All language subtitles for America.Our.Defining.Hours.S01E01.WEB.x264-PHOENiX_Subtitles01.ENG

[music playing]

HW BRANDS: We persist in the
face of the greatest adversity.

This is what we have
done from the beginning.

Washington is
outgunned, outmanned.

DAVARIAN BALDWIN: That
willingness to bleed

is the spark that sets the fire.

There has not been a bigger
challenge to our country

since its founding.

STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL: When
our values are tested,

they get stronger.

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT: Japan has
therefore undertaken a surprise

offensive.

LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR: This is
about transforming not just

the lives of African
Americans, but the lives

of every American.

I have a dream.

NARRATOR: For more
than three centuries,

America has faced adversity.

DOUG DOUDS: What we are able to
do is get back up and press on.

NARRATOR: This is the story
of the challenges that

helped shape a nation.

WOMAN: It gives you faith
that if we did it before,

we can do it again.

[music playing]

[waves crashing]

NARRATOR: From the
very beginning,

America is a nation
shaped by adversity.

In 1620, a congregation of
Puritan separatists fleeing

religious persecution
in Holland and Britain

leave for the New World‐‐

102 men, women, and children,
sailing over 3,000 miles

in a ship called the Mayflower.

The pilgrims were a very
special breed of people.

Most of us have never
met anyone with the kind

of fundamentalist fervor
and utter conviction

that they were on a mission
from God that the pilgrims had.

What happened here?

NARRATOR: But before they
can fulfill that mission,

their faith will be tested.

Overcoming challenges
is deeply American.

From the settlers who came
here to an uncertain future

to the waves of immigrants
who came here to build better

lives for themselves
and their families,

there is a spirit of resilience
and overcoming struggles

that has made America
the country it is today.

MARK OPPENHEIMER: As they
approached the shores

of America, they
got blown off course

by a very, very bad storm.

They wanted to end up at
the mouth of the Hudson

River, which is now
present‐day New York City.

And instead, they ended up
near present‐day Boston.

That wasn't a choice.

NARRATOR: They arrive at
Plymouth Harbor, 600 miles

north of the nearest
English settlement.

It's the beginning
of a terrible winter.

During the time the pilgrims
came to North America,

the world was in the second wave
of what's known as the Little

Ice Age.

Temperatures were
two or three degrees

below normal, which doesn't
sound like that much,

but it was enough to tip the
balance to make crops harder

to grow, winters longer.

ALAN TAYLOR: They're going to
have to survive with whatever

limited amount of food that they
can find in their new vicinity.

NARRATOR: The Pilgrims' maps
show Native American villages

nearby, people they might
be able to barter with.

But foraging parties find the
settlements are abandoned.

When the pilgrims arrived,
they arrive to what seemed like

a semi‐wilderness, a
howling wilderness,

it was called at the time.

But they also noticed there
were all kinds of villages that

were just empty.

NARRATOR: Human skulls
litter the ground.

They figured
out pretty quickly

that there had to
have been people there

and that those people
had probably died.

And they knew that
this didn't bode well

for their own survival.

They didn't have houses.

They didn't have ovens built. So
the Pilgrims spent that winter

of 1620, 1621 on
their boat, waiting

for it to get warm enough
for them to go on land

and build houses.

NARRATOR: Then, some of the
Pilgrims start to get sick.

JAMES MEIGS: Ever since
humans started coming together

in large groups, pandemics
have been a problem‐‐

all kinds of diseases that
thrive in conditions where

people are close
together and the disease

has a way to spread
from person to person.

ALAN TAYLOR: They're
suffering from exposure.

They're suffering from scurvy.

There's vitamin C deficiency.

And they are suffering
from diseases

that seem to be related to
influenza in their symptoms.

They did not have a
professional doctor with them.

NARRATOR: 26‐year‐old
Edward Winslow

is one of the few Pilgrims
who remains healthy.

Now, he steps
forward to help lead.

Edward Winslow was a
bit of an unusual person

among the Pilgrims.

He was not someone
who was looking

for a hearty travel or to brave
new paths and to clear forests.

He was not an adventurer by
nature, from what we know.

He was somebody
who was literate,

who had penmanship,
knew his letters.

He was a bookish person.

NARRATOR: But his education
means nothing here.

Instead, he's pitched into
a battle for survival.

He does the work of three
men, tending to sick,

building new houses, and earns
the respect of the community,

as he overcomes his own loss.

It was very tragic what
happened to Edward Winslow.

He came to the New World
with his wife Elizabeth,

and she died in March,
leaving him a widower.

Only 45 of 102 people who
had survived the voyage

would end up surviving into May.

So that's half of
the people who'd

become their entire world.

NARRATOR: In the middle of the
crisis facing the pilgrims,

Winslow remarries.

Susanna White has been
widowed and has two children.

It was probably a huge
inspiration for people.

It probably helped
them buck up and decide

to keep going, having just
lost half their community

to a brutal winter.

NARRATOR: Finally, the
outbreak of disease

ends, and the survivors
bury the last victims.

They camouflaged the graves
to hide their vulnerability

from the Native Americans
living around them.

Everyone in this group is
coping with grief, as well as

hunger and disease and anxiety
about their relationship

with the Native peoples
in the vicinity.

NARRATOR: Now, Myles Standish
begins to earn his pay.

Myles Standish is a
professional soldier.

But he is not a member
of their church,

and so he is something
of an outsider.

MARK OPPENHEIMER: He was
basically hired muscle,

a mercenary, a hired gun.

But he was also a
man of principle.

He had been paid to do a job.

He had been paid to take
care of these people

and to make sure
that they survived.

He probably felt a mix of both
failure, but also resolve.

He couldn't save
everybody, but he was going

to save as many as he could.

The Plymouth colonists have to
be prepared for the possibility

of an attack.

MARK OPPENHEIMER: They knew they
were going to meet people who

were already in the New World.

The question was what were
those people going to be like?

NARRATOR: A local tribe
is watching the Pilgrims,

the Pokanoket Wampanoag.

They've been keeping their
distance because they, too,

are afraid.

The Wampanoags had just come
through a decade from hell.

They had lost 90% of their
population, we think,

to a disease that had lasted
until just before the Pilgrims

arrived.

And they were in a constant
state of low level conflict,

of war, really, with the
nearby Narragansetts.

And the Wampanoag would have
figured out fairly quickly

that these new settlers came
with diseases to which they did

not have immunities and which
were very, very threatening

to the Native population.

NARRATOR: Spring
comes, and the Pilgrims

make their first attempts
to cultivate the land,

but nothing will grow.

They're low on food.

The new threat is starvation.

[ominous music]

Edward!

Look over there!

Get up!

Get up!

Out the way.

Out the way.

Come on!

