With the role the United States plays in the world, sometimes it is hard to imagine that there was a time when it did not held sway. But what makes it eventually the country it is to be? The 13-episode series delves into the events leading up to the eventual eight-year American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783, the major moments which took place in the war itself and the people at the heart of it, the chaos the newly-created country found itself in before George Washington took his oath of office.
At the beginning, there were actually 13 different colonies but they were administered from London and a monarch in King George III. It was in one of the major cities in the colonies in Boston where there were disagreements over how people living in the colonies were subjected to taxes. For Bostonians who were fed up with the taxes levied from across the Atlantic in London where the straw which broke the camel's back came how the British would come to tax something they have come to like in tea, there was already a group of intellectuals who had came together to form the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The people who would come to be part of the Continental Congress would be names long remembered in history like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin (who came in much later), John Hancock, and a certain George Washington. But before how history would come to remember these men, such a gathering was already considered illegal.
Still, it was at the Continental Congress where the very notion that everyone who were there were all Americans and not defined by where they came from before being in Philadelphia. There were the differences from the representatives from the 13 colonies on how they view the control the British has over their lands, but they all had a common goal in wanting London to grant them more autonomy. Independence from the United Kingdom was far from their minds. It only started to come to a head when what was happening in the 13 colonies reached London and troops were sent in to restore order and quash the rebellion. It would be the state of Massachusetts which took centre stage in the first episode. While Boston was where the revolt over the taxation of tea happened with the Boston Tea Party movement, it was in another town in Massachusetts in Lexington where the famous phrase of the 'shot heard around the world' happened. While nobody knew who fired the first shot which would come to launch the American Revolutionary War, there was no turning back in what began as skirmishes over taxes and the famous concept of 'no taxation without representation'.
But even as the war started, someone was needed to command the rag-tag group of volunteer soldiers. That was when the Continental Congress decided that the Virginian farm owner George Washington do the job. It would not be just Washington whose background story would be featured in the 13-episode series, the personal stories of Adams, Jefferson and Franklin were also featured at one point or another. Then there were also those who would come to be remembered for various reasons on the battlefield like Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. Not only that, there is also the story of someone who despite never being involved on the battlefield, would come to inspire those fighting for the very cause of independence, Thomas Paine and his book 'Common Sense'.
Then there is the role of France in the United States's fight for independence from the British. France was still a monarchy when Benjamin Franklin sought the support of King Louis XVI in military and naval support as the Continental Army was short on supplies. From what was only between the Americans and the British, the French involvement with the arrival of Marquis de Lafayette on the same side as the Continental Army made it a world war. The series would come to explore in one of the later episodes of how the French would come to get involved, and how it felt after the war ended after the battle at Yorktown.
While there is no doubt of how people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson would come to be remembered, it is the case of Benedict Arnold which can be a contentious one as how contemporary history remembered his role in selling out West Point to the British army. The series explore when it comes to his motivation for doing so. Regardless what, what Arnold did would come to set the precedent of how the country sees those it consider selling out to its enemies. It is up to the viewer to decide whether deep down, Arnold was either a patriot or a traitor, or both at the same time.
There were times watching the series, it does make one wonder if not for the various steps George Washington had taken on the battle front and how Benjamin Franklin would play his part even if he had never donned a military uniform, what would have happened to the 13 colonies. Even after Yorktown, there was also the arduous process of how the country should be run given of the various needs and demands from the 13 different states from up north in New York to down south in Florida.
Despite how one views the country we all know as the United States of America and even getting past the nationalistic and patriotic undertones of the analysts who provided commentary to the events of the time which the series also looked into the roles of the African-Americans and the American Indians in the American Revolutionary War, it is a reminder of how the story of the United States of America was actually also a story of David defeating Goliath, where the latter was referring to the United Kingdom which was the undisputed superpower in its time.
At the beginning, there were actually 13 different colonies but they were administered from London and a monarch in King George III. It was in one of the major cities in the colonies in Boston where there were disagreements over how people living in the colonies were subjected to taxes. For Bostonians who were fed up with the taxes levied from across the Atlantic in London where the straw which broke the camel's back came how the British would come to tax something they have come to like in tea, there was already a group of intellectuals who had came together to form the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The people who would come to be part of the Continental Congress would be names long remembered in history like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin (who came in much later), John Hancock, and a certain George Washington. But before how history would come to remember these men, such a gathering was already considered illegal.
Still, it was at the Continental Congress where the very notion that everyone who were there were all Americans and not defined by where they came from before being in Philadelphia. There were the differences from the representatives from the 13 colonies on how they view the control the British has over their lands, but they all had a common goal in wanting London to grant them more autonomy. Independence from the United Kingdom was far from their minds. It only started to come to a head when what was happening in the 13 colonies reached London and troops were sent in to restore order and quash the rebellion. It would be the state of Massachusetts which took centre stage in the first episode. While Boston was where the revolt over the taxation of tea happened with the Boston Tea Party movement, it was in another town in Massachusetts in Lexington where the famous phrase of the 'shot heard around the world' happened. While nobody knew who fired the first shot which would come to launch the American Revolutionary War, there was no turning back in what began as skirmishes over taxes and the famous concept of 'no taxation without representation'.
But even as the war started, someone was needed to command the rag-tag group of volunteer soldiers. That was when the Continental Congress decided that the Virginian farm owner George Washington do the job. It would not be just Washington whose background story would be featured in the 13-episode series, the personal stories of Adams, Jefferson and Franklin were also featured at one point or another. Then there were also those who would come to be remembered for various reasons on the battlefield like Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. Not only that, there is also the story of someone who despite never being involved on the battlefield, would come to inspire those fighting for the very cause of independence, Thomas Paine and his book 'Common Sense'.
Then there is the role of France in the United States's fight for independence from the British. France was still a monarchy when Benjamin Franklin sought the support of King Louis XVI in military and naval support as the Continental Army was short on supplies. From what was only between the Americans and the British, the French involvement with the arrival of Marquis de Lafayette on the same side as the Continental Army made it a world war. The series would come to explore in one of the later episodes of how the French would come to get involved, and how it felt after the war ended after the battle at Yorktown.
While there is no doubt of how people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson would come to be remembered, it is the case of Benedict Arnold which can be a contentious one as how contemporary history remembered his role in selling out West Point to the British army. The series explore when it comes to his motivation for doing so. Regardless what, what Arnold did would come to set the precedent of how the country sees those it consider selling out to its enemies. It is up to the viewer to decide whether deep down, Arnold was either a patriot or a traitor, or both at the same time.
There were times watching the series, it does make one wonder if not for the various steps George Washington had taken on the battle front and how Benjamin Franklin would play his part even if he had never donned a military uniform, what would have happened to the 13 colonies. Even after Yorktown, there was also the arduous process of how the country should be run given of the various needs and demands from the 13 different states from up north in New York to down south in Florida.
Despite how one views the country we all know as the United States of America and even getting past the nationalistic and patriotic undertones of the analysts who provided commentary to the events of the time which the series also looked into the roles of the African-Americans and the American Indians in the American Revolutionary War, it is a reminder of how the story of the United States of America was actually also a story of David defeating Goliath, where the latter was referring to the United Kingdom which was the undisputed superpower in its time.