In the summer of 1776, the Americans agree to formally declare their independence from Britain.

In the century following the Battle of Lexington, artists depicted the event in various and sometimes competing ways.

To take on the British, the colonial forces needed a general and weapons.

The patriot militiamen attempt to contain the British in Boston, with bloody consequences.

War begins in earnest for Britain and her American colonists.

The American patriots join together as Britain’s rule becomes intolerable.

Bostonians reject British law and tea.

Tensions rise and blood is spilled by the British.

With a tax law in 1765, Great Britain stirs up fury and resistance in her American colonies.

Reaching all thirteen colonies, the Great Awakening established a lasting part of America's landscape.

The conflict between France and Britain reaches America with expensive results.

The colony of Maryland was intended as a refuge for Catholics in the New World.

William Penn sailed for Pennsylvania with great ambitions for a new Quaker colony in the New World.

The Puritans sail for New England to establish their "City upon a hill".

In search of freedom, the Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth.

The British establish Jamestown as their first permanent settlement in America.

The first British colony in the New World, Roanoke, remains a mystery to this day.

The Spanish make their permanent mark on the New World.

How discovery and mistake led to our name.

Columbus opened up the way to one world and left his mark on America.

We begin at the beginning, with the first Americans.