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Why West Virginia Exists · S2 E07
America's OriginSeason 2 · Episode 07

America's Origin

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About America's Origin

Learn about American's history

Genres
Documentary
Languages
English · Portuguese · Spanish
Format
33 episodes · 3 seasons

Season 2

12 episodes
Episode 017 minHow Thirteen States Began Becoming FiftyIn 1789, the United States consisted of only thirteen states clustered along the Atlantic coast. The Northwest Ordinance established a transformative system: territories could eventually enter the Union as states equal to the original thirteen. Vermont became the fourteenth state, followed by Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio. But this expansion was neither peaceful nor uncontested. Indigenous nations defended their homelands against American settlement, leading to devastating warfare and forced territorial concessions. This episode explores how the United States grew from thirteen to seventeen states—and created the system that would carry its borders farther west.
Episode 025 minThe Louisiana Purchase: How One Port Doubled a NationIn 1803, the United States wanted secure access to New Orleans. Instead, France offered to sell an immense territory extending from the Mississippi River toward the Rocky Mountains. Napoleon’s collapsing Caribbean ambitions, the Haitian Revolution, and renewed war with Britain helped make the Louisiana Purchase possible. The agreement nearly doubled the country’s size, but it transferred a European imperial claim—not control over the Indigenous nations that inhabited the land. From Jefferson’s constitutional dilemma to the Lewis and Clark expedition and Sacagawea’s contributions, this episode explores the deal that transformed the map of North America.
Episode 036 minHow America Got FloridaAfter the Louisiana Purchase, Florida remained under Spanish control—but its border with the United States was increasingly unstable. Seminole communities, formerly enslaved people, American settlers, and competing empires all shaped the conflict. During the First Seminole War, Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish territory and seized its forts, giving American diplomats leverage in negotiations with Spain. This episode follows the Adams–Onís Treaty, Florida’s transfer to the United States, Seminole resistance to forced removal, and the long, violent path to becoming the twenty-seventh state in 1845.
Episode 048 minTexas Was Once Its Own CountryBefore Texas became an American state, it was part of Mexico—and then an independent republic for nearly a decade. This episode follows American migration into Mexican Texas, disputes over federalism and slavery, the Alamo, Goliad, and the decisive Battle of San Jacinto. It also examines why Mexico rejected the agreements signed by the captured Santa Anna, why the United States hesitated to annex Texas, and how annexation intensified the disputed boundary between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Texas became the twenty-eighth state in 1845, but its admission helped set the stage for war with Mexico.
Episode 057 minThe War That Gave America the WestTexas annexation left the United States and Mexico divided over the boundary between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. After President James K. Polk sent troops into the disputed territory, fighting began and Congress declared war. This episode follows the American campaigns into Mexico, the capture of Mexico City, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, through which Mexico ceded an enormous portion of its territory. It also explores how the Mexican Cession, the California Gold Rush, and the debate over slavery produced the Compromise of 1850—expanding the United States while pushing it closer to internal conflict.
Episode 065 minHow America Got the Pacific NorthwestFor decades, the United States and Britain both claimed Oregon Country, while Indigenous nations had inhabited and governed the region for generations. As the Hudson’s Bay Company expanded its trade and thousands of American settlers traveled the Oregon Trail, joint occupation became increasingly difficult to maintain. This episode explores Manifest Destiny, the expansionist slogan “Fifty-four forty or fight,” and the diplomatic compromise that established the 49th parallel through the Oregon Treaty of 1846. It also examines the displacement caused by American settlement and the contradiction of Oregon entering the Union as a free state while attempting to exclude Black residents.
Episode 075 minWhy West Virginia ExistsWhen Virginia joined the Confederacy in 1861, many of its western counties refused to follow. Long-standing political tensions, economic differences, geography, and the region’s weaker dependence on plantation slavery helped fuel resistance to secession. This episode explores the Wheeling Conventions, the creation of the Restored Government of Virginia, and the controversial constitutional argument used to form a new state inside an existing one. It also examines the role of slavery, the Willey Amendment, and the divided loyalties that sent western Virginians into both Union and Confederate armies. In 1863, amid the Civil War, West Virginia became America’s thirty-fifth state.
Episode 085 minWhy There Are Two DakotasDakota Territory once stretched across an enormous section of the northern Great Plains. As railroads, federal land policies, and American settlement transformed the region, Indigenous nations faced dispossession, the destruction of buffalo herds, and growing military pressure. This episode explores why northern and southern Dakota developed separately, how regional interests and Republican Party politics influenced the decision to create two states, and why North Dakota and South Dakota entered the Union together in 1889. It also follows the western statehood wave that added Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming—and set the stage for the acquisition of Alaska and Hawaii.
Episode 095 minWhy America Bought AlaskaFor most of the nineteenth century, Alaska belonged to Russia. Its profitable fur trade had attracted Russian explorers and merchants, but the territory was remote, expensive to defend, and vulnerable to Britain. In 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated its purchase by the United States for $7.2 million. This episode explores why Russia sold Alaska, why American criticism of the purchase has often been exaggerated, and how the transfer disregarded the sovereignty of Alaska Native peoples. It also follows Alaska through the gold rushes, World War II, and the Cold War—developments that transformed a distant possession into a strategically vital territory and eventually America’s forty-ninth state.
Episode 105 minHow Hawaii Became the 50th StateHawaii did not begin as an American territory. It was an independent Pacific kingdom with its own monarchs, government, diplomatic relations, and a Native population whose history stretched back centuries. This episode follows Hawaii from its unification under Kamehameha I through the growth of American economic influence, the Bayonet Constitution, and the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani. It examines the role of U.S. officials and military forces, Native Hawaiian resistance to annexation, and the islands’ growing strategic importance. After nearly sixty years as a U.S. territory, Hawaii became the fiftieth state in 1959—but its finished place on the map cannot erase the contested history behind it.
Episode 117 minWhy Does America Still Have 50 StatesExplore why the United States has maintained exactly 50 states since 1959, despite the Constitution allowing Congress to admit new ones. Discover the complex history and politics behind territories like Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., which remain outside statehood, and how political balance shaped Alaska’s and Hawaii’s admissions. Understand that America’s state map reflects centuries of expansion, conflict, and compromise rather than a fixed constitutional limit.