Shows / Creating America
Creating America
The documents and speeches that shaped the United States. It is my hope that as you listen to these documents and speeches you will gain an appreciation of what our country was, what it is, and what it hopes to be.
Episodes
- Creating America
Episode 33: The Law That Opened the American West - and Displaced Its First Peoples
In the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln signed a law that promised ordinary Americans something extraordinary: the opportunity to claim 160 acres of…
- Creating America
Episode 32: “The Negro Is Not Equal” | Slavery, White Supremacy, and the Cornerstone Speech
In March 1861, as Abraham Lincoln called for the preservation of the Union, the Confederacy’s vice president delivered a speech that laid bare the ideology…
- Creating America
Episode 31: Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address | Can America Survive Secession?
In March 1861, the United States stood on the brink of civil war. Seven Southern states had seceded, the Confederacy was establishing a rival government, and…
- Creating America
Episode 30: Lincoln’s Case Against Slavery’s Expansion | New Haven, CT - 1860
In March 1860, Abraham Lincoln came to New Haven, Connecticut, as a presidential candidate still fighting for national recognition. Just two months later, the…
- Creating America
Episode 29: John Brown’s Final Speech | Martyr, Radical, or Both?
In November 1859, John Brown stood before the court in Charles Town, Virginia, knowing he had been sentenced to death for his role in the raid on Harpers…
- Creating America
Episode 28: Lincoln’s “House Divided” | The Speech That Warned America
In June 1858, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most consequential speeches of his political career: his famous “House Divided” speech. Standing before the…
- Creating America
Episode 27: Frederick Douglass Takes on the Dred Scott Decision
In 1857, the Supreme Court handed down the infamous Dred Scott decision, declaring that Black Americans could not be citizens of the United States and ruling…
- Creating America
Episode 26: Dred Scott: The Supreme Court’s Most Infamous Decision
Dred Scott v. Sandford, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857, is one of the most consequential and controversial decisions in American history. The Court…
- Creating America
A Quick Break!
I'm currently on vacation visiting a US National Park, and my work schedule is a bit hectic right after I get back. But we'll be back with new episodes soon!
- Creating America
Episode 25: America's Founding Documents (250th Anniversary Special) | The Declaration of Independence, Constitution & Bill of Rights
As America approaches the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Creating America revisits the documents that laid the foundation of the United…
- Creating America
Episode 24: Frederick Douglass | What to a Slave is the 4th of July? (full speech)
In this powerful episode of the Creating America Podcast, host Will Sarris presents a reading of the full text of Frederick Douglass’s landmark 1852 speech…
- Creating America
Episode 23: Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I A Woman?" | The Intersection of Abolition and Women's Rights
In this episode of Creating America, host Will Sarris presents one of the most influential speeches in American history: Sojourner Truth's powerful 1851…
- Creating America
Episode 22: The Seneca Falls Convention | Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Declaration of Sentiments
In this episode of Creating America, we read two foundational items (a speech and a document) that stand at the origins of the American women's rights…
- Creating America
Episode 21: Slavery, Secession, and the Union | Calhoun, Webster, and the Compromise of 1850
In this episode of Creating America, we explore one of the most consequential political debates in American history: the struggle over slavery, secession, and…
- Creating America
Episode 20: Andrew Jackson, Indian Removal & the Trail of Tears | The Dark Side of Manifest Destiny
The United States often celebrates its founding ideals of liberty and freedom, but this episode of the Creating America Podcast explores a far darker chapter…
- Creating America
Episode 19: Religious Freedom | Thomas Jefferson & the “Wall of Separation”
In this episode of Creating America, host Will Sarris explores the origins of religious freedom in the United States through the First Amendment, Thomas…
- Creating America
Episode 18: Teaching Them How to Say Goodbye | George Washington's Farewell Address
In this episode of the Creating America Podcast, host Will Sarris explores one of the most influential speeches in American history: George Washington’s…
