Creating America

In March 1861, as Abraham Lincoln called for the preservation of the Union, the Confederacy’s vice president delivered a speech that laid bare the ideology behind the new nation.

On March 21, 1861, Alexander H. Stephens delivered what became known as the Cornerstone Speech. He declared that the Confederacy rested on the belief that Black people were not equal to white people and that slavery was the natural order of society.

These were not the words of a fringe figure. They came from the vice president of the Confederate States of America, publicly explaining the principles of the government he helped lead.

In this episode of the Creating America Podcast, we hear Stephens’ own words as he defends the Confederate Constitution, celebrates secession, argues for the permanence of slavery, and predicts a glorious future for the Confederacy.

We also briefly look at the Confederate Constitution itself, which explicitly protected slavery, restricted the government's ability to interfere with it, and required the return of enslaved people who escaped.

Coming just weeks after Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, Stephens’ speech provides a revealing contrast between the Union’s struggle to preserve the nation and the Confederacy’s determination to establish a new country founded on racial inequality and slavery.

History can be inspiring. Sometimes, it should shock us.

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Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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In March 1861, the United States stood on the brink of civil war. Seven Southern states had seceded, the Confederacy was establishing a rival government, and Abraham Lincoln was about to take office as president of a nation threatening to tear itself apart.

In this episode of the Creating America Podcast, we hear Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, delivered on March 4, 1861, in which Lincoln sought to preserve the Union and prevent a bloody conflict.

Lincoln addresses the South’s fears over slavery, defends the permanence of the Union, and challenges the legality of secession. He insists that no state can unilaterally leave the United States, while appealing to Americans to avoid war and remember their shared history.

But Lincoln’s speech also reveals the extraordinary dilemma facing the new president: how could he preserve the Union while reassuring the South that he would not interfere with slavery where it already existed?

Hear Lincoln’s own words as he confronts the greatest crisis in American history up to that point—and delivers one of his most memorable appeals for national unity.

Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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In March 1860, Abraham Lincoln came to New Haven, Connecticut, as a presidential candidate still fighting for national recognition. Just two months later, the Republican Party would gather in Chicago and nominate him for president.

In this episode we read Lincoln’s campaign speech he delivered at Union Hall in New Haven, CT. Lincoln's theme was one that was common to him during that campaign, while also being pointed at the Connecticut voter in a few particulars.

With the nation divided over slavery, the Missouri Compromise, Kansas, the Dred Scott decision, and John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry, Lincoln argued that slavery was not a question America could simply avoid. He challenged Stephen Douglas’s doctrine of “popular sovereignty,” defended the Republican position, and laid out his argument that the expansion of slavery threatened the future of the Union.

This is Abraham Lincoln before the presidency, before the Civil War, and before Gettysburg. It is Lincoln as a candidate trying to persuade Americans that his vision for the country was the right one.

Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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In November 1859, John Brown stood before the court in Charles Town, Virginia, knowing he had been sentenced to death for his role in the raid on Harpers Ferry. In his final address, Brown defended his actions, invoked the Bible, condemned slavery, and declared that if his life was required in the cause of justice, he was willing to give it.

But Brown’s speech raises an important question: how much of his account was the truth, and how much was an attempt to shape how history would remember him?

In this episode of the Creating America Podcast, Will Sarris provides context on John Brown, his involvement in Bleeding Kansas, the Harpers Ferry raid, and his controversial use of violence in the fight against slavery. We then hear Brown’s final speech to the court, followed by a letter he wrote to prosecutor Andrew Hunter addressing apparent contradictions in his statements about his intentions.

John Brown remains one of the most complicated figures in American history—an uncompromising opponent of slavery who was willing to use violence to achieve his goals, and a man whose words helped transform him into a powerful symbol in the years leading up to the Civil War.

Creating America explores the speeches, documents, and firsthand accounts that helped shape the United States.

Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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In June 1858, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most consequential speeches of his political career: his famous “House Divided” speech.

Standing before the Illinois Republican State Convention in Springfield, Lincoln warned that the United States could not remain permanently divided between free and slave states. He connected the growing crisis over slavery to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott decision, and the political struggle with Stephen A. Douglas.

Lincoln’s argument was controversial—even among his own political allies. He would lose his Senate race against Douglas, but the speech helped establish Lincoln as a national political figure and foreshadowed the crisis that would soon engulf the country.

