A History of America

American history moves from west to east, beginning with Ice Age migrations, through the corn civilizations of Middle America, to the explorations of Columbus, de Soto, and other Spaniards.

As the American character begins to take shape in the early seventeenth century, English settlements develop in New England and Virginia. Their personalities are dramatically different. Miller explores the origins of values, cultures, and economies that have collided in the North and South throughout the American story.

Benjamin Franklin and Franklin's Philadelphia take center stage in this program. As the merchant class grows in the North, the economies of southern colonies are built on the shoulders of the slave trade. Miller brings the American story to 1763 with the Peace of Paris and English dominance in America.

Professor Maier tells the story of how the English-loving colonist transforms into the freedom-loving American rebel. The luminaries of the early days of the Republic – Washington, Jefferson, Adams – are featured in this program as they craft the Declaration of – and wage the War for – Independence.

After the War for Independence, the struggle for a new system of government begins. Maier looks at the creation of the Constitution of the United States. The Republic survives a series of threats to its union, and the program ends with the deaths of Adams and Jefferson on the Fourth of July, 1826.

At the dawn of the 19th century, the size of the United States doubles with the Louisiana Purchase. The Appalachians are no longer the barrier to American migration west; the Mississippi River becomes the country's central artery; and Jefferson's vision of an Empire of Liberty begins to take shape. Historian Stephen Ambrose joins Maier and Miller in examining the consequences of the Louisiana Purchase – for the North, the South, and the history of the country.