oftentimes, and I think too many times, it's really only one-sided.

And different perspectives really offer you, like, different windows to look at history and events.

Now you guys spent this whole week exploring historic Philadelphia and I'm really curious, what are some examples of experiences that you had that connected the past and the present?

At the Historical Society, I got to see a handwritten draft of the Articles of Confederation, written by the John Dickinson.

This was very interesting because it had a bunch of little scribbles and annotations that he was making, so it was pretty hard to read, but it was very, very interesting.

All right, let's go over to this table over here.

So we were lucky enough to get to see the Liberty Bell, and one thing that one of the Rangers told us that I thought was really cool was that a lot of people see the crack in the bell as a sign that we still haven't fully achieved liberty.

And you know, our founding fathers, they felt really strongly about the ideals of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.

But even after they won the revolution, America still had to fight so much to get that liberty for so many other groups.

Yeah, not just an old bell, right?

Nina, Genevieve, what were your experiences with the bell or anything else that you wanted to connect past and present?

It's really interesting to see how people interact with these objects today.

And I think seeing that and understanding that can help us understand why maybe we think, "Oh, the Liberty Bell, that would be so cool to go and see."

Well, why do we think that?

Why did our forefathers think that?

At one of the museums that we went to, we toured kind of the history of the 19th Amendment, the amendment that gave women the right to vote.

And I think what's really interesting is that women always played a vital role, whether they were expected to just maintain the house or the idea of Republican motherhood, where women were expected to raise their sons with Democratic ideals so that they would go into the government in both of the world wars when women went into the workforce and maintain their families while their husbands were off to war.

And we had all of these responsibilities and really kind of almost carried America on our backs.

And yet we weren't able to vote and we were denied all of these basic rights.

And I think that today we can see that a little bit with some communities, I think, especially when we look into immigration as well.

Immigrants play such an important role in a lot of our states and in our country as a whole.

And that's just one example that I can think of.

Let's go to this table now, Mirabelle and Henry.

Thinking about those connections between past and present that you guys, that were like conjured up when you guys were walking around this week.

I think that when we look at history, we often look at it in a pretty zoomed out manner.

And we don't really look at what it was like to be in the room where it happened.

And so it was really, really cool to be in the room where it happened.

I think our first destination this week was Carpenters Hall.

And something that I never knew is that in Carpenters Hall, it's really, really small.

Like it's super cramped.

I don't know how they fit 50 delegates in there.

And so I think that there's these little things that we often overlook, but I think they definitely do affect how history plays out.

Something that really stood out to me was one of the first copies of the Declaration of Independence that we got to see.

It had quotation marks that were just notes for Jefferson to read to himself that ultimately got printed.

And how it was saved, it really showed that people knew that this was going to be an important moment.

When we went to the National Constitution Center, it was truly amazing to see all of the amendments that we have passed in our past and how they have kind of fueled our future into gaining more equality.

Although we may never achieve perfect equality, each year we're making those steps to gain more equality.

Yeah.

Cooper, what do you think?

The ideals of new amendments and touring museums and researching in archives.

We also had the privilege of listening to a lot of very interesting professors who came to visit us and one of a one of the more memorable conversations that we had is is how to be a good citizen what it is and part of that was knowing your rights and in knowing how to use them and thinking about what is an amendment and what are future amendments that that we can look for and strive to pursue in the future so I think that's a really good point that you brought up.

Yeah how to be a good citizen I'm sure we all still think about that today that never goes away.

Anyone else have anything to add on terms of like debates they were having during the Continental Congress?

Do you feel like they're still like live debates today?

I've heard some conversation over whether or not we should continue the existence of the Senate and that kind of reminds me back at the Constitutional Convention when the different states were arguing over how representation would be done in Congress and there was this big debate over whether it should have been done by population or whether every state should get equal representation and that obviously caused a lot of disagreement just because not every state has the same population.

We can see that in the House of Representatives we have some states like California that has I believe 57 representatives right now and some that only have one and that's where we have this dual system where we have the House of Representatives as based on population in the Senate that is equal representation.

