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00:00Previously on The Revolution, the fight for independence didn't end with Yorktown.
00:05The same men who fought in the revolution are now fighting against their own government.
00:11There are more American deaths at the end of the war than at the beginning.
00:15The war is not necessarily over.
00:17The Constitutional Convention was do or die for an anything but united states of America.
00:23There are all kinds of questions about what's going to be the direction for this new nation.
00:27And you can't have 13 different answers, you need to have one answer.
00:30The new United States is really a very fragile country.
00:33The economy was in shambles.
00:36There was no currency at the end of the war.
00:38It had lost all its value.
00:40A lot of folks fear a new federal government just as they fear the crown.
00:56Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 16th, 1789.
01:02George Washington, gentleman farmer and former commander of America's Revolutionary Forces,
01:08is packing to leave his beloved home once again.
01:13For eight years, Washington led the American army through a grueling war and no one believed he could win.
01:20Against the most powerful empire in the world, Great Britain.
01:29His army lost more battles than it won.
01:33But by sheer will and perseverance, they marched their way to ultimate victory.
01:42Now, at 57, nothing would make George Washington happier than to live out his days in the serenity of Mount
01:49Vernon.
01:51Washington has very much subordinated himself to the needs of the nation.
01:56He has made untold sacrifices.
01:58He really does intend to retire quietly to civilian life.
02:08But Washington's long revolutionary road has not yet reached an end.
02:13For the former commander-in-chief of the army has again been summoned into service by Congress and the country.
02:21He is off on a trip to New York City to be sworn in as the first president of the
02:27United States of a new America.
02:31Mob movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is
02:38going to the place of his execution.
02:40So unwilling am I, in the evening of a life nearly consumed in public cares, to quit a peaceful abode
02:47for an ocean of difficulties.
02:50George Washington
02:51Everybody tells George Washington, it isn't that they think he should be the president.
02:58He must be the president.
03:02His eight-day ride will take him across many of the former colonies of America.
03:07Through the bloody battlefields where thousands lost their lives under his command.
03:13Lives given in the name of liberty.
03:16It is a journey that will have the future president not only looking ahead, but looking back as well at
03:22what made George Washington the greatest American general.
03:32The year is 1775, 14 years earlier.
03:37The place, Continental Congress.
03:41George Washington is about to take center stage.
03:45Ten years of riots and rebellion have set the 13 American colonies ablaze.
03:51The Stamp Act riots.
03:54The Boston Massacre.
03:57The Boston Tea Party.
04:00These have brought the British Army to American soil.
04:05Lexington, Concord, and the Battle of Bunker Hill have pitted citizen soldiers against the most powerful empire in the world.
04:15Now the colonists need an army and someone to lead it.
04:23June 15th, 1775.
04:27John Adams, Massachusetts delegate and well-known revolutionary thinker, lays out a proposal.
04:34The creation of a professional army.
04:37And Adams calls for the immediate appointment of a commander to head up this new force.
04:43The choice is unanimous.
04:46A gentleman planter from Virginia.
04:49A hero in the French and Indian War of the 1750s.
04:53And the only delegate to show up every day in his military uniform.
04:5743-year-old George Washington.
05:01He's a very impressive guy.
05:03I mean, he wears this military uniform with great dignity.
05:06And of course, he shows up making the point.
05:09I have military experience.
05:12I am a person who you can count on as your military commander.
05:20He has the image to do it.
05:22He's got the experience.
05:23He's from Virginia.
05:24They make him the commander-in-chief and he modestly says,
05:27I'm really not equal to the task and I'll just do my best.
05:32Later, there will be times when Congress will wonder if his best is good enough.
05:37But there were few men in 1775 with the experience and, most importantly,
05:43the character to take on the job of commander-in-chief.
05:50July 1775.
05:53Two weeks after his appointment, Washington arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts
05:57to take charge of his soldiers
06:00and is stunned by the condition of his so-called army.
06:05These men are ragged, disheveled, getting drunk on duty,
06:10no knowledge of how to handle a musket efficiently.
06:13There was no discipline.
06:15There was certainly no hygiene, very little structure.
06:19It was a mess.
06:21These are Washington's revolutionaries.
06:24These are the soldiers given him to defend against the British army.
06:31He has precious little time to turn this woefully undisciplined,
06:36underprepared, undersupplied army into a force
06:39that can stand up against the strongest empire in the world.
