To understand the American Mind, you must understand what shaped it. Our Founders didn’t invent liberty, they studied it. They looked to ancient Greece and Rome, where republics rose and fell. From those ruins, they forged something stronger.

Let’s dive in. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev The Founders devoured the classics. John Adams read Cicero. Jefferson quoted Tacitus. Washington acted like Cato. To them, virtue, sacrifice, and public service weren’t abstract ideals; they were essential to a republic’s survival.

Today is Flag Day , a holiday honoring the birth of the Stars and Stripes. But where did our iconic flag come from? Who designed it? And how did it evolve over time?

Let’s take a patriotic journey through history. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev The original resolution for the U.S. flag was passed on June 14, 1777 by the Second Continental Congress:

“Resolved, that the flag of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

Before Jefferson wrote of liberty, before Washington took command, America was shaped in the pews. The Bible wasn’t just read, it was lived. It formed minds, inspired resistance, and helped forge the greatest republic in history.

Let’s dive in. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev From New England to the backcountry, colonial life was steeped in Scripture. The Geneva Bible was in every home. Sermons were political, fiery, and unflinching. To many colonists, resisting tyranny wasn’t rebellion, it was obedience to God.

Before the muskets fired, an idea was born: People, not kings, could govern themselves.

Welcome to a new series: Inside the American Mind. Let’s uncover the roots that made America the most badass nation in history.

Let’s dive in. 🧵🧠🇺🇸 #AmRev The Founders didn’t just write laws, they built a blueprint for greatness. They believed rights come from God, not government. From nature, not nobility. That radical belief gave rise to a nation for the people, by the people.

In 1846, the United States and Mexico went to war over disputed territory, and by the end of it, half of Mexico’s land would change hands. This is the story of the Mexican-American War, a forgotten yet defining chapter in America’s rise.

Let’s dive in.🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev The roots of war go back to Texas. After winning independence from Mexico in 1836, Texas joined the U.S. in 1845. But Mexico had never recognized Texan independence, and considered annexation an act of war.

Before America had factories, it had fields, and before it had citizens, it had indentured servants. From the 1600s to the Revolution, tens of thousands of Europeans signed away years of their life for a shot at freedom in the New World.

Let’s dive in. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev The system was simple: work 4–7 years for a colonist, and in return you’d get passage to America, food, shelter, and one day, your freedom. For many, it was their only ticket out of poverty. A dangerous gamble. But one many were willing to take.

Before factories and freeways, before presidents and parties, there were settlers. They braved the unknown with a Bible, a musket, and grit. What united them? A fierce belief in self-sufficiency, local control, and faith in God.

Let’s dive in. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev Localism wasn’t a political slogan, it was a necessity. With no king nearby and no government to lean on, town halls and congregations became the center of civic life. Decisions were made by neighbors. Power stayed close to home.

By late 1621, Plymouth had survived its first brutal year. Now came the harder part: building a permanent home. The Pilgrims weren’t just surviving the wilderness, they were trying to build a godly society from the ground up.

Let’s dive in.🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev The heart of the colony was a single main street leading to the fort on Burial Hill, where the Pilgrims could defend against attack. Each family had a small one-room house, made of logs, thatched roofs, and clay-daubed walls.

In March 1621, as the last snow thawed and half the Pilgrims lay buried, a Native man walked into Plymouth and greeted the stunned settlers in English. His name was Samoset, and his arrival marked the beginning of an unlikely alliance.

Let’s dive in.🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev Samoset had learned English from fishermen off the Maine coast. But he wasn’t alone. A few days later, he returned with Tisquantum, better known as Squanto, a Patuxet man who spoke fluent English and would become the colony’s lifeline.

Most Americans know the name Pocahontas, but the real story is far more complex than the legend. Her life intersected with the brutal birth of Jamestown, and her image was reshaped to suit both myth and empire.

Let’s dive in. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev Pocahontas was born around 1596, the daughter of Powhatan, the powerful chief who led a confederacy of 30+ Native tribes in Virginia. Her real name was Matoaka; “Pocahontas” was a childhood nickname meaning “playful one.”

Jamestown didn’t survive on gold, it survived on tobacco. The crop that once made Europe cough became Virginia’s lifeline. But that lifeline came with costs: war, land hunger, and the birth of American slavery.

