‘The American experiment is clearly ongoing’: Netflix series examines how the US was founded
‘The American experiment is clearly ongoing’: Netflix series examines how the US was founded
Vivian Ho Wed, June 24, 2026 at 9:01 AM UTC
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‘The fear of losing it all is actually a source of our strength’ … The American ExperimentPhotograph: Courtesy of Netflix
The first episode of The American Experiment ends with the song Devil’s Spoke by Laura Marling – the chorus of which has Marling ominously warning, over a rousing folk refrain: “All of this can be broken.”
This may seem like a dark message for a historical docuseries celebrating the nation’s founding – particularly ahead of its 250th anniversary.
But it’s a message that director Brian Knappenberger believes to be at the heart of the American story, which began 250 years ago as an experiment in governance – and persists to this day under a question mark of if it will survive 250 more.
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“The experiment is clearly ongoing,” Knappenberger said.
The five-part docuseries, now available on Netflix, explores the history of America’s founding through a typical historical documentary format, with commentary from historians and academics playing over voiced-over re-enactments of the events around and after the American revolution (Martin Sheen, who played president Jed Bartlet on The West Wing, provides the voiceover for George Washington).
But Knappenberger veers away from the typical format by interspersing interviews with current political figures throughout each episode, as well as clips from other points in US history and today. Among those featured in the series are former vice-presidents Al Gore, Kamala Harris and Mike Pence; sitting and former Republican senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Jeff Flake; and Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state, and Nancy Pelosi, House speaker emerita. “We wanted to talk to people from as many different kind of areas as we could, but the politicians are the ones engaged in this system that these founding figures created in the first place, struggling with it and seeing the challenges of it,” Knappenberger said.
The appearance of such well-known political faces adds to the motif that history is ongoing and that the events of 250 years ago are still playing out today. But it also served as a temporary crossing of party lines. The Democrats and Republicans featured on the series all appeared to regard the story of America’s founding with the same reverence as their counterparts across the aisle. The docuseries serves as proof that two sides that seem to not be able to agree on anything these days can come together in appreciation of the idealism and spirit behind one of the greatest underdog narratives in history.
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“We definitely did want to make a point about partisanship here,” Knappenberger said. “George Washington in his farewell address had warned the country against extreme factionalism, which was their word for partisanship. He really believed that it would tear the country apart.”
Unfortunately, what Washington warned the country against appears to be playing out in his namesake capital. “I think we’re in a very, very partisan and divided time right now,” Knappenberger said.
Knappenberger addresses this divide head-on later in the series, with Pence recounting the events of January 6 – how he had watched, 20 years earlier, Gore certify the results of another controversial election, even though it meant losing the presidency – and how he knew he had to stand strong against the pressure from his own president to shirk his duty. “My only purpose was to keep my oath,” Pence said, referring to the oath he took when he was sworn in to preserve, protect and defend the constitution.
Both the politicians and academics in the series make a point about the power imbalance existing today. “The power of the executive right now would be surprising to the founders,” Knappenberger said – and that the only way to combat that is for members of Congress to stand up to Donald Trump and his allies. “I think the American people would do well to reflect in the 250th year since the signing of the Declaration [of Independence], on the framework of our constitution and to particularly encourage our elected representatives to take back the authority and the role that the founders intended,” Pence said.
The experiment could still fail – all of this can be broken. But Knappenberger remains optimistic. He pointed out that when John Adams became president, he had told his wife, Abigail: “We’ll be in Washington for four years if the country lasts that long.”
“Optimistic estimates were 20 years, 30 years at the time,” Knappenberger said. “And here we are at 250 years. We’ve lived through quite a lot of really serious crisis moments – a Great Depression, wars. With the civil war, the country did actually break in half. In all these moments, we’ve managed to kind of correct it and figure it out and get through it and come together.”
This will not be the first time in the nation’s history where its future comes under question, nor will it be the last. But it is the possibility of failure that has become just as much a part of the American story as its successes. “The fear of losing it all is actually a source of our strength,” conservative historian Yuval Levin says in the series.
“If you look at the national anthem of England, it’s God Save the King. The national anthem of France is about how great France is. The national anthem of America is about barely making it through one night,” Knappenberger said. “It’s who we are. We’ve inherited something incredible – and we’re on the cusp of losing it.”
The American Experiment is now available on Netflix
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
