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The land that became the United States was inhabited by Native Americans for tens of thousands of years, with their descendants including 575 federally recognized tribes. European colonization began in the late 15th century, largely decimating Indigenous societies through wars and epidemics. English settlement took hold with the founding of Jamestown in 1607 and the Mayflower landing at Plymouth in 1620.
Following Britain's victory over France in the French and Indian Wars, Parliament imposed taxes and the Intolerable Acts of 1773, triggering a colonial crisis. Tensions escalated into the Revolutionary War, which began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The Second Continental Congress established the Continental Army under George Washington, and on July 4, 1776, declared independence. Britain formally acknowledged American sovereignty in the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. The U.S. Constitution was signed in 1787, ratified in 1789 — now the world's oldest written national constitution — and supplemented by the Bill of Rights in 1791.
Washington became the first president in 1789. His Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton advocated for a strong central government, in contrast to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. In 1803, President Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the country's size. Westward expansion followed under the banner of manifest destiny, marked by conflicts with Indigenous peoples. President James K. Polk annexed Texas in 1845, declared war on Mexico the following year, and the resulting Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 handed the U.S. much of the American Southwest.
The question of slavery in new territories drove deepening national conflict. Following Abraham Lincoln's election as the 16th president in 1860, southern states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. The Civil War began at Fort Sumter in April 1861. The Union's pivotal victory at Gettysburg — the war's deadliest battle with over 50,000 casualties — turned the tide, and the Union prevailed in 1865. Lincoln was assassinated on April 15 of that year. The Confederacy's defeat ended slavery. The Reconstruction era (1865–1877) sought to protect individual rights, but white southern Democrats regained power in 1877, enforcing white supremacy through Jim Crow laws and voter suppression.
During the Gilded Age of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the U.S. emerged as the world's leading industrial power, driven by ent
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00:00On the 4th of July, 2026, the United States will have celebrated its 250th anniversary as an independent nation.
00:08Although the year 1776 marks its official birth, the history of the land that America was born from in fact
00:15dates back much further.
00:17Over centuries and millennia, from the arrival of the first indigenous peoples to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers,
00:24conflict, colonization and struggle had to first unfold before the idea that would define America to this day would even
00:32be conceived.
00:33That anyone, from anywhere, could arrive on its shores, cast off the tyranny or poverty they left behind,
00:40and claim for themselves life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as an American.
00:47So how did this nation transform from a myriad of indigenous tribes scattered across the continent,
00:53undergo colonization, settlement, revolution, civil war, expansion and disaster to become the world's pre-eminent superpower?
01:04This is the history of the United States of America.
01:10The first humans to set foot on the North American continent arrived between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago.
01:17During the last Great Ice Age, a broad land bridge connected the far eastern tip of Siberia to what is
01:24now Alaska,
01:25and it was across this that small bands of hunter-gatherers made their way to the Americas through a gradual
01:31generational process.
01:32By the time the ice sheets retreated and the land bridge became submerged by the rising seas around 10,000
01:39years ago,
01:40these first Americans had spread across and filled every ecological niche across the continent.
01:46From the arid canyon lands of what is now Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico,
01:51the ancestral Puebloans built multi-story stone and adobe dwellings into the faces of sheer cliff walls.
01:58On the Great Plains, stretching from present-day Texas northward to Montana and Wyoming,
02:04nomadic peoples followed the immense bison herds across the vast grasslands.
02:09In the Pacific Northwest of present-day Washington, Oregon and Northern California,
02:14abundant salmon runs and dense woodlands supported some of the most populous societies in the pre-Columbian Americas.
02:21Meanwhile, across the eastern woodlands, the natives of this region had built thousands of settlements,
02:27with longhouses forming the central communal nucleus of their communities,
02:31and had, by the 15th century, developed a sophisticated tribal alliance network known as the Iroquois Confederacy.
02:39Perhaps the most striking example of an advanced pre-Columbian civilization, however,
02:43lay in the floodplains of the Mississippi River Valley,
02:46where a city of mounds known as Cahokia grew to sustain a population of as much as 20,000 people
02:53by around 1100 AD,
02:54making it larger at that time than many European cities like London.
03:00Life for the indigenous peoples of North America continued in much the same way for thousands of years,
03:05until one of the most pivotal and seismic events in world history occurred at the end of the 15th century.
03:12In 1492, Christopher Columbus, who was sailing under the flag of Spain,
03:17made landfall in the Caribbean after crossing the Atlantic in search of a new western trade route to Asia.
03:24Upon realizing that he had inadvertently come across an entirely unknown continent,
03:29he claimed the lands in the name of Spain,
03:32and set in motion a series of events that would lead to the wider European discovery and colonization of the
03:38Americas.
03:39Within a decade, waves of Spanish conquistadors had established themselves across the Caribbean islands
03:45and had begun pushing outward in every direction.
03:49The first European to set foot on what is now the United States did so in 1513,
03:54when Juan Ponce de Leon sailed north from Puerto Rico to reach the coast of Florida,
04:00before wading ashore to claim the land for the Spanish crown.
04:03Further exploratory expeditions followed after the Spanish had conquered what is now Mexico and Central America.
04:09In 1539, Hernando de Soto led an expedition to Florida,
04:14which then marched northward and westward over the following four years across what is now Georgia,
04:19the Carolinas, Tennessee and Alabama.
04:22He became the first European to cross the Mississippi River,
04:25pushing as far west as present-day Arkansas,
04:28before he turned back and died on the banks of the Mississippi in 1542.
04:33At the same time,
04:35Francisco Vázquez de Coronado launched an overland expedition from Mexico,
04:39exploring much of what is now Arizona,
04:42New Mexico and even as far as Kansas.
04:45Spain would go on to establish the first permanent European settlement on the continental United States
04:50at St. Augustine in Florida,
04:53which was founded in 1565 and with it,
04:56planted the Spanish language deep into American soil,
05:00making it the oldest European language ever spoken on the continent.
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06:10The remaining years of the 16th century, however,
06:13saw Spain's colonization efforts focus predominantly
06:16on the resource-rich areas of Mexico and Peru,
06:19leaving much of the sprawling North American landmass
06:22open to being claimed by other European powers.
06:25French explorers had begun to explore parts of Florida
06:28and South Carolina in the 1560s,
06:30resulting in two short-lived fortifications
06:33being constructed there.
06:34But, as they had already reached
06:36and charted the St. Lawrence River
06:38in what is now Canada during the mid-1530s,
06:41they focused on establishing themselves there instead.
06:44It therefore fell to the English
06:46to lay the foundations of colonial empire
06:48along the eastern seaboard,
06:50which, over the course of history,
06:52would transform and evolve
06:53into what is now the United States.