Myles Standish was
going to be apprehensive.

He was going to be on his guard.

There was a history of
violence between Europeans

and the native populations
of North America,

and he was going to feel
that it was his job to be

ready for whatever might come.

[intense music]

JAMES MEIGS: The
spirit of independence

sparks a revolution.

The colonists made this decision
to go to war with the greatest

military power on Earth.

NARRATOR: Outnumbered
and outgunned,

they're inspired to fight.

George Washington is
willing to throw out

the rulebook with regard
to standard warfare.

NARRATOR: Pioneers head
out to the front frontier.

DOUG DOUDS: Fertile grounds,
rich forests, rivers‐‐

all of those things resided
just over the next hill.

But the land is not unoccupied.

NARRATOR: And thousands more
push West into the unknown.

They didn't really
know what lay ahead.

When you went down this road,
you weren't coming back.

NARRATOR: And as discord
about slavery grows,

a new hero comes forward.

MARCIA CHATELAIN: Courage
emerges in moments of crisis.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: March 16, 1621‐‐

a native chief named Samoset
finally makes the first move.

Sent by the tribe, he
approaches the colony

but still keeps his distance.

YOHURU WILLIAMS: The Native
Americans view the Pilgrims

with great suspicion.

JAMES MEIGS: Even before
the Pilgrims landed,

another group of
American explorers

had kidnapped a group
of Native Americans,

so there was a lot of bad blood.

The Wampanoag are led
by a man named Massasoit.

And on the one hand, he feels
like in a very strong position

because these newly
arrived colonists are few.

But they do have some guns.

Massasoit's got to
make a calculation.

Does he want this small,
struggling settlement

to survive?

NARRATOR: Myles Standish is
responsible for the colony's

survival.

He was hired for
exactly this moment.

Standish, as a
military man, he's

prone to seek military
solutions to problems.

And so he is inclined to shoot
first and ask questions later.

He's a very useful man
if you are in a conflict,

but he is not so useful if
you're involved in diplomacy.

NARRATOR: But Standish reads
Samoset's body language.

His years of
real‐world experience

have taught him to pick up
what few others might see.

He takes a chance.

Welcome, Englishmen, welcome.

NARRATOR: Samoset it is
sent by the tribal council,

not to annihilate the Pilgrims,
but to broker an alliance.

He speaks some English, learned
from earlier British traders.

You have to give credit
not only to Myles Standish

for accepting at that moment
that that Native American might

be coming in peace, but you
have to also give credit

to the Wampanoag for sending
out this English‐speaking envoy

to extend a hand, essentially,
of friendship and cooperation.

NARRATOR: The two men
agree to help one another

and sign a peace treaty.

YOHURU WILLIAMS: One
could look at this really

as the first true moment
of American diplomacy.

Here are the Natives and the
settlers having a conversation

about shared interest, about
boundaries, about territory,

and really, for the first
time, trying to figure out how

they're going to live together.

NARRATOR: The key
to this relationship

is Squanto, another
English‐speaking Native

American who comes to
live with the Pilgrims.

MARK OPPENHEIMER: Squanto
had been kidnapped and taken

to Europe, where he had
somehow ended up in London.

He's picked up a new
language, and then he

gets to come home with
all of this excitement,

brimming with a
sense of adventure

and all of this knowledge that
he can take back to his people.

NARRATOR: Squanto becomes
the Pilgrims' translator,

and he brings them a gift.

The pilgrims could not have
survived if they hadn't learned

how to grow corn from Squanto.

NARRATOR: Squanto shows them
how to fertilize the soil

with fish.

Corn was a gift to the Pilgrims.

Its cultivation will spread and
one day help feed the world.

JAMES MEIGS: Corn, or maize
as it's technically known,

does not grow in
Europe, and it wound up

being one of the most important
crops in global history.

An acre of corn has two or
three or more times the calories

of an acre of wheat or barley.

When people started
growing corn in Europe

and other parts of the
world, productivity went up,

and that meant they could
support a bigger population.

And Europe's population
started to grow.

NARRATOR: Trust and friendship
grow between the Natives

and Pilgrims, cemented when
Myles Standish and Edward

Winslow join the Wampanoag
on a raid to rescue Squanto.

He's been kidnapped.

MARK OPPENHEIMER: There's
this fellow, Corbitant,

who resents that Squanto has
the ear both of the Pilgrims

and of the [inaudible],, the
chief of the Wampanoags.

The raid as a real
commando mission.

They get there at
the crack of dawn,

when they think that nobody
will be expecting them.

NARRATOR: Two enemy warriors
are hurt in the assault,

but Squanto is rescued unharmed.

They rescue him.

They bring him back.

And war is averted, but it could
have gone very, very badly.

NARRATOR: They celebrate the
victory and the new Pilgrim

harvests together with
the first Thanksgiving,

beginning 50 years of
peace and cooperation.

In that moment, you
can see the forging

through that connection of
a new nation, one that's

going to be multicultural.

MARK OPPENHEIMER: It's
really extraordinary

how in just a few months
men like Edward Winslow

have become so comfortable
with Squanto, and by extension,

with the Wampanoags.

MARK UPDEGROVE: The Pilgrims
still resonate today

because they're emblematic
of the American story.

The American story
is about coming

to a new place for reinvention,
for opportunity, for liberty.

NARRATOR: 150 years
later, the descendants

of the first English settlers
will battle their mother

country for independence.

ALAN TAYLOR: Britain has a
very successful empire in North

America, but it's
cost a lot of money.

So the British government
says, well, let's

put new taxes and new
regulations on those colonies.

Boston became a
hotbed of resistance

to British regulations
and taxation to the point

that the British government
decided it had to send troops

in to occupy the town.

This is asking for trouble.

NARRATOR: A confrontation in
the city center between a crowd

of angry Bostonians
and armed Redcoats

plunges the colonies
into all‐out war.

[music playing]

March 1770‐‐ Boston,
Massachusetts

is an occupied city.

It's been two years since the
British Army first arrived.

The Redcoats have orders to
suppress any civil protest

against Britain's
unpopular taxes.

The relationship between
the occupying British troops

and the local civilians in
Boston was a complex one.

There are plenty of Bostonians
who are trying to do business

with these soldiers.

There are a surprising
number of young women

who marry these soldiers.

But there are also
many Bostonians

who don't want these
soldiers around.

[yelling]

In March of 1770, a
group of young Bostonians

start throwing
stones and snowballs

at a group of British soldiers
guarding a government building.

NARRATOR: Captain Thomas
Preston and his men

are surrounded by a
hostile crowd of over 400.

[yelling]

Five Americans die.

DOUG DOUDS: We don't call it
the misunderstanding of Boston.

We call it the Boston Massacre.

[gunshot]

Sam Adams says the foundation
of American independence

was laid during the
Boston Massacre.

