00:00America. The new world. Our nation began not as an idea invented in the minds of men, but as a land discovered.
00:19When Christopher Columbus looked west across the endless ocean, he sailed for glory, for gain, and for God.
00:34Three ships traveled into the unknown, daring to go where no man had gone before. What they discovered changed the course of history.
00:47They carved homes out of the wilderness. By the sweat of their brow, they built a new world, rooted in the European civilization they left, but infused with the spark of liberty.
01:04In time, that spark grew. Galloping through the midnight darkness, Paul Revere warned the colonists that the hour had come to choose. Freedom or tyranny? Liberty or death?
01:26Or death?
01:33With the shot heard round the world, a ragged band of patriots challenged the mightiest empire on earth. Starving, outnumbered, and outgunned. The Americans had little reason for hope.
01:50But General Washington kept the flame alive, leading his soldiers through the frozen misery of Valley Forge, against all odds.
02:00With the aid of our allies, with the aid of our allies, like France's Marquis de Lafayette, Spain's Bernardo de Galvez, and Poland's Tobias Kosciuszko.
02:10America won one of the greatest military victories the world had ever seen.
02:22By the hand of Providence and the strength of determined men and women, the United States of America was born.
02:29And with her, words that echo throughout eternity.
02:40We hold these truths to be self-evident.
02:47That all men are created equal.
02:54That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.
03:02Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
03:09...
03:27...
03:29...
03:33...
03:37The Founding Fathers had built a nation
03:44upon the principles of our Declaration of Independence
03:47and the foundation of our remarkable Constitution.
03:54A government conceived in liberty.
04:02It derived its just powers.
04:05From the consent of the governed.
04:18A burning torch of freedom
04:20that would rise across a continent.
04:26And one day
04:28shine its light
04:35upon the entire world.
04:45With perseverance, faith, blood, and courage,
04:58the 13 colonies have become the 13 United States of America.
05:03But destiny beckoned our young nation to even greater heights.
05:10Like Columbus before them,
05:14settlers looked west
05:15to the lush forests of the deep south.
05:18The rich soil of the Ohio Valley,
05:22the frozen lakes of the untamed north,
05:26and beyond.
05:29Past the mighty Mississippi
05:31to the Great Plains
05:34that stretched like an untouched sea,
05:40eager to be crossed,
05:42safely separated from Europe's wars.
05:46President Thomas Jefferson purchased the vast Louisiana Territory from France.
05:56Overnight,
05:57the United States doubled in size,
05:59adding millions of acres stretching from New Orleans
06:04to the snow-capped peaks of Montana.
06:06To explore this new territory,
06:11Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
06:13were sent to chart a path through the remote frontier.
06:17They set out on a perilous journey.
06:22For over two years and nearly 8,000 miles,
06:27the expedition endured brutal winters,
06:30starvation,
06:32impenetrable terrain,
06:34and dangers few dared to face.
06:39Yet as they pressed on,
06:41they discovered the wonder that is America.
06:43Thunderstorms racing over the plains,
06:49the Rockies reaching to the heavens,
06:53plants and animals unseen in the old world,
06:58and at long last,
07:00the glory of the Pacific Ocean.
07:06Inspired by their courage,
07:08pioneers rode west
07:10and covered wagons to claim their stake in America.
07:13families and adventurers,
07:20farmers,
07:22cowboys,
07:24miners,
07:26missionaries,
07:27each one driven by the timeless yearning to build a future
07:32by the grace of God
07:34and with their own two hands.
07:37Oh, beautiful,
07:40for spacious skies,
07:43for amber waves of grain,
07:46for purple mountain,
07:49majesties,
07:51above the fruited plain,
07:55America,
07:57blessed by God,
07:58completed her journey
08:01across the wilderness,
08:05extending her domain,
08:09and forging the character of a people
08:11destined
08:13to shape the world.
08:16to tell people
08:17to to learn
08:18who proved
08:20to the world.
08:23And now,
08:24we are just
08:25hanging out
08:26of the path
08:27of the spirit.
08:27Here we go.
08:28And now,
08:29we are just
08:29climbing out
08:30of the spirit,
08:30and we are a
08:32landau,
08:33and we are just
08:34approaching the
08:34course,
08:35and we are just
08:35into the future.
