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The Entire History of The American Revolution — Transcript

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0:03Dawn.
0:0577 men stand in a line, only farmers,
0:09holding muskets.
0:12Across from them,
0:14700 British soldiers.
0:17Nobody moves.
0:18Then,
0:21a single shot.
0:23Nobody knows who fired it.
0:26The British open fire.
0:29Smoke,
0:31screaming.
0:32The farmers scatter.
0:34Eight dead in minutes.
0:37After that, [music] the British marched
0:387 miles to Concord.
0:40Their mission, destroy hidden weapons.
0:44The British search the town,
0:47burn supplies, smoke rises.
0:50The militia thinks they're burning down
0:52Concord.
0:53But word spreads fast.
0:55400 militia wait at North Bridge.
0:58The British fire first.
1:00The militia fires back.
1:03The British retreat.
1:06Now the British is running for Boston.
1:0916 miles back to Boston.
1:1216 miles of hell.
1:15By afternoon, thousands more join the
1:17fight against the British. By nightfall,
1:2073 British dead. Most colonial uprisings
1:23get crushed. This one lit a spark.
1:27The idea of independence, the start of
1:29the revolutionary war.
1:31But how did we get here?
1:33To understand, we go back
1:37to 1760.
1:39What you'll see is reconstructed using
1:41AI from paintings, drawings, and
1:43historical records.
1:4613 separate colonies along the eastern
1:48coast of North America, over 1.5 million
1:52people.
1:53English, Scots-Irish, German, Dutch,
1:56African.
1:59But despite this mix of backgrounds,
2:03they share one identity.
2:06British subjects.
2:09October 1760,
2:12news arrives from London. King George
2:14the second is dead. 76 years old. Died
2:18on his close stool, his toilet, from a
2:20burst [music] artery.
2:23His 22-year-old grandson now sits on the
2:25throne.
2:27The colonies celebrate. Church bells
2:30ring.
2:31Taverns toast the new [music] king.
2:33Portraits of George the third go up in
2:35homes and shops across the colonies.
2:38They read London newspapers,
2:41wear English fashions,
2:43follow British law.
2:45When war comes with France, they fight
2:48as British soldiers.
2:50They call themselves Virginians,
2:52New Yorkers,
2:55Pennsylvanians.
2:58But above all, they're subjects of the
3:00crown.
3:01The word American,
3:03not something they use for themselves.
3:05And in 1760, there's no [music] reason
3:08to think that will ever change.
3:10But being British is the only thing
3:12these colonies have in common.
3:14Everything else divides them.
3:17New England, they fish,
3:20build ships,
3:21trade.
3:24Puritan churches dominate.
3:26Town meetings decide local affairs.
3:30Small farms,
3:32tight-knit communities,
3:36focused on education and strict
3:38religion.
3:41The middle colonies, New York,
3:43Pennsylvania, New Jersey.
3:46Merchants and traders.
3:48Germans,
3:50Dutch,
3:51Quakers, [music] a mix of everyone.
3:55Tolerant of different religions,
3:57because they have no choice.
4:00They have Philadelphia,
4:02the largest city in the colonies, a
4:04booming center of commerce.
4:08The South, Virginia, the Carolinas,
4:11Georgia.
4:12Massive tobacco and rice plantations.
4:15Enslaved Africans outnumber [music]
4:17whites in some counties.
4:20An aristocracy of wealthy [music]
4:22planters living like English lords,
4:24ruling over a hierarchy that barely
4:27resembles life up north.
4:30Their economies [music] feed each other.
4:32Northern ships carry southern tobacco to
4:34middle colony ports for export.
4:37But they still don't see themselves
4:39[music] as one people.
4:42Northerners think southerners are lazy
4:44aristocrats.
4:46Southerners think northerners are
4:47[music] meddling fanatics.
4:50Both think the middle colonies are too
4:52tolerant, too chaotic.
4:54Nothing in 1760 [music]
4:56suggests they'll ever work together.
4:59Nothing points to unity.
