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Welcome to the classic Mount Rushmore National Memorial. The memorial shows four US presidents
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who all played key roles in the first 150 years of the history of the United States.
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The mountain has gotten its name from Charles E Rushmore, a New York lawyer and prospector
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who searched the mountain for minerals during the late 19th century. The history of the
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memorial itself started in 1923, when the historian Doane Robinson got the idea to promote
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tourism in South Dakota by creating a large sculpture on Mount Rushmore. The main sculpter,
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Gutzon Borglum, and his 400 workers began the work on the colossal carvings in October,
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1927. It was decided that the sculpture would depict four US presidents who all played major
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parts in the preservation and expansion of the United States. I will give you some more
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in depth info of these men in just a while. When the carving of the sculptures started
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in 1927, the first on the line was the man you can see to the far left; George Washington.
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George Washington was born in 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He embarked on a career
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as a planter and became the owner of a fairly large estate. Through his half brother, Lawrence
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Washington, he got involved in the military and served during the British-French war as
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a militia officer. After the war had ended, he quickly went back
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to the business life and his plantations. It was only after Britain forced more and
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more laws and acts over the colonies that George Washington got into politics. But when
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he did, he acquired a leading position right away as he was selected as a delegate to the
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First Continental Congress. When the first fighting began in 1775, Washington, with his
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military experience, his charisma and his reputation of being a strong patriot, was
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elected commander-in-chief for the Continental Army. Later when the war was won, he became
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the first United States president when he was unanimously elected in 1789. The Washington
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Sculpture was dedicated to the public on Independence Day, 1934.
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Next one on the line was the man you can see next to Washington; Thomas Jefferson. The
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Jefferson sculpture was originally placed to the left of Washington, not at its current
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right position. Halfway through the sculpting, Borglum discovered that the stone quality
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became worse the further in they worked. This eventually forced them to blast the Jefferson
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sculpture off and instead start again on the right side of Washington. If you look to the
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left of Washington, you will see the big hole the explosions left. So who was Thomas Jefferson?
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Thomas Jefferson was born in Virginia year 1743. Already at the age of nine, Jefferson
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began studying French, Greek and Latin. Through his college years he also studied mathematics,
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metaphysics and philosophy, finishing all classes with excellent grades. Thomas Jefferson
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was known for his diverse interests and high intelligence. After finishing his studies,
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Jefferson began working as a lawyer while he at the same time became active as a Virginian
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politician. He protested against the new laws and acts the British rule imposed on the colonies.
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Jefferson argued that the colonists had the natural right to govern themselves. Soon after
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the outbreak of the American War of Independence, Jefferson was made responsible for creating
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the famous Declaration of Independence. The declaration of Independence is what Jefferson
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is most famous for. He did however have a rich political career following his declaration,
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where became a Virginian Governor, later Minister to France, Vice President and finally President.
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Jefferson died on the 4th of July 1826. By then he could look back on his life as a large
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land owner, political philosopher, architect, musician, book collector, scientist, horticulturist,
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diplomat, inventor and third President of the United States. He is by many held as the
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most intelligent and intellectual US president of all times. Jefferson's sculpture on Mount
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Rushmore was dedicated in 1936. The next sculpture on the line was the one
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to the far right, the one depicting Abraham Lincoln.
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Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 on a small farm south of Hodgenville, Kentucky. He was
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raised in a poor home, being the son of two uneducated farmers. Abraham himself however,
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quickly developed an interest in studies. While his formal education consisted of about
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18 months of schooling from unofficial teachers, he still mastered the Bible, William Shakespeare's
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works, English history and American history. He was very much self educated, reading every
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book he could get his hands on. He soon developed a plain writing and rhetorical style that
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puzzled audiences. This brought him into politics at the age of 23, when he became a member
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of the Whig party, and later elected to a term is the US House of Representatives in
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1846. With his unorthodox rhetorical style he made both enemies and friends and left
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the politics after one term and began working as a lawyer. He later returned to politics,
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and this time got a much more central role, as he won the Republican Party nomination
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in 1860 and was elected president the same year. Lincoln's hatred for slavery made the
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already strained relation between the northern and southern states even more problematic.
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The civil war broke out the very next year. Throughout the civil war, Lincoln was the
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political leader for the Union and his leadership qualities helped to preserve the Unites States
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to what it is today. Lincoln is most known for issuing his Emancipation Proclamation
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and his contribution in passing the Thirteenth Amendment which permanently abolished slavery
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in the US. In 1865, shortly after the war was won, Lincoln was assassinated while watching
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a theatre act. This made him a martyr for the ideal of national unity and he's today
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one of the most famous and highly ranked of all US presidents. The sculpture of Lincoln
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was dedicated in 1937. The last president, the second from the right,
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is Theodore Roosevelt. As the face of Roosevelt was being sculpted, Borglum
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and
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his worker had problems finding suitable rock, which forced them deeper into the mountain.
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Luckily, they didn't have to go too far before finding rock they were able to sculpt on.
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This is the reason why, as you can see, Roosevelt's sculpt is place far behind the other three.
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Roosevelt's head was dedicated in 1939. When constructing the sculptures, Borglum
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used dynamites in an innovative way, which helped remove large amounts of rocks relatively
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quickly and inexpensively. Around 90 percent of all removed granite was blown off using
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dynamite. The more detailed work was done using drills, chisels and hammers, finished
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off by a special pneumatic drill which provided a smooth surface. When construction the sculptures,
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huge amounts of granite was removed from the mount, which is evident by the huge granite
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pile you can see below the memorial. Even though the memorial is of huge proportions,
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much attention has been giving to detail. The irises of the eyes were sculpted as holes
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with a cube of granite were left inside to represent the reflection highlight. This is
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why the eyes of the presidents look so alive and realistic. If you have access to a binocular
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and take a close look at the sculpture of Roosevelt, you will see that even his characteristic
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glasses are present. The majority of the workers were experienced
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mountaineers, often former miners and rock climbers. This was probably one reason why
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not even a single worker died during the project, something rather unusual back then for a project
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of this size. With the completion of the face of Roosevelt
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in 1939, the memorial looked much like it does today. Borglum's plans for Mount Rushmore
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did however include much more than just the faces of the presidents. The original plan
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was to sculpt a massive panel next to the faces, in the shape of the Louisiana Purchase.
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The Louisiana Purchase was a deal between the United States and France, where France
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sold much of today's central US to the newly formed country. The panel would be inscribed
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with gilded letters of the Declaration of Independence and other territorial acquisitions.
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Borglum also wanted to create a hall into the mountain behind the memorial which would
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be known as "The Hall of Records" and hold much of the US history the four presidents
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represent. He said "you might as well drop a letter into the world's postal service without
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an address or signature, as to send that carved mountain into history without identification."
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The original plan also included sculptures of the Presidents head-to-waist, not only
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their faces. However, as you can see, neither of the Presidents
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torsos is sculpted, only the beginning can be seen on Washington and Lincoln. Borglum's
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"Hall of Records" was also started but never completed. The main reason for this is that
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the architect and the man who drove the project forward, Gutzon Borglum, suddenly died from
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an embolism in 1941. His son Lincoln tried to continue the work, but the father's death
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and the raging Second World War lead to serious funding problem which caused a halt in the
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construction the very same year. With this, the Mount Rushmore memorial was left as we
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know it today. The memorial was officially dedicated in 1991 by President George H. W.
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Bush. Today, the historian Doane Robinson's original
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vision of boosting the South Dakotan tourism has become reality. The memorial receives
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million of visitors each year and it has become a true American icon.