25 Filippo Mazzei from Concord Days: Margaret Fuller in Italy [Video]

Transcript:

Rosanne: Now, the other thing is we’re a weird country because I also did a book on this guy, Filippo Mazzei. He’s an Italian who comes to the United States in the 1700s and lives on the plantation next door to Thomas Jefferson and Mazzei didn’t use slaves. He brought Italian serfs — who were not treated great — but were not owned to work though. He wanted to grow wine in Virginia. He thought to bring the wine business to Virginia and he’s the guy — this is off topic — but he wrote “All men are created equal” in a pamphlet that he worked with Jefferson and he was invited to the Continental Congress but he couldn’t — he spoke — he wrote English and five other languages but he didn’t think he could keep up with the verbal debate fast enough, so he’s not in the movie 1776 because he didn’t go but when Jefferson wrote the Declaration he cribbed that phrase and I’m not making this up because the Congress in like the 80s or something did actually put that into the Congressional Record. That’s where that first phrase first appeared in America was from this Italian immigrant.

Tammy: I love it. I love it.

Rosanne: I know this is normal as anyone because he owned land and he was just one of the many people living here like the Scots but there wasn’t a flood of Italians. It’s in the early part of the 1900s when we get the flood of poor Italians. It’s the poor immigrants we never want. The rich guys we’re okay with.