First America

Documentary series on Native Americans' overlooked role in founding AI summary

Pushkin Industries Visit website › History · EN · 34 episodes · latest 2026-09-21

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What it is about

Native people have been written out of the American story, but without us you don’t know what happened. This summer the United States will celebrate the 250-year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. When you read the Declaration, you realize it is a list of complaints. The last entry, the climax in our founders’ reasons for rebellion against the Crown, is this: “He has excited… the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.” We have been told the Revolution was fought over taxation and representation. But what the founders were most angry about in our country’s most famous document was Indian affairs. How did generations of Americans miss this? The first armed rebellion against the Crown was an attack on British forts that traded with tribes. When colonists threw tea into the Boston harbor, they dressed up like members of the Mohawk tribe—not for disguise, but because pretending to be Indian symbolized freedom and rebellion. The founding fathers’ first government failed because Indigenous nations were too powerful; war and diplomacy with Native people is why we have a central federal government. Hosted and reported by Rebecca Nagle and featuring leading Native historians, First America unveils how the founders’ treatment of Indigenous nations—and their resistance—shaped US democracy. The show does not simply add another blemish to the image of the founding fathers, it reveals the real story of why the colonists rebelled, what kind of government they created, and, crucially, how our current political moment was 250 years in the making.

Publisher’s own description, taken unchanged from the podcast feed.
2026 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia

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Latest episodes

From HISTORY This Week: How the Whitman Murders Redefined the American West

2026-09-21 · 31 min

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The Origin of American Authoritarianism | Episode 6

2026-07-27 · 47 min · Season 3, episode 6

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Land, Not Liberty | Episode 5

2026-07-20 · 34 min · Season 3, episode 5

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Military Might | Episode 4

2026-07-13 · 46 min · Season 3, episode 4

After America won the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army was disbanded. After the abuses of British soldiers, the founding fathers didn’t want a big standing army. That small, disorganized military then went off to…
It Happened Here | Episode 3

2026-07-06 · 41 min · Season 3, episode 3

The American Revolution wasn’t just a fight for liberty. It was also a sprawling conflict with Indigenous nations over who would control the continent of North America. And to stake out their claim, the United States…
Playing Indian | Episode 2

2026-06-29 · 44 min · Season 3, episode 2

Did you know that when colonists threw tea into the Boston Harbor they dressed up like Native Americans? Rebecca goes to Boston with historian Phil Deloria (Dakota descent) to try and understand Americans’ obsession…
Welcome to First America

2026-06-05 · 4 min

Welcome to First America: the true story of how the United States came to be, and how our current political moment is 250 years in the making. Dropping June 22nd, with early episode releases for Pushkin+ subscribers.See…
Merciless Indian Savages | Episode 1

2026-06-04 · 36 min · Season 3, episode 1

We’ve all been told the American Revolution was fought over taxation and representation. But that's not what the Declaration of Independence says. According to our founders, in their own words, what they were most upset…
This Land is Now First America

2026-06-03 · 1 min

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Publisher details

Oldest episode in feed: 05/2019 · over 7 years
Typical length: 29 min
Format: Serial Meant to be heard in order

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