2007 History Lecture Series - The Forces That Shaped America

In this five-part series, Professor Richard Johnson explores the lives and work of the first founders, those who created the societies of early North America. Beginning with America's first inhabitants – the Indians from the Northwest – Professor Johnson examines the effects, at once creative and catastrophic, of the arrival of new European and African peoples from across the Atlantic. He examines the fierce clash of race, culture and the forces that forged new states and social systems, all of which ultimately shape the emergence of the United States.

Note: These audio files are in the .mp3 format. They should play on Windows Media, RealPlayer, iTunes and other media players.

January 16: A Clash of Continents
After millennia of separate development, contrasting North American, European, and African societies and cultures collide as a flood of old world migrants cross the ocean. Amid fierce struggle and demographic upheavals, new American empires, both European and Indian, take shape within what is now an Atlantic world.

January 23: The Chesapeake and New England: the English Take Root
The English, late upon the scene, struggle through hardship and exploitation to establish Virginia, the colony “founded on smoke.” To the north, Puritan settlers with very different motives craft bible commonwealths and town life in New England.

January 30: The Remaking of Government, Race, and Labor
A second wave of English settlement in Maryland, Carolina, and Pennsylvania brings new forms of constitutional government and religious practice, sharpening divisions within society. Indians and colonists move from coexistence to confrontation. Ways of life and work marked by class rivalries and white servant labor are reshaped by the massive importation of African peoples now destined by their race to be slaves.

February 6: A Time of Troubles and the Spread of Empire
As the colonies pass through a time of social and political instability, they are drawn within England’s political control. A “Glorious Revolution” on both sides of the Atlantic launches half a century of royal government, imperial warfare, and dramatic internal growth.

February 13: Reviving Religion and Inspiring Rebellion
Amid a burgeoning prosperity, the colonists seek to recover their religious purpose in America’s first “Great Awakening,” pioneering new relationships between church and state. Victory in war precipitates imperial reform and resentment, setting a course for rebellion and a new America.

Visit the History Lecture Series pages for more details about the series.

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