This screenplay presents a time in American history that is inadequately covered in history books but full of events relevant to modern audiences. It uses contemporary language, creating a world in which contemporary audiences will feel at home. Characters use language to dominate one another, reciting lines from Shakespeare, writing ideologically bent editorials, documenting civil records, and simply arguing. Set in the summer of 1821, a year after the Monroe Doctrine, this story demonstrates how minority and majority groups feel the pressure to vie for cultural importance in a young, pluralistic nation, and how they use what media they have at their disposal to do so. Out of this moment in history comes a new popular culture and American theater, spurred by the actions—some intended, some accidental—of a few major players.