Hooked on Civics
The biggest problem we have in this country — the reason we’re so close to losing our freedoms — is that the American people have not been taught the truth about our history and form of government. How can they appreciate something they don’t even know they have?
My History Chant is a big step in the right direction. It’s a 45-verse jump rope rap that teaches kids more about American history and government than is known by the average college graduate or congressman. It’s one solution to 16 years of miseducation, and it can be memorized by an eight-year-old kid in only a few hours!
The History Chant
by F.R. Duplantier
In 1400 and 92
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
Tell us more, tell us more
About US. U.S.,
That’s US. Tell us more.
We’re mad, we’re mad
About history, U.S. history,
Hopping mad.
Rap US up, Rap US up.
Who can tell us more
Of our history?
You can. I can.
American. American.
Columbus knew that the earth was round.
He sailed west for the East and a New World was found.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
From the Old World more explorers came
From England and Holland, and France and Spain.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
The settlers in Jamestown nearly starved.
Captain Smith said, to eat they had to work hard.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
In 1620 the Mayflower docked
With the Pilgrims on board at Plymouth Rock.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
More and more settlers crossed the seas
For a better life and to worship as they pleased.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
From New Hampshire to Georgia, 13 colonies grew,
But troubles with England began to brew.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
The colonists were taxed without representation.
The Boston Tea Party showed their indignation.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
“The Redcoats are coming,” warned Paul Revere,
And the Minutemen were ready when they got there.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
At Lexington and Concord shots were fired
Heard ’round the world by tyrants tired.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
On July the Fourth, 1776,
The colonies declared their independence.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
The Declaration was written by Jefferson
And signed by 56 Americans.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
It says God made us equal and it’s God who gives
The right to be free and the right to live.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
It says a government governs with the people’s consent
And protects the rights of the citizens.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
It showed mankind our resolution
And gave the reasons for our Revolution.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
First in war, first in peace, George Washington
Was “first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
He led our army ’til the war was won
And then he retired, thinking he was done.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
But Washington didn’t know that he was meant
To serve us again as our President.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
We the People formed “a more perfect union”
And we laid out the rules in our Constitution.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
We gave our government limited powers
And what we didn’t give we kept as ours.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
Congress, the President, and the Court –
Each branch has a power of a different sort.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
We divided our government into three
To keep it from becoming a tyranny.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
The Bill of Rights was a guarantee
To protect our rights and our liberty.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
Freedom of religion and the press
Are essential to our happiness.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
To protect ourselves and our families from harm,
We reserve the right to keep and bear arms.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
The unreasonable search is an abomination,
And we will not compel self-incrimination.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
Defendants are always presumed innocent.
No excessive bail or punishment.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
With a firm foundation in the rule of law,
America still had one big flaw.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
We were the home of the brave and the land of the free,
But we hadn’t come to grips with slavery.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
We had a Civil War and thanks to Honest Abe
We preserved the Union and we freed the slaves.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
After the War, we kept moving West.
Our destiny was manifest.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
We knew someday our borders would be
The Atlantic and Pacific, “sea to shining sea.”
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
The railroad made our nation one,
Then the telegraph and the telephone.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
Immigrants came to lend a hand
From Germany and Ireland.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
From Eastern Europe and Italy,
More immigrants came to “the land of the free.”
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
In the First World War we fought valiantly
To make the world “safe for democracy.”
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
In the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt
Said “the only thing to fear is fear itself.”
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
December 7, 1941
Pearl Harbor was bombed and we grabbed our guns.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
We beat the Nazis in our “finest hour.”
Our commander became President Eisenhower.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
In the 1960s we began a race
To reach the moon and outer space.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
Martin Luther King, that righteous fella,
Urged our countrymen not to judge by color.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
We put a man on the moon and Neil Armstrong defined
“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
Under Ronald Reagan, the Cold War got hot,
But we won the war without firing a shot.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
September 11th was a day of terror.
Osama bin Laden had to pay for his error.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
That’s our history, with the best to come.
We’re proud of our past, but we’ve just begun.
Tell us more, tell us more, ETC.
FADE: We’re mad, we’re mad. About US! Rap US up! Rap US up! Rap US up! Rap US up!
© 2004 F.R. Duplantier
