Creating America

William Sarris
  • 5.0 (1)
  • History

The documents and speeches that shaped the United States. It is my hope that as you listen to these documents and speeches you will gain an appreciation of what our country was, what it is, and what it hopes to be.

  1. 1d ago

    Episode 33: The Law That Opened the American West - and Displaced Its First Peoples

    In the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln signed a law that promised ordinary Americans something extraordinary: the opportunity to claim 160 acres of land and build a future of their own. But the Homestead Act of 1862 was about far more than free land. It was part of a fierce political struggle over slavery, opportunity, and the future of the American West. In this episode of the Creating America Podcast, host and narrator Will Sarris provides historical context before reading the original text of the Homestead Act, signed into law on May 20, 1862. Discover how the Free Soil movement helped shape the legislation, why the Civil War created the political conditions for its passage, and how the law reflected a vision of America built around independent farmers and individual ownership. But this promise came at a devastating cost. The expansion of homesteading contributed to the displacement of Native American peoples and the loss of their ancestral lands. The challenges facing settlers were immense, too, as they struggled against isolation, harsh weather, and unfamiliar terrain. Hear the words of the original law and explore a landmark document that helped shape the United States and transform the American West. Host & Narrator: Will SarrisFollow us on social media!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586175179173Threads: https://www.threads.com/@creatingamericapodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatingamericapod📩 Contact: CreatingAmericaPod@gmail.com💬 Support the show: patreon.com/williamsarrisReply on Bluesky 🌐 More about Will: williamsarris.net #HomesteadAct #AmericanHistory #AbrahamLincoln

  2. Oct 22

    Episode 32: “The Negro Is Not Equal” | Slavery, White Supremacy, and the Cornerstone Speech

    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. Subscribe for more readings from American history, including presidential speeches, founding documents, court decisions, and other primary sources. Host & Narrator: Will SarrisFollow us on social media!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586175179173Threads: https://www.threads.com/@creatingamericapodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatingamericapod📩 Contact: CreatingAmericaPod@gmail.com💬 Support the show: patreon.com/williamsarrisReply on Bluesky 🌐 More about Will: williamsarris.net #CornerstoneSpeech #AlexanderStephens #CreatingAmericaPodcast #Confederacy #USCivilWar

  3. Oct 15

    Episode 31: Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address | Can America Survive Secession?

    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 SarrisFollow us on social media!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586175179173Threads: https://www.threads.com/@creatingamericapodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatingamericapod📩 Contact: CreatingAmericaPod@gmail.com💬 Support the show: patreon.com/williamsarrisReply on Bluesky 🌐 More about Will: williamsarris.net

  4. Oct 8

    Episode 30: Lincoln’s Case Against Slavery’s Expansion | New Haven, CT - 1860

    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 SarrisFollow us on social media!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586175179173Threads: https://www.threads.com/@creatingamericapodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatingamericapod📩 Contact: CreatingAmericaPod@gmail.com💬 Support the show: patreon.com/williamsarrisReply on Bluesky 🌐 More about Will: williamsarris.net

  5. Oct 1

    Episode 29: John Brown’s Final Speech | Martyr, Radical, or Both?

    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 SarrisFollow us on social media!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586175179173Threads: https://www.threads.com/@creatingamericapodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatingamericapod📩 Contact: CreatingAmericaPod@gmail.com💬 Support the show: patreon.com/williamsarrisReply on Bluesky 🌐 More about Will: williamsarris.net

  6. Sep 24

    Episode 28: Lincoln’s “House Divided” | The Speech That Warned America

    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 SarrisFollow us on social media!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586175179173Threads: https://www.threads.com/@creatingamericapodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatingamericapod📩 Contact: CreatingAmericaPod@gmail.com💬 Support the show: patreon.com/williamsarrisReply on Bluesky 🌐 More about Will: williamsarris.net Subscribe for more readings from American history. #AbrahamLincoln #HouseDivided #AmericanHistory #CivilWar #DredScott

  7. Sep 17

    Episode 27: Frederick Douglass Takes on the Dred Scott Decision

    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 SarrisFollow us on social media!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586175179173Threads: https://www.threads.com/@creatingamericapodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatingamericapod📩 Contact: CreatingAmericaPod@gmail.com💬 Support the show: patreon.com/williamsarrisReply on Bluesky 🌐 More about Will: williamsarris.net #FrederickDouglass #DredScott #AmericanHistory #CreatingAmerica #Slavery #Abolition #HistoryPodcast #SupremeCourt #AmericanHistoryPodcast

  8. Sep 10

    Episode 26: Dred Scott: The Supreme Court’s Most Infamous Decision

    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 SarrisFollow us on social media!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586175179173Threads: https://www.threads.com/@creatingamericapodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatingamericapod📩 Contact: CreatingAmericaPod@gmail.com💬 Support the show: patreon.com/williamsarrisReply on Bluesky 🌐 More about Will: williamsarris.net

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The documents and speeches that shaped the United States. It is my hope that as you listen to these documents and speeches you will gain an appreciation of what our country was, what it is, and what it hopes to be.

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  • Creator
    William Sarris
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    34
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026