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(Music)
NARRATOR: Two powerful engines would fuel the fantastic growth of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. The first occurred when the common man secured the right to own property.
(Music)
For most of human history, less than three percent of humanity had owned almost all of
the world’s land. That was about to change.
De Soto views the American experience from his own perspective.
DE SOTO: Believe it or not, the United States was a Third World country 150 years, a little
bit less or more ago. It was a country where there was disorder; there was lawlessness.
There were migrants coming in from Europe, there were people fighting for land.
There were gangs in New York, you know, right along these streets, stealing, fighting with each
other, not being able to settle things peacefully, the way you can today in the West.
(Music)
America was built by people searching for a better future, and they started off in slums,
in workshops, in sweatshops and built it to what it was today. Our origins are the same.
(Music)