08:36To the story,
08:37the story,
08:38and the game,
08:39the story,
08:40and the story,
08:41and the story,
08:42and the story,
08:42and the story.
08:43In the beginning, before the end of the world, before the cities rose, America was a storm.
08:53All impressions cracked with energy.
08:58The energy of Franklin was the power of the heavens.
09:03The energy of Benchia was born in Philadelphia, Boston, New Jersey.
09:07In a small young shop in New Jersey, a young inventor named Thomas Edison toiled with wires, glass, thread, and metal.
09:18Until at long last, his work radiated forth.
09:23Let there be light.
09:25American genius lit the spark that illuminated the world, casting out the darkness, revealing the order and beauty of God's creation for all mankind to see.
09:36With light came the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.
09:41Americans began inventing miracles that transformed humanity.
09:46For millennia, mankind had moved by horse and foot.
09:50Until Ford perfected the automobile.
09:53Mankind crafted with our hands.
09:56Until Americans revolutionized the steam turbine, the electric motor, and the internal combustion engine.
10:03Mankind built with wood and bricks.
10:07Until American workers lifted high-towering giants of concrete and steel.
10:12Industry gave birth to great American cities.
10:16Monuments to American ingenuity.
10:18Cathedrals of American ambition.
10:20From this mighty industrial engine came the arsenal of freedom.
10:26The ships, planes, and tanks.
10:29That allowed heroic American soldiers to rescue the world from tyranny in two world wars.
10:37And to defeat the communist menace through the long Cold War.
10:41With grit and strength and sweat, our forebears built the freest, proudest, most prosperous nation the world had ever seen.
11:01And today, high above our city streets, the skylines still bear the mark of their handiwork.
11:10A testament etched in steel and stone.
11:14Forever recalling our glory as Americans.
11:17We are a people who never stop building.
11:24Never stop climbing.
11:27Never stop dreaming.
11:29Never stop striving for greatness.
11:33Our nation was forged not by fate.
11:38But by the unbreakable will of the citizens who call this land home.
11:43With our genius and industry,
11:49we built the wonders of the modern world.
11:54And our greatest works
11:56are yet to come.
11:59On a windswept beach in North Carolina,
12:26two American brothers prepared to transcend the laws of physics.
12:33With a sputtering engine
12:35and a handmade craft of canvas and wood,
12:42the Wright brothers lifted mankind into the sky.
12:47In the clouds above,
12:49the world grew smaller
12:51and America grew greater than ever before.
12:57But for the United States,
13:00the sky has never been the land.
13:02God bless you.
13:17The night of the stars
13:20gets tighter
13:22and closer
13:23and waves
13:27On a macht
13:29Within 66 years, a single human lifespan.
13:59American astronauts broke free from the earth, stretched their hands through the endless
14:13void, and planted the stars and stripes on the face of the moon.
14:26America brought mankind into the space age.
14:37As we took our place among the stars, a new revolution began here at home.
14:44Computers born in a Pennsylvania lab opened a new frontier.
14:49Americans linked the world with the internet, putting the light of knowledge within reach
14:55of all.
14:56We pioneered new technologies and new industries, sparking the greatest explosion of prosperity
15:04the world had ever seen.
15:07Now we stand on the threshold of yet another frontier.
15:14Artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing.
15:19America is once again forging the future and shaping the centuries to come.
15:26The pioneer spirit of the American people brought us across oceans.
15:32America established a nation in liberty, drew us across a continent, and raised us into the
15:41clouds.
15:45America still beckons us to begin new journeys of discovery, daring us to once again dream
15:55the impossible, and imagine the wonders leading among the stars.
16:07And perhaps someday, our descendants will plan to carry a flag on distant worlds.
16:14Carrying the light of liberty to the farthest corners of creation.
16:21Reminding all generations that for the United States of America, there is no frontier too far.
16:30No dream too bold.
16:32No horizon.
16:33No horizon.
16:34Beyond our reach.
16:39Thank you for joining us tonight as we celebrate 250 years of the American spirit.
16:57We invite you to return each night through January 5th.
17:01And bring your family, your friends, and all who love this nation.
17:06Let us rejoice together in the greatness of this land we call the United States of America.
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