Philadelphia: The Great Experiment is a multi-format historical documentary television film and Internet project produced by History Making Productions that presents the story of Philadelphia, the single most compelling stage for the unfurling and testing of American ideals. William Penn’s city was the first in the world to codify freedom of religion, individual rights, trial by jury, and a democratic assembly as the pillars of a constitution amendable by the people.

For centuries, the land that will become Philadelphia is home to the Lenni Lenape people. The rich soil and rivers support a peaceful civilization, but in the 1600’s Dutch settlers assert their rights to the territory, and a bloody confrontation erupts. Swedish farmers arrive next, but their colony is torn apart by the tyrannical rule of Governor Johan Printz. By the late 1600’s, persecuted English Quakers seek a safe haven in the area just as outbreaks of European disease devastate the Lenape.