And I think that compromises like that were important to keeping the peace and keeping the union back then.

I think that they're still important now and not just when it comes to that.

But I think that compromising in general is really important, especially in politics today.

Hi, my name is Theodora Ordaz and this is my day in Philadelphia.

Right now we are in front of Independence Hall.

We get to go behind the scenes to see some of the first meeting places back in history.

For our next activity we're going to look at who and what inspires us.

I make a list of it and share it throughout our whole group.

I wrote Shirley Chisholm because she was the first woman to run for president.

And not only was she a woman, but she was also an African American woman, which I think is really inspiring.

Being in Independence Hall was an amazing experience.

One of those once in a lifetime things.

Not only did we get to see where our founding fathers and leaders like plan important documents, but also we kind of got to like make our own.

And it made me really think of like people that inspire us and what type of things they want to do in the future.

Being at the Second Bank was really awesome.

And I've heard so many stories about it, and actually being there made me realize how close-knit the history of Philadelphia really is.

Right now we're looking at portraits and paintings and drawings made from back in history.

I took a picture of Patrick Henry because I remember on the first day we came here, we went to Carpenter's Hall, and somebody was impersonating him, and that was one of the first things I saw.

And that's a real core memory for this trip.

Hey, we're at the Liberty Bell.

I think the Liberty Bell really represents Philadelphia.

It's a symbol of liberty, freedom and history at the time.

Having the tour guide tell us about what the crack bully meant reminded me that just because something might seem broken, doesn't mean it needs to get thrown away.

It's just a symbol of its strength.

My takeaway of this week has been that it's important to really look into civic discourse.

Having people from around the US, I realized it's important to really go to new places and try new things because that's what really shapes us and we shape the future.

I think this experience is really amazing and I definitely recommend it to anybody that comes to Philadelphia.

It really helps you get a deeper insight of not just the area but also American history itself.

For this I will read a series of prompts and you will either go to the yay side or the nay side.

Are you ready for the first prompt?

History is written by the winners.

Hmm.

It appears that the yays have it.

Since you're the winner of this exercise, of course I'll let you guys go first and prove your own point.

Why do you guys think history is written by the winners?

I think that history is written by everyone.

I think that everyone has a perspective and we can find documents, we can find journals from every side.

But we are usually taught the winner's side.

That's what we're usually here.

There is some dissent.

We have to acknowledge that Ella.

You're more on the kind of ne side of this whole equation.

Being able to look at the opposite side of things and getting to see that perspective is something that is very important in history.

Theodora, you're the most ne here, I guess, based on where you sat.

How do you feel?

You really can't doubt that there's going to be always artifacts or something from the past that you just can't deny and honestly it's those people that did lose that really do form the other part of the history that we use today.

You guys went to a lot of historic sites that present the story of the past to the public and I'm curious what kind of messages about the revolution you all encountered.

One of the very interesting point of views that we explored during a lecture this week was the history of preservation and how preservation and the lack thereof can change how we perceive the past and even how we think just think about it and what has been either taken out of historical buildings or what sometimes historical documents are lost so just what's accessible and what we can see also changes the way that we can interpret the history and how we can see it today.

We also did another lecture on learning about the artwork and how it was drawn where it was drawn who it was drawn by and how that can actually paint history.

Prompt the second learning about history is important.

There's always got to be one.

There's always got to be one.

Good for you.

Why do we learn about history guys?

I mean it's old, it's in the past.

Well, so you always hear the statement, "Learn history so that you don't repeat the past mistakes," which I mean is agreeable, everybody knows that.

But it's also about learning the foundations our country was built upon.

And remembering that those are our foundational principles is very important to how you act as a citizen today.

I always like to think about history, you know, we learn about the history and the civics is actually the action that we take to kind of improve our local community.

All right Henry, you spent the whole week learning about history even though it's not important, why do you disagree with the statement?

So we've been learning that it is not only important to think critically but also to learn how to disagree with people.

I'm playing devil's advocate today and I think that history is not important to learn about because it's boring.

