LIBERTY! THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: EPISODE 6: ARE WE TO BE A NATION? (TV)

Summary

Continued from T:53433. The final episode in this six-part series documenting the twenty-five-year American Revolutionary period. Episode six chronicles the post-war period, including the creation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. This program, narrated by Edward Herrmann, includes remarks by historians, re-enactments of historical events, and dramatizations of colonialists' documents, letters, and diaries. After the victory of the Revolutionary War, Americans briefly celebrated their liberty, their new roles as citizens rather than royal subjects, and the limitless opportunities ahead of them. However, as historians Carol Berkin, Gordon S. Wood, and Jack Greene note, America consisted of thirteen poorly organized and competitive states, and nothing about their future as a nation was certain. Next is a description of the growing conflicts that led to Shay's Rebellion. Historian Pauline Maier explains that the need for a stable government forced leaders from the thirteen states to assemble in Philadelphia. The result was the Constitution, which was suspected of being a threat to America's recently earned liberty. Included are comments by Bernard Bailyn on the public furor that ensued, and quotes from James Madison on the strength inherent in the system of checks and balances. Maier discusses tactics the Federalists used to get the Constitution ratified, and the compromise that was achieved with the creation of the Bill of Rights. Finally, historian Christopher L. Brown suggests that the Constitution and Bill of Rights brought the question of slavery to the forefront, and syndicated columnist George Will describes the shift in political ideals from the beginning of the Revolution to the post-war period.

Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1998.

Details

• NETWORK: PBS
• DATE: November 25, 1997 Tuesday 10:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:58:34
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: T:53431
• GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries; Docudrama
• SUBJECT HEADING: U S - History - Revolution; U S Constitution
• SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1997
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Catherine Allan … Executive Producer
• Erika Herrmann … Coordinating Producer
• Ellen Hovde … Producer, Director
• Muffie Meyer … Producer, Director
• Ronald Blumer … Co-Producer, Writer
• Sharon Sachs … Co-Producer
• Jennifer Raikes … Associate Producer
• Smokey Forester … Production (Misc.), Series Producer
• Laurie Jones … Researcher
• Tim Brady … Writer, For KTCA, Researcher
• Richard Einhorn … Music by
• Mark O'Connor … Music by
• Forrest Sawyer … Host
• Herrmann, Edward (See also: Herrmann, Ed) … Narrator
• David Bishins … Cast, Melancton Smith
• Leo Burmester … Cast, Gen. Nathanael Greene
• Rob Campbell … Cast, Noah Webster
• Matthew Cowles … Cast, William Gibson
• Colm Feore … Cast, Alexander Hamilton
• Murphy Guyer … Cast, Benjamin Gilbert
• Philip Seymour Hoffman … Cast, Joseph Plumb Martin
• Neil Maffin … Cast, Charles Woodmason and an Anti-Federalist
• Jefferson Mays … Cast, James Madison
• Donna Murphy … Cast, Abigail Adams
• James Murtaugh … Cast, the Anti-Federalist
• James Naughton … Cast, Patrick Henry
• Austin Pendleton … Cast, Benjamin Rush
• Kali Rocha … Cast, Eliza Wilkinson
• Campbell Scott … Cast, Thomas Jefferson
• Jamison Selby … Cast, the Southern Patriot
• Joris Stuyck … Cast, Johann Ewald
• Sam Tsoutsouvas … Cast, Hugh Ledlie
• Jake Weber … Cast, the Virginia Gentleman
• Paxton Whitehead … Cast, Horace Walpole
• Isiah Whitlock … Cast, Luke, a Slave
• Stephen Lang … Cast, George Washington
• Bernard Bailyn
• Carol Berkin
• Christopher L. Brown
• Jack Greene
• Pauline Maier
• George Will
• Gordon S. Wood
• Yo-Yo Ma
• Wynton Marsalis
• James Taylor
• Nashville Symphony, The
• David Hildebrand
• Ginger Hildebrand