06:56Their first attempt at establishing a colony
06:58in the Americas
06:59came with the settlement on Roanoke Island
07:01off the coast of present-day North Carolina
07:04in the year 1585.
07:06It would, however, prove to be a disaster,
07:09as the settlement failed repeatedly
07:11despite being resupplied,
07:13and the colonists themselves mysteriously vanished
07:16without explanation by 1590,
07:19leaving behind only the word
07:20Croatoan
07:21carved onto the settlement's wooden palisade.
07:25Efforts only resumed in the 17th century
07:27when two more English colonies
07:29were founded in 1607.
07:31The Popham colony,
07:33in what is now Maine,
07:34quickly failed within a year,
07:36and the other,
07:36established at Jamestown in Virginia,
07:39very nearly repeated
07:40the same disastrous fate.
07:42Disease and starvation
07:43killed many of the early colonists
07:45of Jamestown,
07:46and the settlement only survived in part
07:48due to the leadership of men
07:50like Captain John Smith,
07:51who negotiated and traded
07:53with the local Poetan Confederacy for food.
07:56Though relations were often tense,
07:57and sometimes violent.
07:59What ultimately saved Jamestown, however,
08:02was the tobacco plant.
08:03In 1612,
08:05the colonist John Rolfe
08:06planted a milder strain of tobacco
08:08sourced from the Caribbean,
08:10which proved enormously popular
08:12with English consumers.
08:13Within a decade,
08:15the Virginia colonists
08:16were shipping tens of thousands of pounds of it
08:18back to England every year,
08:20generating profits
08:21that attracted new investment,
08:23new settlers,
08:24and the overall expansion of the colony.
08:26The resulting demand for labor
08:28to work the tobacco crops
08:29produced what would become
08:31the defining original sin
08:32of the American nation.
08:34For in August 1619,
08:36a vessel named the White Lion
08:38sailed into the Virginia colony
08:39and sold the first documented
08:42enslaved Africans
08:43into servitude
08:44in English North America,
08:46laying the foundations
08:47for an institution
08:48which would shape the future nation
08:50and persist for more than 200 years.
08:54Meanwhile,
08:55over 1,000 miles to the north,
08:57a very different kind of English colony
08:59was taking root.
09:00In November 1620,
09:02a group of religious separatists,
09:04known as the Pilgrims,
09:06made landfall
09:07on the Massachusetts coast
09:08aboard their ship,
09:10the Mayflower.
09:10They too quickly faced
09:12the threat of starvation,
09:14but were saved
09:15by the chance encounter
09:16with a native named Samerset,
09:18who as it happened
09:19spoke some English.
09:20He returned a few days later
09:22with another native man
09:23named Tisquantum,
09:25otherwise known as Squanto,
09:27who spoke even better English
09:28as a result of previously
09:30being kidnapped
09:31and taken to Europe.
09:32He taught the colonists
09:33how to cultivate corn,
09:35catch fish,
09:36and navigate
09:36the unfamiliar landscape,
09:38before negotiating
09:39a formal alliance
09:40between them
09:41and the local
09:42Wampanoag Confederation,
09:43which would endure
09:44for 50 years.
09:46In the autumn of 1621,
09:48the Plymouth colonists
09:49celebrated their first
09:51successful harvest
09:52alongside the local
09:53Wampanoag people,
09:54which thereafter
09:55formed the basis
09:56of the Thanksgiving Day celebration.
09:58Over the following decades
10:00of the 17th century,
10:01the English colonial presence
10:03along the Atlantic seaboard
10:04expanded with remarkable speed.
10:07In 1630,
10:08the Massachusetts Bay Colony
10:10was established,
10:11and the settlement
10:12of Boston was founded,
10:13which would grow
10:14into the most populous
10:15and prosperous town.
10:16in English North America
10:18within a generation.
10:20English settlements
10:21in Connecticut,
10:22Rhode Island,
10:23and Maryland
10:23soon followed,
10:24and formed around
10:26an altogether different
10:27European nations colony
10:28taking hold
10:29in the region.
10:30The Dutch
10:31had already established
10:32a settlement
10:33at Albany
10:33on the Hudson River
10:34in 1614,
10:36and their territorial claim
10:38quickly expanded
10:39over the following years,
10:40especially with the founding
10:41of New Amsterdam,
10:43modern New York City,
10:44in 1624,
10:46which served as the capital
10:47of the wider colony
10:48of New Netherland.
10:50Sweden had also joined in
10:52on these colonial endeavours
10:53in the New World,
10:54briefly establishing settlements
10:55along the lower reaches
10:57of the Delaware River
10:57in 1638,
10:59before being conquered
11:00by the Dutch
11:01in 1655.
11:03New Netherland
11:04was in turn
11:05conquered by the English
11:06in 1664,
11:07who added it
11:08to their list of possessions
11:09along the eastern seaboard,
11:11which,
11:11by the latter decades
11:12of the 17th century,
11:14had grown to include
11:15the Carolinas,
11:16New Hampshire,
11:17and Pennsylvania,
11:18the latter of which
11:19was chartered in 1681
11:21by the Quaker
11:22William Penn.
11:23By the dawn
11:24of the 18th century,
11:25the land
11:26that would become
11:27the United States
11:28was effectively divided
11:29between three
11:30competing European powers.
11:32The English,
11:33or by now British,
11:34colonies,
11:35following the Acts
11:36of Union in 1707,
11:38clung
11:38to the shores
11:39of the Atlantic Ocean
11:40in the east.
11:40To the south,
11:42the Spanish exerted
11:43control from Florida
11:44and as far as Texas
11:45and New Mexico.
11:46And to the north
11:47and west,
11:48the French had expanded
11:49their original
11:50territorial claims
11:51in Canada
11:51to cover a vast area
11:53extending into
11:54the Great Lakes
11:55and down the Mississippi
11:56River Basin
11:57towards the Gulf of Mexico.
11:59However,
12:01within a few decades,
12:02the number of British
12:03colonies had grown
12:04to 13
12:04after the province
12:06of Carolina
12:06was divided
12:07into north
12:08and south
12:08in 1712
12:09and Georgia
12:10was founded
12:11in 1733.
12:12With a combined
12:13population
12:14of over 1 million
12:15people by the year
12:161750,
12:17the American colonies
12:18had continued
12:19to attract
12:20a growing number
12:20of settlers
12:21from across Europe,
12:23constituting
12:23not only English,
12:24Irish,
12:25Scottish and Welsh
12:26but also Germans,
12:28Poles,
12:29Dutch and Swedes
12:30as well as
12:30an ever-increasing
12:31number of African slaves.
