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LIBERTY! THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: EPISODE 2: BLOWS MUST DECIDE (TV)

Summary

Continued from T:53432. One in this six-part series documenting the twenty-five-year period of the American Revolution. Episode two focuses on the outbreak of war and the evolution of the Declaration of Independence. This program, narrated by Edward Herrmann, includes remarks by historians, re-enactments of historical events, and dramatizations of colonialists' documents, letters, and diaries. Historian Jeremy Black explains that British Parliament perceived the Boston Tea Party as an act of defiance and betrayal by the colonies, and responded with the Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts of 1774. To deal with the conflict, delegates from the colonies assembled to form the Continental Congress. Comments include: Black on the Congress' attempts to petition a withdrawal of British military occupation, and Parliament's refusal to do so, since colonialists had begun to arm themselves; author George C. Neumann on the colonialists' increasingly hostile mood as Britain continued to send troops; and historians Don Higginbotham and Richard Norton Smith on the first battle at Concorde, which began the Revolutionary War, and the Second Continental Congress and the battle at Bunker Hill. Re-enactments of the battles are included.

Historian Margaret Washington discusses the inclusion of African-American soldiers in the militia; and, Pauline Maier comments on the fragmentation among colonists, and John Dickinson's unsuccessful last-ditch effort to stave off a full-fledged war. Next is a discussion about the way radical journalist Thomas Paine's pamphlet, "Common Sense," addressed colonialists' divisions and confusion at the end of British rule. Included are quotes from Thomas Paine and Abigail Adams on equality and governmental responsibility. Washington, Maier, and N.A.M. Rodgers then discuss the growing American desire to abandon the British monarchy and create a government based on the participation of common people. John Shy remarks on the inevitability of the Declaration of Independence and describes its creation. Episode two concludes with the formal adoption of the Declaration of Independence in July of 1776. Continues with T:53435.

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

Details

  • NETWORK: PBS
  • DATE: November 23, 1997 9:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:58:30
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: T:53430
  • GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries; Docudrama
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Blacks in war; Boston Tea Party, 1773; Declaration of Independence, The; U S - History - Revolution - Drama; African-American Collection - News/Talk
  • 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
  • Sharon Sachs … Co-Producer
  • Ronald Blumer … Co-Producer, Writer
  • Jennifer Raikes … Associate Producer
  • Smokey Forester … Series Producer
  • Laurie Jones … Researcher
  • Tim Brady … Writer
  • Richard Einhorn … Music by
  • Mark O'Connor … Music by
  • Forrest Sawyer … Host
  • Herrmann, Edward (See also: Herrmann, Ed) … Narrator, Cast, Lord Lyttleton
  • Philip Bosco … Cast, Benjamin Franklin
  • J.D. Cullum … Cast, Nicholas Cresswell
  • Peter Donaldson … Cast, John Adams
  • Victor Garber … Cast, John Dickinson
  • Peter Gerety … Cast, Samuel Adams
  • Patrick Horgan … Cast, Joseph Priestly
  • John Horton … Cast, Alexander Wedderburn
  • Alex Jennings … Cast, King George III
  • Mel Johnson … Cast, Jehu Grant
  • Mark Letheren … Cast, the British Soldier
  • Roberta Maxwell … Cast, Mercy Otis Warren/Bostonian
  • Donna Murphy … Cast, Abigail Adams
  • Mark Nelson … Cast, the Loyalist
  • Austin Pendleton … Cast, Benjamin Rush
  • Remak Ramsay … Cast, Thomas Hutchinson
  • Rogers Rees … Cast, Thomas Paine
  • Reno Roop … Cast, Soames Jenyns
  • Cambpell Scott … Cast, Thomas Jefferson
  • Sam Tsoutsouvas … Cast, Hugh Ledlie
  • Jake Weber … Cast, the Virginia Officer
  • Andrew Weems … Cast, George Hewes
  • David Yelland … Cast, Edmund Burke
  • Stephen Lang … Cast, George Washington
  • Bernard Bailyn
  • Carol Berkin
  • Jeremy Black
  • Colin Bonwick
  • Jack Greene
  • Don Higginbotham
  • Ron Hoffman
  • John Keegan
  • Claude-Anne Lopez
  • Pauline Maier
  • George C. Neumann
  • John Shy
  • Richard Norton Smith
  • N.A.M. Rodger
  • Margaret Washington
  • Gordon S. Wood
  • J. Paul Boehmer
  • Yo-Yo Ma
  • Wynton Marsalis
  • James Taylor
  • Nashville Symphony, The
  • David Hildebrand
  • Ginger Hildebrand