America: The Story of Us is an epic 12-hour television series that tells the extraordinary story of how America was invented. With dramatic recreations and thoughtful insights from some of America’s most respected artists, business leaders, academics and intellectuals, it is the first television presentation in nearly 40 years that presents a comprehensive telling of America’s history. In the first free episode released on the History Channel, a 44-minute video covers the beginning of the history of America, from Jamestown to Plymouth. Click here for the video posted on YouTube on August 28, 2025.

The video starts with the settlement in Jamestown where the Powhatan Indians encounter John Rolfe as he uses lucrative tobacco crops to sow the seeds of opportunity in America’s first colonial settlement.

(Above) The settlement of Plymouth Colony is then portrayed, emphasizing the critical role that the Pokanoket Tribe played in ensuring the survival of the English, including joining them in 1623 in an attack on leaders of other tribes at the English settlement at Wessagusset.

The Northeast became a powerhouse of trade as New York City and Boston developed, but tension, taxation and resistance exploded into war in 1776 as the rebels took on the might of the British Empire.