06:49Today, the summer of 1775, now 14 years ago, is a distant memory.
06:57It was hardly the way Washington had expected to lead an upstart group of rebels to glory
07:02against a mighty superpower.
07:05But Washington was never the kind of leader
07:07who would let any challenge stand in his way.
07:11He was very aware, I think, that he had a role to play in history
07:18and wanted to create a legacy that he could be proud of
07:23and America could be proud of.
07:26Making the country proud began with a winter assault
07:29and, more importantly, the advice of others.
07:40Winter, 1776.
07:42It has been six months since Washington has taken charge of the Continental Forces.
07:47His army is a rag-tag lot of citizen insurgents.
07:51But ever since the Battle of Concord,
07:53the untrained force has managed to hem the British into the city of Boston.
07:58Now, the question is, how to get them out?
08:04Washington is eager to bring the fight to the British
08:06to launch his first offensive of the war.
08:10His plan?
08:11To send waves of foot soldiers into a full frontal attack on the city of Boston.
08:17Yet his young officers, like Nathaniel Green and Henry Knox,
08:21stand in staunch opposition.
08:24George Washington always had the ability to listen to many people.
08:29He thinks everybody's view is important.
08:31And if he can listen to enough opinions,
08:33he'll know as much as they do.
08:35A hallmark of good leadership.
08:38Instead, Washington's officers suggest using an untapped resource.
08:44120,000 pounds of artillery captured by the Americans
08:48from a remote New York outpost, Fort Ticonderoga.
08:52They propose hauling the cannon under the cover of night to Dorchester Heights
08:57and training this newly acquired firepower on the enemy below.
09:04Washington considers the idea and knows it is the right choice.
09:09He orders the plan into action.
09:16On the morning of March 5th, 1776,
09:19British General Howe awakes to the sight of 20 cannon
09:22pointing down on his ships in the harbor.
09:26With one stroke, the Americans checkmate the British.
09:30It's not until after they see Ticonderoga's guns on Dorchester Heights
09:34that they realize they've got to get the heck out of there.
09:36And so they do.
09:398,900 British soldiers and 1,100 Loyalists,
09:43the Americans siding with the British,
09:45take just two weeks to board their ships and leave the colonies.
09:50For now.
09:53Washington savors the first victory of his commands.
09:57Boston, the beloved birthplace of the Revolution, is back in Patriot hands,
10:02thanks in no small part to the good sense and creativity of his young officers.
10:08But peering over his shoulder, just waiting for him to stumble,
10:12are a number of his more senior officers.
10:16Over time, Generals Charles Lee, Horatio Gates, and Benedict Arnold
10:21will each connive to undermine Washington's command.
10:33The winter of 1776 was just the beginning,
10:37and that easy victory at Boston was but a fleeting illusion,
10:40for seven more years of war still lay ahead.
10:44A war that taxed every fiber of his character to survive,
10:48let alone to become president.
10:54April 17th, 1789.
10:57A world-weary but resolute George Washington
11:00enters the second day of his journey to New York City,
11:03where he will soon be sworn in
11:05as the first president of the United States of America.
11:11Washington now heads to Baltimore, Maryland,
11:14where the great hero of the Revolution
11:16is greeted by 10,000 citizens
11:18and canon salutes of the new nation he is destined to lead.
11:25There are a few people who are legends in their own time,
11:29and Washington was deservedly one of them.
11:33I am so much affected by this fresh proof
11:37of my country's esteem and confidence
11:39that silence can best explain my gratitude.
11:43George Washington.
11:44The road before him is daunting.
11:48It will wind through political territory
11:50never before explored by any man in history.
11:53But Washington and America
11:55have grown accustomed to blazing new trails,
11:58a course that was set some 13 years earlier.
12:07New Year's Day, 1776.
12:11The first day of a momentous year
12:13for a nation in the throes of birth.
12:16This is the day Washington receives news.
12:21Britain's King George III
12:23has issued a proclamation.
12:25Crush the rebellion by any means necessary.
12:30They are words that only serve to steal the resolve
12:33of the general and his men,
12:36and are the first in a year marked by words.
12:40For now, a voice rises in the colonies
12:42that galvanizes the cause.
12:44Words from another Englishman.
12:47Words that will help lead the colonies
12:49out of rebellion and into revolution.
