Liberty's Kids 101 - The Boston Tea Party (Pilot, Part I)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] that's foreign the way it [Music] at life goes my own eyes i'm searching for a hero to idolize [Music] [Applause] [Music] red white and blue never give up you represent america [Music] how can i see it any other way [Music] [Applause] [Music] here are some exciting scenes from today's episode of liberty's kids it's time for us to band together it's time for us to become patriots and patriots are men of action are you with me [Music] [Music] dearest mother i can hardly believe it's been a fortnight since i paid you all farewell

i miss you terribly yet my heart is also filled with delicious anticipation of the new life which awaits father and me and the colonies i look forward to settling in dr franklin's home in philadelphia and long to see father again when he returns from the wilderness i'm proud to have a brave explorer as my father i wear his locket always we'll all be reunited on the wonderful land he is sure to discover i shall be true to my word and write every day your loving daughter sarah [Music] [Music] so [Music] moses moses help moses hurry

not again james afraid so moses help me this is my last clean shirt [Music] much obliged dr franklin has warned you about standing too close to the press while i'm working on it look at yourself fantastic when someone wants to know what's on my shirt i can sell them a newspaper we're paid to print the paper not wear it i don't just print the paper i'm a journalist you're an apprentice journalist true but someday i'm gonna get the big story then dr franklin will make me a full-fledged journalist james moses a letter it's from dr

franklin in london give me that henry it's a dress to moses you look like james and you look like someone who's dessert i'm gonna eat tonight lads drop everything sarah phillips isn't coming to philadelphia good i never understood why she had to stay here anyway fetch your coats we're going to meet her at the ship i thought you just said she isn't coming to philadelphia she's not dr franklin says miss phillips couldn't make passage on the dover she's aboard the dartmouth and the dartmouth is heading for boston boston that's in massachusetts bay colony and there's

been trouble up there lately we have to hurry she's all alone come on [Music] i hope i'm not putting you out of your way dr franklin not at all lady phillips i have an appointment just down the street besides life's a wilderness without friends last night i had a terrible dream my sarah was in danger danger in philadelphia let me put your mind at ease it's a fine city the second largest in the empire she'll feel very much at home lady phillips that is a relief i worry about her ben with major phillips off scouting

new lands in the ohio territory sarah will be all alone but she won't be alone she'll be in fine company with my associates moses james and andre sarah couldn't be safer if she were still cradled in your own arms [Music] gentlemen of boston the hour has arrived please please gentlemen you know me as sam adams neighbor and friend hear me now parliament continues to treat us with ill will first the sugar act raised our taxes did we have a say the answer is name then the horrid stamp act nearly drove us to ruin and who

could forget our brothers who lost their lives in the boston massacre [Applause] and now governor hutchinson insists on collecting parliament's t-tax but did we have a vote [Applause] [Music] this is boston it's smaller than i thought oh my joints are aching from these rotten roads the axle is bent it'll have to be repaired before we head back the ride home will be smoother good otherwise i'd rather walk home how are we going to find miss phillips you don't even know what she looks like she sailed on the dartmouth that's a good place to start [Music]

it's time for us to band together as sons of liberty it's time for us to become patriots and patriots are men of action are you with me [Applause] [Music] can you not go over everything hey moses [Music] indians james moses moak indians there's a story here let's see where they lead us [Applause] [Music] they're headed for the dartmouth we've got to find miss phillips fast [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you get miss phillips i'm going to get this story just the t men remember we're not to damage anything else we're just after the team

why are you destroying the team we're protesting unfair taxation parliament raised the t tax over our objections maybe next time they'll listen [Applause] do you know what that means nope i owe the others saying it we've stumbled into the story of a lifetime i'm going below deck to see what's happening stay out of trouble take that parliament [Music] [Applause] miss phillips sarah phillips sarah [Music] take that what hit me you'll never take me alive take you where wherever indians take people i'm not no indian none of us are you're not an indian who taught you

grammar who taught you to act people in the head my apologies i thought you were here to kidnap me kidnap i'm a journalist for the pennsylvania gazette now what do you have to say about the tax protest is that what this is about disgraceful the tea is private property this is so uncivilized we're not to damage anything else we're just after the team if you are any kind of englishman you drop that pencil and put a stop to it so you think it's okay to impose taxes on the colonies even though the colonies don't have

a vote in parliament i think loyal subjects of the king should obey the laws of their country and you can quote me on that mister what is your name hiller james hiller and who would i be quoting whom may i be quoting if you're going to write for a newspaper you really should treat words with more care just tell me your name will you i have work to do phillips miss sarah phillips of london england s a r a h p h i sarah phillips you're sarah phillips [Music] i can't believe you're sarah phillips i

am and i'll thank you to stop shouting mr hiller i've had a very rude welcome to america and you're not making things any better we've been looking for you have you and why is that benjamin franklin sent us dr franklin sent you now who's yelling redcoats [Applause] abandon ship abandon ship [Music] [Applause] we have to get out of here where is james look it is not a mistake james come on the redcoats are on their way come on unhand me miss phillips i presume thank goodness we found you if we're caught by those soldiers we'll