- Creating America
Episode 17: The Man Who Willingly Gave Up Power | Washington's 1783 Resignation & First Inaugural Address
In Episode 17 of the Creating America Podcast, we explore two extraordinary moments in the life of George Washingtonthat helped define the American experiment…
- Creating America
Episode 16: Brutus, The Anti-Federalist | The Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10)
ive into the origins of the United States Bill of Rights (Amendments 1–10) in this episode of Creating America: The Documents and Speeches That Shaped the…
- Creating America
Episode 15: The Federalist Papers, Part 4: Thoughts on Bills of Rights & Concluding Remarks (Nos. 84 & 85)
In this episode of Creating America, host and narrator Will Sarris presents dramatic readings of Federalist Papers No. 84 and No. 85, written by Alexander…
- Creating America
Episode 14 - The Federalist Papers, Part 3: Supremacy, Checks & Balances, and Executive Power (Nos. 33, 51, & 70)
Dive into the foundations of American government in this episode of Creating America: The Documents and Speeches That Shaped the United States. Host Will…
- Creating America
Episode 13 - The Federalist Papers, Part 2: Why the Articles of Confederation Failed (Nos. 15 & 21)
Why did the Articles of Confederation fail—and how did that lead to the U.S. Constitution? In this episode of Creating America, we continue our exploration of…
- Creating America
Episode 12 - The Federalist Papers, Part 1: Union, Liberty, and the Problem of Faction (Nos. 1 & 10)
In this episode of Creating America, host Will Sarris introduces one of the most influential collections of political writing in United States history: The…
- Creating America
Episode 11: Anti-Federalism in Action | Patrick Henry’s Warning: “I Tremble for My Country” (June 7, 1788)
In this episode of Creating America, we travel to the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788 to hear one of the most powerful Anti-Federalist voices of the…
- Creating America
Episode 10: We the People | The Constitution of the United States
his episode of Creating America is devoted to a full reading of the Constitution of the United States, the foundational document that established the framework…
- Creating America
Episode 9: Voices of Freedom | Enslaved Petitions & Early Abolition in Revolutionary America
In this episode of Creating America, host Will Sarris reads powerful but often overlooked voices from the Revolutionary era—documents written by enslaved…
- Creating America
Episode 8: The American Crisis, No. 1: | "These Are the Times That Try Men’s Souls” (1776)
This episode features a dramatic reading of the first pamphlet from The American Crisis by Thomas Paine, published in December 1776 during the darkest days of…
- Creating America
Episode 7: The Articles of Confederation | America’s First Government
In this episode, we read one of the most misunderstood yet crucial documents in American history: The Articles of Confederation. After declaring independence…
- Creating America
Episode 6: John Quincy Adams on the Declaration of Independence | America’s Moral and Political Origins
In this episode of Creating America: The Documents and Speeches That Shaped the United States, host and narrator Will Sarris presents a powerful historical…
- Creating America
Episode 5: Common Sense by Thomas Paine (Part 3) | Of the Present Ability of America: with Some Miscellaneous Reflections
In this episode of Creating America: The Documents and Speeches That Shaped the United States, host and narrator Will Sarris continues the dramatic reading of…
- Creating America
Episode 4: Common Sense by Thomas Paine (Part 2) | Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs
This episode continues our chronological journey through Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, one of the most influential political pamphlets in American history and a…
- Creating America
Episode 3: Common Sense by Thomas Paine (Part 1) | The Pamphlet That Ignited American Independence
In this episode of Creating America: The Documents and Speeches That Shaped the United States, host and narrator Will Sarris presents a dramatic reading of…
- Creating America
Episode 2: Give me Liberty! and The Declaration of Independence
Welcome to the Creating America Podcast, the documents and speeches that shaped the United States I’m Will Sarris. I’m an actor and media professional and I’ve…
- Creating America
Episode 1: The Mayflower Compact & John Hancock on The Boston Massacre
Welcome to the Creating America Podcast, the documents and speeches that shaped the United States I’m Will Sarris. I’m an actor and media professional and I’ve…