History WesternAnimation / LibertysKids

** Delivered by Sarah: "I want to go home . . . to England!"
** A doctor delivers one to Sarah after examining a wounded soldier with chest bindings: "Robert isn't a he. He's a she."

* UnfortunateName: Udney, the young soldier who takes a liking to Sarah during the events of Long Island.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The outcome of an innocent man getting subjected to TarAndFeathers, showing what happens when a cartoon portrays how it really works when James comes to mockingly interview the man and finds him near-death instead; the tar is boiled so the feathers (and underlying clothes) stick [[BodyHorror to the victim's skin]], which results in having to peel and tear the skin layer off to remove any of it. The doctor present even specifies that the risk of infection from such severe injuries is so high that it already settled in, meaning the victim is likely to die in the near-future, and to top it all off, the salty tears of pain trigger the burns and removed skin enough to make the man continuously cry in a never-ending cycle of agony. [[CharacterDevelopment James takes all of this to solemn heart.]]

Although the series was created for a juvenile audience (ages 7 to 14), it nevertheless takes a surprisingly sophisticated and nuanced look at the American Revolution -- something that was and still is rarely seen both in children's media and in the average United States classroom -- not just highlighting the heroes and achievements of the independence movement, but also addressing the less palatable aspects such as the role of slavery, mob violence and the privations the Native Peoples of America suffered in this conflict. As a result, ''Liberty's Kids'' remains just as powerful a show more than a decade and a half since it first aired. Plus, that theme song is just so catchy. It's been bounced from PBS to syndication to online streaming platforms, with availability having been affected accordingly.

* {{Adorkable}}: Several of the characters, especially anyone under 20. James and Udney both have several moments of this.
** Of the historical characters, Lafayette displays this the most. He fanboys over Washington and is always ridiculously optimistic, even after getting shot.

Although the series was created for a juvenile audience (ages 7 to 14), it nevertheless takes a surprisingly sophisticated and nuanced look at the American Revolution -- something that was and still is rarely seen both in children's media and in the average United States classroom -- not just highlighting the heroes and achievements of the independence movement, but also addressing the less palatable aspects such as the role of slavery, mob violence and the privations the Native Peoples of America suffered in this conflict. As a result, ''Liberty's Kids'' remains just as powerful a show nearly a decade and a half after its creation. Plus, that theme song is just so catchy. It's been bounced from PBS to syndication to online streaming platforms, with availability having been affected accordingly.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Despite being for children, the show never glosses over or whitewashes the prejudices of the era it's set in. Anti-black racism in particular is a recurring element.

* MinoredInAssKicking: Thomas Paine, albeit very briefly.

* NoSympathy: James to Sarah when she decides to return to England, but she changes her mind.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/libertyskids_2507.jpg]]

* BoyfriendBluff: A variation on this trope makes for a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} in "One Life to Lose." When British sailors attempt to kidnap James and press him into service, Sarah and Henri show up just in time and demand they let him go. When the sailors ask for a reason to let James go, Henri gleefully pipes up and says Sarah and James are engaged. HilarityEnsues as Sarah immediately picks up on the lie and launches a dramatic tale of their love and how James is eager to join the English navy, but she demanded he "hold on just a little longer, dearest" until they were married. She begs them not to take "her love" away, not after all they'd been through (at which point, even Henri is rolling his eyes). When asked if that was true, James awkwardly smiles, clenches his teeth and says that yes, she ''is'' his fiance and they are "very much in love." The sailors buy it hook, line, and sinker and even have a nostalgic moment for "young love" as James and Sarah shuffle away hand in hand.

* AFatherToHisMen: A bunch of the officers are this way: George Washington repeatedly calls his circle of officers his family, Baron von Steuben encourages inspiring devotion in the men and at one point [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments spoonfeeds a sick soldier]], and Lafayette charges into a battle to calm the retreating Continentals down. Benedict Arnold also counts, which actually makes his inevitable FaceHeelTurn more of a TearJerker than it is normally portrayed.

* FoodPorn: Just about any scene with Henri that isn't a SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} is loaded with this.

* MementoMacguffin: James has his mother's wedding ring and Sarah has the gold locket her father gave her. Then it's twisted around when said locket is lost in Boston Harbor and James [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments uses his ring to forge a new one for Sarah]].

* {{Eagleland}}: Call it America's birth story.

* HeartwarmingOrphan: James ''and'' Henri.

** Also, Benedict Arnold, who managed to evade capture; he ultimately is not on the "winning side" though.

** Captain John Paul Jones is a huge fan of Benjamin Franklin, even naming his ship ''Le Bon Richard'' after "Poor Richard's Almanac". When his crew rescues a shipwrecked Sarah, he's delighted to have one of Ben's newspaper correspondents on his ship. Sarah later explains her reasons for quitting, and John Paul with sympathy tells her that eventually she'll have to make a choice on how she wants to live with the horrors that she's seen.

* LimitedWardrobe: In the 14 years that took place, the main characters went absolutely everywhere wearing the same outfits. Even when crawling through the mud and forests Sarah would still wear her dainty little gown (she DOES end up in men's clothes on two occasions.)

