181. One nation indivisible : Horace Greeley, editor (19:04)

Date:
1953
Summary:
Teaching Film Custodians abridged classroom version of a Cavalcade of America television series episode, "One Nation Indivisible" (season 2, episode 12), which aired on December 22, 1953 on ABC-TV. In the latter half of nineteenth century, the editor of the Tribune newspaper, Horace Greeley, influenced by a conversation with President Lincoln, changes his views regarding Jefferson Davis and proceeds, with some risk to his career, to conduct a successful crusade to free the ex-Confederate president from prison.

182. Skipper's lady : duty first (21:20)

Date:
unknown/unknown
Summary:
Teaching Film Custodians abridged classroom version of Cavalcade of America television series episode, "The Skipper's Lady" (season 2, episode 31), which originally aired on June 8th, 1954 on ABC-TV. Based on an historical incident, the film dramatizes the courage and skill of a captain's wife who was forced to assume command of a clipper ship sailing from New York to San Francisco in 1840 with the annual government allotment of supplies for the Native Americans of California and Oregon.

183. Mightier than the sword : Zenger and freedom of the press (21:29)

Date:
1953
Summary:
Teaching Film Custodians abridged classroom version of a Cavalcade of America television series episode, "Mightier Than The Sword" (season 1, episode 13) which originally aired on March 18th, 1953 on NBC-TV. This pre-Revolutionary War drama focuses on the 1734 court case in which Royal Governor William Cosby of New York charged John Peter Zenger with libel because he printed the truth about corruption in Cosby's administration. The outcome of this trial established the principle of freedom of the press. The film shows Cosby arresting Zenger and disbarring James Alexander, Zenger's lawyer, on trumped-up charges. Travelling to Philadelphia, Alexander persuades Alexander Hamilton, one of the oldest and most respected attorneys in all the provinces, to take Zenger's case. Hamilton convinces the jury that publishing the truth is not libelous, resulting in Zenger's acquittal and establishing a precedent in American jurisprudence which would be adopted as a principle of law in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 57 years later when the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791.

190. Crisis in Paris : Franklin's diplomatic mission (18:41)

Date:
1967
Summary:
Teaching Film Custodians abridged classroom version of a DuPont Cavalcade Theatre television series episode, "Crisis in Paris" (season 4, episode 8), which first aired November 29th, 1955 on ABC-TV. Dramatizes the strategy used by Benjamin Franklin, head of the American Congressional Commission, sent to France to enlist French support for the American cause during the American Revolution. Although French aid is at first denied, Franklin maintains cordial, diplomatic relations. Illustrates Franklin concealing an unacceptable British proposal for ending the Revolution from French Prime Minister Compte Charles de Vergennes and records Vergennes reopening negotiations with Franklin's commission and granting the much-needed French aid.