12:33So much so
12:34that many areas
12:36within the 13 colonies
12:37were soon becoming
12:38overcrowded
12:38and as a result,
12:40some settlers
12:41began to push
12:41further westwards
12:42in search of new lands
12:44to settle and farm,
12:45particularly
12:46in the fertile
12:47Ohio River Valley.
12:49However,
12:50parts of this region
12:51had already been claimed
12:52by the neighbouring
12:53colony of New France
12:54but as there was
12:56no clearly defined
12:56boundary of where
12:57one territory ended
12:58and another began,
13:00tensions and disputes
13:01over land were sure
13:02to follow.
13:04In May 1754,
13:06a young Virginia
13:07militia officer
13:08named George Washington
13:09led a small
13:10British colonial force
13:12into the Ohio Valley
13:13to assert their claims
13:15over the disputed area
13:16and chase off
13:17any interloping
13:18French presence.
13:19The resulting battle
13:20at Jumonville Glen
13:21saw Washington's men
13:23ambush and kill
13:24a number of
13:25French-Canadian troops
13:26but this quickly
13:27triggered a colonial conflict
13:28being fought across
13:29British and French
13:30North America.
13:31Known to history
13:32as the French
13:33and Indian War,
13:34this rapidly escalated
13:35into a wider
13:36global conflict
13:37amongst the great
13:38European powers
13:39of the age
13:39and their respective
13:41overseas colonies.
13:42Most of the fighting
13:44in North America
13:44initially focused
13:45on the disputed
13:46border region
13:47between the 13 colonies
13:48and New France
13:49but as the war progressed,
13:52the British
13:52mounted a successful
13:53military campaign
13:54into French Canada
13:55and effectively seized
13:57the entire territory,
13:59extinguishing France's
14:00colonial presence
14:01on the continent
14:01by the war's end
14:02in 1763.
14:04However,
14:05the defence
14:06of the 13 colonies
14:07had left the British
14:08crown with an enormous
14:10war debt
14:10and so devised
14:12a solution
14:12for the American colonies
14:14to financially contribute
14:15to their own defence
14:16through taxation,
14:17a seemingly plausible
14:19and reasonable idea
14:20to those in London
14:21but one which was received
14:23with constitutional outrage
14:24by those in Philadelphia,
14:26Williamsburg,
14:27and Boston.
14:28Over the following decade,
14:30a series of deeply
14:31unpopular taxes
14:32were levied on the 13 colonies
14:34which they were unable
14:35to democratically resist
14:36owing to no American colonists
14:39being represented
14:39in the British Parliament.
14:41The resulting calls
14:42of no taxation
14:43without representation
14:44were accompanied
14:45by riots,
14:47boycotts
14:47and political violence,
14:49particularly in the colony
14:50of Massachusetts
14:51which prompted the British
14:52to send troops
14:53to Boston
14:54in 1768
14:55to maintain
14:56law and order.
14:57Their presence,
14:59however,
14:59only heightened
15:00tensions further.
15:01In March 1770,
15:03an incident occurred
15:04in which a group
15:05of soldiers
15:05fired their muskets
15:06into a crowd,
15:07killing five men
15:08in what became known
15:09as the Boston Massacre.
15:11Then,
15:12in December 1773,
15:14three ships
15:15loaded with British tea
15:16inside Boston Harbour
15:18had their cargos
15:19dumped into the water
15:20by a group of colonists
15:22dressed as Native Americans.
15:24In the following year
15:25of 1774,
15:26the British closed
15:27Boston's port
15:28and drastically curtailed
15:30Massachusetts' rights
15:31to self-government,
15:32but rather than
15:33isolating the colony
15:34as intended,
15:35the other American colonies
15:37rallied to its support.
15:38That September,
15:40delegates from 12
15:41of the 13 colonies
15:42gathered at
15:43Carpenters Hall
15:44in Philadelphia
15:45for the First
15:46Continental Congress,
15:47where they agreed
15:48to a comprehensive
15:49boycott of British goods
15:50and sent a petition
15:52to King George III
15:53demanding the repeal
15:55of the so-called
15:56Intolerable Acts.
15:57When the king
15:59dismissed the petition
16:00and declared
16:01Massachusetts
16:02to be in a state
16:02of rebellion,
16:03many American colonists
16:05realized that
16:06an armed revolution
16:07in the name of independence
16:08was now the only way forward.
16:11On the morning
16:12of 19th of April,
16:131775,
16:14700 British regulars
16:16left Boston
16:17to seize a cache
16:18of weapons
16:19that revolutionary forces
16:20had purportedly stockpiled
16:22in the town
16:22of Concord, Massachusetts.
16:24However,
16:25whilst marching
16:26through the village
16:27of Lexington,
16:28their path was blocked
16:29by a line
16:30of armed colonial militia.
16:31The resulting standoff
16:33was only broken
16:34when somebody fired first.
16:36The proverbial
16:37shot heard round the world
16:39marked the opening
16:40of the American
16:41War of Independence.
16:43Within weeks,
16:45American revolutionary forces,
16:46known as patriots,
16:48had converged on Boston
16:49and began besieging
16:51the British garrison
16:51within the city.
16:52At the same time,
16:54the Second Continental Congress
16:55met in Philadelphia
16:56and in June
16:57appointed George Washington,
16:59the same who had
17:00commanded the colonial forces
17:02in the preceding
17:03French and Indian War,
17:04as commander-in-chief
17:05of the newly-constituted
17:07Continental Army.
17:08The first year of the war
17:10and into 1776
17:11saw the British
17:12ultimately evacuate Boston
17:14and re-establish
17:15their base of operations
17:16in New York City,
17:18whilst the American
17:19revolutionary forces
17:19gained hard-fought experience
17:21as they transitioned
17:22from a poorly-trained
17:24and ill-equipped militia
17:25into a professional
17:26fighting force.
17:28The Continental Congress
17:29met again
17:30in the summer of that year
17:31with notable figures
17:32such as Thomas Jefferson,
17:34John Adams
17:35and Benjamin Franklin
17:36drafting out
17:37the foundational document
17:38which would birth
17:39an entirely new nation.
17:42On the 4th of July 1776,
17:44the Declaration of Independence
17:46was signed
17:47by the delegates
17:48of the Thirteen Colonies,
17:49marking the official beginning
17:51of the United States of America.
17:54As the Revolutionary War
17:56continued to gain pace,
17:57a series of brilliantly
17:59executed military manoeuvres
18:00resulted in the Continental Army
18:02gaining the upper hand
18:03over the British.
18:04Most notably,
18:05the victory at Saratoga
18:07in upstate New York
18:08in 1777.
18:10This prompted the French,
18:12who had secretly been
18:13channeling money
18:14and supplies
18:14to the Americans
18:15for over a year,
18:16to formally enter the war
18:18as an ally
18:18in February 1778,
18:21transforming what had been
18:22a colonial rebellion
18:23into a global conflict,
18:25which Britain was far
18:26less equipped to win.