Let’s dive in. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev In 1612, colonist John Rolfe planted a sweeter strain of tobacco from the Caribbean. It took off. By 1614, Jamestown was exporting its first crop to England. It became Virginia’s first boom economy.

By late 1607, the dream of wealth was cracking. Jamestown’s settlers weren’t prepared for survival. Disease, saltwater poisoning, and a lack of food tore through the colony. Of the 104 who landed, only 38 were alive by January.

Let’s dive in.🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev The men had come for gold, not farming. They dug for treasure instead of wells. The swampy land bred mosquitoes and dysentery. Contaminated water killed faster than any enemy. Their worst threat wasn’t Native warriors, it was nature itself.

Before there was Boston or Philadelphia, there was Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America. But it wasn’t built for liberty. It was a business venture driven by greed, ambition, and the dream of empire.

Let’s dive in. 🧵 🇺🇸 #AmRev In 1606, King James I granted a charter to the Virginia Company, a joint-stock company of investors. Their mission? Establish a colony, find gold, and create profit. It wasn’t religion that fueled Jamestown, it was return on investment.

In 1607, Jamestown’s muddy shores welcomed desperate Englishmen chasing gold and glory. Virginia Company speculators dreamed of riches, but starvation and Powhatan arrows tested their grit. This was no paradise; it was the forge of American defiance.

Let’s dive in. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev Picture it: men hacking through Virginia’s swamps, bellies empty, yet burning with ambition. These weren’t soft lords; carpenters, soldiers, dreamers gambling all for a new life. Their hunger for land and freedom planted rebellion’s first spark. Would you have sailed with them?

The Federalist vs. Republican rivalry wasn’t just the birth of political parties, it was the birth of American polarization. And more than 230 years later, many of the same tensions still shape our political life.

Let’s connect the dots. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev Hamilton’s Federalists believed in a strong central government, national institutions, urban commerce, and order. Jefferson’s Republicans championed limited government, states’ rights, agrarian values, and individual liberty.

On July 11, 1804, two former Revolutionary allies faced off at dawn on the banks of the Hudson River. One would fire. One would fall. And America’s most famous political duel would change the course of history.

This is the story of Hamilton vs. Burr. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr had been circling each other for years; opponents in ideology, ambition, and legacy. Hamilton was a Federalist architect of American finance. Burr, a Republican and sitting Vice President, was a restless seeker of power.

In the 1790s, as Hamilton and the Federalists built a strong national government, a new faction rose to challenge them: the Democratic-Republicans. Their leader? Thomas Jefferson—planter, philosopher, and radical defender of liberty.

Let’s dive in.🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev Jefferson and his allies feared that Federalist policies were recreating monarchy in disguise. To them, a national bank, standing army, and centralized power looked a lot like the British system they had just fought a revolution to escape.

After the Constitution was ratified, the first faction to emerge with a clear national vision was the Federalists. Led by Alexander Hamilton, they believed America’s survival depended on a strong central government and economic modernization.

Let’s dive in.🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev The Federalists feared the instability of mob rule and the weakness of the Articles of Confederation. They believed only a centralized national government could bring unity, preserve order, and help the young republic earn global respect.

The American Revolution united the colonies. But what came next, how to govern this new republic, tore the Founders apart. From the ashes of revolution rose two rival visions for America: Federalism and Republicanism.

Let’s dive in. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev After the Constitution was ratified in 1788, new debates emerged: Should the federal government be powerful or limited? Should America embrace industry or agriculture? Britain or France? The people or the elite?

While the U.S. was fighting Britain in the War of 1812, a brutal conflict erupted in the South between factions of the Creek Nation, and the U.S. got pulled in. It became a war of cultures, land, survival, and ambition.

Let’s dive in. 🇺🇸 #AmRev The Creek Nation was divided. The Lower Creeks embraced American farming, trade, and religion, hoping to adapt and survive. The Upper Creeks, known as the Red Sticks, rejected assimilation and sought to resist white encroachment by returning to traditional ways

After early setbacks in the War of 1812, the U.S. sought to regain control of the Northwest. A pivotal moment came on September 10, 1813, when Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry led the U.S. Navy to a decisive victory over the British on Lake Erie.

Here’s how it unfolded. 🧵🇺🇸 #AmRev Control of Lake Erie was crucial for supply lines and strategic movement. British dominance threatened American positions in the Northwest, making naval supremacy on the lake a top priority.