The Story of America: The Shot Heard ’Round the World and Common Sense [Ep. 5]
Feb 2, 2026
17:58
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On this episode of Our American Stories, The American Revolution began before independence was declared and before most colonists were ready for a complete break from Britain. In our fifth installment of our ongoing Story of America series, Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope, explains how the fighting at Lexington and Concord shocked a deeply divided America, and how Thomas Paine’s Common Sense helped turn uncertainty into resolve, making independence imaginable and ultimately inevitable.
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