Crash Course: US History - 2013

John Green teaches you the history of the United States of America in 47 episodes!

In which John Green kicks off Crash Course US History! Why, you may ask, are we covering US History, and not more World History, or the history of some other country, or the very specific history of your home region? Well, the reasons are many. But, like it or not, the United States has probably meddled in your country to some degree in the last 236 years or so, and that means US History is relevant all over the world.

John talks about the Native Americans who lived in what is now the US prior to European contact. The Spanish have a long history with the natives of the Americas, and not all of it was positive.

What were the English doing in America, anyway? Lots of stuff. In Virginia, the colonists were largely there to make money. In Maryland, the idea was to create a a colony for Catholics who wanted to be serfs of the Lords Baltimore.

In Massachusetts, the Pilgrims and Puritans came to America to find a place where they could freely persecute those who didn't share their beliefs.

Watch All 47 Episodes in Playlist below

At Jamestown, Captain John Smith briefly managed to get the colony on pretty solid footing with the local tribes, but it didn't last, and a long series of wars with the natives ensued. This pattern would continue in US history, with settlers pushing into native lands and pushing the inhabitants further west.

Old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it? English people just liked it better that way, and when the English took New Amsterdam in 1643, that's just what they did. Before the English got there though, the colony was full of Dutch people who treated women pretty fairly, and allowed free black people to hold jobs.

Crash Course (sometimes stylized as CrashCourse) is an educational YouTube channel started by the Green brothers, Hank Green and John Green, who are notable for their VlogBrothers channel. Originally, John and Hank presented humanities and science courses to viewers, respectively, although the series has since expanded to incorporate courses by additional hosts.

Crash Course was one of the 100 initial channels of YouTube's $100 million original channel initiative. Crash Course launched a preview on December 2, 2011. As of November 29, 2016, the Crash Course YouTube channel has over 5 million subscribers and has received almost 490 million video views. In November 2014, Hank Green announced that a partnership with PBS Digital Studios would allow them to produce more courses, starting in January 2015.

To date, there are 17 seasons of Crash Course, with Hank hosting six and John hosting five. Together with Emily Graslie, they co-hosted Big History. Alongside the PBS partnership, and with John commencing a year-long hiatus from the show in 2015, additional hosts were brought in to increase the number of concurrent series: Phil Plait (Astronomy), Craig Benzine (U.S. Government and Politics), Adriene Hill and Jacob Clifford (both Economics), Shini Somara (Physics), Andre Meadows (Games), and Miriam Nielsen (Human Geography). A second channel, Crash Course Kids, is hosted by Sabrina Cruz and has completed its first series, Science.

U.S. History

On the January 24, 2013, finale of Crash Course English Literature, John Green announced that it would be followed by Crash Course U.S. History, beginning the following week on January 31, 2013 with "The Black Legend, Native Americans, and Spaniards". Following in the tone set by World History, Green puts an emphasis on maintaining an open and non-Western view of American History. A new segment called the "Mystery Document" replaces the "Open Letter"; Green takes a manuscript from the fireplace's secret compartment and reads it aloud, then must guess its author and the source work it is excerpted from. If he is incorrect, he is punished by a shock pen. Whilst the Mongoltage is largely absent, the "Libertage", photos associated with America overtop an American flag with an electric guitar sound effect opening and ending with an explosion, appears whenever America's great national pride is referenced. The series ended on February 6, 2014. As with World History, Crash Course U.S. History is written by Raoul Meyer.