12:57We have it within our power
12:59to begin the world over again.
13:04It is not the concern of a day,
13:06a year, or an age.
13:08Now is the seed time of continental union.
13:14The writer, Thomas Paine.
13:17The words, what Americans long to hear.
13:21It is a 46-page pamphlet titled simply
13:24Common Sense,
13:26and it spreads like wildfire throughout the colonies.
13:32Some say 100,000 copies of this were published.
13:36Translate that into population rates today,
13:39that would be like selling 20 million books
13:42through Amazon, Barnes and Noble.
13:46Paine's common sense releases the genie from the bottle.
13:51Words mixed with an idea
13:53to break totally with the king,
13:55to be independent.
14:00Suddenly, in every tavern,
14:03in every meeting house,
14:04everywhere people congregate,
14:06they're talking seriously about this idea.
14:10Should we go for independence or not?
14:14It is a potent tonic for a people in revolt.
14:18In the ranks of Washington's army,
14:20the transforming effect of the words is immediate.
14:24It touched everyone of that era,
14:27everyone knew they had a stake in it,
14:30and it was perhaps the most glorious moment
14:33in the history of this country
14:34where people really did believe
14:37the birthday of a new world is at hand.
14:44It has been years since Washington has seen Thomas Paine.
14:49The author of Common Sense has left America behind,
14:53off to sow the seeds of a new revolution in another country,
14:58where the word liberty is on everyone's tongue.
15:02France, the monarchy that backed the Americans in the war of independence,
15:07is trembling from the same democratic forces she helped unleash in America.
15:12Peasants and common people are shaking the foundations of centuries of feudal rule.
15:19Paine may have departed this new nation,
15:22but it was his words that helped lay the groundwork for the world's seminal revolutionary document,
15:28America's Declaration of Independence.
15:36Spring 1776.
15:38George Washington is moving his men south from Boston toward the next big military battle.
15:44The British are coming back.
15:46Their target, New York City.
15:50One hundred miles to the south,
15:52the Continental Congress has reconvened in Philadelphia for a fight of their own.
15:57The political battle for independence.
16:01Here, Benjamin Franklin,
16:03John Adams,
16:04John Hancock,
16:04and luminaries from all 13 colonies
16:07prepare to declare in writing
16:09their intention to break from Britain.
16:13They turn to a young Virginia lawyer,
16:16a rising star in American politics,
16:1933-year-old Thomas Jefferson,
16:21to craft the words that will spell treason against the king.
16:29It is a heady and vexing task
16:32to articulate the cause for which people are willing to die,
16:36the cause of liberty.
16:38But defining liberty,
16:40that is the rub.
16:42Who is in and who is out?
16:44Who is included?
16:45Does this mean everybody?
16:46Does this mean only the rich?
16:48Does this mean property holders?
16:49How far do we go?
16:51Who is included in this new nation?
16:53We hold these truths to be self-evident,
16:56that all men are created equal,
16:58that they are endowed by their creator
17:00with certain inalienable rights,
17:02that among these are life, liberty,
17:04and the pursuit of happiness.
17:06But does that really mean all men?
17:09There is the matter of slavery.
17:11Jefferson owned slaves.
17:13Washington owned slaves.
17:15And these are the men leading the fight for human liberty.
17:19Slavery was in clear counterpoint
17:22to the ideals of the revolution.
17:25These guys weren't idiots.
17:27They understood the notion of paradox.
17:30But they also believed very strongly,
17:33particularly in the plantation economies,
17:35that slavery was the basis of their livelihood.
17:40July 1st, 1776.
17:44Jefferson delivers his final draft
17:46of the Declaration to Congress
17:47and watches in horror
17:49as the delegates tear it apart.
17:52And that was three days of debate in Congress
17:55in which Congress took out 89 different things,
17:59including any language criticizing
18:02the practice of slavery.
18:05And Jefferson just sat there writhing
18:07through the whole thing.
18:10With the issue of slavery now tabled for another day,
18:13the final draft is approved.
18:20America has a birthday, July 4th.
18:24Copies are taken by horseback
18:26everywhere throughout the colonies.
18:29In the town squares all over the country,
18:32church mills were ringing,
18:33and the people were huzzahing.
18:35The crowd was applauding.
18:38People really did believe
18:39the birthday of a new world is at hand.