5:03If anything, they're drifting further
5:05apart.
5:07Six years earlier, they were tested and
5:09stayed divided.
5:111754,
5:13the French are moving south from Canada,
5:17building forts in the Ohio Valley.
5:20War is coming.
5:22The British call a congress in Albany.
5:27Seven colonies send delegates.
5:30Benjamin Franklin proposes a union.
5:33One colonial government, shared defense.
5:37"Join or die," his cartoon [music] says.
5:41The delegates approve it.
5:44Then they go home.
5:46But every [music] single colonial
5:48assembly rejects it.
5:50They'd rather face the French alone
5:53This is a betrayal OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
5:55THAN share power with each other. So it
5:57ends in [music] absurdity. Indeed, we
5:58are undone.
6:00These colonies will never unite.
6:05But here's the thing, it doesn't matter.
6:09Now, in 1760, they have prosperity.
6:15The colonists have the highest income in
6:16the western world.
6:19Land is cheap, food is abundant. Most
6:22families own property, and their taxes,
6:25the lowest [music] anywhere. Colonists
6:27pay 1 to 1.5%.
6:30In Britain, 5 to 7%.
6:34They're protected by the most powerful
6:35navy on Earth.
6:37British warships guard their coasts.
6:40British soldiers defend [music] their
6:41frontiers.
6:43A colonist in 1760 lives better than
6:46most people in Britain itself.
6:49Better than almost [music] anyone in
6:50Europe.
6:52They know it.
6:54Everything they have, their prosperity,
6:56their security, their freedom to build
6:59[music] these separate little worlds,
7:02all of it exists because of Britain.
7:04The British empire [music] makes it
7:06possible.
7:08And in 1760, they're grateful for it.
7:13But gratitude doesn't last forever.
7:171763,
7:19the French and Indian War is over.
7:21Nine years [music] of fighting.
7:23Britain wins. France is gone.
7:26Britain now controls almost [music]
7:28everything east of the Mississippi
7:29River.
7:31The colonies celebrate their victory.
7:34But victory came at a price.
7:37Britain's national debt skyrockets to
7:39122 million pounds.
7:42Interest alone [music]
7:43is over 4 million pounds per year.
7:46That's 10 times more than all 13
7:48colonies combined pay in taxes in a
7:51year,
7:52just to pay the interest.
7:54The British look at the colonies, rich,
7:56prosperous,
7:58protected by British troops during the
8:00war,
8:03paying almost no taxes.
8:07Parliament decides
8:09the colonies should help pay for their
8:11own [music] defense.
8:13It seems reasonable.
8:16The year 1765,
8:18the Stamp Act.
8:20A tax on paper, newspapers, legal
8:23documents, playing cards.
8:25To the British, it's a modest [music]
8:27tax.
8:28But it's the first time Parliament has
8:30ever directly taxed the colonists.
8:32[music]
8:34The reaction is instant. "No taxation
8:37without representation."
8:40Mobs in Boston hang tax collectors in
8:43effigy.
8:44Colonial assemblies pass resolutions of
8:47protest.
8:48Merchants organize boycotts.
8:51Parliament, shocked, repeals the tax.
8:57But they also pass the Declaratory Act.
9:00Parliament has the right to tax the
9:01colonies in all cases whatsoever. To
9:05bind the colonies in America [music] and
9:07levy such charges it deems necessary in
9:10all cases The message is clear.
9:12We backed down this time, but we can tax
9:16you.
9:17The year 1767,
9:20new taxes, [music]
9:21the Townshend Acts. Taxes on glass,
9:24paint, paper, tea.
9:27More protests, more boycotts.
9:29Britain sends troops to Boston to
9:31enforce the new taxes.
9:34A crowd surrounds British soldiers,
9:37throwing snowballs,
9:40>> [screaming]
9:42>> rocks,
9:46insults.
9:50Someone fires.
9:54Five colonists dead in the snow.
9:56They call it the Boston Massacre.
