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[Dino and Coop singing]

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Most nations of the world are made up of people who have a common background. [Thousands of the same person stood together]

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And… then there’s the United States.

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Which is made up of people from all different backgrounds, places, religions, ethnicities.

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You name it, America’s got it. [An eagle appears]

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We’re so diverse, in fact, that author Herman Melville…that guy you hate who wrote Moby-Dick…once

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said, “You cannot spill a drop of American blood without spilling the blood of the whole [Melville pointing to his quote on a blackboard]

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world....

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We are not a nation, so much as a world.”

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Yeah.

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Hermie had a flare for the dramatic. [Melville stood in a boat pointing]

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But…he might have been onto something.

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On the subject of people with all sorts of different backgrounds…take a look at what

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Thomas Jefferson, writer of that Declaration of Independence thingy…had to say:

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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they [Jefferson stood next to his quote]

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are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life,

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Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

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You could say that “we” might be one of the most important words in American history. [Washington handing a football to Jefferson]

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After all, the Constitution starts with “We the People,” not “I the Person.” [We and people is crossed out and replaced with I and person]

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Senator…and Forehead of the Year winner…

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Daniel Webster doubled down on the idea when he said that our government was: [Webster with an advert written on his forehead]

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“the people’s government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable

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to the people.

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The people of the United States have declared that this Constitution shall be the supreme

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law.”

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Yeah.

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He was a super serious dude.

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But he was all about not leaving any leeway.

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The Constitution was the law of the land. [Person being arrested by the constitution wearing a police hat]

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Period, end of story.

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“We the people” means everybody.

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Yep.

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Even that guy. [Guy wearing a joker hat]

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As President Teddy Roosevelt said, “This country will not be a good place for any of

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us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.”

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In other words, we can't in good conscience call America a great place to live

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if we're ignoring the needs of countless groups currently living here. [Two men in suits look disgusted by a man that appears in a window]

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Of course, for a lot of people, this country wasn’t always a great place to live in. [Old slave shop]

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But even as a slave, another great American, Harriet Tubman, was idealistic:

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“I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to: liberty [Tubman next to her quote]

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or death.

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If I could not have one, I would have the other.”

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Tubman ran to freedom and became one of the most famous “conductors” of the Underground [Tubman running away]

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Railroad.

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America sometimes seems like it’s made for feel-good stories. [Rocky punches Darth Vader]

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That’s what President Woodrow Wilson believed.

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He said “Sometimes people call me an idealist.

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Well, that is the way I know I am an American.

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America is the only idealistic nation in the world.”

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He…probably didn’t poll all the other countries, but…we’ll take his word for it. [Wilson doing a questionnaire with french people]

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Every time America becomes more inclusive, the country becomes an even better place to [Differnt people together looking happy]

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live.

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This is what Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis meant when he said:

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“America has believed that in differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress.

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It acted on this belief, it has advanced human happiness, and it has prospered.”

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Because of our first amendment right to free speech, Americans can express that diversity [People protesting]

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however they see fit.

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And boy do we often see fit.

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Americans definitely like to talk.

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But it’s an important freedom, one on which our democracy hinges.

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As Abolitionist Frederick Douglas once declared, “To suppress free speech is a double wrong. [Douglas next to his quote]

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It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.”

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But “we the people” isn’t just something to live up to. [People appear looking happy]

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It’s also a responsibility.

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Benjamin Franklin, noted statesman, scientist, library founder, and O.G.

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Post Master, said something to that effect shortly after he signed the Constitution. [Franklin on a horse]

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A woman asked old Ben, “Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

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To which he cleverly replied, “A republic, if we can keep it.”

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Then he probably said about three-hundred-and-eighty other clever things. [Franklin quotes appear]

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’Cause that’s how Benny Boy rolled.

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