The Eric Metaxas Show - William Federer (Encore)

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

Historian William Federer shares Thanksgiving stories from "The Treacherous World of the 16th Century & How the Pilgrims Escaped It: The Prequel to America's Freedom." (Encore Presentation)

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mattaxas show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m.investments.com. That's legacy pm investments.com. The Texas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hey, folks, Thanksgiving is coming up. In fact, it's always coming up. It comes around every year. I can hardly think of a year where it didn't come up eventually. And so I thought, wouldn't it be good to talk a little little bit about, you know, what happened before Thanksgiving. It just so happens, by the way, that someone who's been on this program before, William Federer has written a book called

The Treacherous World of the 16th Century and How the Pilgrims Escapeed It, which is effectively the prequel to America's Freedom. William Federer, welcome to the program. Eric, great to be with you. Hey, I mean, the treacherous world of the 16th century and how the pilgrims escaped it, most of us knows so little about the 16th century. We don't think of it as treacherous or non-treaturous. So what are we talking about here? What is it that got you to write this book?

You've written so many books on history. It's a joy to talk to you on any historical subject. But I love it when you come out with a book like this because you really have done your homework and we get to benefit. So what is it that, why do you call it? at the prequel to America's freedom. What did they leave? Well, Europe was ruled by kings, and it was being invaded by the Sultan of Turkey, the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the magnificent. He was surrounding Vienna. So backdrop, the Muslims conquered all of North Africa, which used to be Christian. There were 250 Catholic diocese along North Africa. Muslims invaded Spain and held it

for 700 years, and they were just driven out in 14. 92, so just a couple years earlier. The Muslims had controlled Egypt for 600 years. It had been founded by the Christian faith, Mark, that wrote the gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And then Syria was completely Christian for six centuries, evangelized by the Apostle Paul, until Khalid Umar conquers it. Then the Turks convert to Islam, and they invaded to what is today Turkey, and all seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation are wiped out. and then they finally cross the Bosporus and conquer Constantinople in 1453, and then finally they're invading Europe and surrounding Vienna, Austria, the year 1529.

So here we have an Islamic invasion into Europe, and just a couple of years earlier, the Reformation started, 1517 with Martin Luther. And so Europe has an inside, outside chaos going on, and the Holy Roman Emperor is, the King of Spain, Charles V. Now, the title Holy Roman Emperor means he's sort of responsible for defending Christendom. And so here he is wanting to defend against the Islamic invasion. At the same time, he is inherited all the new world, right? Columbus discovered it for Ferdinand and Isabella. And so he's taken the gold from the new world to fit out his Navy to keep the Muslims from taking over the Mediterranean and Europe. Well, it's amazing thing.

Anybody who's read my book on Martin Luther is tracking with you so far. I mean, I'm tracking with you because I know enough about this history when you're talking about the beginning part of the 16th century. And it is important for us to remember. I mean, it's astounding that the Muslim threat was palpable. It was very real that the Muslims might take over all of the Muslim. of Europe. Of course, that invasion was not backed by George Soros, but the invasion today, whether you've seen it as an invasion, that's an active invasion, an explicit self-conscious invasion,

or just a demographic invasion. It's a fascinating thing that not so long ago, Europe was threatened by an invasion from the Muslims. And so that's obviously what starts our story. And and the Holy Roman Emperor, the young Charles V of Spain, really did feel that his number one, his number one responsibility, kind of like the responsibility of the President of the United States, is to protect the country or the countries over which he has rule. And so keeping the Muslims at bay was number one. And as a result of that, he neglected considerably what was happening in the Reformation, wasn't able to deal with that until it was kind of too late.

So it is fascinating. It's like fighting a war on two fronts. Well, it is, and your book is absolutely tremendous, and I encourage all the listeners to get it. So you mentioned Soros, well, believe it or not, there were Phoenician and Genoan merchants who were selling military goods to the Turks, to the Muslims, and knowing that they're going to use it against the, you know,

defenders of Constantinople, but they're just financially motivated. we do have that dynamic. Now, into this, a couple other things are important. Companies. So in the Middle Ages, there were no companies. If you wanted to do something big, like sale around the world looking for spices, you had to hit up some rich person or a king.

Well, when the Reformation, there was a sin called Usory, the pay or receive interest, so there were no companies. When the Reformation happened, you had the first companies. The first one, in like 1554, it was. It was in England, and it was the, believe it or not, they were going to go north of Russia to try to get over to India and China. They knew the world was round. They thought, oh, well, anyway, the poor guys got three boats, got frozen in ice. And they all died except a few of them.