* NoSympathy: James to Sarah when she decides to return to England
** Not to mention towards the poor guy who gets tarred and feathered...[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone at first.]]

* CavalryBetrayal: Happens in "Not Yet Begun to Fight", where during his fight with the ''Serapis'' John Paul Jones sees the American frigate ''Alliance'' come to their aid.....only to fire a full broadside into the ''Bonhomme Richard'' before retreating. This is true to the real-life account of what happened and it was never definitively established why the captain of the ''Alliance'' acted as he did.

** At one point, Washington has to calm Hamilton down before he loses his temper at Charles Lee. Washington himself was historically a redhead (his hair is portrayed as gray here), and we see him get truly riled up a few times in the series.

* {{Eagleland}}

Although the series was created for a juvenile audience (ages 7 to 14), it nevertheless takes a surprisingly sophisticated and nuanced look at the American Revolution -- something that was and still is rarely seen both in children's media and in the average United States classroom -- not just highlighting the heroes and achievements of the independence movement, but also addressing the less palatable aspects such as the role of slavery, mob violence and the privations the Native Peoples of America suffered in this conflict. As a result, ''Liberty's Kids'' remains just as powerful a show nearly a decade and a half after its creation. Plus, that theme song is just so catchy.

* CheerfulChild: Henri. Despite the show's title, he's the only one of the main cast who's actually a child.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Henri at times.

* ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch: An in-universe example when Sarah villifies Creator/ThomasPaine's "Common Sense" even when she meets the author personally. Once she gives it a read, she learns to at least appreciate it.

* BigEater: Henri and has scenes of eating all sorts of yummy things like [[FoodPorn bread, pastries, pancakes, bread, apples, and syrup. It's hard to blame him!)]]

* BloodlessCarnage: For a show that talks a lot about killing and wounding people, there isn't a whole lot of blood shown. Then again, it ''is'' a show aimed at kids seven and up.

** Moses's reaction when he sees his brother Cato at a slave auction, and [[ShaggyDogStory fails to buy him or rescue him from the slave plantation where he goes]]. Then years later, they reunite briefly when Cato is on the run, and Moses has to send him with a Loyalist woman to Canada.
** A father and his son are unlawfully executed by sheer bad luck of being Native American, and the last scene is the father taking his son's hands and comforting him.
** The sheer amount of brutality and KarmaHoudini actions that both the revolutionaries and the British commit; Sarah tends to notice this more than James does.
* AnimatedActors: During the "Liberty News Network" segments.

* BaitAndSwitchCredits: Somewhat. The lyrics to the intro are pretty fitting, but the song itself is a pop tune with brief Music/AaronCarter rapping, a little out of place for a historical cartoon that does take itself seriously.

''Liberty's Kids'' (2002-2003) is a Creator/{{PBS}} {{Edutainment}} HistoricalFiction series produced by Creator/DICEntertainment. The series follows the events of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, from the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to the signing of the US Constitution in 1787, through the lens of three children whom are in the employ of Creator/BenjaminFranklin's newpaper/publishing business.

The major characters are:

Although the series was created for a juvenile audience (ages 7 to 14), it nevertheless takes a relatively sophisticated look at the American Revolution, which highlights not only the heroes and achievements of the independence movement, but also refrains from sugarcoating things as it also addresses less palatable aspects such as the role of slavery, mob violence and the privations the Native Peoples of America suffered in this conflict.

As a result of its honesty and sophistication, ''Liberty's Kids'' remains just as powerful a show nearly a decade and a half after its creation.

''Liberty's Kids'' is a Creator/{{PBS}} series created by Creator/DICEntertainment that follows the adventures of a young boy and two teenagers whom were in the employ of Creator/BenjaminFranklin's newpaper/publishing business, as they find themselves witnesses to the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution from the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to the signing of the US Constitution in 1787.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The episode "American Crisis" got away with the use of the word "hell". This is impressive for any kids' show, let alone a PBS show.

* NeverSayDie: Strongly averted. The show not only has characters die, but also wounded, sometimes in gruesome ways (though [[BloodlessCarnage without a whole lot of blood]]). How PBS never censored or banned any episode is really a mystery for the ages.
** It is one of the only PBS Kids shows to be rated TV-Y7, almost certainly because of this [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar and other things...]]

* BaitAndSwitchCredits: Somewhat. The lyrics to the intro are pretty fitting, but the song itself is a pop tune with brief Aaron Carter rapping, a little out of place for a historical cartoon that does take itself seriously.

* CharacterDevelopment: Averted with Henri, but played straight with James (who starts out as a full-on {{Jerkass}} who accepts everything political without any opinions of his own, Sarah (who is certainly well-meaning but also an IceQueen who is solidly British and can't understand why the colonists would want to rebel).

* FieryRedhead: Sarah. Among the HistoricalDomainCharacters, the most notable is Thomas Paine, whose temper is alluded to by both himself and Ben Franklin.

* FieryRedhead: Sarah