Because when people think
about that British soldiers are

massacring colonists,
this raised the ire

of the rest of the colonists
all across the other 13 colonies

as well.

Let's go.

NARRATOR: Patriots in the
city, men like Paul Revere,

seize the moment.

They use it to win ordinary
people across the colonies

to the cause of independence.

ALAN TAYLOR: Paul Revere was
an accomplished silversmith

and engraver, and he engraved
a very celebrated image

of the Boston Massacre,
depicting the British soldiers

as quite ruthless
and, indeed, seeming

to enjoy the slaughter of
well‐dressed civilians.

NARRATOR: Colonial
discontent grows.

There are riots and protests,
like the Boston Tea Party,

over new taxes.

342 chests of tea
end up in the harbor.

ALAN TAYLOR: A lot of people
just wanted to hang back,

contend their own farms
or their own shops.

And then, other Americans wanted
to support the rule of Britain

because, on balance, the rule of
Britain had been good to them.

Of course they didn't like
the taxes or the regulations,

but they enjoyed prosperity
most of the time.

NARRATOR: The colonies'
loyalties are divided.

At the First Continental
Congress in September 1774,

delegates search
for a compromise.

HW BRANDS: Some
of the Americans,

like Benjamin Franklin, proposed
something like the union

between Scotland and England
for America and Britain.

If the British had
been far‐sighted enough

to accept a proposal
or something like that,

the history of the American
colonies and the British empire

would have been
entirely different.

NARRATOR: Instead of
compromise, the Congress

votes to boycott British
goods and sends a letter

to King George, demanding
an end to the taxes.

Their demands are rejected.

In 1775, Britain
declares Massachusetts

to be in a state of rebellion
and blockades the colony.

Both sides begin
stockpiling weapons.

CARLOS WATSON: I think
the British, having built

a global empire,
really underestimated

this portion of the empire,
namely the American colonists

here and were quite hesitant
to engage in real negotiation.

You know, it's interesting.

Whenever you're in
power, you probably

think that you'll
be that way forever.

Certainly, the British
took that approach

against the American upstarts.

NARRATOR: April 19, 1775‐‐

700 Redcoats march to the
small town of Lexington

to find and seize a
suspected cache of weapons.

They get to Lexington,
and to their surprise,

there are people with
arms waiting for them.

These are not
professional soldiers.

These are common
farmers and shopkeepers.

NARRATOR: Among them, men like
John Parker, father of seven,

a farmer.

A quarter of these men
are his direct relations.

Stand your ground.

No farm was fired upon.

But if we mean to have
war, let it begin here.

NARRATOR: Opposite them
stands the most powerful army

in the world.

The men are outnumbered
more than five to one,

but they refuse to budge.

CARLOS WATSON: I
think for many of us,

we've heard history as kind of
the so‐called great man story,

whether it was a George
Washington or Martin Luther

King, Jr., who ultimately
has helped drive history

and turned the tide of history.

But in reality, it's
been a great groundswell

of everyday people, whether
it was Lexington or Concord

in the Revolutionary War,
or whether, later on, it

was Rosa Parks in the
Montgomery bus boycott.

ALAN TAYLOR: Somebody fired.

[gunshot]

We don't know who.

Take aim.

But when the firing begins‐‐

[horse whinnies]

Fire!

[gunshots]

‐‐the British are much better
trained soldiers, better armed.

NARRATOR: The
Redcoats kill eight.

They are the first casualties of
the American Revolutionary War.

Among the injured is an
enslaved African American,

Prince Eastabrook.

DAVARIAN BALDWIN:
In some ways, it's

ironic that Prince Eastabrook
is one of the first casualties

of the revolutionary
cause at Lexington.

Here is someone who stands
beside his own enslaver.

And yet, he is there also
fighting for the independence

of these 13 colonies.

[gunfire]

[horse whinnies]

[hollering]

NARRATOR: The redcoats
believe they have won the day.

Half of the battalion is ordered
to march six miles onto Concord

to search for more weapons.

ALAN TAYLOR: And
there, they face

much more formidable
and numerous resistance.

And now, there are
hundreds, indeed,

thousands of New England
men coming from as far away

as New Hampshire
and Rhode Island‐‐

Halt.

ALAN TAYLOR: ‐‐who have placed
themselves behind stone walls,

behind trees, in houses, and
sniping away at the retreating

British force, taking a
steady toll of casualties.

This British force, in
fact, was lucky to make it

all the way back to Boston.

These militia men decide
they're not going to go home.

Instead, they're going
to camp out around Boston

and make sure that the British
troops don't come out again.

And so what had started
out as a localized

firefight in Lexington
has now become a war.

NARRATOR: To take on the most
powerful army in the world,

the colonists will need a strong
commander, someone who can

face desperate odds and win.

It's rare in history that
you find someone who is really

an indispensable individual.

NARRATOR: The 13
American colonies

are on the verge of
war with Britain,

and they are not prepared.

JAMES MEIGS: It's hard
to appreciate today

how overwhelmingly
powerful and sophisticated

the British Navy and the
British military were.

They had the best ships, the
best supplies, the best trained

troops, the best weapons.

The group that would become
the Americans, the colonists,

didn't have any of
that, and yet they

made this either brave
or foolhardy decision

to go to war with the greatest
military power on Earth.

[serious music]

NARRATOR: At the Second
Continental Congress

in Philadelphia, 56
colonial delegates

signed the Declaration
of Independence.

It's a clear act of treason.

DOUG DOUDS: The threat of them
hanging was incredibly real,

which is why somebody
like Ben Franklin

ultimately says we
must all hang together,

or we will all hang separately.

This was a real threat,
not a rhetorical one.

NARRATOR: They will need the
colonial public behind them.

ALAN TAYLOR: No revolution can
succeed without popular support

at a pretty high
level of commitment

because you're asking people
to overthrow an existing

form of government, to
take a leap of faith

that some new government
will be better.

NARRATOR: The Declaration
of Independence

becomes a recruiting tool.

It is reprinted, distributed
widely, read aloud.

YOHURU WILLIAMS: Americans
tend to frame their defense

of liberty as the
driving force which

helps to define our history.

And we see the foundations for
that in the American Revolution

because here are these
colonists willing to lay down

their lives, facing a foreign
invader once considered

to be their countrymen.

NARRATOR: The liberty
of all Americans

will be fought for in the
centuries that follow.

The message put forward by the
Founding Fathers, this message

of freedom, I think it was
critical for those fighting

for their independence
in the 13 colonies.

It became a beacon of hope,
something to strive forward.

NARRATOR: A year before
the Declaration is signed,

Congress begins the process
of selecting a commander who

can lead the Continental
Army against the British.

The list of suitable
candidates is short‐‐

John Hancock and
George Washington.

