Scene on Radio

First America: "Merciless Indian Savages"

July 15, 2026·37 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

We're sharing the first of three episodes from a new series we think our listeners will want to hear. Americans have been told our Revolution was fought over taxation and representation. But the last entry of the Declaration focuses on the founders' contempt for the “merciless Indian savages.” How does a whole country miss a key point of its own founding document? That's the question at the heart of First America. Hosted and reported by Rebecca Nagle, an Indigenous author and former host of the This Land podcast, and featuring leading Native historians, First America unveils how the founders’ treatment of Indigenous nations—and their resistance—shaped US democracy. First America reveals the real story of why the colonists rebelled, what kind of government they created, and, crucially, how our current political moment was 250 years in the making.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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