BY AMANDA PIZZOLATTO

Liberty’s Kids was a short-lived show that ran from September 2002 to April 2003 chronicling the American Revolution through the eyes of four fictional characters, Sarah, James, Henri, and Moses. Since they live with Benjamin Franklin in the show, the four get to experience the most important events of the American Revolution, and see a few smaller ones, as well as meet the biggest names in history, voiced by some of the biggest names in Hollywood at the time, like Walter Cronkite as Benjamin Franklin. Throughout the show, the four showcase some of the most important American values, especially patriotism and the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Sarah Phillips is first seen leaving a ship that’s landed in the port of Boston, Massachusetts. Apparently her parents know Benjamin Franklin, and as such, her mother asked the gentleman to look after Sarah while she is in America to look for her father. However, Benjamin Franklin does not arrive to pick her up, he sends the other three original characters, and for good reason. Sarah arrives the night of the Boston Tea Party, an event Benjamin Franklin was not present for, and is the first catalyst to the American Revolution. The group witnesses first hand the frustrations the colonies were having with the British crown and what they did to start the ball rolling. 

Because Sarah is from England, her loyalties tended to side with the British, and opted to write for Benjamin Franklin’s newspaper to give their perspective in the war. Another reason for the loyalty to the British crown is due to the fact that her cousin was among the ranks stationed at Boston. When the shot was heard around the world, he was one of the fallen men, which thus solidified Sarah’s most important role, and her core value, that of the respect for life. While her thoughts towards the American side changes throughout the series, this core value remains the same, highlighting one of the key components of the American way. Throughout the show, Sarah continues to mourn those who have fallen and strive to remember those who fought hard. While the others in the show do have people they admire die in the field of battle and mourn for them, Sarah in particular is constantly pointing out the value of life itself, having been mostly against the war from the beginning. But like with her loyalties, her thoughts on the war change as well, but her core value does not. 

Life is important, no matter how big or small, every life matters. And not just life itself, but also one’s way of life. Mistakes were made, life was lost, but life without liberty was no way to live. As such, the men, and women, of the first colonies, banded together and risked their lives to fight for what they believed in. This then is the main reason why we have holidays for the military, Memorial Day for those who died for the country, Veteran’s Day for those who survived the war and are now retired, and Armed Forces Day for the men and women currently serving. As we should, for those men and women are putting their lives on the line for us, and that is something that should always be commended. 

Sarah, in the end, shows us that one of the key components of the American way is the value of life. Without it, we have no use for the other components. Life, no matter the differing qualifications, is precious, and according to the Declaration of Independence, all are endowed by the Creator of all things with the unalienable right to life. Once that life is considered important, then the others fall right in line, especially liberty. 

“Give me liberty, or give me death!” Patrick Henry’s famous words added fuel to the fire burning in the hearts of the American revolutionaries. In episode four of Liberty’s Kids, when Patrick Henry gives his speech, we also learn about the harshness of slavery as Moses, though he is a free man, must deal with the way he is treated in Virginia and attempt to free his brother, Cato. But while this is the first, and possibly the most major, episode in which the liberty that Moses believes in shows up strongly, it is only to highlight the core value that Moses represents. 

The series, of course, deals with fighting for liberty in general as it is the birth of the American nation it deals with, but the seeds for the Civil War are there as well. A group of slaves had in fact taken Patrick Henry’s words to heart without ever hearing him, preferring death to slavery. However, this was some time after America became a country. For the Revolutionary War, the states came together to fight a common enemy, the British crown. 

The boiling point had been reached with the British crown, the tax was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Not all of the inhabitants of the colonies, however, were against the crown. Many enjoyed the privileges and security that the British Empire provided. But many more were frustrated with how Parliament was running things, especially as it entailed their rights and commerce. They tried sending representatives to Parliament to speak on their behalf, the most prominent one being Benjamin Franklin, but they were shooed away like flies. One can only go so long without being heard before action must be taken. Action was taken, starting with the Boston Tea Party, and leading up to the war. 

 This country was started on the notion of liberty, and the tradition continues, as we have seen with the abolition of slavery and the suffrage movement. It is a tradition we must keep fighting for as there are those who would take it away and those who do not have it. The First Amendment lists four civil liberties, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of the Press, and Freedom of Assembly/Petition . The freedom to choose, in general, has been a major part of this country, along with Life and the Pursuit of Happiness, and as long as those choices do not impact the other two in a negative way, then America could function at its best. But we need to let others make their own decisions, even if they are wrong sometimes. 