9:59Paul Revere's engraving of the shooting
10:01we have seen [music] here spreads across
10:03the colonies.
10:05British soldiers firing on American
10:07colonists, the image makes it impossible
10:10to forget.
10:12Britain repeals most of the Townshend
10:14taxes
10:15except the tea [music] tax
10:16to make a point.
10:19The year 1773,
10:21Parliament passes the Tea Act.
10:25Actually lowers the price of tea, but
10:27it's still a tax. We still need them to
10:30pay us.
10:31And the colonists see it for what it
10:32[music] is, a trap. These tea taxes are
10:36tyranny.
10:37We must all take a stand [music] against
10:39the British. Accept cheap tea, accept
10:42Parliament's right to tax.
10:46Winter comes around [music] in Boston
10:47Harbor.
10:50Colonists dressed as Mohawks board three
10:53ships.
10:55342 [music]
10:56chests of tea
10:58all of it dumped into the harbor.
11:00The famous Boston Tea Party.
11:05YES!
11:08BRITAIN HAS HAD ENOUGH.
11:12The year 1774
11:15the Intolerable Acts.
11:17Boston Harbor
11:19closed.
11:21Massachusetts self-government
11:23suspended.
11:26British troops stationed in
11:28Massachusetts towns.
11:30Prime Minister Lord North explains why
11:33to the Parliament back in Britain. The
11:34Americans have tarred and feathered your
11:36subjects, plundered your merchants,
11:38burnt your ships, denied all obedience
11:41to your laws and authority. Yet so
11:43clement and so long forbearing has our
11:45conduct been that it is incumbent on us
11:47now to take a different course. Whatever
11:49may be the consequences, we must risk
11:52something. If we do not, all is over.
11:56The message
11:58Massachusetts will be punished until it
12:00submits.
12:02But something unexpected happens.
12:04The other colonies don't abandon
12:06Massachusetts. They rally.
12:09September comes around.
12:12Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia
12:14something is about to happen, something
12:16important.
12:1856 delegates from 12 colonies meet, the
12:21First Continental Congress.
12:24They're not talking about independence,
12:26not yet, but they're talking. We must
12:28decide whether to submit or to stand as
12:30free men. Together coordinating
12:33resistance for the first time
12:36but not the last.
12:38The thing that didn't happen in 1754,
12:41colonial unity, is starting to happen
12:43now.
12:44All they needed was a common enemy.
12:47LET'S FIGHT!
12:50Britain sees it, too.
12:52We need to make a stand and fight back.
12:55April 1775
12:58British General Thomas Gage receives
13:00orders. Tomorrow we march to Concord.
13:05Seize the weapons stockpiled by
13:07Massachusetts militia.
13:10The target, Concord, 20 miles from
13:13Boston.
13:14On the night of April 18th, 700 British
13:17soldiers [music] begin their march.
13:23Paul Revere rides ahead.
13:27THE REGULARS ARE OUT!
13:30THE SOLDIERS ARE COMING!
13:32BY DAWN, militia are gathering
13:36at Lexington Green
13:38at Concord's North Bridge.
13:41Nobody knows it yet but the war has
13:44already begun.
13:47The day after Lexington and Concord
13:50militia from across New England descend
13:52on Boston.
13:55Within weeks, 15,000 men surround the
13:58city. Welcome to the regiment. We have
14:00been waiting for you.
14:01They're farmers, blacksmiths,
14:03shopkeepers.
14:05They have muskets, some ammunition, not
14:08much else. We are running out of
14:10ammunition. No uniforms,
14:12>> [music]
14:12>> no training, no organization.
14:16>> [laughter]
14:17>> They'd drown in their own tea.
14:20Britain sends more troops.
14:24Now it's an army on both sides.
14:29But only one of them
14:30>> [music]
14:30>> is actually armed.
14:32Forward!
14:33Keep those legs moving.
14:35Then the British test them.
14:37The Battle of Bunker Hill, just north of
14:39Boston.
14:41Charge!