18:43It's happened so many other times
18:45since the American Revolution
18:47that it's easy to overlook its novelty.
18:49A nation declaring itself independent,
18:52really without precedent.
18:59It is a decisive moment for every American,
19:02and an especially grave one
19:04for the commander of the Continental Army.
19:07There is no turning back,
19:09and now the British,
19:11with the largest force ever sent across the ocean,
19:13are descending upon New York City.
19:20For Washington,
19:22that memorable year, 1776,
19:25is one he would rather forget.
19:28Because of the Declaration of Independence,
19:30history has recorded it as epic and glorious.
19:33But for Washington,
19:35it stands out as perhaps the most grueling
19:37and humiliating of his life.
19:46April 18th, 1789, 5 a.m.
19:51Few men in America have slept
19:53in as many different places as George Washington.
19:57This morning, he makes final preparations
19:59to leave Baltimore,
20:00beginning the third day of his northward trip
20:03to New York City.
20:05There, in just a matter of days,
20:08he will be inaugurated
20:09as the first president of the United States.
20:13It will be a triumphant moment
20:15for a man whose confidence and reputation
20:17once lay in tatters,
20:19just weeks after the exuberance
20:21that followed the Declaration of Independence.
20:24We tend to look back from today
20:26and see Washington always having been that legend.
20:29But in fact, if you stopped the clock in 1776,
20:32you would have suspected
20:34that this guy would be out of a job pretty soon.
20:41Summer, 1776.
20:43The nation has been set afire
20:45with the idea of liberty.
20:47But at his headquarters in New York City,
20:50General George Washington is faced with the reality
20:52of what stands between the colonies
20:54and their independence.
20:58The British have returned,
21:01spectacularly.
21:02130 warships and nearly 25,000 men
21:05sail into New York Harbor.
21:08When the British come
21:10in the summer of 1776,
21:12it's like Star Wars.
21:14It's the empire strikes back.
21:17This is the most powerful military nation
21:21on Earth
21:22that is bringing that power to bear on you.
21:27It is a sight to unnerve even the most battle-hardened soldier.
21:32The British sailed past Manhattan
21:34and set up camp on Staten Island.
21:45Washington was faced with a tremendous task.
21:48He had no navy to speak of,
21:51and he was trying to protect a group of islands
21:53with hundreds of miles of shoreline
21:55against the world's most powerful naval force.
21:59Washington's men spend the summer
22:01digging in on Long Island's Brooklyn Heights,
22:03where they expect the British to launch their attack.
22:06liberty must equal war.
22:22Late August, 1776.
22:26In the early morning,
22:28the British commander,
22:29General William Howe,
22:30makes his move.
22:32More than 20,000 British soldiers
22:35march toward the American positions.
22:38It is their first head-on attack
22:40against Washington's army.
22:52The battle is a bloodbath.
22:55The Continental Army is totally overwhelmed.
23:03On this day, 300 Americans die,
23:06and another 1,000 are captured
23:08before beating a swift and chaotic retreat.
23:13Washington watches in shock
23:15as the best-trained army in the world
23:17easily outmaneuvers his.
23:20In one stroke,
23:22the British have nearly destroyed
23:23the American army
23:24and put a quick end
23:26to the so-called War of Independence.
23:34Washington is forced to make a desperate move
23:36before all is lost.
23:44Under cover of night,
23:45he orders an all-out retreat
23:47back to Manhattan.
23:50Washington may not have a Navy,
23:52but he has resourceful,
23:53courageous fishermen
23:54from Massachusetts.
23:57All through the night,
23:58they use any boat
23:59they can get their hands on
24:00to ferry 9,000 men
24:02to the safety of Manhattan.
24:12at dawn,
24:14the Americans receive
24:15one providential break.
24:19A strange and eerie fog
24:21sets in over New York Harbor.
24:26The British see and hear nothing
24:29as the last of the soldiers escape.
24:39When the fog lifts,
24:41the British find only
24:42a deserted enemy camp.
24:47The Continental Army
24:49has vanished.
24:52The failure to capture them
24:54and to put a stop to the war
24:56by rounding up the rebel forces
24:58really was one of the greatest blunders
25:00of the war.
25:01The British lost their best opportunity
25:04to win the war at a stroke.
25:11Washington's army
25:12is now an army on the run,
25:14and the British waste no time
25:16in launching a new offensive.