18:27By late 1781,
18:29the British forces
18:30were concentrated
18:31in Yorktown, Virginia,
18:33and so Washington
18:34and the French general
18:35Rochambeau
18:36secretly marched
18:37their combined force
18:38south to meet them,
18:39while the French fleet,
18:41under Admiral de Grasse,
18:42won a decisive naval battle
18:44at the mouth
18:44of Chesapeake Bay,
18:46cutting the British off
18:47by sea.
18:48Being effectively
18:49surrounded on all sides
18:50and made to endure
18:51a three-week siege,
18:53the British were compelled
18:54to surrender
18:54on the 19th of October 1781,
18:57and although the war
18:58would officially drag on
18:59diplomatically
19:00for two more years,
19:01the fighting was now
19:02effectively over.
19:04The Treaty of Paris,
19:05signed in September 1783,
19:08formally recognized
19:09the independence
19:10of the United States
19:11of America
19:11and granted the new nation
19:13sovereignty over all territory
19:15east of the Mississippi River,
19:17south of the Great Lakes
19:18and north of Spanish Florida.
19:20The remaining years
19:22of the 18th century
19:23saw some of the nascent republic's
19:25most influential documents,
19:26institutions and events occur,
19:28with the constitution
19:29being ratified in 1788
19:31and George Washington
19:32being unanimously elected
19:34as president
19:34in the following year,
19:35with the new federal government
19:37assembling first
19:38in New York City
19:39before moving to Philadelphia
19:41and then, in 1800,
19:43to the new purpose-built capital
19:44of Washington.
19:46With the dawn of the 19th century,
19:49the United States
19:50stood as a fragile,
19:51contested,
19:52and rapidly expanding entity.
19:54It had largely inherited
19:56the territorial domains
19:57of the original 13 colonies,
19:59stretching as far as
20:00the eastern bank
20:01of the Mississippi River,
20:02but settler demand
20:03to push even further westwards
20:05had already begun to manifest.
20:07When Thomas Jefferson
20:08became president,
20:09he successfully orchestrated
20:11the purchase
20:11of the Louisiana Territory
20:13from France in 1803,
20:15thereby expanding
20:16the borders of the country
20:17westward
20:17to the Rocky Mountains.
20:18To gain an understanding
20:20of what lay beyond
20:21this vast and mostly
20:23unexplored territory,
20:25Jefferson dispatched
20:26an expedition
20:27headed by Meriwether Lewis
20:28and William Clark
20:29to explore and map
20:31the region.
20:32In May 1804,
20:33they set off from St. Louis
20:35and travelled overland,
20:37crossing the Rockies,
20:38before descending
20:39the Columbia River
20:40to reach the Pacific Ocean
20:41in November 1805.
20:44Their journey mapped
20:45the outlines of a continent
20:46and fuelled the aspirations
20:48of a nation
20:49that dreamed of one day
20:50stretching from coast to coast.
20:53Much of the continent,
20:54nevertheless,
20:55remained in the hands
20:56of either Spain,
20:57who had expanded
20:58its imperial domain
20:59throughout the 18th century
21:00as far as California
21:01and parts of Colorado
21:02in the west,
21:03and retained control
21:04of Florida
21:05before ceding it
21:06to the US in 1821.
21:08But it was the British
21:09to the north,
21:10who still held control
21:11over Canada,
21:12who would prove
21:13to be a thorn
21:14in the side
21:14of expanding
21:15American interests.
21:17Although relations
21:18between the two countries
21:19had been repaired
21:20following the Revolutionary War,
21:21old tensions still remained
21:23and new grievances emerged
21:25when the United States
21:26began supporting
21:27Napoleonic France,
21:29whom Britain was at war with
21:30throughout the early 1800s.
21:32By 1812,
21:34accumulated grievances
21:35over British interference
21:36with American shipping
21:37and the impressment
21:39of American sailors
21:39into the Royal Navy
21:40sparked a new conflict
21:42between the United States
21:43and its old colonial master.
21:46The War of 1812
21:48lasted for the better part
21:49of two years
21:50and proved largely inconclusive
21:52as both sides
21:54launched unsuccessful invasions
21:56into each other's territories
21:57across the Canadian border.
21:59Although the British
22:00were successful
22:01in attacking Washington
22:02and burning the White House
22:04to the ground,
22:05the Americans,
22:05under the leadership
22:06of future President
22:07Andrew Jackson,
22:09decisively defeated the British
22:10at the Battle of New Orleans
22:11in early 1815,
22:14even though a peace treaty
22:15had been signed,
22:16but news of it
22:17had not yet reached them.
22:18With the war over,
22:20the United States
22:21found itself further emboldened
22:23in its right to exist
22:24as a nation
22:24and began a process
22:26of westward expansion
22:27to manifest its destiny
22:28of spanning
22:29the entire continent.
22:31New states
22:31were quickly formed
22:33and admitted into the Union
22:34over the course
22:35of the early 19th century,
22:36with Ohio, Indiana,
22:38Illinois, Missouri,
22:40Alabama, and Mississippi
22:41witnessing pioneers
22:42pour westward
22:43across the Appalachian Mountains
22:45to settle the new land
22:46for themselves.
22:48However,
22:49these lands
22:49were already occupied
22:50by countless
22:51Native American tribes
22:53whose homeland
22:54this had been
22:54for tens of thousands
22:55of years.
22:56Under President
22:57Andrew Jackson,
22:58the Indian Removal Act
22:59of 1830
23:00was introduced,
23:01which authorized
23:02the federal government
23:03to negotiate treaties
23:05with the native tribes,
23:06most of which
23:07were done coercively
23:08and fraudulently,
23:09which traded
23:10their tribal homelands
23:11east of the Mississippi
23:12for equivalent territory
23:14to the west.
23:16Within a decade,
23:17the Cherokee,
23:18Choctaw,
23:19Creek,
23:20Chickasaw,
23:20and Seminole
23:21had been forcibly
23:22expelled
23:23from their ancestral lands
23:24and force-marched
23:26to designated
23:27Indian territory
23:28in present-day Oklahoma,
23:29with thousands
23:30dying from disease,
23:32exposure,
23:33and starvation
23:34along the way.
23:35The land which
23:36they left behind
23:37became the center
23:38of the cotton-growing region
23:39of the Deep South,
23:40which by the 1830s
23:42and 1840s
23:43had become the engine
23:44of the entire
23:45American economy.
23:46The workforce
23:47which underpinned
23:48all of this
23:49was almost exclusively
23:50provided by slave labor,
23:52sourced from imported
23:53Africans
23:54and their descendants,
23:55which amounted
23:56to over 2 million people
23:58by the year 1830.
