As America continues to mark the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence, a new documentary explores the extraordinary role played by Ulster-Scots settlers in the struggle that gave birth to the United States.
Produced by NVTV with funding from the Northern Ireland Screen Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund, Revolting People: How Ulster-Scots Helped Win US Freedom follows historian and author David Hume on a journey from the Glens of Antrim to the battlefields of the Carolinas, uncovering the significant contribution of communities whose roots lay in Ulster.
During the eighteenth century, thousands of Presbyterians crossed the Atlantic in search of land, religious freedom and a better life. Many had already experienced discrimination and restrictions on their freedoms in Ulster. Yet, in the decades that followed, many of these settlers and their descendants found themselves confronting British authority once again, this time in a revolution that would change the course of world history.
Why did so many Ulster-Scots settlers become revolutionaries? And just how important was their contribution to American independence? Through expert interviews, visits to historic locations and dramatic battle re-enactments, David Hume examines the beliefs, loyalties and experiences that helped transform these frontier communities into determined supporters of the American Patriot cause.
The film also follows the campaigns of Francis Marion, the legendary Swamp Fox, whose militia forces used the rivers and swamps of South Carolina to harass British troops, disrupt supply lines and frustrate British attempts to secure the region.
From these local struggles to the pivotal battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens, the documentary reveals how Scots-Irish frontier fighters helped turn the tide of the war in favour of American independence.
Revolting People: How Ulster-Scots Helped Win US Freedom will be broadcast on Sunday 15th November 2026 at 8pm on That's TV (Freeview Channel 7 in Northern Ireland).
Image: Revolutionary War reenactors bring the struggle for American independence to life in the Waxhaws, South Carolina. Image courtesy of NVTV Belfast.