be thrown in jail which in my opinion is exactly where traitors belong [Music] sorry miss phillips but i can't print my story from jail let me go [Applause] i said let me go i'd love to but dr franklin told us to take care of you james look out [Music] that's an order i'll get you for this [Music] you rats scallions men stop them immediately i want them now [Music] is everyone okay that was fun what a story this is headline news lower your voices we're not out of the woods yet are you crazy do you

want the british to catch us i am british we're all british right now those soldiers think we're criminals criminals what did we do wrong we were in the wrong place at the wrong time the wagon's over there let's go down the redcoats will recognize you three but i'll just be another faceless servant even if you don't like the laws you can't just ignore them that will lead to chaos but what if the law is unjust parliament would never pass an unjust law but they have i interviewed the men tonight the colonies must pay taxes to

the king but we have no voice in parliament does that sound fair to you i don't know what to think i only know ben franklin would hardly approve of what went on tonight then you don't know ben franklin quick get down the constable be still or it's jail for us all whoa good evening constable bye night fine night for troublemakers state your business i'm just bringing some freshly quartered hogs to the wheatley residence hogs say you at this time of night i think i'll have myself a look i wouldn't if i were you these are

some big ugly hogs nasty to look at and do they ever smell [Music] you're right they do stink the wheatley home is right around the corner hurry along now the redcoats have boston under curfew nobody's allowed on the streets after dark won't happen again much obliged sir [Music] this is the place come on moses how do you know the wheatley's you've never been to boston i don't know the wheatley's but all of my people know phyllis wheatley oh from her poetry she's the finest poet in the land muse where shall i begin the spacious field

to tell what curses unbelief duff yield a woman who can write like that would never turn away someone who needs help why are we at the servant store yes miss wheatley yes we're in trouble miss wheatley and we are hungry did mr adam send you um yes there's a stable round back the door squeaked so be careful we can't wake the master you're a slave when i was eight years old i was kidnapped in west africa and taken on a slave ship to boston the wheatley's paid for me in the auction and took me home

mrs wheatley helped me learn to read not just english but also latin and greek please go on well a few years ago all of the reading gave me an urge to start writing poetry and soon thereafter my first book was published it has gotten a rather good response in england though very few copies have been sold in the colonies that's not surprising and maybe you should have put pictures in it the wheatley's have helped me greatly they even sent me to london but i don't understand you're still a slave my situation is very different than

most the wheatley's and i belong to the old south church it is our hope that through meeting africans white people will realize how wrong slavery is i'd love to read your book i'm afraid you'll not be reading it now miss phillips we'd best get undercover before someone sees us go i'll bring some vittles [Music] we'll never make it back to philadelphia on this axle it has to be replaced good i like to stick around boston this is where the action is me too if miss wheatley can write half as good as she cooks she must

be another shakespeare hey how can a woman like phyllis wheatley be somebody's property it's outrageous am i the only one who sees this those men tonight throwing tea into the water all that talk of freedom what about freedom for miss wheatley not everyone in the colonies believes in slavery sarah talk is easy and freedom is priceless i know i was born free in west africa but when i was not much bigger than little henry here my brother and i were captured and chained to the decks of a ship an awful ship with a long voyage

to virginia and slavery that's terrible moses how did you escape i escaped by using my head in my hands i learned smithing a valuable skill a master loaned me out for odd jobs here and there and sometimes i was given silver coins for my work when i earned enough coins i bought my freedom back traveled to philadelphia there i learned to read and write and was offered a job by dr franklin a man who hates slavery as much as i but moses how can you support those rebels in england slavery is dying here it's thriving

i believe america's struggle is like my own the colonists consider themselves enslaved to a master they did not choose and that's a fight if it comes to fighting i will not duck i'll fight you for that drumstick hey oh it's very late we should get some sleep [Music] good night all father i pray you are safe i pray you will return from the west so we can be a family again my luck is it's gone [Music] dearest mother so much has happened since i have arrived i barely know where to start i'm so confused these

americans speak of liberty and freedom for all but deny it to those with skin different from their own i only hope that everything will be all right once dr franklin arrives and i trust that all is well with him dear sarah if only you knew benjamin franklin the great dr franklin friend of humanity inventor of the lightning rod father of electricity author the poor richard's almanac deputy postmaster general of north america yes he has all these things but he is something more he is a traitor [Music] i charge dr franklin with instigating the boston tea

party [Music] the east india company lost hundreds of crates of tea worth many thousands of pounds this lawlessness was encouraged by dr franklin in his speeches and writings his crimes are enormous [Music] and for his crime he must pay the price [Applause] [Music] we must make an example of franklin that the colonists will never forget [Music] i'm searching for [Music] never give up you represent america [Music] [Laughter]