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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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The early weeks of eighteen-sixty-three gave the American Civil War a new political direction. President Abraham Lincoln had announced the Emancipation Proclamation. That measure freed Negro slaves in the rebel states of the south. No longer was the Civil War a struggle just to save the Union. It had become a struggle for human freedom.

There was a change on the military side of the war, too. President Lincoln named a new commander for the Union's Army of the Potomac. This was the force that would try again to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia.

There are more than 200 programs in the complete series, which starts over again every five years. Most of the shows were produced a long time ago. This explains why a few words here and there may sound a little dated. In fact, the series has even outlived some of the announcers. But we know from our audience that THE MAKING OF A NATION is the most popular of the feature programs in VOA Special English.

VOA Special English is a radio, TV and Internet service of the Voice of America. Programs are written with a limited vocabulary and are read at a slower speed. The purpose is to help people improve their American English as they learn about news and other subjects.