24:00Although slavery
24:02had been abolished
24:02in virtually all
24:03of the northern states
24:04by this point,
24:05the institution
24:06of slavery
24:07remained integral
24:08amongst the cotton-producing
24:09southern states
24:10and expanded
24:11into Alabama,
24:12Mississippi,
24:13Louisiana,
24:14Missouri,
24:15as well as Texas,
24:16which had declared
24:17its independence
24:18from Mexico
24:18in 1836.
24:21Although it was not yet
24:22part of the United States,
24:24American settlers
24:25had begun emigrating
24:26there back in the early 1820s,
24:27but within a decade
24:29had found
24:29that the Mexican government
24:30had placed numerous
24:31restrictions
24:32on their personal liberties
24:33and outlawed slavery.
24:36What followed
24:37was the Texan Revolution,
24:39with famous battles
24:40being fought
24:41like that at the Alamo
24:42and San Jacinto.
24:43With independence secured,
24:46the small Texan Republic
24:47began negotiations
24:48with the United States
24:49to be annexed
24:50as the 28th State of the Union,
24:52which it finally did
24:54over a decade later
24:55in 1845,
24:56but the resulting
24:57border dispute
24:58in turn
24:59triggered the outbreak
25:00of the Mexican-American War.
25:02Over the following years
25:04of 1846 and 1847,
25:06the U.S. Army
25:07invaded Mexico
25:08on several occasions
25:09and ultimately
25:10captured the capital
25:11of Mexico City
25:12to win the war decisively.
25:14The resulting Treaty
25:16of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
25:17signed in February 1848,
25:20transferred over
25:21half a million
25:22square miles
25:23of Mexican territory
25:23to the United States,
25:25which thereafter
25:26extended the American frontier
25:28all the way
25:29to the Pacific Ocean.
25:30This was an addition
25:32to the earlier
25:32peaceful acquisition
25:33of the Oregon Territory
25:35from Britain
25:35back in 1846.
25:37However,
25:38just as the Mexican-American War
25:39was drawing to a close
25:40in January 1848,
25:43gold was discovered
25:44in the foothills
25:45of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
25:47The resulting
25:48California gold rush
25:49saw the opening up
25:50of the West
25:50over the subsequent years
25:52as more than 300,000 settlers
25:54flocked to the territory,
25:56traveling along the wagon trails
25:57that stretched
25:58across the continent.
25:59San Francisco
26:00was transformed
26:01from a village
26:02of a few hundred people
26:03into a boom town
26:05of 30,000
26:06within just a few years.
26:07And by 1850,
26:09California
26:10was eligible
26:11for statehood.
26:12By the mid-19th century,
26:14the number of states
26:15within the Union
26:16had grown to 31,
26:18and although they were united
26:19under a federal government,
26:20there was one issue alone
26:22that was causing division
26:23amongst them.
26:24Slavery.
26:26Every new territory acquired
26:27and state admitted
26:28since the Louisiana Purchase
26:30had chosen
26:31either to be for
26:32or against
26:33the permission of slavery
26:34within its own borders.
26:36This had largely
26:37been determined
26:38along a north-south divide,
26:39with the more affluent
26:41and industrial northern states
26:42choosing to be free,
26:44whereas the poorer
26:45southern states
26:46at the center
26:47of the slave-produced
26:48plantation economy
26:49argued in favor of it.
26:50There were some states,
26:52however,
26:52that were effectively
26:53caught in the middle
26:54between these competing views,
26:56with the territory
26:57of Kansas in particular
26:58witnessing a wave
26:59of politically-motivated
27:00violence
27:01between pro-
27:02and anti-slavery mobs
27:03throughout the latter half
27:05of the 1850s,
27:06which became
27:07a tragic prelude
27:08of the nationwide events
27:09to come.
27:10In 1854,
27:11the Republican Party
27:13was founded,
27:14principally
27:14upon a mandate
27:15for preventing
27:16the expansion of slavery
27:17into the new territories
27:18in the West.
27:20It was this position
27:21that carried
27:21Abraham Lincoln
27:22to win the presidential election
27:24in 1860,
27:25a result
27:26which was so alarming
27:27to the slave-holding South
27:28that it triggered
27:29the unraveling
27:30of the Union.
27:32South Carolina
27:33was the first state
27:34to secede
27:35on 20 December 1860
27:37and within a few months
27:38had been joined
27:39by Mississippi,
27:40Florida,
27:41Alabama,
27:42Georgia,
27:43Louisiana,
27:43and Texas
27:44to form the Confederate
27:45States of America
27:46with Jefferson Davis
27:48serving as its president.
27:50The Confederates
27:51quickly seized
27:52federal forts
27:53and arsenals
27:54across the South,
27:55including Fort Sumter
27:56in South Carolina.
27:58But the resulting battle
27:59between Union
28:00and Confederate troops
28:01on 12 April 1861
28:02marked the outbreak
28:04of the American Civil War.
28:06Virginia,
28:07Arkansas,
28:08Tennessee,
28:08and North Carolina
28:09followed their southern
28:11neighbors in seceding
28:12to join the Confederacy
28:13and over the following
28:14four years
28:15fought the Union
28:16in some of the most
28:17brutal and costly battles
28:18ever seen
28:19in American history.
28:21Generals such as
28:22Ulysses S. Grant
28:23and William Tecumseh Sherman
28:25of the Union
28:25faced off against
28:27Robert E. Lee
28:27and Stonewall Jackson
28:29of the Confederacy
28:30at the likes of Antietam
28:31and Gettysburg
28:32which saw old
28:3418th century tactics
28:35combine with
28:36newly industrialized
28:37forms of warfare
28:38to produce casualties
28:40of unimaginable scale.
28:42On the 1st of January 1863,
28:45President Lincoln
28:45issued the
28:46Emancipation Proclamation
28:47which declared
28:48all enslaved people
28:50in the Confederate States
28:51to be free
28:51making the ending
28:53of slavery
28:53as an institution
28:54an explicit war aim.
28:57By April 1865,
28:58most of the Confederate
29:00states had either
29:01been occupied
29:02or surrounded
29:03by Union forces.
29:04With no prospect
29:06of escape or relief,
29:07Robert E. Lee
29:08met with Ulysses S. Grant
29:10at the Appomattox
29:11Courthouse in Virginia
29:13on the 9th of April
29:14and formally surrendered,
29:16thereby marking
29:17the end of the Civil War
29:18that had claimed
29:19over 600,000 Americans' lives.
29:22The victory celebrations,
29:24however,
29:24were short-lived.
29:25For just five days later,
29:27on the evening of the 14th of April,
29:29Abraham Lincoln was shot
29:31by the Confederate sympathizer
29:32John Wilkes Booth
29:33while watching a theater performance
29:35and died the following morning,
29:37becoming the first American president
29:39to be assassinated.
