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Mount Rushmore
Rap battle information
Appeared in Frederick Douglass vs Thomas Jefferson
Theodore Roosevelt vs Winston Churchill
Character(s) Thomas Jefferson
Frederick Douglass
Winston Churchill
George Washington (face on mountain)
Theodore Roosevelt (face on mountain)
Abe Lincoln (face on mountain)
Release date May 30, 2016
December 26, 2016
Times appeared 2
Based on
Mount Rushmore Based On

Mount Rushmore is where Frederick Douglass and Winston Churchill briefly rapped in Frederick Douglass vs Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt vs Winston Churchill, respectively. It is also where Thomas Jefferson made an appearance.

Information on the location

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite surface of Mount Rushmore, a granite batholith formation in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota. It includes the faces of the U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Mount Rushmore has become an iconic symbol of the United States and is visited by two million people annually.

Like the other mountains in the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore is regarded as sacred by the Native American peoples of the Great Plains. Historically, the native people of the Great Plains prayed and gathered food, building materials, and medicine in the Black Hills. The Lakota name of Mount Rushmore in particular is Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe (literally, Six Grandfathers) as the mountain symbolizes six ancestral deities who are said to personify the four cardinal directions as well as the Sky above and the Earth below. Its English name "Mount Rushmore" originated from the New York attorney Charles E. Rushmore. His name was given to the mountain by his guide Bill Challis when he visited the site in 1884 or 1885 after Rushmore asked Challis what was the mountain's name.

The idea of building a monument on a mountain in the Black Hills was the brainchild of Doane Robinson who wanted to build one to attract tourists to South Dakota. Robinson subsequently got the help of US senator Peter Norbeck and sculptor Gutzon Borglum for the project. The original idea was to build it in a region known as The Needles but the plan was abandoned after it was realized that the rock there was too soft for sculpting. While scouting for a new location, Borglum climbed Black Elk peak and, upon seeing Mount Rushmore, realized that its southwest-facing orientation provided the perfect location for a monument due to the fact that it was exposed to the sun. He subsequently exclaimed "America will march along that skyline".

While Robinson originally planned that the monument would depict famous figures in the Old West, Borglum rejected the idea and decided to depict Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt instead. The monument was intended to symbolize "an accomplishment born, planned, and created in the minds and by the hands of Americans for Americans". Predictably, the native Lakota opposed such a construction as it was construed as a desecration of their sacred land, especially given that all four presidents were themselves complicit in atrocities against Native Americans. Norbeck and South Dakota congressman William Williamson subsequently introduced bills that would authorize the use of such land for construction with South Dakota governor Carl Gunderson signing them into law on March 5, 1925. Slowly, private donations began flowing and the monument was dedicated in August 1927 by US president Calvin Coolidge after which the government funding of the project was promised. The Mount Rushmore National Memorial Act was subsequently passed by Congress and signed by Coolidge with $250,000 being allocated to build it. Funding was initially delayed by the presidential transition from Coolidge to Herbert Hoover until an initial federal match of $54,670.56 was acquired.

Construction began in October 4, 1927 with 400 workers sculpting and blowing up parts of the mountain with dynamite. Originally, parts of each of the four presidents' torsos would be included, but this was later abandoned when funding ran out. Construction of the monument was finished in October 31, 1941. Additional facilities were later built as the number of visitors to the site grew and the site became part of the National Register of Historical places in 1966. The monument was officially dedicated in 1991 by President George H. W. Bush. Ever since 1937, there have been numerous proposals to add more faces to the monument, all without success.

Ever since its construction, Mount Rushmore has been the subject of controversy. To its supporters, it is the Shrine of Democracy as it memorializes the founders and builders of American democracy. To its critics, including Native Americans, it is the Shrine of Hypocrisy as it represents America's violation of treaties that it made with Native Americans while attempting to promote itself as a "free and democratic republic". While the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie gave the Black Hills to the Lakota, the US subsequently broke the treaty and the Black Hills were incorporated into the United States following the 1876 Great Sioux War. The 1980 US Supreme Court decision United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians concluded that the native Lakota were not given a good enough compensation for the loss and advocated giving $102 million as compensation. However, the Oglala Lakota Nation citizen Nick Tilsen declared in 2020 that no settlement except the return of lands promised to them by treaties that the US subsequently broke will be acceptable. Up to this day, Native American activists continue to fight for their rights to the Black Hills, promising that they will not stop until all their stolen lands are returned.

Appearance in the rap battle

Frederick Douglass vs Thomas Jefferson:

This is where Frederick Douglass rapped the line, "Your stone face on Rushmore ain't nothing!", while he can be seen on top of Jefferson's carved head in the surface of the memorial. Thomas Jefferson also made an appearance here.

Theodore Roosevelt vs Winston Churchill:

Mount Rushmore gives way to feature the hypothetical rock band Rushmore on a stage, with George Washington on lead guitar, Thomas Jefferson on drums, Theodore Roosevelt on bass, and Abe Lincoln as the lead singer, during Winston Churchill's lines, "They put your fat head on a mountain to save face, but if Rushmore was a band, then you'd play bass!"

Trivia

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