14:41>> [screaming]
14:42>> The British charge up the hill
14:50three times.
14:53The Americans, mostly farmers hold them
14:55off twice.
14:58The third time, the Americans run out of
15:00ammunition.
15:03They have to retreat.
15:06The British [clears throat] take the
15:07hill.
15:09British casualties
15:11over 1,000.
15:13American casualties 450.
15:17These farmers can fight.
15:20June 1775
15:22the Second Continental Congress meets in
15:24Philadelphia.
15:27They need a commander for this army.
15:31The room is full of ambitious [music]
15:33men.
15:35John Hancock wants the job for himself.
15:39Others propose experienced officers.
15:43Then John Adams of Massachusetts stands.
15:48I had but one gentleman in my mind
15:52for that important command.
15:55And that was a gentleman from Virginia
15:59and very well known to all of us.
16:02A gentleman whose skill and experience
16:06as an officer
16:08whose independent fortune
16:10great talents and excellent universal
16:12character
16:14would command the approbation of all
16:17America
16:19and unite the cordial exertions of all
16:21the colonies better than any other
16:23person in the Union.
16:28He doesn't say the name.
16:30Everyone knows who he means.
16:34George Washington.
16:37War hero from the French and Indian War
16:40wealthy planter
16:41sitting in the room wearing his military
16:43uniform.
16:46The vote is unanimous.
16:49Washington stands. He accepts.
16:52But he tells Congress
16:54I this day declare with the utmost
16:56sincerity
16:58I do not think myself equal to the
17:00command I am honored with.
17:04He means it. But he goes anyway.
17:07This isn't about who's the best general,
17:08it's politics.
17:11The war is in Massachusetts.
17:14The army is in Massachusetts.
17:17The anger is in Massachusetts.
17:19GIVE US BACK OUR RIGHTS!
17:22But if this stays a New England problem
17:25the other colonies walk away.
17:27Washington is from [music] Virginia the
17:29South, the biggest, richest colony.
17:33Picking him sends a message.
17:35This isn't Massachusetts versus Britain.
17:38This is America versus Britain.
17:41If Virginia's commander is leading
17:43Massachusetts farmers, then Virginia has
17:45skin in the game.
17:48The South is committed.
17:50All 13 colonies.
17:53One army, one cause.
17:56One commander.
18:02Washington rides north to Boston
18:08to take command of an army that barely
18:10exists.
18:16It is hoped that all distinctions of
18:18colonies will be laid aside so that one
18:21and the same spirit may animate the
18:23whole. And the only contest be who shall
18:26render on this great and trying occasion
18:30the most essential service
18:33to the great and common cause
18:35in which we are all engaged.
18:38The problem is obvious. Washington is
18:40facing the most powerful military on
18:42Earth.
18:43The British have professional soldiers
18:46trained for years.
18:47>> LOOK AT THIS SLOVENLY WORK!
18:50THE world's strongest navy
18:53unlimited money
18:56supply lines across the Atlantic
19:00experience conquering half the globe.
19:04The Americans have
19:05farmers with guns
19:08no navy
19:11no money
19:13no uniforms
19:16no experience.
19:18It's not a fair fight.
19:21It's not even close.
19:23But Washington understands something the
19:25British don't.
19:28He doesn't have to win. He just has to
19:31not lose.
19:34Keep the army alive.
19:38Stay in the field.
19:42Make it cost too much.
19:46Make it take too long.
19:48Make them give up.
19:51Survival isn't just a strategy.
19:54It's the only strategy.
19:57The war drags on through [music] 1775
20:00and into 1776.
20:04Skirmishes, raids, standoffs.
20:10No one's winning decisively.
20:13But the colonies are splitting, not just
20:15from Britain,
20:16>> [music]
20:16>> from each other.
20:18Loyalists versus patriots.
20:20Neighbors, families, brothers.
20:24If you support the rebellion, patriot.
20:26If you support the king, loyalist.
20:31There's no middle ground anymore.
20:33In some towns, loyalists pack up and
20:35leave.