25:18In battle after battle,
25:19the Continental Army
25:20is overwhelmed
25:21by the superior power
25:23and sheer number
25:24of British forces.
25:26They are driven off
25:27the Isle of Manhattan.
25:29This really negatively
25:31affects the morale
25:32of his force,
25:32and perhaps more importantly,
25:34affects the morale
25:35of some of his subordinate commanders,
25:37who really now question
25:39whether or not Washington
25:40is the right man
25:41for this job.
25:44Washington leads the remains
25:46of his defeated army
25:47on a retreat.
25:48south into New Jersey.
25:52A little more than a year
25:54into his command,
25:55the general is now pursued
25:56by the British
25:57and under siege
25:58from his own officers.
26:02One of them,
26:03Charles Lee,
26:04Washington's most experienced general,
26:07sees a perfect opportunity
26:08to supplant his commander-in-chief,
26:10and he isn't shy
26:12about saying so
26:13to anyone
26:13who might help him get ahead.
26:16A certain great man
26:17is most damnably deficient.
26:20I foresaw all that has happened.
26:23Had I the powers,
26:25I could do much good.
26:27General Charles Lee.
26:30One of Lee's confidants,
26:31an increasingly disillusioned officer
26:33named Joseph Reed,
26:35encourages Lee
26:36to make a move
26:37against the commander-in-chief.
26:40Washington is totally unaware
26:41of the designs of Lee and Reed.
26:44That is,
26:45until a courier
26:46delivers him the wrong letter.
26:48My dear Reed,
26:50I lament with you
26:52that fatal indecision of mind,
26:54which in war
26:54is a much greater disqualification
26:56than stupidity
26:57or even want of personal courage.
27:00Eternal defeat
27:01must attend
27:02the men of the best parts
27:03if cursed with indecision.
27:06General Charles Lee.
27:08Washington's response
27:09was to write to Reed
27:12and say,
27:12I opened this by accident.
27:14I thought it was official business.
27:15and to just try to smooth it over.
27:18I think all of these moments
27:21really just highlight
27:22the extraordinary equilibrium
27:25that he maintained.
27:27Washington lets it pass,
27:29but he now knows
27:30that his power is weakening
27:32and that both British
27:33and American wolves
27:34are at his heels.
27:39As Washington flees
27:41across New Jersey,
27:42he fully realizes
27:43that this revolution
27:44might be over.
27:46He's a commander-in-chief
27:47of an army
27:47that has shrunk drastically.
27:49Congressmen write
27:50their wives
27:51and their friends' letters
27:52saying,
27:52the game is just about up.
27:54They're fearful
27:55that this war
27:56is shortly going to be over.
27:59Washington had never been lower
28:00than those dark days
28:01of 1776.
28:04Others thought him
28:05destined for oblivion
28:06rather than legend.
28:08But legends are made
28:10from character
28:10and vision.
28:14Just when all seemed lost,
28:16he summoned both
28:17with one bold stroke.
28:23April 19th, 1789.
28:26Day four of George Washington's
28:29journey to New York City
28:30to become the first president
28:31of the United States.
28:33leaving Maryland behind,
28:36he is heading toward
28:37Wilmington, Delaware.
28:39Washington crosses
28:41the fields and dells
28:42of America
28:42and passes the tributaries
28:44that lead to a river
28:45of great personal importance,
28:48the vital Delaware River,
28:50scene of one of Washington's
28:51greatest reversals of fortune,
28:5413 years before.
29:03December 1776.
29:05In its Pennsylvania camp,
29:07the Continental Army
29:08finds itself back
29:09on its heels.
29:11Washington's poor judgment
29:13has cost the Americans
29:14New York City
29:15and depleted
29:16his fighting force.
29:18The British now occupy
29:20New Jersey
29:21and place Hessian forces
29:22at key junctions
29:23along the Delaware,
29:24places like Trenton,
29:26There, the king's men
29:28will catch their breath
29:29before the next season
29:30of fighting.
29:33In the American camp,
29:35faith in the revolution
29:36is falling as fast
29:37as the temperature
29:38and many of his soldiers
29:39are ready to quit
29:40when their enlistments
29:41expire at year's end.
29:46Recently embedded
29:47with Washington's flagging army
29:49was the author of
29:50Common Sense,
29:51Thomas Paine,
29:52who bore witness
29:53to their travail.
