The founding of the United States on July 4th, 1776, changed the world, and inspired other colonies to control their own destinies. The men responsible for writing and signing the Declaration of Independence - the Founding Fathers - have gone down in history as legends, with an almost ‘God-like status’. But nearly 250 years on, their legacy is challenged and ... Show More
Jul 2023
349: The Birth of the United States (Part 3)
“O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth!” The U.S. Congress votes for independence on the 2nd of July 1776, and George Washington reads the Declaration of Independence to his troops a few days later, after which they pull do ... Show More
48m 8s
Mar 2022
Benjamin Franklin with Ken Burns
<p>Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a scientist, inventor, writer and diplomat. As one of the leading figures of early American history, Franklin helped to draft the Declaration of Independence in 1776, worked to negotiate the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War in ... Show More
33m 26s
Feb 2024
American History Tellers
The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life - the words you speak, the ideas you share - can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? We'll take you to the events, the times and the pe ... Show More
4m 16s
May 2024
151. The Founding Fathers: George Washington (Ep 1)
Everybody knows Washington as the strapping, powerful general and then president who helped to overthrow the British and forge America, but how did he get there? He was born into a respectable Virginian planter family, had an ordinary education and, with the exception of his tort ... Show More
57m 22s
Jul 2023
347: The American Revolution (Part 1)
“America, late the strength, now the foe to Britain, dismembered, torn, I fear forever lost to England, whence she sprung.”
The American Revolution came about due to growing tensions between the American colonies and Great Britain, primarily over issues of taxation and representa ... Show More
57m 45s
May 2023
Native Americans: a new history
For too long, argues Professor Ned Blackhawk, Indigenous people have been marginalised or viewed merely as passive participants in the history of the United States. Speaking to Matt Elton, Ned discusses the central role that Indigenous people have played across centuries of the n ... Show More
49m 22s