20:37In others, [music]
20:38patriots are driven out.
20:42Sons refuse to speak to fathers.
20:44Brothers take opposite sides. YOU WILL
20:47SWEAR LOYALTY TO THE KING. GET OUT OF MY
20:51SIGHT. THIS ISN'T JUST America versus
20:53Britain.
20:54It's Americans versus Americans.
20:57A civil war inside a revolution. Peace.
21:00June 1776.
21:03A year into the war, Congress makes a
21:05decision. Then it is done.
21:08They appoint five [music] men to draft a
21:09declaration.
21:13Jefferson.
21:16Adams.
21:18Franklin.
21:20Sherman.
21:22Livingston.
21:24The Committee of Five.
21:28Jefferson writes it.
21:31Adams and Franklin edit it.
21:33Congress debates every [music] word.
21:36Absolutely. It is too vague for a legal
21:39instrument.
21:39>> I will cross it out immediately.
21:41July 4th, 1776.
21:45Philadelphia.
21:49The Continental Congress votes.
21:52The Declaration of Independence.
21:57Subjectively to me, one of the most
21:59beautiful statements ever created in the
22:01birth of a new country.
22:04We hold these truths to [music] be
22:05self-evident, that all men are created
22:08equal.
22:10That they are [music] endowed by their
22:12creator
22:13with certain unalienable rights, that
22:15among these are life,
22:18liberty,
22:19and the pursuit [music] of happiness.
22:21That to secure these rights, governments
22:23are instituted among men,
22:26deriving their just powers from [music]
22:28the consent of the governed.
22:31It makes it official.
22:34No compromise.
22:35No negotiation. No going back.
22:41They're not fighting for [music] better
22:42treatment anymore.
22:44They're fighting for independence.
22:47Which means if they lose now, [music]
22:49they're not just rebels, they're
22:51traitors.
22:53And traitors hang.
22:55That's the deal they just made.
22:58On paper.
23:01Now comes the hard part.
23:04Because the British don't care about
23:05their declaration.
23:09They care about crushing the rebellion.
23:14And they're coming with everything they
23:15have.
23:18August 27th, [music]
23:191776.
23:21Long Island.
23:24The British army hits Washington with
23:25everything.
23:2732,000 troops.
23:29The largest expeditionary force Britain
23:31has ever sent abroad.
23:35The Americans?
23:37Maybe 19,000.
23:39Most of them have never seen real
23:40combat.
23:43The British flank Washington, trap him,
23:46slaughter him.
23:52American casualties, 2,000 men killed,
23:56wounded, captured.
23:58British casualties, 400.
24:03It's a massacre.
24:06Washington evacuates overnight.
24:109,000 [music] men rowed across the East
24:12River in the dark.
24:15Fog rolls in at dawn,
24:16covering the last boats.
24:20Eyewitnesses say Washington was the last
24:22man to leave Brooklyn.
24:24He escapes, barely.
24:28The British take New York.
24:32Washington [music] retreats through New
24:34Jersey.
24:38His army is falling apart, deserting,
24:42freezing,
24:47dying.
24:53Thomas Paine, the man who wrote Common
24:55Sense, that framed the patriot argument
24:57for independence, he writes one more
25:00pamphlet.
25:02These are the times that try men's
25:04souls.
25:07It spreads through the camps. Soldiers
25:09read it.
25:10>> [music]
25:10>> Some stay.
25:12December 1776.
25:15The revolution is dying.
25:18Washington has maybe 2,400 men left.
25:24Their enlistments expire in 6 days.
25:27If they leave, there's no army, no
25:30revolution. [music]
25:34Washington makes a decision.
25:36One last throw [music] of the dice.
25:39Christmas night.
25:41He's going to cross [music] the Delaware
25:42River and attack Trenton.
25:45Trenton is held by Hessians,
25:47German mercenaries.
25:50Britain hired [music] 30,000 of them.
25:53Professional soldiers. They're
25:55terrifying.