Some dog sleds came out, took them to Moscow. They met Ivan the Terrible. And so they changed the company from the merchant adventurers to the Muscovia. company and so they tried to do some business with Moscow. Not very profitable. Well, Holland picks it up and they invent something where anyone could donate money or invest money in a boat going to Indonesia. When it came back full of spices, you would get paid a profit. And so they invented joint stock companies where anybody, a blacksmith cook or baker could invest in a boat. If you wanted to sell your interest in the boat, you would go down to the Amsterdam stocking

exchange, right? They invented this. And then when the Dutch, of course, settled New Amsterdam in 1624, they had a New Amsterdam stock exchange, which when it was taken over by the British, turned into the New York Stock Exchange. Holy cow, and I was just down there. Who knew? This is amazing because you're talking about an important part of how we got where we are today. I mean, the idea that there's no free market, there are no companies, no corporations, suddenly that changes. Now, you're saying it changes. You're saying it directly as a result of the Reformation? Right, because prior to that, it was a sin to pay or receive interest, and so you couldn't have, they were guilds,

but they were just these organizations with 100 rules to try to set up a shoemaking shop. But as far as pooling capital together, it was the Dutch. Now, if you're both saying the Dutch invented insurance companies, that's where they came from. So why is this important? Back to Britain, they decide to start a British East, India Company to compete with the Dutch East India Company. And then they decide to start a Virginia

company. And so anybody could invest in this endeavor to try to settle in the new world. Why is this important? Well, that's how the colonies got started. Sir Walter Raleigh, he was a rich guy. He lost 40,000 pounds sterling in trying to settle Roanoke, Virginia. And it almost made him bankrupt. So nobody else wanted to put up the money, but this idea of companies came along the line. And around 1600 is one that Virginia Company was started. So now we're picking up with where the pilgrims are going to go. England. So we talked about the Reformation, Martin Luther.

Henry V.A. brings the Reformation to England. Not because he had a spiritual experience. He just wanted another wife. And he went on to have six wives, right? Divorce beheaded died. Divorceded, died. beheaded, survived. The Pope would not recognize Henry V. A's divorce. He was married to the daughter of the King of Spain. So Henry decides to make himself his own Pope. And his advisors suggest that if he's serious about this, he needs to stop using the Latin Bible. Get himself an English Bible. Those German princes had Luther's German Bible that helped them to break away. He needs an English one. Just so happened three years earlier, Henry VIII had William Tyndall burnt at the stake for translating the Bible in English.

But now he wants an English Bible. So they basically take William Tyndall's work, polish it up, and they call it the Great Bible. Hold on. Bill, forgive me. We're at a hard break. We'll be right back. This is a great part of the story. Folks, stick around. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Biden administration has caused a financial crisis, and they have no clue how to fix it. Oil prices have skyrocketed, and when oil prices go up, the cost of transportation and ship, shipping spikes, leading the prices of goods to rise. And when we're already seeing record inflation, that's the last thing we need. Our economy is in trouble and you need to take steps to protect yourself. If all your money is tied up in stocks, bonds, and traditional markets, you are vulnerable.

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We're talking about how the pilgrims came to be the pilgrims. The book is titled The Tretuous World of the 16th Century and How the Pilgrims Is. escaped it. The prequel to America's Freedom, the author, William Federer on the line. Bill, you were talking about really, I mean, it's just amazing to me, if you don't mind backtracking a little bit, because there's so many things unfolding at the same time. So let me, we can put the needle back on the record. Right. Idea is Muslims are invading Europe surrounding Vienna, 1529. The Reformation started 1517, and now we got this internal and external disruption of Europe. The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles, the 5th of Spain. He has the biggest empire on planet Earth.

I mean, the Philippines are named after his son, King Philip of Spain. And he has all the new world. He's taken the gold from the new world to fit out his navy to keep the Muslims from taking over the Mediterranean. Anyway, he's faced with his double dilemma. Reformation outside and invasion. on the outside. He actually strikes a deal with the Protestants. It's called the Peace of Augsburg of 1555. I speak a little German, and that's a fun number. It's 1,000 fom funer, and fulton, Fombeck. That's that this is the first treaty ever to recognize Protestants, and in this treaty is a little Latin phrase that made a big difference. It's cuios raggio, eos, religio, which means whose is the reign, his is the, a religion. So in other words, look, Protestant king, believe whatever you want in your kingdom.

Let's just work together against these Muslims who are invading Europe because they sort of want to kill us all. Well, this started a domino effect in the next century where different kings believe different things. And Sweden and Germany were Lutheran, Switzerland, Calvin, Scotland, Presbyterian, England was Anglican, Holland, Dutch reform, and of course Italy, Spain, France, Austria, remained Catholic. And you were just talking about England and King Henry the 8th and Tyndale. Right. So Henry decides he's going to bring the Reformation to England, and he wants to have an English Bible, and to solidify his break with Rome. And so they basically take Timble's Bible, polish it up, called the Great Bible. He orders a copy of it put in every church in England.