29:41Despite the loss of Lincoln,
29:43the country began a process
29:45of reconstructing
29:46and reintegrating
29:47the war-ravaged southern states,
29:49notably by passing
29:50the 13th Amendment
29:51in December 1865,
29:53which formally abolished slavery
29:56throughout the United States.
29:58Further amendments followed,
30:00which enfranchised
30:01African Americans
30:02with the right to vote
30:03and hold public office,
30:04with Hiram R. Revels
30:06becoming the first black senator
30:08to sit in the U.S. Congress.
30:10But there nevertheless
30:11remained a deep racial bias
30:13in the southern states
30:14in the post-war years.
30:15The Ku Klux Klan emerged in 1865,
30:18headed by former Confederate General
30:20Nathan Bedford Forrest,
30:22to orchestrate a campaign of terror
30:24against African Americans
30:25and their white allies
30:26across the South.
30:28And, after the withdrawal
30:29of federal troops
30:30from former Confederate areas
30:32in 1876,
30:34the southern states moved rapidly
30:35to construct a system
30:36of racial segregation
30:37through new laws,
30:39poll taxes,
30:40literacy tests,
30:41and outright violence
30:43that became known
30:44as the Jim Crow Laws,
30:45which would remain enforced
30:47in the South
30:47for the better part
30:48of a century.
30:50Meanwhile,
30:51far to the northwest
30:52of the continent,
30:53the United States
30:54was in the process
30:55of acquiring
30:55what would become
30:56its largest state.
30:58During the previous century,
31:00the territory of Alaska
31:01had not been colonized
31:02by Britain,
31:03France,
31:04or Spain,
31:04but Russia.
31:06However,
31:07its harsh environment
31:08and remote location
31:09had attracted few settlers,
31:11and by the 1860s,
31:13it was viewed
31:14as more of a liability
31:15than an asset
31:16to the Russian Empire.
31:18Knowing this,
31:19the U.S. Secretary of State,
31:20William Seward,
31:22entered into negotiations
31:23with the Russians
31:23and purchased the entirety
31:25of Alaska in 1867
31:27for $7.2 million,
31:30approximately $150 million
31:31in today's money.
31:33A spirit of progress
31:35gripped the United States
31:36in the years following
31:37the Civil War
31:38as it began industrializing
31:39and developing
31:40at a remarkable speed.
31:42Much of this
31:43was owed to the completion
31:44of the first
31:45transcontinental railroad
31:46in May 1869,
31:48which connected
31:49the Atlantic
31:50and Pacific coasts
31:51by rail,
31:52collapsing journey times
31:53that would have taken months
31:55to just a few days.
31:56New towns sprouted
31:58along the rail lines
31:59almost overnight,
32:00allowing for more
32:01new settlers,
32:02known as homesteaders,
32:04from the eastern states
32:05and Europe
32:05to flood
32:06onto the Great Plains,
32:08transforming it
32:08into sprawling acres
32:10of productive farmland.
32:11But the area
32:12to the west
32:13of the Mississippi
32:14was still home
32:15to a myriad
32:16of Native American tribes
32:17who viewed
32:18the ever-increasing
32:19number of settlers
32:20encroaching
32:21onto their ancestral land
32:22as a direct threat
32:23to their ancient
32:24way of life.
32:26Throughout the latter
32:27half of the 19th century,
32:29the rapid expansion,
32:30settlement,
32:31and often lawless
32:32development
32:32of the American frontier
32:34made conflict
32:35between natives
32:36and settlers
32:36an inevitability.
32:38The United States Army
32:40conducted a decades-long
32:41campaign to pacify
32:43and forcibly remove
32:44the tribes
32:45of the Great Plains
32:46and Southwest,
32:47with hundreds of engagements
32:48being fought
32:49across the region.
32:50Tribes like the Apache,
32:52led by Geronimo,
32:53and the Sioux,
32:54led by Sitting Bull,
32:56offered fierce resistance,
32:57with the latter
32:58fighting in the most
32:59notable battle
33:00of the period
33:00at the Little Bighorn
33:02in June 1876,
33:04in which Lakota
33:05and Cheyenne warriors
33:06annihilated the U.S.
33:087th Cavalry Regiment
33:09under Lieutenant Colonel
33:10George Armstrong Custer.
33:12It would take
33:13another 20 years
33:14for the United States
33:15to bring the West
33:16under full federal control,
33:17but some skirmishes
33:19with natives
33:19continued well
33:20into the early 20th century.
33:22The American frontier
33:24was also witnessing
33:25the emergence
33:25of another iconic figure
33:27in its history
33:27during this time,
33:28the cowboy.
33:30As cattle became
33:31the staple livestock
33:32of the Great Plains,
33:34cowboys were employed
33:35to drive the cattle
33:36from the grazing fields
33:37to new market towns
33:38like Dodge City,
33:40Cheyenne,
33:40and Amarillo.
33:42The sporadic
33:42and isolated nature
33:44of these new boom towns
33:45made law and order
33:46difficult to enforce,
33:48and consequently,
33:49the region as a whole
33:50suffered greatly
33:51at the hands
33:52of outlaw gangs
33:53and bandits,
33:54some of the most infamous
33:55being the James Younger gang,
33:57Billy the Kid,
33:58as well as
33:59Butch Cassidy
33:59and the Sundance Kid,
34:01who engaged in everything
34:02from duelling
34:03and cattle rustling
34:04to robbing stagecoaches,
34:06banks,
34:06and trains.
34:08By the dawn
34:09of the 20th century,
34:10the wild nature
34:11of the American frontier
34:12had largely been tamed,
34:14with the number
34:15of states in the Union
34:16growing to 47
34:17and the only
34:18unincorporated territories
34:19remaining being
34:20Oklahoma,
34:21New Mexico,
34:22Arizona,
34:23Alaska,
34:24and Hawaii,
34:25which had recently
34:26been annexed
34:27as part of a military coup
34:28in 1898.
34:30The US
34:30also gained control
34:32over the Philippines,
34:33Puerto Rico,
34:34and occupied Cuba
34:35that same year
34:36following their victory
34:37in the Spanish-American War.
34:39The country as a whole
34:40was transforming
34:41from a predominantly
34:42agricultural society
34:44into the world's
34:45largest industrial economy,
34:46driven principally
34:48by the exploitation
34:48of its abundant
34:49natural resources.
34:51Coal,
34:52iron ore,
34:53oil,
34:53copper,
34:54silver,
34:55and gold
34:55were extracted
34:56out of the ground
34:57to fuel the fires
34:58of industry
34:59and generate
35:00unprecedented
35:00wealth
35:01for business
35:01tycoons
35:02like Andrew Carnegie,
35:04John D. Rockefeller,
35:05and J.P. Morgan.