29:56Again he wields his pen
29:58to inspire a people
29:59with words,
30:00capturing the moment
30:01and the mood
30:02in a pamphlet.
30:05American Crisis
30:08Let it be told
30:09to the future world
30:10that in the depth of winter
30:12when nothing but hope
30:14and virtue could survive
30:15that the city
30:16and the country
30:17alarmed at one
30:19common danger
30:20came forth to meet
30:21and to repulse it.
30:23Time hath found us.
30:26Thomas Paine
30:30Washington takes these words
30:31to heart.
30:32It is time to act,
30:34to rescue the cause.
30:38With the end of the year
30:40fast approaching,
30:41Washington makes
30:42a bold decision
30:45to take his army
30:46across the Delaware River
30:47in a surprise attack
30:49at Trenton.
30:51Washington chooses Christmas Day
30:53to reveal his plan
30:54to his troops
30:55and readies them
30:56to reverse the course
30:57and take the fight
30:59to the British.
31:01The crossing
31:02is a monumental task.
31:05The same Massachusetts fishermen
31:07who had helped the army
31:08retreat from Brooklyn Heights
31:09in August
31:10must now put the army
31:11on the offensive.
31:14ferrying 2,400 soldiers,
31:17horses, and artillery
31:18across the near-frozen river
31:20in blizzard conditions
31:22and do it before dawn.
31:27Washington himself
31:28will lead his soldiers
31:30into battle.
31:32Every school child
31:33in America
31:34is familiar
31:35with the painting
31:36of Washington
31:37crossing the Delaware
31:37when he's boldly
31:39in the front of the boat
31:40standing up
31:41looking heroically
31:43towards the eastern shore
31:45of the river.
31:45It would have been nice
31:46but it didn't happen like that.
31:48Nobody stood up that night
31:49wisely so.
31:54In worsening weather
31:55the crossing takes forever.
31:58Yet the plan remains.
32:00Get to Trenton by dawn.
32:04But there is still
32:05a nine-mile march ahead
32:06of the Continentals.
32:09Light or no light
32:10Washington has
32:11everything riding on this.
32:15The soldiers,
32:16some with only rags
32:17on their feet
32:18must push on.
32:26When they arrive
32:27the Hessians
32:28are caught off guard.
32:31The surprise attack
32:33is glorious.
32:40The battle of Trenton
32:41is a brutal encounter.
32:43The Americans
32:44surprise the Hessians
32:45who tumble out
32:45of their barracks,
32:46grab their muskets
32:47and attempt
32:48to defend themselves.
32:50The battle lasts
32:51less than an hour.
32:53The Hessians
32:53don't have a chance
32:54because they're surprised.
33:03This is Washington's day.
33:06He sends a resounding message
33:08to the British
33:09and Americans alike.
33:10The Continental Army
33:12is back
33:12and I
33:13am its undisputed leader.
33:19through most of the fall
33:21there have been
33:22a number of officers
33:23who thought
33:24they could do
33:24his job better
33:25than he could
33:26and a number of
33:27members of Congress
33:28who thought the same.
33:30That changes
33:31after Trenton.
33:51Washington's triumph
33:52at Trenton
33:53was unmercifully
33:54short-lived.
33:55Back then
33:56in 1777
33:58he was still
33:59desperate
33:59for supplies
34:00and men
34:01to keep
34:01the war effort
34:02going
34:03and most of all
34:04Washington needed
34:05a Navy
34:06against the British
34:07who had total control
34:08of the port
34:09of New York City.
34:11Critical help
34:12would come
34:13from an old war horse
34:14who never fired a shot
34:15or put on a uniform.
34:17To the rescue
34:18came the incomparable
34:20Benjamin Franklin.
34:27April 20th, 1789
34:30the fifth day
34:31of George Washington's trip
34:33to New York City.
34:35His inauguration
34:36as the first president
34:37of the United States
34:38is just days away
34:40and Washington
34:41expresses the optimism
34:43of a new nation
34:44to an old friend
34:45from France.
34:46I really entertain
34:48greater hopes
34:49than I have
34:49at almost any
34:50former period
34:51that America
34:52will not finally
34:54disappoint the expectations
34:55of her friends.
34:56George Washington.
