Looks at how the North American continent changes after the Great Epidemic of 1617, as it wipes out nearly 90 percent of Native Americans and allows British colonisation to proceed virtually unchallenged.

How and why does a democratic America become a slaveholding society; exploring this paradox from its origins in 1619; slaves arrive at Jamestown; the influence of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676; the expansion of slavery throughout the South in the 1800s.

Roger Williams's efforts to establish freedom of religion, a somewhat forgotten story from early colonial America; religious life in the early Massachusetts settlements; Williams's controversial ideas; his influence on religious freedom in America.

A symbolic expression of the idea that all are welcome in America takes place in 1654; the Dutch West India Company allows Jews from Brazil to settle in New Amsterdam; a gateway to understanding immigration as a central theme in American history.