Liberty! The American Revolution The Reluctant Revolutionaries
(eVideo)

English

In Process Record.

Title from title frames.

Features: Edward Herrmann, Forrest Sawyer

Originally produced by PBS in 1997.

Through interviews with historians and dramatic reenactments of eyewitness accounts, this documentary series chronicles the pivotal events that took place between 1763 and 1789 as the United States came into being. In 1763, America's capital city is London, Benjamin Franklin is considering retirement in England and no one connects Boston Harbor to tea parties. But British efforts to enforce the Stamp Act in 1765 bring protests in America, and attempts to impose sanctions on the colonies are met with increasing resistance. Dumping tea in Boston Harbor is the final straw. The British send troops to Massachusetts to quell the storm and install a military governor in the Spring of 1774. John Adams is called from Massachusetts to Philadelphia to become part of the first Continental Congress which included representatives from the thirteen colonies including George Washington, John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson. This ad hoc committee later finds itself forming a government. The Continental Congress installs the first army and assigns the army's first general. Though the colonists were reluctant to break from Mother England, the first shot at Lexington, whether intentional or by accident, becomes a declaration of war and the revolution officially begins. While the Continental Army engages the British Empire, Thomas Jefferson submits the first draft of the Declaration of Independence for the Congress's approval.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.