today we're looking at mount rushmore
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where you'll find more resources that go with bellringer videos here at mount rushmore today
in western south dakota are the carved granite images of george washington thomas jefferson
theodore roosevelt and abraham lincoln each face is approximately 60 feet high with some of their
mouths being as wide as 18 feet mount rushmore is a symbol of pride and patriotism to americans but
at the same time is a reminder of mistakes made in america's past the black hills of south dakota
where mount rushmore is located are considered sacred lands by native american tribes such as
the lakota sioux the mountain on which the faces are carved was known as the six grandfathers
or cougar mountain by the sioux in 1868 the treaty of fort laramie was signed between the
sioux and general william tecumseh sherman on behalf of the united states government
the treaty basically said the sioux had the right to occupy and use the black hills but
in 1874 gold was discovered in the black hills and just as it happened in california 25 years earlier
americans began to flock to the area with the intention of getting rich quick by finding gold
americans ignored the treaty signed barely six years earlier and forced the sioux from
their land this led to conflict which resulted in the famous battle of little bighorn in 1876
and then the massacre at wounded knee in 1890. to this day representatives of the sioux argue that
the federal government should return their land and honor the treaty the name mount rushmore was
derived from charles rushmore who was an attorney from new york that traveled to the black hills in
the mid-1880s to inspect mining claims the story is that that rushmore asked a local man what the
name of the mountain was and the man replied that he didn't believe the mountain had a name
so rushmore said well from now on it's going to be known as mount rushmore in the 1920s
doane robinson came up with the idea of a tourist attraction in which they would sculpt the needles
which are several eroded granite pillars in custer south dakota and they would carve them into
figures of famous people from american history and the expansion west robinson contacted sculptor
gutson borglum about the project borglum met with robinson and they looked at the needles and
borglum said the sculptures could not be done there and the two then looked for another site
borglum and robinson traveled to mount rushmore and determined this would be a good site for the
sculptures borglum then convinced robinson that the sculptures should be of george washington
and abraham lincoln but soon thereafter thomas jefferson and theodore roosevelt were added
to the design each president was chosen for a specific reason washington of course being the
first president and considered to be the father of our nation represents the founding of the
nation jefferson because of his writing of the declaration of independence but also because of
him being responsible for the louisiana purchase so he represents the expansion of the nation
theodore roosevelt because he led the nation into the 1900s as the country's economy was booming
and the fact that he advocated for conservation and national parks so roosevelt represents the
development and conservation of the nation then of course abraham lincoln being the president
that led the united states through its most trying time the civil war and his commitment to ending
slavery lincoln represents the preservation of the country and the ideals of equality in the summer
of 1927 president calvin coolidge traveled here to the black hills and was convinced by borglum
and robinson that the project needed to be done despite disapproval from local native american
tribes and environmentalists the project now had the approval of the federal government and
construction on the mountain began in october of 1927. president coolidge soon signed legislation
to fund the massive sculpture borglum spearheaded the project along with 400 workers using dynamite
and air powered jackhammers to remove over 400 tons of granite that now lays scattered at the
base of the sculpture by july 4th 1934 george washington's sculpture was completed interestingly
jefferson was originally to be located to george washington's right side but instead it was
discovered the rock was too soft there and so the sculpture was then moved to washington's left side
thomas jefferson's sculpture was completed two years later in 1936 then lincoln was completed in
1937 and then lastly roosevelt was the final one completed in 1939. soon after gutson borglum died
in 1941 leaving his son lincoln borglum to finish the final details of the sculptures originally the
plan was to include the bodies of the president in the sculpture but funding ran out before that
could be completed on october 31st 1941 mount rushmore national memorial was officially
dedicated and declared complete it had taken 14 years and nearly 1 million dollars to complete
today it's estimated that two million visitors a year come to this memorial sometimes called
the shrine of democracy so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you