25:56Washington is crazy. He wants us to
25:58cross this river in the winter? His
25:59officers think he's crazy.
26:02The river is frozen.
26:04There's a storm.
26:06It's suicide.
26:08It is our last chance. Washington writes
26:11the password for the attack.
26:13Victory or death.
26:16He crosses.
26:19Not in a very glorious way.
26:21Ice chunks in the river, wind, rain,
26:25snow, hail.
26:27It takes all night. They're hours behind
26:29schedule.
26:31Dawn.
26:32December 26th.
26:35Washington's frozen, exhausted men march
26:379 miles to Trenton.
26:408:00 a.m. They attack.
26:43The battle lasts 90 [music] minutes.
26:49The Hessians are caught completely by
26:50surprise.
26:53American casualties, two killed from
26:56cold, five wounded in battle.
26:59Hessian casualties, 22 killed, 83
27:02wounded,
27:03>> [music]
27:04>> 900 captured.
27:06The Americans win.
27:09It's not a big battle,
27:13but it's the first real victory [music]
27:14in months.
27:16It proves they can still fight.
27:18It proves Washington can still lead.
27:22Soldiers re-enlist.
27:24New recruits sign up.
27:27The revolution survives.
27:31The war drags on up to October 1777.
27:35>> [cough]
27:35>> The war is 2 and 1/2 years old.
27:39The British have taken Philadelphia, the
27:41American capital.
27:45Washington's army keeps losing.
27:46[clears throat]
27:49Congress is quietly asking if maybe
27:51someone else should be in command.
27:54Some are starting to wonder if this was
27:56ever winnable at all.
27:58We cannot give up. If we surrender now,
28:00we surrender everything we have fought
28:01for.
28:04Then comes Saratoga.
28:10General Burgoyne
28:11marches 8,000 British troops down from
28:14Canada.
28:15His plan, cut the colonies in half. We
28:18must cut off New England from the middle
28:21>> [music]
28:21>> and southern colonies.
28:24Separate New England from the south.
28:28I will end this war.
28:31The Americans under General Gates stop
28:33him cold.
28:35Two battles, three weeks.
28:42OCTOBER 17, 1777.
28:55I offer my sword
28:57and my surrender, sir. Burgoyne
28:59surrenders.
29:006,000 British and Hessian soldiers stack
29:03their weapons on the banks of the Hudson
29:05River.
29:06It's the first time an entire British
29:08army has ever surrendered in the field.
29:11Ever.
29:16Word reaches Paris.
29:22King Louis the 16th has been watching
29:23this war.
29:25>> [laughter]
29:29>> France lost everything to Britain 20
29:31years ago.
29:33>> [laughter]
29:34>> The French and Indian War.
29:36They've been waiting for a moment like
29:37this.
29:38Proof that the Americans can actually
29:40win.
29:48Saratoga is that proof.
29:50France officially enters the war as an
29:52American ally.
29:55Ships, troops, money.
29:59Britain is no longer fighting farmers,
30:02they're fighting France.
30:08But while diplomats celebrate in Paris,
30:12the army is dying in Pennsylvania.
30:15Valley Forge,
30:16December 1777. [music]
30:2012,000 men march into an empty field.
30:24No shelter, no food.
30:27Hundreds without shoes.
30:30Washington writes [music] to Congress.
30:32Nearly 3,000 men are unfit for duty
30:35because they are barefoot and otherwise
30:37naked.
30:39By spring, roughly 2,000 will be dead.
30:42Not from battle, from disease.
30:46And then someone arrives.
30:49Baron Friedrich von Steuben, Prussian
30:51officer,
30:53veteran of Frederick the Great's army.
30:57He speaks almost no English.
31:06He drills THE MEN ANYWAY.
31:12BAYONET TECHNIQUES.
31:15FORMATIONS, how to march,
31:20reload, and maneuver like a professional
31:23army.
31:28He screams instructions in German AND
31:30FRENCH
31:35THE PRUSSIAN TO HOLD THIS LINE. WE
31:37cannot fail him. and has them translated
31:40mid-drill.
