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8. De la Vu All Over Again
The ·following summary of history, capsulized by
Ronald Reagan in 1980 in a book review titled, Once
There Was A Great Nation:
It was founded by pilgrims/ who decided to
leave their own country, which didn't encourage
freedom of religion/ they migrated to an
uncivilized land inhabited only by savages. The
rock/ where they landed was to become a
national shrine. They drove offthe
native~
built
crude shelters and houses of worship/ setting
aside a special day to give thanks.
These pilgrims believed in theirgod, and they
also believed in work. They established
school~
that in a way became
,
the first public free
education in the world. Other colonists came
and established other
communitie~
andsome of
the noblest words ever written, began to surface.
The sides ofour modern buildings bear some of
them: liberty, justice/ freedom of worship.
Then, ·an older nation sent tax agents to
exploit the colonists.
·
The colonist sent their
greatest men as representatives to a general
assembly. They chose a gentleman farmer as
their leader, and he united them and won the
war ·against the old world. Now that farmer is
known as the father ofhis country, anda famous
U.S.
city is named after him.
Ultimately, a civil war divided this fledgling
country. It's leader, who tried to keep the
republic united, was assassinated. His murder
has been immortalized by one of the greatest
playwrights ofall time.
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