Ken Burns

Well, you think I live under the greatest...

political system, the British constitutional monarchy, why would I want to change this great life, this great prosperity I have for this idea that A, sounds foolhardy and radical, but also B, has zero chance of working out.

Zero chance of working out, right?

At Lexington, 250 years ago on April 19th, the chances of the Patriots prevailing are zero.

And to tell the story of how it went from zero to 100% is scary, violent, complicated, lots of undertow, and as exhilarating as you could possibly imagine.

Proclaiming the unalienable rights of all people.

Now, let's be honest.

Thomas Jefferson meant all white men of property free of debt.

But the words are beautiful.

The words are vague.

And the door got opened a crack and everybody else put their foot in it.

Women put their foot in it, the poor, the not-landed people, the folks, the craftsmen who just had a regular job, black people.

And it has sponsored revolutions all around the world, democratic revolutions, that the greatest thing that we invented was the idea that we could govern ourselves, that we would no longer be under the boot of an authoritarian master who had just set himself up, like King George,

you know, because of hereditary privilege, you know, his grandfather and his grandfather and his father and his uncle and going back.

And on what basis?

Is it talent?

Is it showing the things?

And so all of these people that we consider the bold-faced names of our revolution, the Washingtons and the Jeffersons and the Patrick Henrys and the John Adams and the

They didn't know they were those people.

They didn't know they were a planter and they were a businessman and they were a lawyer and they were this guy and a planter or a scientist.