In this episode of the Creating America Podcast, Will Sarris provides a little historical context before reading Lincoln’s complete “House Divided” speech of June 16, 1858.

Hear Lincoln’s own words—and listen as he lays out his argument about slavery, the Constitution, Dred Scott, Stephen Douglas, and the future of the United States.

Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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In 1857, the Supreme Court handed down the infamous Dred Scott decision, declaring that Black Americans could not be citizens of the United States and ruling against Congress’s ability to prohibit slavery in the territories.

Frederick Douglass, one of the most well known and fiery abolitionist orators of his day and a former slave, had some thoughts.

In this episode of the Creating America Podcast, we hear excerpts from Douglass’s powerful speech, “On the Occasion of the Anniversary of the American Abolition Society,” delivered in May 1857, shortly after the Dred Scott decision.

Douglass confronts the Supreme Court’s ruling head-on. He discusses the growing power of the abolitionist movement, attacks Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s reasoning, and argues that the decision cannot ultimately defeat the cause of freedom.

Douglass also makes a remarkable constitutional argument. Rather than rejecting the Constitution as a pro-slavery document, he argues that its principles of liberty and justice can—and should—be used against slavery.

Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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Dred Scott v. Sandford, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857, is one of the most consequential and controversial decisions in American history.

The Court ruled that Dred Scott, an enslaved man who had lived in free territory, was not a citizen and therefore could not sue in federal court. The decision also declared that Congress did not have the constitutional authority to prohibit slavery in the federal territories, effectively striking down the Missouri Compromise.

Rather than settling the nation’s growing conflict over slavery, the decision deepened the divide between North and South and became one of the major events leading toward the Civil War.

Most disturbing are Taney’s arguments about race and citizenship—and the stark disagreement expressed by the dissenting justices. Their opinions provide an extraordinary window into the constitutional arguments surrounding slavery and citizenship in the years before the Civil War.

In this episode, we hear the words of the justices themselves and consider a decision that has become a lasting cautionary example in the history of the Supreme Court.

In this episode of Creating America, we read excerpts from Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s majority opinion, along with powerful dissents from Justices John McLean and Benjamin Curtis.

Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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I'm currently on vacation visiting a US National Park, and my work schedule is a bit hectic right after I get back. But we'll be back with new episodes soon!

As America approaches the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Creating America revisits the documents that laid the foundation of the United States.

In this special Independence Day episode, host Will Sarris reads the complete text of the Declaration of Independence, followed by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Each generation has reinterpreted these founding principles to meet the needs of their age, and as we move forward into the next 250 years, we need to do the same.

Whether you're celebrating the Fourth of July, studying American history, preparing for civics classes, or simply want to hear these historic documents performed aloud, this episode offers an engaging reading of the words that shaped the nation.

If you enjoy history, American founding documents, historical speeches, and dramatic readings, subscribe to Creating America for more of the documents and speeches that shaped the United States.

Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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#DeclarationOfIndependence #Constitution #BillOfRights #AmericanHistory #July4 #IndependenceDay #America250 #USHistory #HistoryPodcast #FoundingDocuments #AmericanRevolution #CreatingAmerica #Civics #ThomasJefferson #EducationalPodcast

In this powerful episode of the Creating America Podcast, host Will Sarris presents a reading of the full text of Frederick Douglass’s landmark 1852 speech, “What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?”

As the United States reflects on the ideals of independence, liberty, and justice—especially in the context of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—this episode confronts a difficult but essential question: what did American freedom mean to those who were still enslaved?

Frederick Douglass, born into slavery and later becoming one of America’s most influential abolitionists, delivers a searing critique of American hypocrisy, slavery, and inequality. However he houses this critique within a very rousing and passionate defense of the ideals of the founders.

This episode preserves the full text of his speech, which is quite the journey from the highs of patriotic sentiment, to the lows of the evils of slavery, and back toward a fuller ideal of "all men are created equal".

Creating America is a documentary-style podcast that reads and explores foundational speeches and documents in U.S. history—ranging from inspiring declarations to challenging and uncomfortable truths. Hosted and narrated by actor and voice professional Will Sarris, the show aims to make historical texts accessible, engaging, and impactful for modern listeners.

Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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#FrederickDouglass #AmericanHistory #SlaveryInAmerica #BlackHistory #HistoryPodcast #Abolitionist #FourthOfJulySpeech #USHistory #EducationalPodcast