31:41Fight for your wives. Fight for your
31:43children.
31:44The army that marches out of Valley
31:46Forge in June 1778
31:48is not the same army that marched in.
31:52It's something new,
31:54something dangerous.
31:57The turn has happened.
32:00They just don't know it yet.
32:02June 28th, 1778.
32:06Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey.
32:09The Continental Army, Washington's army,
32:11meets the British in open field.
32:15And they don't break.
32:18They hold the line.
32:22They reload under fire.
32:25They use the bayonet. Everything von
32:27Steuben drilled into them at Valley
32:29Forge.
32:30They fight the British to a standstill.
32:33The British retreat that night.
32:37The turn was real.
32:40And the British know it.
32:41They can't win in the north anymore, so
32:44they shift. New strategy, take the
32:47south.
32:48They think the loyalists down there will
32:49rise up and help them finish this.
32:51>> will make short work of the rebels down
32:53south. December 1778,
32:55Savannah falls.
32:57May 1780, Charleston falls.
33:025,000 Continental soldiers captured.
33:06It's the worst American defeat of the
33:08entire war.
33:10It looks like the British plan is
33:12working,
33:13but the south doesn't fold.
33:16Frontier militias hit back.
33:18We cannot hold the line alone against
33:20their regulars. Then what do we do,
33:22Captain?
33:24King's Mountain, October 1780.
33:30They massacre a British-allied loyalist
33:32force.
33:35Cowpens, January 1781.
33:38Daniel Morgan outsmarts the British.
33:42Brilliant victory.
33:45And Nathanael Greene, Washington's best
33:47general,
33:48he's in the south now.
33:52Guilford Courthouse, March 1781.
33:59Greene loses the battle.
34:02Keep your head up, son.
34:04But the British are so bloody, so
34:06exhausted, Give up, or we will all die.
34:09they retreat.
34:12Every British victory costs them men
34:14they can't replace.
34:19Every American loss, they come back.
34:24Cornwallis retreats to the coast.
34:28Yorktown,
34:29>> [music]
34:29>> Virginia.
34:31He's waiting for the British navy to
34:33evacuate him,
34:35but the French fleet [music] arrives
34:36first. It's the bloody French coming.
34:40Washington marches south with the
34:42Continental Army and French troops.
34:46They surround Yorktown,
34:51dig trenches,
34:54bring up siege guns,
34:58pound the British positions day and
35:00night.
35:04Cornwallis is trapped.
35:08October 19th, 1781.
35:11He surrenders. 8,000 British soldiers
35:14lay down their weapons.
35:17The war is effectively over,
35:20but no one signs anything for [music] 2
35:21more years.
35:23The British still hold New York,
35:26Charleston, Savannah.
35:28Their armies sit in American cities.
35:30>> I suppose we are [music] just waiting
35:31for Parliament to decide
35:34if they ever actually do anything.
35:36Waiting for orders from London.
35:38Those orders take time.
35:39>> Retreat is the only sensible option to
35:41save what remains of our honor.
35:42>> Because back in Britain, everything has
35:44changed.
35:46When news of Yorktown [music] reaches
35:47London in November 1781,
35:50My money, you expect me to pay for this
35:52folly?
35:52>> I, and they call us the masters. The
35:54British public turns against the war.
35:56[music]
35:57Parliament debates. The king resists.
36:00But by March 1782,
36:03Parliament votes to end offensive
36:04[music] operations in America.
36:07It's over.
36:09They just need to make it official.
36:13Peace negotiations begin in Paris in
36:15April 1782.
36:18The Americans send Benjamin Franklin,
36:21John Adams, [music] and John Jay. The
36:23air here tastes of garlic and
36:25revolution.
36:27The British send representatives.
36:29The French are there.
36:31The Spanish.
36:32Everyone wants something.
36:36It takes 18 months.
36:39September 3rd, 1783.
36:42The Treaty of Paris is signed.