It's a counterfactual that
John Hancock might become

the commander in chief
over George Washington.

He had military experience.

He was well respected.

Certainly, his position within
the Continental Congress

and his role within that
reflects the respect

that many of the
folks felt for him.

NARRATOR: But Hancock
has a weakness.

DOUG DOUDS: John Hancock's
signature on the Declaration

of Independence tells
us multiple things

about John Hancock.

One‐‐ John Hancock is very
confident about John Hancock.

He was one willing to put his
name at the top of the list.

It's a fascinating display of
courage, perhaps arrogance.

NARRATOR: Washington
is very different‐‐

wealthy, elite.

In the French and Indian
War, George Washington

fought on the British side.

Now, he wants to lead the
Continental Army against them.

He very easily could
have sat out the war.

In fact, Washington was one
of the unlikeliest of rebels.

Things were going very
well for George Washington.

Under other circumstances, he
should have been a loyalist,

but he chose the harder
route of independence.

NARRATOR: Washington has
the battlefield experience

Hancock lacks.

But some in Congress
question his record.

ALAN TAYLOR: Washington
had taken his lumps.

He had suffered some defeats.

His first independent
command in 1754

had gone so badly that he had
to surrender to the French.

The next year, he is in
a subordinate position

in a larger British
land force that

plunges into a deadly ambush and
will kill the British commander

and will kill most of the
other British field officers.

NARRATOR: Washington takes
command of the retreating

British troops.

Though 456 men
die in the ambush,

he leads over 100 to safety.

Washington proves to be a very
skilled commander in retreat.

He'd learned some very
important lessons,

and he had proven himself a very
calm head in the midst of very

dangerous circumstances.

NARRATOR: So George Washington
is appointed commander in chief

of the Continental
Army on June 19, 1775.

[intense music]

Just over a year later, the
largest British Naval task

force ever assembled
converges on New York.

Each ship of the line costs as
much as a modern‐day aircraft

carrier.

Washington orders his troops
to dig in on Long Island.

MARK UPDEGROVE:
He wasn't the kind

of European military leader
who would stand back and watch

the men at the front lines and
have orders carried to them.

He stood with the men
on the front lines.

He was one of them.

STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL: People need
to be led not directed they

need to follow an inspirational,
charismatic, courageous leader.

Second, when you're
not at the front,

you really can't have that
feel for what's going on.

NARRATOR: Washington has
10,000 men to fend off

the invasion, most untested.

He is going to face the,
arguably, best army on Earth,

and certainly the best navy
on Earth in fighting England.

This revolution is
far from secure.

In fact, it's a little bit
in doubt at this point about

whether or not we're
going to make it

because this is the crisis
that must be overcome.

[explosion]

[music playing]

NARRATOR: 14 months after
Washington becomes commander

in chief, his men confront
the British in battle.

First they endure a
heavy naval bombardment.

Then, 32,000 British redcoats
assault Washington's badly

outnumbered army.

And you've got the world's
greatest empire, the world's

largest armada, and the
world's largest army have all

arrived on your doorstep, and
they are coming to crushing.

DOUG DOUDS: The battle of Long
Island for George Washington

is a really tough one.

His defensive line collapses.

It's almost a disaster.

[explosion]

NARRATOR: In a daring
move to save his men,

Washington fools the
British with his retreat.

In the midst of crisis,
he keeps his wits about him,

and he is able to go ahead
and rescue his soldiers

through the night by
getting them off the island.

He will gather all of the rafts,
barges all around New York.

And that night in a
fog, they will slip back

across the river to Manhattan.

He doesn't win the battle,
but he doesn't lose his army

either.

NARRATOR: But the British
have begun to burn New York.

Many Continental soldiers have
families trapped in the city.

The defeat tests the
resolve of Washington's men.

DOUG DOUDS:
Washington's credibility

as a general is threatened.

That's going to start a 12‐week
period where he largely gives

up the better portions
of three states

and loses somewhere between 60%
and 90% of his army by the time

he stops on the other
side of the Delaware.

ALAN TAYLOR: On the order
of about 3,000 men are left.

They're in rags.

They're hungry.

Morale is rock bottom.

LEON PANETTA: I think Washington
understood, particularly

after his defeat in New York,
that he had to show them

that they could achieve
military victory,

that they could win against
this better trained and better

equipped enemy that
they were confronting.

NARRATOR: Washington gets his
chance on December 25, 1776.

He leads 2,400 men
across the Delaware River

in a daring night raid.

[marching]

[cannons exploding]

They assault the enemy
garrison at Trenton,

capturing over 900 prisoners
and losing just two men.

George Washington is
the secret ingredient

to the American military victory
during the American Revolution,

primarily because he's
willing to throw out

the rulebook with regard
to standard warfare.

His innovation is
borne of the fact

that he's willing to
fail and fail big.

And in so doing, he gives
the Continental Army

a distinct advantage, one
that the British could not

have foreseen.

NARRATOR: Washington's
bold assault at Trenton

marks a shift in
Continental Army tactics.

Aggressive commanders
are promoted, including

Daniel Morgan, a man Washington
knows from their service

in the Virginia militia.

Morgan is made colonel of
an elite military unit.

Some leaders are
borne of the moment,

and Daniel Morgan might
very well be such a leader.

What the colonists really
fought was a guerilla war.

And Morgan is the
architect of that war‐‐

encouraging sniping,
not engaging

in standard military tactics.

NARRATOR: Morgan commands around
500 men, all sharpshooters

raised on the frontier
and skilled in bush craft.

They're equipped
with rifles, a weapon

first brought to the colonies
by German immigrants.

Most guns at the time
of the Revolutionary War

were muskets, accurate to
something like 40 yards.

The long rifle that
some Americans used

was accurate at a range
of perhaps 100 yards,

even 200 yards in some cases
in the hands of a trained

sharpshooter.

NARRATOR: Morgan
is controversial.

His men target British officers.

DOUG DOUDS: Most famously,
we have the scenario

during the Battle of Saratoga,
where General Fraser,

a British officer, is targeted.

NARRATOR: Tim Murphy is
Morgan's most accurate shooter.

One of thousands of men who
suffered at the Battle of Long

Island, Murphy
now has the chance

to take down a British general
and give his fellow patriots

an advantage.

YOHURU WILLIAMS:
One of the reasons

that this is so destabilizing
to the British army

is that they see the attacks
on officers as uncivilized.

This is not the way that
civilized nations conduct

warfare.

[gunfire]

NARRATOR: With officers
down, the British

lose 1,000 men at Saratoga,
twice as many as Washington.

The British commander
General Burgoyne surrenders.

YOHURU WILLIAMS: The reality
is that the colonists see this

as a struggle for their very
existence, for their liberty,

and so anything at that
point was on the table.

