Well, we finally arrived at Mount Rushmore.  It was quite a sight to see, the heads of the four presidents, George Washington (1732-1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), and Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919).  The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota.  I liked it even more at night when they had a presentation with the lights shining on the four heads high above, as they sang, “God Bless America” and the National Anthem.  You really did feel like you were an American, recalling the heroes of American nineteenth century democracy.  Washington was the first President and the leader of the rebellious Continental Army against Great Britain.  He was the father of the new country and laid the foundations of American democracy.  He represented the birth of the United States.  Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States.  He also purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 which doubled the size of America, adding all or parts of fifteen present-day states.  Jefferson represented the growth of the United States.  Lincoln led the country and held it together through the Civil War of 1860-1865, during its greatest trial.  Lincoln, as the sixteenth President of the United States, believed his most sacred duty was the preservation of the union, so that he abolished slavery.  Teddy Roosevelt was the conservationist reformer of the early twentieth century.  He provided leadership when America experienced rapid economic growth as it entered the 20th Century.  He was instrumental in negotiating the construction of the Panama Canal, linking the east and the west.  He was known as the “trust buster” for his work to end large corporate monopolies and ensure the rights of the common working man.  Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth President represented the development of the United States.  These four presidents represented the most important events in the history of the United States, the nation’s birth, growth, development, and preservation from the perspective of democracy.  What do you think of these four presidents?