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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Subscribe for more readings from American history.

#AbrahamLincoln #HouseDivided #AmericanHistory #CivilWar #DredScott

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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#FrederickDouglass #DredScott #AmericanHistory #CreatingAmerica #Slavery #Abolition #HistoryPodcast #SupremeCourt #AmericanHistoryPodcast

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

In this episode of Creating America, host Will Sarris presents one of the most influential speeches in American history: Sojourner Truth's powerful 1851 address, "Ain't I a Woman?"

Born into slavery as Isabella Baumfree, Sojourner Truth became a leading voice in both the abolitionist movement and the fight for women's rights. Speaking at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, she challenged prevailing ideas about race, gender, equality, and human dignity in a speech that continues to resonate more than 170 years later.

Creating America explores the speeches, writings, and documents that shaped the United States. Through dramatic readings and historical context, host Will Sarris brings America's most important words to life.

Perfect for students, history enthusiasts, teachers, and anyone interested in American history, civil rights, abolition, women's suffrage, and influential historical speeches.

Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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#AmericanHistory #SojournerTruth #AintIAWoman #Abolition #WomensRights #CivilRights #HistoryPodcast #CreatingAmerica #Slavery #WomensSuffrage #HistoricalSpeeches

In this episode of Creating America, we read two foundational items (a speech and a document) that stand at the origins of the American women's rights movement. both from the historic 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.

First, hear Elizabeth Cady Stanton's powerful keynote address calling for equal rights, political representation, and women's suffrage. Then, listen to the full text of the Declaration of Sentiments, the groundbreaking manifesto modeled after the Declaration of Independence that proclaimed that "all men and women are created equal."

The Seneca Falls Convention marked a turning point in American history, launching a movement that would eventually secure women's voting rights and reshape the nation's understanding of liberty, equality, and citizenship.

Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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#AmericanHistory #WomensRights #ElizabethCadyStanton #SenecaFalls #DeclarationOfSentiments #WomensSuffrage #USHistory #CreatingAmerica

In this episode of Creating America, we explore one of the most consequential political debates in American history: the struggle over slavery, secession, and the future of the Union that led to the Compromise of 1850.

As new territories acquired after the Mexican-American War prepared to enter the United States, fierce disagreements erupted over whether slavery would be allowed to expand westward. The resulting crisis brought two of America's most influential statesmen into direct conflict: John C. Calhoun, the leading defender of Southern slaveholding interests, and Daniel Webster, who argued that compromise was necessary to preserve the Union.

This episode features excerpts from Calhoun's final Senate address and Webster's famous "Seventh of March" speech. Calhoun warned that the South might choose secession while Webster insisted that "peaceable secession" was impossible and would inevitably lead to war.

The Compromise of 1850 temporarily delayed national conflict, but its most controversial provision—the Fugitive Slave Act—deepened sectional tensions, energized the abolitionist movement, inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, accelerated the Underground Railroad, and helped pave the way for the rise of the Republican Party and the election of Abraham Lincoln.

Creating America is a history podcast dedicated to reading the speeches, documents, and writings that shaped the United States, allowing listeners to hear the words of historical figures in their original context.

Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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