And they actually chained it to the pulpit because it was so valuable. But this is the first time ever that the English-speaking people had the Bible in their own language. But something unexpected happened. People began to read it and began to compare what's in this Bible to this king, divorcing and beheading his wives. And so splinter groups started. One of them was the Puritans. They wanted to purify the Church of England, and the king didn't like being purified,

so he persecuted them. And there were these separatists. There were lots of separatist groups, and the king basically put his foot down and said, okay, act of uniformity is passed, which says, yes, you can read the Bible in your own language, but no, you can't believe whatever you want. You've got to believe the way I tell you. And so they passed the Five Mile Act. If you were caught preaching within five miles of a town, you're a criminal, unless you got pre-permission from the king, and they'll drag you before the Star Chamber.

If you have five people meeting in your home talking religion without approval of the king, your criminals, and now the Star Chamber was this room in one of the government buildings with stars on the ceiling. and they would twist your arm and cut off your ear and cut your nose and half and brand you on the face as a heretic. It was like, you know, this IRS where you couldn't have a trial by jury. And so the attitude began to develop one of the Baptist founders at this time, Thomas Hellwise. He said, if the king can stand there on the day of judgment and answer for your conscience, fine, believe whatever the king tells you to believe. But if the king is not going to be there on the day of judgment, you are a tom. to God for your own conscience. And so this thought the king didn't like, and so he persecuted groups. And one of them were the separatism. We call them pilgrims. And their houses raided, and they're put in jail. They

finally get on a boat. They go over to Holland. At this time, Holland had the biggest merchant empire in the world. They had an island off the coast of Japan. They had Jakarta, India, Gola, Jakarta, Indonesia, South Africa, and then New York, which had not been taken over by the British yet. So the Dutch are sort of this seven provinces, and they have different beliefs, but they're working together in an 80-year war of independence from Spain. This little give and take where it comes to different beliefs allowed the pilgrims to flee England, go to Holland, and they could enjoy sort of living in the fringes there, and they settled in Leiden, which, interestingly enough,

when Spain chased the Muslims out, who had been there for seven centuries, you had Ferdinand deciding to chase the Jews out. And so many Jews fled to Holland, and they settled in Leiden, lo and behold, the same city where the pilgrims settled. And so we see the pilgrims beginning, to include a Hebrew ideas within their theology. The Puritan scholars at this time were called Christian Hebraists, and they, from the time of the Reformation up until the age of enlightenment, these were the Christian scholars in Europe.

They were studying this first 400-year period when Israel came out of Egypt before they got King Saul, and they were a nation with millions of people and no king. And each village got to elect their city elders and so forth. And so we begin to see the pilgrims would say things like the Jews, you know, the Hebrews left Egypt. We left England. They fled from the Pharaoh. We fled from the King of England. They crossed the Red Sea.

We crossed the English Channel and eventually America. And so the pilgrims, they're there. And when Spain threatens to attack, they decide to flee. They were going to go to Guyana, South America. Boy, wouldn't that have made history different. But then they read about the first Protestant settlement in North America. It was around Jacksonville, Florida. It's called Fort Caroline, the French Protestants called Huguenots.

Spanish found out about it and basically butchered all the men. And then the Spanish decided to settle St. Augustine, Florida. And so the pilgrim said, look, we don't want to go anywhere near Spain. And Guyana, even though it has a perpetual spring, it's too dangerous. So they decided to settle in Jamestown. which was with this king-run colony. There were three type of colonies. The company colony went bankrupt,

and so the king sent over a royal crown governor. Third type of colony is proprietary colonies, which the whole thing's given us property to a friend, but we're not there yet. That was like Pennsylvania. But so now the pilgrims decide we're going to go to Jamestown. Long story short, they get blown off course 500 miles. Actually, I mean, it's kind of funny that, you know,

you're, it's like drinking out of a fire hose listening to you because this is all important stuff. It's just amazing to me. You're talking about so many different things happening. We sometimes forget that the world has been complex for a long time. I mean, the idea that you have all of this movement. I've never heard, by the way, that so many Jews had been pushed, you know, to move to Holland at the same time that the pilgrims were there. Now, this, of course, we're talking about the first years of the 17th century. But even in just those short years, you're saying that their theology was influenced. Right. And so the Jews had at the end of the year the Feast of Tabernacles, right, Rosh Hashanah.

