Liberty's Kids
Liberty's Kids is an American animated historical fiction television series produced by DIC Entertainment, originally broadcast by PBS on its PBS Kids block from September 2, 2002 to April 4, 2003, with reruns airing on most PBS stations until October 2004.
The series was based on an idea by Kevin O'Donnell and developed for television by Kevin O'Donnell, Robby London, Mike Maliani, and Andy Heyward. It received two Daytime Emmy nominations, in 2003 and 2004, both for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program. Its purpose is to teach its viewers about the origins of the United States. Like the cartoon mini-series This Is America, Charlie Brown earlier before, Liberty's Kids tells of young people in dramas surrounding the major events in the Revolutionary War days.
The theme song was performed by Aaron Carter and Kayla Hickle.
Celebrity voice talents such as Walter Cronkite, Sylvester Stallone, Ben Stiller, Billy Crystal, Annette Bening, Dustin Hoffman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liam Neeson, Whoopi Goldberg, and Don Francisco lend credence to characters critical to the forming of a free country, from the Boston Tea Party to the Constitutional Convention.
The episodes run a half-hour, including commercials. During PBS airings, these are replaced by segments that include "The Liberty News Network" or LNN, "Mystery Guest", "Now and Then", and "Continental Cartoons". The LNN segments were produced and art directed by designer Mike Bundlie.
Plot
Benjamin Franklin and four fictional associates of his in their experiences during the American Revolution. Although the series spans 16 years from the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1789, no main characters appear to age much, except for Dr. Franklin.Characters
Fictional characters
- Sarah Phillips – A bright-eyed redheaded girl from England, Sarah travels to the Thirteen Colonies in 1773 at age fifteen in search of her father, Major Phillips, who was last heard exploring the region of Ohio; upon her arrival, she is warmly welcomed by and lives as a guest of Benjamin Franklin. Her mother, Lady Phillips, remains in England and is a good friend to Dr. Franklin. However, with the possibility of a war between the American colonists and the English mother country, she decides that she will become a reporter for Franklin's newspaper in order to offer a more balanced perspective to the press. Sarah believes firmly in the power of words and equal rights for all, and is not afraid to speak her mind. At the start of the series, she is a firm loyalist, which sparks many arguments between her and James. Later in the series, Sarah has a change of heart and realizes how much she has come to understand the people of the colonies and ends up supporting the Revolution. Some men know the way to her heart – good manners; when this happens, James can seem almost jealous, although near the end of the series she appears to feel "more than friendship" for James. Throughout the series, Sarah and James grow closer. At the end of the series, her mother, Lady Phillips, joins Sarah and her father in the United States and Sarah hopes to explore more of her adopted country.
- James Hiller – A young American colonist who works as an apprentice journalist for Franklin's newspaper. James holds a great deal of respect and admiration for Dr. Franklin and his works, particularly his invention of the lightning rod, as when he was an infant both his parents died in a fire caused by a lightning strike. Street-smart and impulsive, James pursues the revolution from a slightly one-sided perspective – something that prompts Sarah to counter his views. An apprentice in Franklin's Print Shop, James believes firmly in the American cause and will do almost anything to ensure that the people receive an honest view of what is happening. In the process, he also faces the less positive aspects of the political conflict that eventually forces his patriotic fervor into a new maturity. He highly values his friends, Sarah and Henri. He can be a little protective of Sarah while he attempts to keep Henri out of trouble, acting somewhat like an older brother figure to Henri. He is very laid-back and is constantly reminded of his bad etiquette and poor table manners by Sarah, toward whom he shows feelings of what might be "more than friendship". At the end of the series, James intends to start his own newspaper, following in the steps of his mentor.
- Henri Richard Maurice Dutoit LeFevbre – An energetic, rambunctious French boy, Henri shares a similar tragic story as James. Several years earlier, when he was six years old and still living in France, his parents made an agreement with a merchant for seven years of labor in exchange for passage to North America. However, during the voyage an illness broke out aboard the ship, killing half of those on board, including both Henri's parents. The merchant decided to make Henri his cabin boy and treated him very cruelly, until James and Moses discovered him locked in a cage while collecting a new printer from the merchant. Together they smuggled Henri off the ship and the boy found a home in Benjamin Franklin's workshop. While he speaks French fluently, Dr. Franklin has insisted that Henri learn to speak, read, and write in both English and French. Henri's small size has proved more than useful to Sarah and James, though he has a tendency to land himself in all sorts of trouble while not fully understanding the dangers of the war. His lookout on life is that of a "huge party for his benefit" and he has been labeled a "magnet for trouble." In later episodes, he serves on the drum and bugle corps of the Continental Army. Curious and fearless, the only thing Henri values more than his freedom is finding a family of his own. At the end of the series he returns to France with Marquis de Lafayette, whom he had become close to during the series almost as a son. It is implied that Lafayette adopts Henri as his foster-son.
- Moses – Born in Africa, Moses was brought in chains to North America as a slave and sold on the block in Charleston, South Carolina. Because of his ingenuity, Moses learned to read, forge metal, and buy his freedom from his master, thus freeing himself from the slavery of the American south. To keep from being confused for a runaway slave, Moses is required to carry papers proving that he is a free man. He eventually moved to Philadelphia and found work at Dr. Franklin's Print Shop. His brother, Cato, had not been so fortunate but later escaped, joining the British troops as a soldier to earn his freedom. Cato appears again at the end of the series when he does not tell on an African American Patriot spy, James Armistead, whose spying was crucial to the American victory at Yorktown, which ends the war for American independence. Moses looks out for Dr. Franklin's young wards, especially Henri. Like Henri, he values his freedom more than anything. Iron-willed Moses will never allow anyone to strip him of his dignity, despite his or her feelings on race. By working at the Print Shop, Moses hopes to educate children of all colors in the ideals of America so that everyone may one day be free. At the end of the series, Moses reveals a plan to set up a school for free black children, both boys and girls, but only to Dr. Franklin and Marquis de Lafayette. Cato goes to Canada with Mrs. Radcliffe, a British loyalist and friend of Sarah and her mother.