Moses had to let his brother make his own decisions about his way to freedom. Moses wanted his brother to run away with him, but Cato decided to join the British army. Maybe it was not the right decision, but it was his, and it could prove vital later. For one thing, it strengthened Moses’s belief in freedom for all, and it had to start with freedom from the British. Moses would never actively fight as a soldier, but he kept the fighting spirit going with Benjamin Franklin’s newspapers. For while the soldier is necessary to win a war, the writer is also necessary, not just to tell his story, but to keep his spirits up and to keep that fire burning. 

While Moses does want America to become a free country, it is James who not only is a hardcore fan of the notion, but would be considered the best embodiment of the American spirit, or patriotism. According to Sarah, he’s brash, reckless, and hot-headed, but throughout the series, not only does she, and the audience, get to know him better, but he also matures. That recklessness is still there, but he starts acting with more wisdom. He is also the main one who rubs up against Sarah over the whole Revolution, since, obviously, Sarah is the British representative and James is decidedly loyal to the American way of thinking. 

Since James is an apprentice to Benjamin Franklin, he gets to hear a lot of the talk surrounding the colonies’ frustrations with the British, and that the tea tax was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Throughout the show, his goal remains the same, getting the stories of the soldiers out to the world and keeping the fire burning. Being a reporter, he gets to be present for a lot of the big moments that lead up to and during the Revolutionary War. He doesn’t participate in the fighting, but gets very close to it. The soldiers try to protect him, as well as Sarah and Henri if they are present, so that the story of the battle can be put into Franklin’s newspaper. Several times, James gets to know several of the soldiers really well, and mourns those who die.  He even sees some of the cruelties unleashed in war, but through it all, he remains steadfast and loyal in his belief that the Americans are right.

James has had a deep attachment to Franklin, who took him in after his parents died, to his friends, and to the land he calls home. He even cares for Sarah, even though the two got off to a rocky start. They rubbed off on each other, helping each other mature and fine-tune their beliefs. While James never lost his loyalty to the American cause, Sarah eventually came around. He helped her to understand the values of what the Americans were fighting for, why they were fighting for them, and that they were right. The British were overstepping their boundaries, and the Americans wanted a country that wouldn’t do that. Thus, they fought the British and laid claim to the beginning of a new country. And James couldn’t be more happier to call the new country his home. 

But of the four fictional leads of Liberty’s Kids, none are quite as unique as the youngest member of the gang, Henri. He has a one track mind, typically about food. But if James needs anything, he is always there to lend a helping hand. He is loyal to his friends, but especially loyal to James and Moses as they were the ones who busted him out of a cage on a ship. His parents had made a deal with a merchant to work on his ship for seven years for passage to America from France, but when Henri’s parents died at sea, the merchant took on Henri as cabin boy and treated him no better than a slave. Hence when James and Moses found and rescued him, he immediately sides with them in just about everything, especially where freedom is concerned. But, he is still pursuing something, and it actually isn’t food, even if it is constantly on the mind of this growing eight-year-old. 

While Henri looks up to James and Moses and likes living with them and Benjamin Franklin, it isn’t quite what he’s looking for. He is looking for more of a parent-figure, and while both Moses and Franklin could fit that bill, they never do, and as such, Henri must continue in his pursuit of happiness. It is, however, pushed to the back burner with the war and he helps James and Sarah get their stories. In one instance, he is vital in saving James from Tories. But despite being a “magnet for trouble”, Henri manages to get out of trouble, and get his friends out too on numerous occasions, and helps wherever he can in the war. He never lost sight of his goals, they were just pushed to the backburner. 

Near the end of the series, a familiar French face pops in. The Marquis de Lafayette became a prominent figure in the Revolutionary War, and went on to become prominent in the French Revolution. But in this fictionalized account of history, he comes to know and care for Henri like a son. They return to France at the end of the series, with Lafayette adopting Henri as his son, fulfilling Henri’s wish.  

Now, that does not mean that James, Sarah, and Moses do not pursue their happiness, or that none of them showcased patriotism, the desire for liberty, or the respect for life, but each of them showcased one of those more so than the rest. But technically, they did all show these values throughout the series, and in the end, finding what each was hoping for when America became a country.