34:59Washington and the United States
35:01owe a great debt
35:02to France
35:02and to the man
35:04who brought
35:04the European superpower
35:06to America's side
35:0712 years earlier,
35:09Benjamin Franklin.
35:11It is winter, 1777.
35:15Benjamin Franklin
35:16has just arrived in France
35:18on a secret mission.
35:20Franklin's writings
35:21and scientific discoveries
35:23have made him
35:24the most famous American
35:25in the world.
35:27Now his assignment
35:28is to use
35:29all his diplomatic skills
35:30to bring France's navy
35:32and treasury
35:33to America's side.
35:36It seems like
35:37a fool's errand
35:37when you think about it.
35:38Franklin is sent
35:39to an absolute monarchy
35:40to ask them
35:41to fund a revolution
35:42against a king.
35:45If anyone
35:46can bring the French
35:47on board,
35:48it is the wise
35:49and canny Franklin.
35:51But he needs Washington
35:52to appear
35:53as if he can win this war.
35:55Yet across the ocean
35:56in America,
35:57nothing could be farther
35:58from the truth.
36:04August 22nd, 1777.
36:07Hartsville, Pennsylvania.
36:09American scouts
36:10bring alarming news
36:12to Washington.
36:13The British fleet
36:14have entered
36:15the Chesapeake Bay
36:15and planned to launch
36:17an attack on Philadelphia,
36:18the capital
36:19of the newly confederated
36:20United States.
36:24Washington quickly
36:25moves his army south
36:26through Philadelphia
36:27to meet the British
36:28head on.
36:33Three weeks later,
36:34Washington positions
36:35his forces along
36:36the banks
36:36of a tributary
36:37to the Delaware River
36:38called Brandywine Creek.
36:42It is here
36:43that he will make his stand
36:44against the advancing British.
36:50September 11th, 1777.
36:52The Battle of Brandywine.
36:56Musket and artillery fire
36:58erupt between the two armies.
37:0125,000 soldiers
37:03clash on the field.
37:06It is an intense
37:07and bloody battle.
37:15The Continental Army
37:16successfully holds off
37:17the British
37:18into the afternoon.
37:21What Washington
37:22doesn't know
37:23is that his main force
37:24has only been engaging
37:26half of British General
37:27Howe's army.
37:29The other half
37:30has been sent
37:31on a day-long march
37:32to the west
37:33around the American
37:34defenses
37:34and is now headed
37:36for a surprise attack
37:37from behind.
37:40The battle becomes
37:41a rout.
37:44Washington is forced
37:45to retreat,
37:46giving up the fight
37:47and giving up Philadelphia.
37:57An ocean away in Paris,
37:59the loss of Philadelphia
38:00is hardly the news
38:01Benjamin Franklin needs
38:03to bring the French
38:03into the war.
38:05His old hometown,
38:07the new capital,
38:08is now in British hands
38:09and the Continental Congress
38:11has fled to York, Pennsylvania.
38:14But Franklin betrays
38:15little concern.
38:17He even manages
38:18to spin the loss
38:19as good news
38:20for the Americans.
38:22Remarking,
38:23instead of Howe
38:24taking Philadelphia,
38:25Philadelphia has taken Howe.
38:29Franklin predicts
38:30to the dubious French
38:31that to hold Philadelphia
38:32Howe will be hard-pressed
38:34to commit his troops
38:35elsewhere.
38:43While back in America,
38:45George Washington
38:45can hardly afford
38:46to be so cool,
38:48his humiliation
38:49emboldens the rivals
38:51in his ranks,
38:52most notably
38:53the head of the northern wing
38:54of the Continental Army,
38:55General Horatio Gates.
39:00Gates is a proud,
39:01though somewhat disheveled man.
39:03British-born,
39:05he left England's
39:05rigid military class structure
39:07five years earlier
39:08for a chance
39:09to gain glory in America.
39:12Gates sees his opportunity.
39:14He will make a stand
39:15against the British force
39:17that is cutting a suave
39:18through upper New York
39:19in their bid
39:20to gain control
39:21of the Hudson River,
39:22right into the fields
39:24of Saratoga.
39:32Gates is not the only
39:33American officer
39:34looking for glory.
39:35He has his own rival
39:37at Saratoga
39:38in the person
39:38of an arrogant
39:39and determined general,
39:41Benedict Arnold.
