When the Colonies Chose Independence · S1 E07

America's Origin

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Learn about American's history

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About America's Origin

Learn about American's history

Season 1

9 episodes

Episode 016 minThe Colony That Almost Failed: JamestownLook at a map of the United States and the beginning seems inevitable: thirteen colonies rebelled against Britain and became a nation. But those colonies weren't founded together, or for the same reasons — and for most of their history, they didn't see themselves as one country at all. Part 1 goes back to the moment none of them existed. England was falling behind Spain, Portugal and France, and its first attempt at a colony, Roanoke, had simply vanished. So the next try was funded not by the Crown but by investors chasing profit. In May 1607, three ships carrying about a hundred settlers founded Jamestown on land already home to the Powhatan peoples. What followed was disease, hunger, and a winter so desperate the survivors ate rats and boarded ships to abandon the colony for good — only to meet a relief fleet coming up the river. Jamestown lived. Then one crop, tobacco, turned it into a money machine, drove its expansion, and set in motion a dependence on enslaved African labor that would shape the continent. This is the story of the colony that almost failed, and why its survival changed everything that came after.

Episode 025 minThe Colonies Built by Belief: Pilgrims, Puritans, and DissentAfter Jamestown proved that an English colony could survive in North America, a new wave of settlers crossed the Atlantic with a different ambition: to build religious communities of their own. From the Mayflower Compact and Plymouth’s deadly first winter to the strategic alliance with the Wampanoag, this episode explores the complicated beginnings of colonial New England. We follow the rise of Massachusetts Bay, the persecution of dissenters such as Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, and the religious and political conflicts that helped create Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.

Episode 038 minNew York Wasn’t English: Empires, Tolerance, and ExpansionEngland’s thirteen colonies did not emerge from a single plan—and some were not originally English at all. This episode traces Maryland’s limited experiment in religious toleration, the Dutch origins of New York, and the division of former Dutch territory into new English colonies. It also explores William Penn’s “holy experiment” in Pennsylvania, its promise of freedom of conscience, and its growing conflict with the Lenape. From tobacco and enslavement to trade, migration, and contested land deals, discover how ambition and contradiction reshaped the colonial map.

Episode 047 minThe Final Colonies: Carolina, Georgia, and the Road to ThirteenThe map of Britain’s Atlantic colonies was almost complete—but Carolina was still one vast territory, and Georgia did not yet exist. This episode examines why Carolina divided into two colonies and how enslaved Africans’ expertise in rice cultivation helped generate South Carolina’s immense wealth. We then explore Georgia’s complicated origins as a social experiment and military buffer against Spanish Florida, its initial prohibition of slavery, and the economic pressure that brought the ban to an end. After more than a century of settlement, expansion, and conflict, the thirteen colonies finally existed—but they were far from united.

Episode 055 minThe War Britain Won and the Crisis It CreatedThe thirteen colonies may look united on a modern map, but in the mid-eighteenth century they remained politically, economically, and culturally distinct. Then the French and Indian War drew Britain, France, numerous Indigenous nations, and the colonies into a global struggle. Britain emerged victorious—but deeply in debt and responsible for a larger empire. New settlement restrictions and taxes soon followed, provoking resistance from colonists who rejected Parliament’s claim to tax them without elected representation. From the Proclamation of 1763 and the Stamp Act to coordinated boycotts and the Stamp Act Congress, discover how Britain’s victory created a common political crisis—and pushed thirteen separate colonies closer together.

Episode 067 minWhen Protest Became War: From Boston to LexingtonBy 1770, the conflict between Britain and its colonies had reached a breaking point. The Boston Massacre turned a chaotic confrontation into powerful propaganda, while the Tea Act reignited the dispute over Parliament’s authority. After the Boston Tea Party, Britain attempted to isolate and punish Massachusetts with the Intolerable Acts—but instead pushed the colonies toward greater cooperation. From the First Continental Congress to the battles of Lexington and Concord, this episode follows the moment political resistance became armed conflict, even before the colonies had decided to pursue independence.

Episode 077 minWhen the Colonies Chose IndependenceThe war had begun, but independence was not yet the goal. As the Second Continental Congress created an army and placed George Washington in command, its delegates were still asking King George III to restore peace. The rejection of the Olive Branch Petition narrowed the path toward reconciliation, while Thomas Paine’s Common Sense carried the argument for independence into homes, taverns, and workshops. This episode follows the colonies’ transformation from British subjects in rebellion to independent states—from Richard Henry Lee’s resolution and Thomas Jefferson’s draft to the decisive vote on July 2 and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

Episode 087 minDeclaring Independence Was the Easy PartDeclaring independence was one thing. Defeating the British Empire was another. The Continental Army faced shortages, expiring enlistments, and a divided population as Patriots, Loyalists, and those avoiding either side confronted a conflict that often resembled a civil war. Enslaved people pursued freedom through competing armies, while Indigenous nations chose alliances based on their own survival and territorial interests. From the turning point at Saratoga and the French alliance to Valley Forge, the Southern Campaign, and the decisive siege of Yorktown, this episode explores how a fragile rebellion made independence believable—but not yet official.

Episode 099 minWinning Independence Wasn’t the End: Building a NationThe Treaty of Paris ended the Revolution and secured American independence—but thirteen victorious states still had to become a functioning nation. The Articles of Confederation created a deliberately weak central government that struggled with debt, trade, and internal unrest. After Shays’ Rebellion exposed the system’s limitations, delegates gathered in Philadelphia and designed an entirely new government. This episode explores the Constitutional Convention, the compromises over representation and slavery, the struggle between Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and the demand for a Bill of Rights. Independence had defeated British rule. Building the United States required another political revolution.