I am NOT a historian but neither are you
so how about we the people learn this
stuff together
welcome to u.s. 101 today's episode guys
gonna be slightly different it's gonna
be part history video but then also part
discussion video and I'm hoping that
this video will will spark a bit of
debate amongst you and your friends guys
for those of you that have started
school hopefully in your history classes
you've already started on the topic of
of how Native Americans made their way
over to the continent of North America
and then later on in your class you're
gonna learn all about Christopher
Columbus and the Roanoke settlement and
the jamestown settlement and the
pilgrims that would sail to the
Massachusetts Bay Colony and they would
start the first Thanksgiving but
hopefully amidst all the stories and all
the lessons you guys are going to be
learning about at some point your
teacher brings up the name John Winthrop
and the boat called the Arabella or also
known as the Arbella and the reason that
this should be brought up not because
you're gonna be doing too much of a deep
dive into it but hopefully it becomes a
touchstone for a larger discussion topic
which is American exceptionalism now you
guys might already be familiar with the
phrase American exceptionalism you know
what I'm talking about
we are the absolute best at everything
that we do nothing that we can do is
incorrect we rock you suck USA USA USA
and yeah the citizens of the United
States do have a lot to celebrate and be
proud of just a couple off top my head
our military is the largest and the
strongest in the world our economy is
booming and why shouldn't we brag about
how awesome we are huh I mean we make
the best movies the best music and the
best television right our food is better
our cities are more famous our sports
teams are celebrated all around the
world people want to come here every
single day to study in our universities
our technology is something that
everybody wants face it we are
exceptional right in some regards we are
but then in some cases
we're not like for example when it comes
to education the United States ranks the
38th in math out of 71 developed
countries and 24th in science when it
comes to health care
yes the United States spends more than
any other developed nation on the planet
when it comes to health care yet we
ranked lower than other developed
nations like a couple of top my head the
UK Australia Germany Sweden the
Netherlands
but-but-but-but to save face we are the
nation that that imprisons more people
than anybody on the planet we currently
have over two million people behind bars
in this country I don't get me wrong
guys I'm not trying to upset all of you
hardcore diehard America lovers out
there okay I - I'm a big lover of my
country and I firmly consider myself to
be a patriot and yet even though I know
that the United States is not the
perfect union that we are achieving to
become how is it that we've managed to
inflate our national ego so much with
that question being asked I now take you
back to the name John Winthrop and the
ship Arbella
or Arabella which in 1630 led a fleet of
other ships towards what was known as
the new world now aboard the ship and
the other ones that made up this
migratory fleet were Puritans that were
escaping religious persecution from
England at the time okay what they
wanted to do is they wanted to freely
celebrate and freely express their own
religious ideals but at the time in
England they were they were being
persecuted they were not allowed to do
such a thing
so Winthrop led this fleet of ships
which carried about a thousand Puritans
towards what would become New England on
April 8th 1630 and aboard his ship
Winthrop delivered a speech entitled a
model of Christian charity which
basically laid out why the Puritans had
to be successful once they reached the
new world and the steps as to how they
could become successful in the speech
Winthrop claims that heading to the
Massachusetts Bay Colony was an
agreement between the Puritans and God
he wrote quote we have taken out a
commission we have here upon besought
him a favor and blessing now if the Lord
show pleased to hear us and bring us in
peace to the place we desire then hath
he ratified this covenant and sealed our
commission and we'll expect a strict
performance of the articles contained in
it but if we shall neglect the
observation of these articles which are
the ends we have
propounded the Lord will surely break
out in Wrath against us so weather is
basically saying to the Puritans look we
cannot take this journey lightly guys
okay we have to take this seriously
because we've come into this agreement
with God and because he is a generous
and benevolent God that is going to
allow a safe passage to this new world
we have to in return be as successful as
possible so that we can praise His name
and how exactly with the Puritans
succeed once they reach this new foreign
land
Winthrop stated that they had to be
quote be knit together in this work as
one man we must entertain each other in
brotherly affection we must be willing
to abridge ourselves of our
superfluities for the supply of others
necessities we must uphold a familiar
Commerce together in all meekness
gentleness patience and liberality in
other words guys we got to be one team
one mind one unit one body that is how
we go out there and that is how we win
if you play sports you probably hear
variations of this speech in pregame
hype warmups
from either your coach or your captain
and then we get to the most cited
portion of the speech the reason why
Winthrop says that the Puritans cannot
fail once they drop anchor in the new
world is because they must be quote as a
city upon a hill the eyes of all people
are upon us so that if we shall deal
falsely with our God and this work we
have undertaken and so cause him to
withdraw his present help from us we
shall be made a story and a byword
through the world in essence he's
basically saying that they are the ones
that everyone is going to look at as an
example they're the ones that made it
here they're the ones that are going to
set the standard and if they screw this
up not only will everybody talk ill of
them and make fun of them but they'll
also be abandoned by their God and
they'll have to figure this out on their
own without his help now to me there are
two ways that you can look at this
speech one you can look at it as it's an
incredibly uplifting pep talk right this
is basically the way for Winthrop to
boost the morale of the Puritans be like
come on guys we're gonna get out there
we're gonna rock we're gonna we're gonna
we're gonna settle ourselves we're gonna
make a life for ourselves we're gonna be
able to to celebrate our own religion
freely we got this we're gonna do it and
God is on our side there's no way we can
lose we
you have to succeed but then the other
way that you can look at the speeches
it's kind of it's kind of full of itself
in a weird way don't you think I mean
the eyes of the world were upon then