39:45Over a meal
39:46of ox heart,
39:47Arnold and Gates
39:48talk strategy,
39:48and the two
39:50couldn't be more
39:51different in temperament.
39:53Arnold,
39:54aggressive and anxious
39:55for battlefield glory,
39:56wants to attack the British.
39:58The more passive
40:00and gun-shy Gates
40:01wants to wait
40:02for the British
40:02to come to them.
40:06Horatio Gates
40:07couldn't stand
40:08Benedict Arnold,
40:09considered him an upstart,
40:10an arrogant upstart.
40:11and Benedict Arnold,
40:14like many
40:15of the revolutionary soldiers,
40:17called Gates
40:17Granny Gates,
40:19a fussy old woman.
40:21Tempers flare.
40:22The conversation
40:23turns heated.
40:26And Gates
40:27banished
40:28his best general
40:29from the dinner table,
40:31insulted him,
40:32wouldn't let him
40:32come to meetings,
40:33and Benedict Arnold
40:35fumed
40:36as a result of that dinner
40:38and decided
40:39that he would have
40:39to defy
40:40the orders
40:41of his commanding officer
40:42because he believed
40:43the Americans
40:44were going to be beaten
40:45if it were up
40:46to Granny Gates.
40:50October 7th, 1777.
40:54Just south of Saratoga,
40:56on a rise of land
40:57called Bemis Heights,
40:58Gates sets 2,400 men
41:00out to meet
41:011,500 British soldiers.
41:04A heated battle erupts.
41:13On the field,
41:14Benedict Arnold,
41:15in defiance of Gates' orders,
41:17leads an aggressive charge
41:19against the royals.
41:20Arnold employed snipers.
41:23He got riflemen,
41:24highly accurate,
41:25put them up in trees.
41:26It was a new kind of warfare
41:28and the British
41:28didn't adapt to it.
41:31It is a strategy
41:32that gives the Americans
41:33the upper hand,
41:35but at a high price.
41:39Arnold takes a musket ball
41:41to his leg
41:42and is nearly crushed
41:43by his horse.
41:45When the battle was over,
41:48his second-in-command said,
41:50Sir, where are you hit?
41:52And Arnold said,
41:54It's my leg.
41:55I wish it had been my heart.
41:57And I do, too.
41:58I wish it had been his heart
41:59because if he had died
42:01at that moment,
42:01he would have been
42:02the great hero
42:02of the revolution.
42:05Arnold's battlefield daring
42:07has effectively destroyed
42:08Britain's northern force.
42:10While Gates had directed
42:12the battle
42:12from the safety of his desk,
42:14yet it is Horatio Gates
42:16who takes the credit
42:17for the victory.
42:20It is not the last slight
42:21that Benedict Arnold
42:22will have to endure.
42:32The British bid
42:33for supremacy
42:34of the Hudson River
42:35ends in surrender.
42:38Had General Howe
42:39sent reinforcements,
42:40the British might have won.
42:43But just as
42:44Benjamin Franklin predicted,
42:46Howe's army was stuck
42:47holding Philadelphia.
42:52Across the ocean in France,
42:54Franklin now has what he needs
42:56to bring the French on board.
42:58The news of victory
42:59at Saratoga
43:00is exactly what France's
43:02King Louis XVI
43:03has needed to hear.
43:05He pledges part of his army,
43:07and more importantly,
43:08his navy,
43:09to the American cause
43:10in what amounts
43:12to a declaration of war
43:13between France and England.
43:16The American Revolution,
43:18which started as a far-off
43:19colonial uprising,
43:21is now a world war.
43:27For Washington,
43:28the victory at Saratoga
43:29is both good news
43:31and bad.
43:32He welcomes France's
43:33entry into the war,
43:34but the anointment
43:35of Horatio Gates
43:37as the hero of Saratoga
43:38again raises questions
43:40over who should be in charge
43:41of this army.
43:44A future as a national hero
43:46couldn't have been further
43:47from Washington's mind
43:48back in 1777.
43:56And he had another long winter
43:58to face at the much-storied
44:00Valley Forge.
44:06This was the moment
44:07when Washington had
44:08to turn around his army
44:09and his leadership,
44:11or there would never be
44:12a United States of America,
44:14let alone
44:15a President Washington.
44:45A Maison
44:46is an overnight
44:47To keep the world
44:47and the long-still
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