So you learned some history that made you learn about the importance of disagreement which made you disagree with the statement learning history is important.

It's quite paradoxical.

Yeah, that's right.

It kind of eats itself there.

Good job Henry.

Good job everybody.

Well done.

All right, we've been a lot of places.

We've learned a lot of things.

You guys have taught me a lot.

But now, after looking back, let's look forward.

I want each of you to talk about your hopes for the future of the country.

And Cooper, let's start with you.

- Looking back at how our founding fathers all came from different places in the colonies.

They all had different perspectives, different ideas, different dreams and goals for the country.

They came together to create this founding document that guides us today and I think that we should use their the way that they collaborated to inspire us to do the same in the future.

Nina.

You don't necessarily have to wait until you're old enough to vote to have a voice and to have an opinion.

Your only power is not being able to vote for president and that it's equally as important to be involved in your local communities to know who your representatives are that and I also hope that we all become a little bit more empathetic towards each other and that our government officials as well.

Theodora your hopes for the future of our country.

I really hope that our country's future will involve us looking at more perspectives and looking at everyone's input not just those of high up government officials but also the people because that's what it's all about really.

All right, Basil.

I really hope this country continues to do what it was built on fighting for what you believe is right.

If you see an injustice then stand up against it, protest, peacefully of course, but speak out if you see an injustice and be true to yourself and your beliefs.

The future of our country.

I truly feel that education is so important to build these young leaders.

And two of my biggest aspirations are one is no censorship and all books that should be allowed.

And two is diversity.

Diversity is truly important to understand different perspectives.

I think that should also be implemented in education.

One of my biggest hopes for our country is that we can work to build our society to have equal access to opportunities for all the diverse groups that are in our country.

America is supposed to be the land of opportunity, the land where you can go and have that opportunity to better themselves and to continue bettering themselves.

My fellow Pennsylvanian, your hopes?

My hope is that everybody in this country will stop automatically hating each other or not liking a person just because of beliefs and being open to having a conversation about that because that's the only way we're ever going to make progress and stop hating each other as a country.

And I think you see, you got to see, people got to see a lot of that with us today is we're all people from incredibly different backgrounds, all with our own opinions.

And we had to learn how to work together and listen to the other perspectives to release a document or declaration of aspirations that's true to all of us.

And it shows that it is possible.

All right.

Hopes for the future of the nation.

Mirabelle I hope that in the future we can continue to focus on specifically civic education so that people can create their own opinions.

All right.

Ella hopes for the future.

I think my biggest hope for the future is that we're able to come together.

Just how our founding fathers did during the meeting of the First Continental Congress and be able to come together and collaborate and understand our differences but also be able to embrace these.

Some of the best things come from disagreements and being able to have those kind of difficult discussions.

Henry, Kansas City, take us home.

I hope, I aspire, and I pray for a world where kindness transcends practicality.

Where we can all do things for the good of other people.

I think that a lot of what politics is, is doing things that look like the right thing to get you reelected.

And I think that we should do things that are the right thing to do things that are better for the entire world.

And that's what I really hope for.

History has many stories.

It's about the human condition.

It's about overcoming challenges.

It's about coming together.

Even if you don't plan on being a major politician trying to change America's future, you can use history as a way to just inspire yourself to be the best version of yourself and to overcome adversity.

All of us need to know history, not just students in high school.

Even us adults have to continuously refresh ourselves with historical anecdotes and stories, and where better to do that than in Philadelphia.

There are great life lessons from people, from famous people to the people who bring about revolution and I think students need to know about that.

We're living it, we're breathing it, it's building roots and then our experiences with history give us wisdom and so our ability and our I guess privilege that we're having this week to live the history and gain the wisdom is something that we can take back to our own community.

I think it's important to that students know where we've come from and how it can impact their future and what they can do with that information and how they can then be active in their communities to make change.

A big round of applause for our amazing student delegates.

I'm Avi Wolfman-Arent from WHYY in Philadelphia.

Thank you so much for joining us.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Support for this program provided by Fred and Barbara Sutherland.

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