NARRATOR: But 280 miles
away, the colonial army

is in trouble.

Washington is defeated
at Philadelphia,

and his army retreats to a
winter camp at Valley Forge.

It's the low point of the war.

ALAN TAYLOR: The British
had attacked Philadelphia

and driven Washington's
army into rural Pennsylvania

to a place called Valley Forge,
where Washington is going to,

again, try to recover from
defeat, rebuild his army.

But he is going to do
so without enough food,

without pay for his soldiers,
without enough clothing,

and with very poor housing.

So he's got this ragged army.

They look like beggars.

NARRATOR: Washington has nothing
with which to feed or clothe

his men.

Hundreds freeze to death.

Others die from disease.

One of the scourges of
warfare in the 18th century

was disease.

Soldiers were brought
together in close proximity.

This was an era
when smallpox swept

through the civilized
world on a regular basis.

And the way to avoid smallpox
was for everybody to scatter.

But being in a military camp
requires exactly the opposite.

Washington had
smallpox as a young man,

and he knows that smallpox
would be the one disease that

could largely destroy his army.

NARRATOR: In just six
weeks, 2,000 men die.

Inoculation might
stop the disease,

but it's dangerous
and unpredictable.

JAMES MEIGS: Some people who
were inoculated got very sick

and didn't survive.

Some people think
even as many as 3%.

Inoculation meant taking
the real virus from a person

or an animal and infecting your
human patient with that virus,

but in a very,
very low quantity.

So you get maybe a little
bit sick for a few days,

and then you've got the
antibodies, and you're safe.

You're inoculated.

NARRATOR: Washington permits
inoculation to go ahead.

Dozens of his men die,
but thousands are saved.

DOUG DOUDS: I think what we
find here is one of Washington's

leadership traits of he is able
to look very clearly at what

the problem is.

If the goal is
independence, then the army

must stay in the field.

If the army is to
stay in the field,

then the disease is a threat,
so he takes action on his own.

Washington hires a maverick
general to rebuild his army.

MARK UPDEGROVE: His
men need discipline.

They need organization.

They need training.

NARRATOR: The man Washington
selects is Prussian General

Baron von Steuben.

DOUG DOUDS: I would argue the
birth of the United States Army

occurs at Valley Forge in
part because of von Steuben's

efforts.

NARRATOR: In 1778, George
Washington's Continental Army

is camped at Valley
Forge, Pennsylvania‐‐

thousands strong, but it's
a disorganized rabble.

Washington has taken
a calculated risk

and engaged maverick
Prussian General Baron von

Steuben to transform his men.

STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL:
General Washington

wanted someone very
proficient to professionalize

the Continental Army.

But von Steuben, who was sort
of an untypical character,

cursed at the troops.

It was dangerous because
he could have produced

a resistance‐type reaction
to him from the soldiers.

But one of Washington's
greatest talents

is he can size up the ability of
other individuals very quickly,

and he can figure out
how to use them well.

Now, von Steuben is the
right man at the right time.

He'd been a captain.

The Prussian army was used to
winning most of its battles

against superior numbers
because of superior discipline.

von Steuben understands
this military tradition,

and this is the kind of
officer Washington needs.

NARRATOR: von Steuben
goes right to work.

ALAN TAYLOR: When von
Steuben gets there,

this is a military camp,
and it's much more chaotic

than it used to dealing with.

It's a filthy camp,
undisciplined soldiers,

cold, exposure, inadequate
food, ragged clothing.

Morale is rock bottom.

Then he starts to
rearrange things so

that there would be
better sanitation

and so these soldiers will take
as much pride in their units

and themselves as is possible
in their ragged condition.

NARRATOR: He introduces
real military training

and drills his men in
hand‐to‐hand combat.

STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL: The
soldiers also understood

that von Steuben bought
something they didn't have‐‐

the ability to mold
them into an army that

could stand on the battlefield
against the British regulars.

NARRATOR: In just a few months,
Washington's strategy pays off.

His men are ready to fight.

[music playing]

But the Continental Army
still has a serious weakness.

ALAN TAYLOR: Washington
is short on resources.

His army's outgunned and
outmanned almost all the time.

And so he more than
any other commander

needs to know where
he's vulnerable.

Where was his enemy likely
to strike, in what numbers,

with what sort of troops?

NARRATOR: To gain the
advantage Washington innovates

with a new tactic.

STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL:
One of the things

that's sometimes surprising
about George Washington is

that he was so good at
intelligence, part of which

was spy work.

JAMES MEIGS: One thing he
recognized is that wars are won

on information.

So he was very enthusiastic
about using spies.

Washington had one
particular spy network

called Culper's Gang.

NARRATOR: These
special agents operate

inside British‐occupied
territory.

Every one of them
knows the risks.

The penalty for
spying was hanging.

You didn't even get a trial.

You just got hanged.

They must have been passionately
devoted to the cause

of independence, but also deeply
trusting of Washington himself.

You don't go sending secret
messages that are going to get

you hanged to somebody if
you don't trust that he is

both highly competent
and highly dependable

in terms of keeping
your secrets.

NARRATOR: In July
1780, Robert Townsend

overhears a British plan
to attack the French fleet

supplying the Continental
Army in New England.

JAMES MEIGS: If the British
meet it and wipe it out,

that might have been
the end of the game

for Washington and the
entire revolutionary cause.

NARRATOR: Townsend uses
elaborate spy craft

to alert Washington
to the danger.

JAMES MEIGS:
Townsend, of course,

was taking enormous risks.

One way he protected himself
was using invisible ink.

This was actually a technique
recommended by Washington

himself.

The Culper Spy Ring
used a lot of techniques

that we think of as being
part of Cold War spying.

They used a technique called
a dead drop, where you don't

necessarily need to hand your
incriminating message from one

spy to another.

You leave it in a certain
spot, and then spy number two

comes along and picks it up.

And they were able
to convey information

about when that handoff was
ready by the way clothes were

arranged on a particular
conspirator's clothesline.

NARRATOR: The warning
reaches Washington

just as the British
were about to set

sail to launch their attack.

Washington believes that if they
think their base is in danger,

they might call
off the operation,

so Washington moves his troops
across the Hudson to Manhattan.

It works.

The British fleet
remains at anchor,

and the French continue
to provide vital supplies

to the Continental
Army in Rhode Island.

Over the next year,
Washington's forces

are able to win several
important battles.

By the fall of 1781,
part of the British Army

is under siege in
Yorktown, Virginia.

[yelling]

On the evening of October 14,
Washington's Continental Army

and his French allies launch
what will be the final attack

of the Revolutionary War.

The exhausted British
Army surrenders.

General Washington's strategic
brilliance and innovation

confirms his reputation
as one of the nation's

great military leaders.

STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL: When I
think of George Washington‐‐

they talked about the
indispensable man.

I think that's as true as
any description has ever

been of any single American.

General Washington was a
military leader, but more,

he became a symbol.

I think he defined more
things about American society

probably than any of the
other of the Founding Fathers.

NARRATOR: Even before
victory is secure,

pioneers are heading West.

One of them blazes a new
trail across the Appalachian

Mountains into the
Kentucky wilderness.

In March 1775, Daniel
Boone, a fur trapper

from North Carolina,
leads an expedition

through the
Appalachian Mountains

to a wilderness untouched
by European settlers.

Pioneers in the New
World viewed the land

beyond the mountains as
a land of opportunity.

It was ripe.

It was fertile grounds, rich
forests, fertile fields,

mineral resources, rivers.

The opportunity to
change your position,

to change your economic
status, to own land,

all of those things resided
just over the next hill

beyond the next ridge line.

NARRATOR: It's a 200‐mile
trek through dense forest

to an area called the
Kentucky Territory.

Daniel Boone in 1775 is a
logical choice to lead this.

He had experience out there.

He has a militia officer.

He's the quintessential
frontiersman.

He's tall.

He's rugged.

He's a hunter.

He's a land speculator.

He's a surveyor.

He's a militia officer.

NARRATOR: For two weeks, Boone
and his men cut the trail west.

Come, on, go.

NARRATOR: But as they
near their destination,

they realize they're being
followed by the Shawnee.

This is their land.

JAMES MEIGS: Conflict
between European Americans

and Native Americans was
inevitable from the start.

But it became particularly
acute when settlers began

to move through the Appalachians
into lands where previously

the Native tribes had not
had to contend with more

than the occasional
trapper or hunter.

Now, all of a sudden,
people were coming in.

They were cutting down trees.

They were building roads.

NARRATOR: Daniel Boone has
run into the Shawnee before.

Daniel Boone had been
there not but two years ago.

He had tried to lead
a group of 50 people

out there, when
they were attacked.

In fact, one of his sons
is captured and tortured.

This forces him to turn back.

But that experience had
given him a resilience.

The idea that Daniel
Boone will return in 1775

speaks volumes about his
commitment to a vision

that he will grow the West.

NARRATOR: On March
25, Boone's party

is only 15 miles from
their final destination

when the Shawnee attack.

[explosion]

One of Boone's right‐hand
men, Captain Twitty,

is shot in both knees and dies.

Go, go, go.

[yelling]

[screams]

His servant is killed too.

Three others are injured.

[bird tweeting]

But somehow, Daniel Boone
is able to go ahead and take

this moment and
say, no, no, this

isn't the time to turn around.

It is the time to double
down and press on.

Daniel Boone, who has
learned from the past‐‐

they press on.

NARRATOR: On April 1,
1775, Boone and his company

reach Kentucky.

By summertime, they
built a settlement

with 26 cabins and
4 block houses.

They name it Boonesborough.

Within a year, 200
more settlers arrive.

Just 15 years later, the
population of Kentucky

is 77,000.

MARCIA CHATELAIN: Because of
Daniel Boone and his peers'

desire to see the
limits of the land,

we today have an incredibly
diverse geography in the United

States.

But it all came at
a very high price

when we think about the loss of
life that occurred as a result

of westward expansion.

NARRATOR: By 1800,
45,000 more settlers

have moved on to another
region of the frontier called

the Northwest Territory.

These lands are already home to
thousands of Native Americans.

[dark music]

YOHURU WILLIAMS:
In the early 1800s,

Indigenous Americans recognize
just what a lethal force

the colonists represent.

They also recognize
the need to fight

to preserve their heritage,
their lives, and their culture.

NARRATOR: A Shawnee chief
named Tecumseh comes forward

to lead the Native resistance.

YOHURU WILLIAMS: At
every point in his life,

Tecumseh had witnessed the
brutality, the trickery

of Europeans toward
Native peoples.

And more than perhaps
any other in that moment,

he recognizes that
if there's going

to be a defense of Indigenous
peoples, of Native cultures,

they're going to have
to band together.

But he's got to get them to
put away their petty rivalries

and factions and to buy into a
collective vision of what they

can be.

NARRATOR: Tecumseh
calls on the tribes

to unite and defend their land.

[non‐english speech]

YOHURU WILLIAMS: Tecumseh is a
incredible speaker, someone who

is able to conjure imagery
that inspires Native peoples

not only to recognize their
shared heritage and culture,

but also to inspire them
to be willing to give

their very lives to fight
against the invaders who are

rapidly overtaking
their territory.

NARRATOR: Slowly,
Tecumseh's diplomacy

binds the tribes together
in a broad Native alliance.

Over the next three
years, his armed coalition

slows the movement
of Western pioneers.

And in the War of
1812 Tecumseh's

force allies with the British
against the Americans.

August 5, 12 miles
from modern Detroit‐‐

200 US troops march
to Fort Detroit

to reinforce the strategically
important outpost.

Tecumseh and 24 of his warriors
set an ambush for them.

Tecumseh's plan is to
fool the Americans.

[vocalizing]

YOHURU WILLIAMS: And so he's
able to get his soldiers to do

things like kicking up dust
or making noises to augment

in the imagination of
the American regulars

the size of his army.

And in so doing, he's very
successful in creating a fear

about this overwhelming
fighting force that

exists in the shadows.

NARRATOR: Now, Tecumseh and
his men march on Fort Detroit

and take it without bloodshed.

Please.

[non‐english speech]

NARRATOR: And he orders
his victorious band of men

to treat the soldiers
humanely as prisoners of war.

ALAN TAYLOR: This helped to
underline Tecumseh's message,

which is that the Native peoples
were fighting with a great deal

of dignity, and they were going
to contradict their stereotype

as being savages in combat.

NARRATOR: But it's Tecumseh's
last great victory.

[sad music]

A year later, he's killed in
battle by an American colonel.

Without him, the tribal
alliance collapses.

DAVARIAN BALDWIN:
Tecumseh's death

represents a significant
level of decline

in Native American resistance
in the Ohio River Valley,

and also in most Eastern
and Southern states.

From that point on, we find the
migration, the forced removal

of Native Americans all the way
west of the Mississippi River.

[sad music]

NARRATOR: As Native
Americans are pushed out,

the lands of the
Ohio River country

open up to pioneer settlement.

By 1820, the population of
Ohio has doubled to 580,000.

Indiana's population leaps
from 24,000 to almost 150,000.

The land is rich in
minerals and timber,

and the soil will grow any crop.

But transporting it to
sell in Eastern markets

is arduous, expensive, and slow.

So while the cities of
the East are booming,

the Western frontier
is left behind.