36:45Britain recognizes [music] the
36:47independence of the United States of
36:49America.
36:51The borders, from the Atlantic Ocean
36:53[music] to the Mississippi River,
36:55from the Great Lakes to Florida.
36:5913 colonies become a nation.
37:03But now comes the hard part,
37:06figuring out what [music] kind of nation
37:08they're going to be.
37:10The last British soldiers sail out of
37:12New York Harbor on November 25th, 1783.
37:19Washington rides into the city that same
37:21day,
37:227 years after he fled it.
37:26A few weeks [music] later, he travels to
37:28Annapolis, Maryland, where Congress is
37:30meeting.
37:33On December 23rd, [music]
37:351783,
37:37he walks into a small room packed with
37:39congressmen and spectators. [music]
37:42He pulls out a short speech.
37:44His hands are shaking.
37:48Mr. President,
37:49the great events on which my resignation
37:52depend, having at length [music] taken
37:54place, I have now the honor of offering
37:57my sincere congratulations [music]
37:59to Congress, and of presenting myself
38:02before them
38:04to surrender into their hands the trust
38:05committed to me,
38:07having now
38:09finished the work assigned [music] me.
38:12I retire from the great theater of
38:14action,
38:15and bidding an affectionate farewell to
38:18this [music] august body, under whose
38:20orders I have so long acted, I here
38:23offer my commission,
38:25and take [music] my leave of all the
38:27employments of public life.
38:30He's been commander-in-chief for 8 and
38:321/2 years.
38:35He's led this army through disaster
38:37after disaster.
38:40Held it together [music] when it had no
38:42reason to exist, and somehow brought it
38:45to victory.
38:47And now he's [music] giving it all back.
38:50He resigns his commission.
38:52He hands over his military authority
38:54[music] to Congress.
38:57In Europe, this is unthinkable.
39:00Victorious generals become dictators.
39:03They seize power. [music]
39:07Washington goes home to Mount Vernon.
39:10It's the greatest act of his life.
39:13Not winning the war, walking away from
39:16power.
39:19King George III, when he hears [music]
39:21about it, says if Washington really does
39:24this,
39:25he will be the greatest man in the
39:26world.
39:29Winning the war turns out to be the easy
39:31part.
39:32It's over.
39:36The 13 states are barely a country.
39:39They're held together by the Articles of
39:41Confederation,
39:42>> [music]
39:42>> which gives Congress almost no power.
39:47Congress can't tax, can't regulate
39:49trade, can't enforce laws.
39:52Each state acts like its own nation. We
39:55have little left after the toll.
39:57They print their own money. They tax
39:59each other's goods.
40:01They ignore treaties.
40:04In Massachusetts, farmers revolt [music]
40:06because they're drowning in debt. NO
40:09MORE
40:09>> [screaming]
40:10>> UNJUST TAXES!
40:12CONGRESS can't even raise an army to
40:14stop them. But worse still, we cannot
40:15raise an army.
40:17By 1787,
40:18everyone knows this isn't working.
40:21This don't work.
40:24Delegates [music] gather in
40:25Philadelphia, the same room where they
40:27declared independence 11 years earlier,
40:31to fix the Articles.
40:33They end up scrapping the whole thing.
40:36They write a new Constitution, a
40:38framework for an actual government.
40:43Three branches, separation of powers,
40:47a federal system that balances state and
40:50national [music] authority.
40:52It's a radical experiment. No one's ever
40:55done this before.
40:56But hard to imagine.
40:59Most of the world is ruled by kings and
41:01emperors.
41:03The Constitution is ratified in 1788.
41:07The new government needs a president.
41:10Everyone knows who it has to be.
41:13On April 30th, 1789, [music]
41:16George Washington takes the oath of
41:18office as the first president of the
41:20United [music] States.
41:22He's 57 years old. He didn't want the
41:25job,
41:25>> [music]
41:26>> but he takes it anyway.
41:28The war is won.
41:32The nation is born.

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