In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America

Episode 3 Overview: Independence (1763–1790)

Episode 3 of In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America examines the turbulent years that transformed British colonists into revolutionaries and positioned Philadelphia at the center of a new nation’s founding. In the aftermath of the Seven Years’ War, tensions rise as frontier violence, imperial taxation, and popular protest unsettle colonial life. The Paxton Boys’ attack on the Conestoga Indians shocks the region, while boycotts and organizing, led by artisans and laborers, signal a growing movement for self-determination.

The episode then turns to the gathering of the Continental Congress and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, elevating Philadelphia as the symbolic heart of revolution. Yet even as the city shapes bold new democratic ideals, war, economic crisis, and political instability test the fragile union. In 1787, delegates return to draft the Constitution, crafting a framework of government grounded in liberty while leaving slavery unresolved.

In a nation founded on independence, this program asks a central question: how could a republic devoted to freedom reconcile its revolutionary promise with its enduring contradictions?

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