Historical characters depicted
Continental Army, Navy, and American militia
- George Washington
- Major General William Alexander, Lord Stirling
- Colonel Ethan Allen
- Brigadier General George Rogers Clark
- Major General Thomas Conway
- Margaret "Molly" Corbin
- Major General Horatio Gates
- Major General Nathanael Greene
- Nathan Hale
- Alexander Hamilton
- Charles Lee
- Colonel John Jameson – Appears in "Benedict Arnold
- John Paul Jones
- Tadeusz Kościuszko – A Pole in Continental Army
- Colonel James Livingston
- Colonel John Laurens
- Captain John Parker
- John Paulding – Appears in "Benedict Arnold"
- Joseph Plumb Martin
- Israel Putnam – He appeared in the "Bunker Hill" and "The Turtle" episodes.
- Colonel Joseph Reed
- Deborah Samson aka Robert Shurtleff
- John Sullivan
- Benjamin Tallmadge – Appears in "Benedict Arnold"
- Isaac Van Wart – Appears in "Benedict Arnold", no lines
- Baron Friedrich von Steuben – A Prussian officer in the Continental army.
- David Williams – Appears in "Benedict Arnold", no lines
- Anthony Wayne
- Udeny Wolf-Hutchinson
British Army and Navy
- John André
- John Burgoyne
- Guy Carleton
- Henry Clinton
- General Lord Charles Cornwallis
- Admiral Lord Richard Howe
- General William Howe
- Richard Pearson
- Johann Rall – A Hessian Officer in British service.
French officers
- Marquis de Lafayette
- Comte de Rochambeau
- Johann De Kalb
- Admiral Comte de Grasse
Spanish Army
- Bernardo de Galvez
Native Americans
- Joseph Brant
- Cornstalk
- Abraham Nimham
Turncoats
- Benedict Arnold
American family members
- Abigail Adams
- John Quincy Adams
- Peggy Shippen – A British Loyalist before she was married to Benedict Arnold.
- Thomas Adams
American politicians
- John Adams
- Jonathan L. Austin – Appears in "Allies at Last"
- Samuel Adams
- Samuel Chase
- Silas Deane
- Benjamin Franklin
- John Hancock
- Patrick Henry
- John Jay
- Thomas Jefferson
- Henry Laurens
- Richard Henry Lee
- James Madison
- Caesar Rodney
- Edward Rutledge
- Dr Joseph Warren
- Luther Martin
- John Dickinson
- Charles Pinckney
British politicians
- King George III
- Charles Fox
- Alexander Wedderburn
- Lord North
Other historical figures
- James Armistead
- Edward Bancroft
- David Bushnell
- Elizabeth Freeman aka Mum Bett
- James Craik – Appears in "Lafayette Arrives", no lines
- William Dawes
- Silas Deane
- Josiah Franklin – Appears in "In Praise of Ben", no lines
- James Franklin
- Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes
- Moses Michael Hays
- John Honeyman
- Edward Jenner
- King Louis XVI of France – Appears in "Allies at Last", no lines
- Sybil Ludington
- Thomas Paine
- Samuel Prescott
- Paul Revere
- Theodore Sedgwick
- Paul Wentworth
- Benjamin West
- Phillis Wheatley
- John Witherspoon
Episodes
Broadcast
The show was originally broadcast by PBS on its PBS Kids block from September 2, 2002 to April 4, 2003, with reruns airing on most PBS stations until October 2004. The show has since been syndicated by DiC to affiliates of smaller television networks such as The CW and MyNetworkTV and some independent stations so that those stations can fulfill FCC educational and informational requirements. In 2008, it ran on History. The series aired on Cookie Jar Toons on This TV and on CBS's Cookie Jar TV block from 2012 to 2013. In 2017, it played on Starz Kids & Family, and, until August 2019, regularly aired on Starz Encore Family. As of August 2019, the series only airs as a series-long marathon on Independence Day on Starz Encore Family.Home media releases
released a VHS/DVD boxset of the series in 2003 for educational purposes. The boxset contained 20 VHSes/DVDs containing two episodes each. The company also released a 6-DVD boxset. The boxsets also came with resource guides.In June 2004, Ten-Strike Home Entertainment released 3 VHSes/DVDs of the series – The Boston Tea Party: The Movie, Give Me Liberty and The First Fourth of July, each containing three episodes, with the former being made in a feature-length format. The DVD version also came with an assortment of bonus features including a character guide, Historical Biographies and DVD-ROM features which are a printable coloring book and a web link. These releases were made for public use. Ten-Strike planned to release three more DVDs, titled Heroes and Traitors, American Battles and Daughters of the American Revolution in September 2004 respectively, but they were unreleased.
On October 14, 2008, Shout! Factory released Liberty's Kids: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1. The 6-disc box set contains all 40 episodes of the series as well as several bonus features. This release has been discontinued and is out of print as Shout! Factory no longer has the distribution rights to the series.
On July 16, 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment re-released Liberty's Kids: The Complete Series on DVD in a 4-disc set. Each disc contains 10 episodes each.
On February 14, 2017, Mill Creek Entertainment released Liberty's Kids: The Complete Series: Education Edition on DVD in Region 1. The 3-disc set contains all 40 episodes of the series as well as in-depth study guides for all episodes and activity pages.