The Kent family chronicles by John Jakes. It is a series of 8 books that were all published in the late 1970's.
The first book is about a European guy who immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1700's, and took part in the revolutionary war. The subsequent books are about his descendants and their adventures in the United States, through the civil war and afterwards.
The book series was published in commemoration of the bicentennial of the U.S.
The first couple of books were also made into "made for TV" movies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kent_Family_Chronicles