By the 18 fifties, enslaved people have cut down vast forest lands and two million are toiling in the fields across now eight cotton states. By this time, the louisiana purchase and the mexican american war, the us. Has conquered and claimed much more land all the way to california. And american cotton is clothing much of the world. Says baptist, as central to the global economy as oil is to day.
In the decades after America’s founding and the establishment of the Constitution, did the nation get better, more just, more democratic? Or did it double down on violent conquest and exploitation?
Reported, produced, written, and mixed by John Biewen, with series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. The series editor is Loretta Williams. Interviews with Robin Alario, Edward Baptist, Kidada Williams, and Keri Leigh Merritt.
Music by Algiers, John Erik Kaada, Eric Neveux, and Lucas Biewen. Music consulting and production help from Joe Augustine of Narrative Music.