naf-19686 This is a good show. I like it. The American Revolution is given a show. The characters are good. Sarah seems conflicted between her loyalty to the crown and her friendship with the Patriots which eventually leads to her siding with the Patriots. James is a reporter first and foremost, but sometimes doesn't really understand what he is writing. Henri is quite oblivious at first, but later on comes to understand the war better. Moses serves as a mentor to the three. Benjamin Franklin is just like the way he was in real life. I personally think there should be similar TV shows focused on the Civil War and WWII, as well as the Wars of the Roses, the Spanish Armada Crisis, and the Glorious Revolution in England. All in all, it was a good show. I used to watch it a lot when I was young. That's why I like it so much.

richard.fuller1 As an American with an English parent, I don't find many of the depictions of British so offensive. I think my mother shrugged much of it off as being the American way. Yes, it would be nice to see a more open depiction of the English (wow, that would be a first) from the Revolutionary war, and no, you won't ever be seeing any such fair-minded depiction of Confederate children or WWII Japanese kids coming to any animated program anytime soon.I would often leave the TV going in the next room and kept hearing this melodramatic violin music and crescendo in a cartoon for a commercial bumper, then accompanied by a half-hip hop ending credits. I became intrigued and ended up watching the show (as well as having Walter Cronkite doing Ben Franklin, the one that finally got me was Dustin Hoffman) Whether the show has historical accuracy is one major facet. That the show is so obviously slanted American, I don't focus on this aspect.What I do note is the pretentiousness in the main characters of the youths, happily engaging in friendship with the slaves (hard to refer to them as such in the program).I just watched the episode with the declaration of independence coming about and the one African-American fellow kept boldly and steadfastly insisting on freedom for slaves. The cartoon literally seemed to want to end on an upbeat note, but uh, guys, freedom ain't coming about for any slaves anytime in these peoples lives.So until the, GOD BLESS America! The whole program TRYING to deal with this and not wanting to say 'but for now, you're still a slave' is like a SNL skit.The episode was further compounded by the two kids, the redhead girl and the blonde guy (same Hollywood imaging they always have. Check out the hair color reversals from Johan and Peewee who used to be on the Smurfs), WANTING to report on the goings on but being told they weren't allowed. And Im going to really get a kick out of watching this show now and when someone is talking, seeing one of these kids off to the side writing on a little notepad.They're "reporting!" It was funny when the guards kept removing the kids from the doors and windows and the kid says "those guys take their jobs too seriously!" All I could think was these waifs were taking the idea of reporting the events too seriously.In the 70s, we were given Schoolhouse Rock, with America Rock, and a generation or two to this day cannot recite the pre-amble without singing it. I took a daily grade as a zero in school for not reciting the pre-amble simply because I can't. I must sing it.A few scant years before, there was US of ARchie, a show I did enjoy, which runs very similar to liberty Kids here.These are all at least an introduction, yes, inaccurate, but they can be an introduction.

PMSchnell Liberty's Kids is a great show for kids just beginning to learn the American Revolution. It presents events, such as the Boston Tea Party, in easy to understand ways and with accurate information. In the first episode about the Boston Tea Party, kids learn about Phyllis Whitley, a woman barely touched upon in most social studies classes, if at all. Also, by bringing a British girl who opposes slavery and the Revolution into the mix, one gets the viewpoints from all sides. And lastly, the series offers a huge array of big names bringing these important characters to life, most notably Walter Cronkite as Benjamin Franklin. These 40 episodes, all about different, important stages of the Revolution, can be a wonderful addition to a lesson and really can bring to life the story for kids struggling with the concepts. I highly recommend it.

Matthew Cooper (MagusYanam) As a history 'buff' from a young age, I first watched 'Liberty's Kids' mainly out of curiosity. I was disappointed, to say the least, to find a public television programme spewing forth such sophomoric pablum to pass for 'history'. The episodes that I watched did not address the causes of the War of American Independence (other than to say, more or less, that it was because the big, bad British wanted to tax the poor downtrodden colonists out of their hard-earned cash), nor the actual circumstances of most of the colonists. It was neither factually correct (merely selectively), nor intellectually honest (as most other PBS shows, I've found, are).Firstly, the war was fought as a direct result of a treaty that the British made on behalf of the colonists with the various Native American tribes that allied with the French during the Seven Years' War. The Proclamation of 1763 recognised native claims to land west of Appalachia, which many colonists chose to ignore. Instead, they preferred to encroach upon native lands and murder the rightful owners, then protested when British common law made objection. The Stamp Act and the Sugar Act were, granted, more immediate causes, but the discontent over taxes fed off of the prior discontent over the Proclamation.The war was a rebellion, and as most rebellions are, the WAI was messy. It caused a great deal of suffering among many colonial communities, more so among those still loyal to the Crown, and even more so among the Native Americans that found themselves being dragged in. (A notable player in the Northern War was the Mohawk nation of the Haudenosaunee led by Joseph Brant, but Brant seemed not to warrant mention, being a Native American.) Nor were the tens of thousands of colonists that were driven from their homes either by force or by circumstance to Canada, to Britain and to the West Indies throughout the war (and after). The representative of the Loyalists on the show was an elderly English lady of means, perpetuating the stereotype that the Loyalists were on the whole reactionary, well-off, and 'out of touch'.More disturbing to my mind has already been touched on by a previous reviewer - it doesn't help kids understand the motivations and the mindsets of the British, preferring instead to make them the Empire of Star Wars: wanton, callous and cruel (in the historical school of Mel Gibson, naturally. It's always a simple battle between 'us' - the 'good guys', and 'them' - the inscrutable, inhuman 'bad guys'). Come on, folks, give kids some credit for intelligence. They understand more than they let on - they can understand a few moral complexities, such as there certainly were during the War of American Independence. Shows such as 'GhostWriter' and 'Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood', that taught social responsibility and, yes, critical ethical thinking, are far more valuable than this pap. Come on, public television, show some class!