JAMES MEIGS: The
answer was a canal.

If you think about the load
that a donkey can carry

or an ox pulling
a cart can carry,

it is a tiny amount of goods
for a huge amount of effort.

But if you put that same
grain into a flat boat,

it can carry thousands
of bushels of grain

with very little effort.

NARRATOR: DeWitt Clinton is
the governor of New York state.

He has a big idea‐‐

a canal to move the wealth
of the Western frontier

to the cities of the East.

It will connect lake Erie
with the Hudson River.

The cost‐‐ $7 million.

In 1817, he gets approval
to begin construction.

But there are problems.

it's 363 miles between
Buffalo, New York and Albany,

and there's an elevation
change of over 600 feet.

It's a very complex,
massive engineering project.

Nothing like this had ever been
done anywhere in the world.

NARRATOR: Dubbed
Clinton's Ditch,

construction of the canal
encounters dense forests,

brutal conditions, and
60‐foot walls of limestone.

1817‐‐ New York
Governor DeWitt Clinton

is spearheading the
construction of a 360‐mile canal

from Lake Erie to
the Hudson River.

When complete, merchants will
be able to move their goods

from Detroit to New York City
five times faster than before.

The canal will reduce their
transportation costs by 90%,

and the Western frontier
will connect directly

to the prosperous Eastern
seaboard for the first time.

But Clinton has no
experience with construction,

and no canal has ever
been built on this scale.

There is no school for engineers
in the whole of the United

States.

His appointment of Benjamin
Wright as chief canal engineer

is on a hunch.

Nobody had ever worked
on a project of this scale

before, and certainly
not Benjamin Wright.

Benjamin Wright is a
self‐educated land surveyor

and engineer.

He doesn't really have
any professional training.

So you wouldn't
pick him out and say

this is a guy who
is going to conduct

the most massive engineering
project in American history.

NARRATOR: But Clinton
sees potential in Wright.

He looks at his ambition.

He looks that he
shares a common vision.

I think he sees a little
of himself in there.

And because of that, he empowers
Wright to fulfill this project

that he has envisioned.

NARRATOR: Together,
Clinton and Wright

harness a new technology.

DOUG DOUDS: In the process
of building the canal,

an invention is developed,
a breakthrough product‐‐

waterproof cement.

It allows them to go ahead and
be much more flexible in how

they're going to build this.

It will allow them to build
with speed that was heretofore

unforeseen.

NARRATOR: They get
off to a slow start.

Having only constructed
15 miles of the Erie Canal

after two years, Governor
Clinton takes all kinds of flak

for not having made progress.

Will it ever get done?

Is the vision even possible?

But he sticks to his guns.

The foundational things that
have been done in building

those first 15 miles
are transferable

exponentially to the building of
the rest, and so he presses on.

NARRATOR: Their progress is
hampered by arduous conditions.

By one estimate, perhaps
1,000 workers lost their lives

on the project.

There were landslides.

They were working with
rocks, dangerous animals.

[explosion]

NARRATOR: So Clinton
tries something else.

ALAN TAYLOR: He actually
encourages an increased flow

of immigrants, primarily from
Ireland, who would provide

the cheap but able labor that
would help to build this canal.

So it is the willingness to
think out ahead of the curve,

using immigration policy to
attract more people, that makes

DeWitt Clinton a truly
accomplished leader.

NARRATOR: By 1823,
3,000 Irish laborers

are working on
Clinton's Erie Canal,

joining others to dig
300 miles of channel

across harsh terrain.

30 miles from lake Erie,
they hit a 60‐foot wall

of limestone.

They use a dangerous
explosive called black powder

to blow their way through it.

[explosion]

JAMES MEIGS: This was
before the days of TNT

and other explosives
that allow you

to blast with some precision.

They would stuff black
powder in a hole,

and blow it off, and
hope for the best.

When people work in
dangerous environments,

they become
overconfident sometimes.

And sometimes, workers
would just hold a shovel up

in front of their head when the
blast was about to come in case

any flying rocks came their way.

NARRATOR: In 1825, the
Erie Canal is complete,

and the impact is immediate.

Once the Erie Canal
opened, the frontier

began to stop being a frontier.

It started to be more connected
to the more civilized,

developed parts of
the United States.

NARRATOR: Within 30
years, Clinton's canal

is carrying 62% of all US trade.

Timber, minerals, and
grain flow to the East

in less than six days, five
times faster than before.

Finished goods, like
textiles and tools,

flow back West to the frontier.

People travel on the canal too.

By 1840, the
population of Michigan

has grown from about
8,000 to 60,000.

By 1840, vast regions of the
Midwest are settled and farmed.

The frontier has moved
much farther West.

In 1841, the first wagon trains
start a 2,000 mile epic journey

to the West Coast
on the Oregon Trail.

[horse whinnies]

[screams]

By 1840, the first
organized groups of pioneers

are starting West
along the Oregon Trail.

The trail is 2,000 miles of
dirt track from Independence,

Missouri to Oregon City.

The lure of the West
is free land for anyone

who can claim it.

In the East in
the 1840s, there

is a great deal of
interest in the West Coast.

There are stories coming back
from California and Oregon

that the land there
was especially fertile

and the climate was much more
temperate than in the East,

and so you'd have
longer growing seasons.

NARRATOR: Between 1840
and 1870, 400,000 people

will take to the trail in
search of a better life.

As many as 20,000 of them die.

When you went down this
road, you weren't coming back.

So you were setting off for
a new life in a land you knew

nothing about, knowing
that you were saying

goodbye to your loved
ones for the last time.

So they were really
heading into the unknown.

If there's a single character
trait that describes most

of the emigrants to the
West, it was that they

had a capacity for optimism.

They believed that their life
situation could improve if they

went West.

NARRATOR: Lucinda
Brown is a pioneer.

She and her husband Elias, with
their three young children,

leave for a new life in Oregon.

This is a journey that's
going to take multiple months.

The people who are
making this journey,

they've got to be tough.

This is not for
the faint hearted.

NARRATOR: They hear news
of a group of some pioneers

who left their homes in
Missouri the previous May.

Five months into their journey,
the Donner Party was trapped,

snowbound in the Sierra
Nevada Mountains.

Stranded and starving, they
were forced to eat their dead.

MARCIA CHATELAIN: The
circulation of the stories

of the Donner Party really
helps people understand

how risky this choice is.

And the fact that
they do it anyway

shows that they were
trying to imagine

a different set of
circumstances for themselves

and their families.

NARRATOR: After three months
on the road, Lucinda Brown's

husband Elias comes
down with a bad fever.

Come on.

Dear Lord, receive
our lives into Heaven,

and guide and protect
us on this trail.

Amen.

MARCIA CHATELAIN:
After her husband dies,

she has a decision to make.

