The Civil War rages. The formidable Confederate army cannot match the Union's mastery of technology; railroads, supply lines and the telegram become new weapons in a modern war. The Transcontinental Railroad unites the nation and transforms the Heartland. Farmers settle the continent; their cattle replace wild buffalo as king of the Plains. The Cowboy becomes a new American icon.

Americans conquer a new frontier: the modern city, with Carnegie's empire of steel as its backbone. Skyscrapers and the Statue of Liberty are symbols of the American Dream for millions of immigrants. The discovery of oil is a boom to industry; Henry Ford puts America on the road. Urban life introduces a new breed of social ills. Prohibition fuels the growth of organized crime.