55 minSeason 1 • Episode 6
LatestPeace comes to the United States, but governing the world's newest republic is no simple task. Congress is ineffectual and individual states act like sovereign nations. By the time the Constitutional Convention convenes in 1787, many wonder if the country can survive. The long ratification process helps define what sort of nation the United States is to be—a process that continues to this day.
Dramatic documentary about the birth of the American Republic and the struggle of a loosely connected group of states to become a nation.
Acting
Victor Garber and Donna Murphy serve period drama realness.
Production
PBS went HARD on these wigs and candlelit interiors.
Writing
Letters read aloud hit like prestige TV dialogue.
Victor Garber
John Dickinson
Donna Murphy
Abigail Adams
Alex Jennings
King George III
Anthony Heald
Philip Vickers Fithian
Colm Feore
Alexander Hamilton
Peter Donaldson
John Adams
Stephen Lang
George Washington
Jefferson Mays
James Madison
Edward Herrmann
Narrator
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Joseph Plumb Martin
Jane Adams
Sara Scott
Jake Weber
Virginia Officer
Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Luke - Slave
Terrence Mann
General John Burgoyne
Mel Johnson Jr.
Jehu Grant
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Victor Garber played John Dickinson here AND John Dickinson in the 2015 Broadway musical 1776 revival—dude's got a type.
This aired right before the 1998 Spielberg boom of prestige historical drama, making it basically the quiet before the Saving Private Ryan storm.
US