35:07America's cities
35:08also began to grow
35:09at an astonishing rate
35:10during this time.
35:12Chicago,
35:13St. Louis,
35:13and above all
35:14New York City
35:15were transformed
35:16by a frenzied
35:17building of skyscrapers,
35:19but they were also
35:20undergoing a broader
35:21societal change
35:22as millions
35:23of new immigrants,
35:24mostly from
35:25southern and eastern
35:26Europe,
35:26arrived on their streets
35:28to start new lives.
35:30The efforts
35:31which the nation
35:32had exerted upon
35:33itself to become
35:33a major economic
35:34and imperial power
35:35within such a short
35:37space of time
35:38resulted in a
35:39protectionist attitude
35:40from global instability,
35:41especially in the lead-up
35:43to the First World War.
35:44Consequently,
35:45when war did break out
35:47in 1914,
35:48President Woodrow Wilson
35:50initially declared
35:51neutrality,
35:51but Germany's
35:53targeting of merchant ships
35:54travelling between
35:55the US and Britain,
35:56such as RMS Lusitania,
35:58which was sunk in 1915
36:00with the loss of
36:011,198 people,
36:03including 128 Americans,
36:06created mounting
36:06public pressure
36:07for America
36:08to enter the war.
36:10The deciding factor
36:11came in 1917,
36:13when the so-called
36:14Zimmerman telegram
36:15revealed that Germany
36:17was planning to offer
36:18Mexico a military alliance
36:19with the prospect
36:20of recovering Texas,
36:22New Mexico,
36:22and Arizona
36:23from the United States.
36:26War was declared
36:27in April of that year,
36:28and American forces
36:29soon began deploying
36:31on the Western Front.
36:32The US Army provided
36:34the much-needed manpower
36:36for the beleaguered allies
36:37in repelling
36:38the German offensives
36:39of 1918,
36:40albeit at a cost
36:41of over 116,000
36:43American casualties.
36:45When the war came
36:46to an end that November,
36:48President Wilson
36:48subsequently travelled
36:49to Paris
36:50to deliver his 14 points
36:52as part of the peace conference
36:53and, above all,
36:55called for a League of Nations
36:57to resolve future conflicts
36:59without recourse to war.
37:01Ironically, however,
37:03the US Senate refused
37:04to ratify American membership
37:06to the League,
37:07fearing it would become
37:08entangled in future
37:10European affairs.
37:12Over the following decades
37:14of the interwar years,
37:15the United States returned
37:16to a policy of isolationism.
37:19This first produced a period
37:21of tremendous domestic prosperity
37:23during the 1920s.
37:24Although much of this period
37:26was characterised by prohibition,
37:28which created an enormous
37:29illicit market for alcohol
37:31that was headed by
37:32mafia crime lords
37:33such as Al Capone,
37:34that supplied drink
37:36to millions of Americans
37:37who refused to stop consuming it,
37:40beneath this,
37:41the legitimate economy
37:42was booming.
37:43Henry Ford's assembly line
37:45made mass-produced cars
37:47easily obtainable
37:48for ordinary Americans,
37:49and entertainment
37:50in the form of radio,
37:52Hollywood movies,
37:53and jazz music
37:54created the nation's
37:55first popular culture movements.
37:57However,
37:59as America's wealth ballooned,
38:01so did greed
38:02and speculation,
38:03which would come to expose
38:04the entire financial system's
38:06structural vulnerabilities.
38:08The 19th of October 1929,
38:11a day known as Black Tuesday,
38:13saw a catastrophic collapse
38:15of the New York Stock Exchange,
38:17which wiped out billions of dollars,
38:19triggering bank failures
38:20across the country
38:21and plunging the nation
38:22into the worst economic downturn
38:24in its history.
38:26The Great Depression that followed
38:28saw unemployment reach 25% by 1933,
38:32while the agricultural sector
38:33was simultaneously devastated
38:35by a catastrophic series
38:37of drought-driven storms
38:38that turned the southern Great Plains
38:40into a dust bowl.
38:41When Franklin Roosevelt
38:43won the presidential election
38:44by a landslide in 1932,
38:46he immediately launched
38:48the most ambitious program
38:49of government intervention
38:50in American history,
38:52the New Deal,
38:53which saw some levels
38:54of financial stability return
38:56and government-sponsored
38:57infrastructure projects
38:58like New Roads
38:59and the Hoover Dam
39:00be built
39:01to provide the much-needed jobs.
39:03The economic recovery, however,
39:05was nevertheless slow,
39:06with the effect of the Depression
39:08lasting throughout the 1930s
39:10and only coming to an end
39:12following the outbreak
39:12of the Second World War.
39:15Although the conflict
39:16had begun in 1939,
39:18American isolationism
39:19had thus far prevented it
39:20from being drawn in.
39:22But that all changed
39:23on the 7th of December, 1941,
39:25as the Empire of Japan
39:27conducted a preemptive strike
39:29against the American Navy's
39:30Pacific Fleet,
39:31stationed at Pearl Harbor
39:33in Hawaii.
39:34The United States
39:35declared war the next day
39:37and entered the conflict
39:38on the side of the Allies,
39:40sending its forces
39:40to fight against
39:41the Japanese in the Pacific,
39:43as well as Germany
39:44and Italy in Europe.
39:46The struggling American economy
39:48was revitalized
39:49into the greatest war machine
39:50in human history,
39:52producing aircraft,
39:53tanks,
39:54ships,
39:55weapons,
39:55and ammunition
39:56not only for American forces,
39:58but also supplying
39:59the militaries of Britain,
40:01the Soviet Union,
40:02and a dozen other Allies.
40:04Pivoted engagements
40:05like the D-Day landings
40:07in France
40:07and the taking of Iwo Jima
40:09in the Pacific
40:10turned the tide of the war
40:11in Americans' favor,
40:12meaning that by the spring
40:14of 1945,
40:15Nazi Germany
40:16had effectively been defeated
40:18and Japanese forces
40:19had been pushed back
40:21all the way
40:21to Japan itself.
40:23The war
40:24had already become
40:25the deadliest
40:26in human history,
40:27with US forces alone
40:28having sustained
40:30over one million casualties,
40:31either killed
40:32or wounded.
40:33However,
40:34it was known
40:35that this number
40:36would only rise further
40:37if a planned ground invasion
40:39of Japan
40:39was to go ahead.
40:41So instead,
40:42President Harry Truman
40:43authorized the deployment
40:45of a secret weapon
40:46to end the war
40:47once and for all.
40:48known under the codename
40:50of the Manhattan Project,
40:52the United States
40:53had undertaken
40:53a program of research
40:55and development
40:55of nuclear weapons.