Does she turn around and return
home, where she at least knows

that she has community members
and perhaps family to help her?

Or does she continue the
family's goal of establishing

a new life out West?

And it is incredible to
imagine a woman in her position

in that time feeling confident
enough and strong enough

to journey forward.

NARRATOR: In early fall, they
reach the Cascade Mountains.

The hardest part
of the Oregon Trail

comes toward the end when the
trail goes through the Cascade

Mountain range.

The rains have begun.

The trail, such as it was,
turned into a bog of mud,

and they got stuck there.

You can imagine the fear of
a group who remembers what

happened to the Donner
Party just a year

before in a similar situation.

If they couldn't get
their wagons moving,

they would be stuck through
the winter in the deep snows.

There's no question
of turning back.

They would never make it.

[fast music]

But somehow, they were able
to pull the wagons out.

And the group as a whole made
it to the Willamette Valley,

a lovely, warmer, moderate,
very fertile zone of Oregon,

where they settled down
for their first winter.

When we hear about
stories like Lucinda Brown,

we realize that
courage is sometimes

a value or an attribute that
emerges in a time of crisis.

But once we realize the
amount of courage we have,

we realize that it can serve
us throughout our lives.

NARRATOR: Lucinda is
one of 4,000 emigrants

to settle out West that year.

Within just five years, more
than 140,000 have followed.

By the middle of
the 19th century,

the nation is changing rapidly.

Thousands of miles
of new railroad

criss‐cross the Eastern US.

Cattle ranchers drive their
stock to cities in the North

and come to be known as cowboys.

Communication thrives with the
rapid spread of the telegraph.

Industry booms,
especially cotton.

The Southern United States
produce over half the world's

supply.

MARK UPDEGROVE: Cotton is this
incredibly lucrative export,

and it's the product that
props up the Southern economy.

And the sole reason that
they're able to produce cotton

as prolifically as they are
is because of slave labor.

All of that economy is built
on the backs of slaves.

NARRATOR: By 1850, there are
over 3 million enslaved people

in the US, up from a million
just 50 years earlier.

LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR: Slavery
within the United States

is a violent system.

It is an exploitative system.

It is a deeply unjust,
unequal, and illiberal system

that benefits a planter
class, while being deeply

brutal to African Americans.

NARRATOR: Resistance
to slavery grows

in the Northern free states,
and abolitionist Harriet Tubman

guides escaping slaves to
freedom on the Underground

Railroad.

STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL: She would
go back and put her own liberty

and her own life at risk,
just to help other people.

If she's recaptured,
at a minimum,

she will be re‐enslaved.

More likely, she
will be executed.

NARRATOR: By the end of the
1840s, resistance to slavery

is growing.

Abolitionists develop
the Underground Railroad,

a clandestine network offering
shelter and aid to escaped

enslaved people from the South.

People known as conductors
lead the fugitives

to safety in the North.

One such conductor
is Harriet Tubman.

In 1850, she makes
her first crossing,

going back into the
southern state of Maryland.

MARCIA CHATELAIN:
Harriet Tubman was

a woman who was born unfree.

She understood fundamentally
that her freedom was only

as valuable as the
freedom of others who were

under the system of slavery.

NARRATOR: In 1850, Congress
introduces the Fugitive Slave

Act.

MARCIA CHATELAIN: The
Fugitive Slave Act

was a piece of legislation
that made it law for any person

with knowledge of an
escape enslaved person

responsible for their
return and capture.

If a person is
discovered to have

fled the condition of slavery,
they could be returned.

They could be beaten.

They could lose their lives.

Any person who is assisting
someone in this process

could lose their lives.

DAVARIAN BALDWIN: This
created additional challenges

for Harriet Tubman
because what it

meant is that her very existence
was treason to federal law.

And yet, in the face of this
new law, she didn't flinch.

She endured, she rose
up, and she understood

that the moral
authority of freedom

was greater than any act
that was put in place by man.

NARRATOR: Tubman conducts more
than a dozen successful rescue

missions.

MARCIA CHATELAIN: There
is a story of leading

a group of people to freedom.

And there is a baby
among the group,

and the baby lets out a cry.

And Tubman has to
respond, has to understand

that that cry could essentially
end this incredibly risky

mission.

So she uses morphine
to quiet this baby.

And it is in that
moment we really

understand that it wasn't just
about a vision for freedom.

It was actual
strategy and tactics

that allowed the Underground
Railroad to thrive.

Come on, y'all.

There's a story of a man who
is having second thoughts.

And Harriet Tubman
pulls out a gun

and tells him that he will
continue on this journey

and reminds him that
nothing is greater than one

own's personal freedom.

STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL:
She is a task master.

She told people what
we were going to do.

Extraordinarily
self‐disciplined‐‐ they

referred to her as the general.

And so she was a natural
leader, even though she didn't

have stature or appointment.

NARRATOR: In time, over 100,000
will take the Underground

Railroad to freedom.

LEAH WRIGHT RIGUEUR:
Harriet Tubman

is a transformative figure
in American history.

She is fearless.

She is fierce.

She is fighting in defense
of millions of individuals.

She gives them the
leadership and the vision

and the confidence to move
out of and fight their way

and resist through one of
the most brutal periods

of American history.

MARK UPDEGROVE: America
in the late 1850s

is becoming a
tinderbox of tension,

solely around the
question of slavery.

You can see the increasing
polarization of America

around that single question.

NARRATOR: In 1859, white
abolitionist John Brown

launches an attack on
the US Army's arsenal

at Harpers Ferry.

DAVARIAN BALDWIN: This was huge
because here's the moment where

you have a white
abolitionist leading

a band of enslaved peoples to
not wait for someone to give

their freedom, but they
were going to take it

with military action.

Now, of course, for
white slave owners,

this caused extreme anxiety.

It raised the specter and
fear of slave uprisings.

NARRATOR: 1860 is a
presidential election year.

A 51‐year‐old
Illinois lawyer named

Abraham Lincoln wins the
Republican Party nomination.

MARK UPDEGROVE: He's getting
this great reputation

for integrity, which leads
to his nickname Honest Abe.

But most importantly, he
is this brilliant orator

who has a vision for what
America should be going

forward.

NARRATOR: In November, Lincoln
wins the presidential election.

But by the time he's
inaugurated in March 1861, seven

Southern states secede and
form the Confederate States

of America.

The United States stands
on the brink of civil war.

[gunshot]

[yelling]

The North and South go to war.

There has not been a bigger
challenge to our country

since its founding.

NARRATOR: Then, a war on crime.

JAMES MEIGS: Crime in New
York was like something

out of a comic book.

NARRATOR: And a new
leader is needed

to unite the nation again.

The public loved Roosevelt,
even if the bosses despised

him.

[music playing]