Philadelphia, PA

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Hi, everyone, I’m so happy to be with you on National Civics Day! 
 
My name is Jill Biden, and I’m the First Lady of the United States. 
 
I grew up just outside of Philly, in Willow Grove. 
 
And my school taught us about all the amazing and important history that happened right here in our city. On field trips, my school would take us to the Betsy Ross Museum and to Independence Hall just down the street, because as you probably know, Philadelphia is, in many ways, the birthplace of our democracy. 
 
Two hundred and thirty-six years ago, 10 years after our country was founded, our leaders realized the government they had first created wasn’t working. So, they met in Independence Hall to try and fix it.
 
All summer, they debated how to make our government better – how to make it work for the people. And remember, this was before air conditioning, so it was pretty hot!
 
And at that Constitutional Convention our founders created a government that was revolutionary at the time – a democracy, where power was given to the people, and not kings and queens. 
 
That’s still how our country works, and it’s one of the things that make it so special. And when we understand civics – how our government works and how to hold it accountable – we are able to help each other and make our country the best it can be. 
 
Thank you, Shari, iCivics, ATTN:, and Nickelodeon for creating this series. 
 
And Representative Scanlon – thank you for being with us today. And for serving our nation every day. 
 
And I’m grateful to all the adults in the room for supporting our kids and their future.
 
So, I’ve heard from Ms. Russell and Ms. Deguzman that you’re learning all about civics in class.
 
That means that you know how the government our founders created works, right?  
 
Well, it’s time to see what you’ve learned. So, we set up a little quiz!  
 

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