America: the last best hope

v. 1. From the age of discovery to a world at war, 1492-1914. Westward the course (1492-1607): Columbus -- The scramble for empire -- The rise of England -- A city upon a hill (1607-1765): Coming to America -- The great migration -- Expanding British rule -- Britain and France: conflict for a continent -- Religious and intellectual awakenings -- Britain and France: the final conflict -- The greatest revolution ( 1765-1783): Stamping out unfair taxes -- A total separation -- The shot heard 'round the world -- A continental war -- The French alliance -- The world turned upside down -- A dangerous place -- Reflection and choice: framing the Constitution (1783-1789): A critical period -- Madison -- Ratification -- The new republic (1789-1801): "The sacred fire of liberty" -- Madison's Bill of Rights -- Hamilton's new system -- Hurricane Genet -- John Adams -- The Revolution of 1800 -- The Jeffersonians (1801-1829): An empire for liberty -- Lewis & Clark -- Plots, trials, treason -- Jefferson's last years -- Mr. Madison's war -- The Battle of New Orleans -- An era of good feeling -- The Missouri Compromise -- The Monroe Doctrine -- The election of 1824 -- Adams and Jefferson die -- Jackson and democracy (1828-1849): From caucus to raucous: the election of 1828 -- The Peggy Eaton affair -- John C. Calhoun -- Our federal union must be preserved -- The tragedy of Indian removal -- Jackson's war on the bank -- "Old man eloquent" -- Tippecanoe and Tyler, too! -- Great Harry of the West -- Reannexing Texas and reoccupying Oregon -- The halls of Montezuma --

The rising storm (1849-1861): California and the compromise of 1850

Railroads and reform

"Bleeding Kansas"

Dred Scott

Lincoln meets Douglas

John Brown and Harpers Ferry

The election of 1860

Freedom's fiery trial (1860-1863): Secession winter (1860-61)

Fort Sumter

Civil War

The Trent Affair

1862: Year of Jubilee

Emancipation

A new birth of freedom (1863-1865): Gettysburg: The Confederacy's high-water mark

The agony of Abraham Lincoln

"Long Abraham a little longer"

The Union victorious

To bind up the nation's wounds (1865-1877): Pass in review

Thunder on the borders: South and North

Reconstruction and renewal

Impeachment

"Let us have peace"

A tragic divorce in freedom's ranks

The spirit of 1876

A dangerous dispute

An age more golden than gilded? (1877-1897): Reform, Roosevelts and reaction

Grover Cleveland: "Tell the truth!"

The Golden Door

Winning the west

A social gospel

A cross of gold

From the new world

The American dynamo: shadowed by war (1897-1914): "A splendid little war"

Rough Rider politics

Teddy Roosevelt in the White House, and the Square Deal

Wielding the big stick

The William Howard Taft interlude

Unsinkable, unthinkable

1912 election

Woodrow Wilson and the new freedom

"The lights are going out..."

v. 2. From a world at war to the triumph of freedom, 1914-1989.