40:57And after successfully
40:58testing in the New Mexico desert,
41:00on the 6th of August 1945,
41:03the US dropped
41:04a uranium bomb
41:05on the Japanese city
41:07of Hiroshima,
41:08killing between 70,000
41:09and 80,000 people
41:11instantly.
41:12Three days later,
41:14a second bomb
41:15was dropped
41:15on Nagasaki,
41:16which forced Japan
41:18to surrender
41:18and bring the Second World War
41:20to an end at last.
41:22The United States
41:23that emerged
41:24from the conflict
41:25was a fundamentally
41:26different country
41:27from the one
41:28which had entered it.
41:29Alongside the Soviet Union,
41:31it now stood
41:32as one of the world's
41:33two superpowers,
41:34which despite having
41:35fought on the same side
41:37against Nazi Germany,
41:38were now opposed
41:39to one another
41:40through different ideologies.
41:42throughout the remaining
41:43years of the 20th century,
41:45the Cold War
41:46between the Democratic West,
41:47headed by the United States,
41:49and Communist East,
41:50headed by the USSR,
41:51saw the world divided
41:53into two competing
41:54spheres of influence.
41:56The United States
41:57poured billions of dollars
41:58into Europe
41:59in the form of
42:00the Marshall Plan in 1948,
42:02in a bid to halt
42:03and contain
42:04any further spread
42:05of communism
42:06on the continent.
42:07This was furthered
42:08in the following year,
42:09when it led the formation
42:10of the North Atlantic
42:11Treaty Organization,
42:13NATO,
42:14which formed
42:14a military alliance
42:15of Western powers
42:16in anticipation
42:17of a future nuclear conflict
42:19with the Soviet Union.
42:21Although this never materialized,
42:23the United States
42:24did engage
42:25in numerous
42:26clandestine operations
42:27around the world
42:28to stop
42:29the spread of communism,
42:30but also fought
42:31in open conflicts
42:32like that in Korea
42:34during the 1950s,
42:35and most notably of all
42:36in Vietnam
42:37during the 1960s
42:39and 1970s.
42:40Perhaps,
42:41more than anything else,
42:42however,
42:43the Cold War
42:44between East and West
42:45was symbolically fought
42:46in the space race,
42:48which although the Soviets
42:49were the first
42:50to put a man in space,
42:51the Americans
42:52were able to go
42:53one step further
42:54with the Apollo 11
42:55mission of 1969
42:56and became the first
42:58to put a man
42:59on the moon.
43:01Meanwhile,
43:02back home,
43:03the United States
43:04was undergoing
43:05a remarkable social change
43:07during this time.
43:07despite the American
43:09Civil War
43:10ending a century ago,
43:11lives for most
43:13black Americans
43:13had changed little
43:14and were still defined
43:16by rigid racial segregation
43:17and discrimination,
43:19especially in the South.
43:21Matters finally began
43:22to change
43:23when Rosa Parks
43:24refused to give up
43:25her seat
43:26to a white passenger
43:27on a bus in Alabama
43:28in 1955,
43:30which ignited
43:31the civil rights movement.
43:32led by Martin Luther King Jr.,
43:35it systematically exposed
43:37the violent
43:38and discriminatory
43:39nature of segregation,
43:41forcing the Kennedy administration
43:42to confront it
43:43as a defining
43:44moral issue.
43:45Although Kennedy
43:46was assassinated
43:47in Dallas
43:48in November 1963,
43:50it fell to President
43:51Lyndon Johnson
43:52to drive
43:53the Civil Rights Act
43:54of 1964
43:55through Congress,
43:56which thereafter
43:57made it illegal
43:58to discriminate
43:59on grounds of race,
44:00color,
44:01religion,
44:01sex,
44:02or national origin.
44:04The Voting Rights Act
44:05followed in the next year
44:06of 1965,
44:08allowing black Americans
44:09to vote freely
44:10and elect their own
44:11black officials
44:12to local and state office,
44:14although much of the progress
44:15achieved was undone
44:16by the assassination
44:18of Martin Luther King himself
44:19in Memphis
44:20in April 1968.
44:23The remaining decades
44:24of the 20th century
44:25saw the United States
44:27evolve into the nation
44:28that it is today.
44:30Although it was marked
44:31by some embarrassing events
44:32such as the resignation
44:33of President Nixon
44:34in relation to the Watergate
44:36scandal in 1974
44:37and humiliating withdrawal
44:40of troops
44:40at the end
44:41of the Vietnam War
44:42with the fall
44:43of Saigon
44:43in 1975.
44:45By the turn
44:46of the 1980s,
44:47relations with the Soviet Union
44:49had begun to thaw
44:50before eventually
44:51leading to the collapse
44:52of communism
44:53within the USSR
44:54entirely
44:55following the fall
44:56of the Berlin Wall
44:56in 1989,
44:58leaving the United States
44:59as the undisputed superpower
45:01on the world stage.
45:03Throughout the 1990s
45:05and into the new millennium,
45:07America exerted
45:08a triumphalist confidence,
45:10embodied through liberal democracy
45:11and free market capitalism.
45:13But there were still some
45:14in the world
45:15that opposed these views
45:16and considered American influence
45:18in their countries
45:19as nothing less
45:20than modern imperialism
45:21that must be stopped.
45:23The attacks on September 11th
45:25horrified the nation
45:26and the wider world,
45:28prompting President George W. Bush
45:30to launch the so-called
45:32War on Terror,
45:33which resulted in the invasions
45:34of Afghanistan and Iraq,
45:36which would define
45:37American foreign policy
45:38for the next two decades.
45:41Today,
45:42the United States
45:43stands as a nation
45:44of some 340 million people,
45:47the third largest
45:48in the world
45:49by population,
45:50occupying a landmass
45:51that stretches
45:52from the sub-arctic tundra
45:54of Alaska
45:54to the tropical reefs
45:56of Hawaii,
45:56from the Atlantic beaches
45:58of Maine
45:59to the Pacific cliffs
46:00of California.
46:02Through migration,
46:03colonization,
46:04settlement,
46:05conflict,
46:06revolution,
46:07fracture,
46:08and expansion,
46:09the United States
46:10has been irreversibly shaped
46:12by every event
46:13in its history
46:14to become the preeminent
46:16world superpower
46:17of the modern day,
46:18and central to this
46:19has been the idea
46:21that was laid down
46:22250 years ago.
46:24That anyone,
46:25from anywhere,
46:26can arrive on its shores,
46:28cast off the tyranny
46:29or poverty they left behind,
46:31and claim for themselves
46:33life,
46:34liberty,
46:35and the pursuit
46:36of happiness
46:36as an American.