(Left) Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze
Netflix is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States with five-part historical documentary, ‘The American Experiment,’ featuring former US Vice President Mike Pence and former US Secretary of state Hilary Clinton, among many others.
On July 4, 2026, the United States celebrates one of the biggest milestones in its history: 250 years of independence, following the official separation of the 13 North American colonies from Great Britain in 1776. In celebration of two-and-a-half centuries of US Independence, Netflix has put together a behemoth of a documentary series. Titled The American Experiment, the series reexamines the nation’s founding, and the radical question at the center of the American Revolution: Can a people govern themselves? It covers everything from the Revolutionary War to the drafting of the Constitution and beyond.
The 5-part series is helmed by Brian Knappenberger, who’s best known for his documentaries tackling some of the most pivotal and key moments in US history, including Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror, Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War, Turning Point: The Vietnam War, and Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press.
It also features interviews with some of the most seminal names and influential figures from across the country’s storied history — from vice presidents to former senators, cabinet officials, a former Supreme Court justice, leading historians, and so on. As well as interviews, the series also features voice actors as seminal figures in the formation of the US, including acting legend Martin Sheen as the voice of George Washington.
Here’s the official description of the series:
“The American Experiment explores how a nation built on an untested idea has continued to wrestle with the foundational contradictions of slavery and liberty, as well as individual power and minority representation — and how American democracy has been built, challenged, and reimagined over the course of two and a half centuries. The series will cover the American Revolution through the drafting of the Constitution and the first American presidency, and feature a diverse array of voices in reenactments, including Martin Sheen as George Washington. Cinematic in scope and urgently relevant, the documentary series reveals how the debates that defined the country’s founding era still shape the United States, posing a pivotal question at a moment of profound division: Can this extraordinary experiment endure?”
“The approaching 250th anniversary of the United States offers a distinct opportunity to reflect on America’s founding and its future,” Netflix’s Vice President of Documentary, Adam Del Deo, said in a statement. “The American Experiment presents an expansive dialogue about how American democracy has been built, challenged, and reimagined over nearly two and a half centuries. By revisiting the origins of this experiment at such a pivotal moment, the series invites audiences to consider not just where America has been, but where it might go next.”
Who is interviewed in ‘The American Experiment’?
There are over 60 public figures and politicians interviewed throughout the series. This includes big names from across Republicans and Democrats, cutting a cross-section of key and influential political names from almost a century of United States history. Per Netflix, the complete list of those interviewed is listed below:
- Adrienne Whaley — director of education, Museum of the American Revolution
- Al Gore — former US vice president (D)
- Alexis Coe — American history columnist, The New York Times
- Andrew M. Davenport — historian, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello; vice president for research and Saunders director, Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies
- Benjamin L. Carp — professor of history, Brooklyn College; author of Defiance of the Patriots
- Carol Berkin — professor emerita of history, City University of New York; author of A Brilliant Solution
- Cassandra Good — author of First Family, Founding Friendships; professor, Marymount University
- Chuck Hoskin Jr. — principal chief, Cherokee Nation
- Daina Ramey Berry — professor of history, University of California, Santa Barbara; author of The Price for Their Pound of Flesh
- Danielle Allen — professor of government, Harvard University; author of Our Declaration
- Dennis Rasmussen — professor of political science, Syracuse University, author of The Constitution’s Penman
- Don N. Hagist — editor, Journal of the American Revolution
- Doug Bradburn — president and CEO, George Washington’s Mount Vernon
- Eric Burns — author of Infamous Scribblers
- Fergus M. Bordewich — author of The First Congress
- Gordon S. Wood — professor of history emeritus, Brown University; author of The Creation of the American Republic, Radicalism of the American Revolution
- Hillary Rodham Clinton — former US secretary of state (D)
- H.R. McMaster — lieutenant general (ret.), former US national security advisor
- Jameel Jaffer — executive director, Knight First Amendment Institute
- James Taub — associate curator, Museum of the American Revolution
- Jamie Raskin — US representative, Maryland (D)
- Jane Kamensky — president and CEO, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
- Jeff Flake — former US senator, Arizona (R)
- Jeffrey Rosen — CEO emeritus, National Constitution Center
- Jelani Cobb — dean, Columbia Journalism School
- Jill Lepore — author of We the People
- Joanne Freeman — professor of history, Yale University; author of Affairs of Honor
- John Yoo — professor, UC Berkeley School of Law
- Joseph J. Ellis — author of Founding Brothers, The Quartet, His Excellency: George Washington, American Creation, Revolutionary Summer, American Dialogue, The Cause
- Kamala Harris — former US vice president (D)
- Kathleen DuVal — author of Native Nations; professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Katie Crawford-Lackey — host, Consider the Constitution podcast; chief project officer, James Madison’s Montpelier
- Kevin Chapman — historical interpreter, 1st Rhode Island Regiment
- Lawrence Lessig — professor, Harvard Law School
- Lindsay M. Chervinsky — executive director, George Washington Presidential Library
- Lindsay Robertson — author of Conquest by Law; professor, University of Oklahoma College of Law
- Lisa Blunt Rochester — US senator, Delaware (D)
- Lonnie G. Bunch III — secretary, Smithsonian Institution
- Margaret Washington — professor emerita of history, Cornell University; author of Sojourner Truth’s America, A Peculiar People
- Mary Sarah Bilder — professor, Boston College Law School; author of Madison’s Hand
- Matthew Keagle — curator, Fort Ticonderoga
- Maya Jasanoff — author of Liberty’s Exiles; professor of history, Harvard University
- Michael Klarman — professor, Harvard Law School; author of The Framers’ Coup
- Mike Pence — former US vice president (R)
- Nancy Pelosi — speaker emerita, US House of Representatives, California (D)
- Nathaniel Philbrick — author of The American Revolution Series, Bunker Hill, Valiant Ambition, In the Hurricane’s Eye
- Noah Feldman — professor, Harvard Law School; author of The Three Lives of James Madison
- Rand Paul — US senator, Kentucky (R)
- Robert M.S. McDonald — professor of history, US Military Academy; author of Confounding Father
- Robert Miller — chief justice, Pascua Yaqui Tribe; professor, Arizona State University College of Law
- Ron Chernow — author of Washington: A Life, Alexander Hamilton
- Ron Wyden — US senator, Oregon (D)
- Roy Blunt — former US senator, Missouri (R)
- Sara Georgini — series editor, The Papers of John Adams
- Saul Cornell — professor of history, Fordham University; author of The Other Founders
- Sergio J. Campos — professor, Boston College Law School
- Stephen Breyer — former associate justice, Supreme Court
- Ted Cruz — US senator, Texas (R)
- Tom Nichols — professor emeritus of national security affairs, US Naval War College
- William Hogeland — author of Inventing American History, The Hamilton Scheme, Founding Finance
- William Treanor — dean emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center
- Woody Holton — professor of history, University of South Carolina; author of Liberty Is Sweet
- Yuval Levin — senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute; author of American Covenant, The Great Debate, The Fractured Republic
- Zoe Lofgren — US representative, California (D)
When is The American Experiment streaming on Netflix?
The documentary series begins streaming the week before Independence Day on June 24th.
In addition to this Original project, Netflix has been licensing some similar titles from the HISTORY Channel, produced over the past few years, that explore the US’s vast history. At least five more titles are scheduled to drop later in May.