really nobody else that the world isn't
looking at anybody else except for
except for this small group what about
the what about the previous expeditions
to North America what about all the
previous expeditions that were sailing
all around the world during the Age of
Exploration man say well Winthrop must
have thought his people were really
something special huh I mean I guess you
could even say that he thought that they
were exceptional yeah I brought a full
circle I went through obviously wouldn't
have known this but when he gave this
speech in 1630 in a sense he was sort of
planting the seed for what would grow
into the mighty tree that we call
American exceptionalism I mean one can
argue that in calling themselves a city
upon a hill that mindset sort of bled
over into our national identity I mean
for example in 1776 when Thomas Paine
released common sense guys he wrote in
the introduction of the pamphlet quotes
the cause of America is in a great
measure the cause of mankind that is a
pretty braggadocious statement following
World War two when the United States
finally became a global powerhouse it
took it upon itself to become the
defender of democracy and the leader
against the rising tide of communism
John F Kennedy in a speech in 1961 just
before he took the oath of office to
become president invoked Winthrop swards
saying that the eyes of the world were
upon the United States in the early
1960s Ronald Reagan in the 1980s often
compared America to a shining city upon
a hill of beacon of freedom for everyone
around the world to admire and to want
to be a part of hey here's the thing
guys I firmly believe that America could
be exceptional America should be
exceptional we have the tools to do it
we have the tools to to to reach the
level of what is quoted in the
Constitution as that more perfect union
but I also believe that in our pursuit
of becoming exceptional we first have to
recognize our faults our failures our
mistakes and our shortcomings so there
are probably gonna be some people that
come across this video hear what I have
to say
and probably throw some insult at me
towards based on how I look and they'll
throw out the cliched line in some
variation of love it or leave it Punk
because there are a lot of people there
are a lot of people in the United States
that firmly believe that America is the
greatest country on the planet . and if
you don't like it or if you question
anything that it does you are not a true
patriot you need to get out and that is
a dangerous mindset to be in guys
because to me when you start thinking in
those terms you stop becoming a patriot
and you become what's known as a
nationalist and an ethnocentric you
firmly believe that no one else comes
close to your nation nothing is wrong
with your nation everything is perfect
even if there are mistakes happening all
around you know everything is totally
fine everything is okay everyone else
sucks Frederick Douglas best summed up
what it means to be a patriot he said
quote I make no pretension to patriotism
so long as my voice can be heard on this
or the other side of the Atlantic I will
hold up America to the lightning scorn
of moral indignation in doing this I
shall feel myself discharging the duty
of a true patriot for he is a lover of
his country who were Bewkes and does not
excuse its sins it is righteousness that
exalted the nation while sin is a
reproach to any people let imagine your
favorite sports team right you are a fan
of the sports team you've been a fan of
them your whole life maybe your dad or
your mom was a fan of them and then you
gradually became of it regardless you
are a fan of this team for life they are
your team your team starts making bad
calls bad plays which leads them to lose
games and they start losing games on a
regular basis do you keep saying aloud
that no they are still the best team on
the planet hell no you immediately start
questioning their decision-making their
coaches the players you start becoming
an armchair analyst and start throwing
out ideas that they should take on so
that they will become a much better team
you start cursing and shouting and
berating this team but does that make
you less of a fan of that team no it
doesn't the only reason that you're
acting the way you're acting toward that
team is because you know that they have
the ability to be better and you get
upset when they mess up because you know
they're capable of bigger and better
things
and it's the same
thing with the United States guys when
we win we win big and we celebrate okay
as we should when we screw up and we've
done that more times than I can even
count we're gonna get upset we get angry
we get frustrated and it's not because
we hate the country it's not because we
hate who we are and what we stand for we
hate it because we know that we can be
better now like I said I know this isn't
the typical history video that I do on a
on a weekly basis for you guys but this
is something that that I've been
thinking about for a little while now
and I wanted to present it as a video to
you guys not just to watch but to also
kind of use as a springboard to to
discuss it to discuss this topic amongst
amongst your fellow students and I
really hope that this video gets shown
in history classrooms so that the
students in the classroom can engage in
some lively debate and lively discussion
about this topic and teachers don't be
afraid to dive into this topic embrace
it
treasure it to show your students that
learning can be done outside of the
textbook or worksheet or an essay that
by engaging in in vigorous debate
between each other respectfully they can
hear each other out and they can hear
other sides that they might not have
thought of that my friends is it for
this episode of u.s. 101 thank you guys
so much for watching and let me know
your thoughts in the comment section
down below American exceptionalism do
you think that America has the right to
be boisterous and to be braggadocious or
do you think that if we understand our
mistakes and understand where we screw
up that that will lead us to becoming
exceptional because we recognize where
we've gone wrong and how to correct it
as always guys thank you so much for
watching the videos and and for
subscribing to the channel for liking
the video sharing them leaving comments
in the comment section down below guys
it's your involvement that that lead to
these videos being made and my
excitement of making them as always you
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links down below in the description box
guys I will see you next week
with either an episode of u.s. 101 or or
grad school 101 actually speaking of
grad school I have to go to class
because school has started for me so I
have to go and
do things and learn and get an education
so I get my master's degree you guys
learn read study do the homework okay
when you get the homework done you have
more time for fun oh my god that rhymed
I am trademarking that I am trademarking
that
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