And so here, as a matter of fact, the University of Leiden taught Hebrew. It had a Jewish rabbi teaching Hebrew. And at the university was William Brewster. He was one of the pilgrims. And he was teaching English. And so you had the rubbing of shoulders there. And, of course, the pilgrims had this idea. Yeah, okay, at the end of the year, you have a Rosh Hashanah, a harvest festival. And so that could have been one of the inputs into the pilgrims having a view. I certainly never heard of that. Now, I didn't mean to cut you off. You were talking about the fact that they got blown off course.

But the reason I interrupted is I thought to myself, you know, most people forget about that, that they were heading to Virginia. The pilgrims were headed to Virginia. Now, Virginia, if you look on a very, very, very, very old map, You'll see that Virginia, named for the Virgin Queen Elizabeth, extended from what is today Virginia all the way up to Maine. I mean, it was just all Virginia. And so they got blown off course. They still were in Virginia technically, but they landed, as we all know, in what is today, Massachusetts.

But talk about being blown off course. They weren't blown off course a little bit. They were blown way, way off course. And the significance of this, you think, oh, why can't think this is going on? the coast. It's winter. It's stormy. And off the coast of Cape Cod is what's called the graveyard of ships. The sand, have you ever walked out in the ocean? And you could be a hundred yards out, and it only comes up to your knees. Right. Well, out of Cape Cod, you could be a mile out. And you run into these sand sholes where it's really shallow, and the ships would get stuck.

And in the storm, the waves would battered and it bust into splendors, and they'd die. So the pilgrims almost sink. So the captain backs out, goes back to Plymouth Rock. It says it's too dangerous to the sail anymore, everyone off the boat. I mean, and we can't forget that they had been out to sea for quite a while at this point. 66 days, 3,000 mile journey. They were confined to the small four-foot-high between deck because the storm was so bad. Four-foot high? Yeah, it wasn't a cruise ship.

That's like a crawl space. Hold on a second, Bill. We're going to go to another break, folks, talking to William Federer. The book is The Tretterous World of the 16th Century. Tell me, Eric, why is relief factor so successful at lowering or eliminating pain? I'm often asked that question. The owners of Relief Factor tell me they believe our bodies were designed to heal. That's right, designed to heal.

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It's the Erkmataxis show. We're talking to William Federer. The book is The Tretorous World of the 16th Century, and now we have dribbled over into the 17th century. Bill, this is an amazing story. All of it is amazing. You're telling us about the landing at Plymouth Rock, and you were just describing that the boat, the Mayflower,

that they had to stay below decks and that it was only four feet high. I had never heard that before. Right. And so one person on the boat died, a baby was born. One young guy named John Howland went topside because you can imagine the smell and the wave swept over the deck, knocked him in the water. And if it wasn't for the boat tilting in a rope dragging in the water, he would have died. But he caught the rope and swung back in. And he ended up getting married to have lots of kids and descendants.

Among them are Humphrey Bogart and Franklin Roosevelt. Wait a minute. Humphrey Bogart? You're telling me that the dude that fell overboard on the Mayflower that grabbed a rope. and survived is one of the ancestors of Humphrey Bogart. Yeah, a lot of those people that are on the first Mayflower, they've got these long genealogies that almost everybody's related to them. But it's still pretty funny.

That's still pretty amazing. There's a lot of detail here. I mean, we know that someone died. We know that a baby was born. And they named the baby, appropriately enough, the baby that's born on the open sea. They named it Oceanus. the baby did die, I think, at age two. It didn't survive past childhood.

But it's just amazing what they went through. And you're saying one of the things you said in the last segment, I think, that they had this kind of narrative in their heads, that they are like the wandering Jews, that they are basically being driven from their homeland. Or I'm sorry, they're trying to find a new homeland. They're being driven out of slavery. They're being led out of slavery across this vast body of water. These are all things that I think get lost when we talk about the pilgrims. We forget how much there was to it. Right.

Well, Harvard and Yale taught Hebrew, and so they did identify. But the big change that we all look back to is what? When the pilgrims had their captains, they'd get off the boat on the shores of Massachusetts, and they raised their hand and said, who's going to be in charge of us? There's no king appointed person on the boat. The whole world's ruled by kings. The king of England's the most powerful king on the planet. He controls all of his colonies.

There's no king appointed person. Who's going to be in charge? They do something unique. They give themselves the authority to start a government, called the Mayflower Compact. We, in the presence of God, covenant ourselves together to form a civil body politic to enact laws and to submit to them. Simple revolutionary. It's a polarity change in world government. from top down to bottom up. Instead of a dead pyramid, top down, it's a living tree where every

route, every citizen participates in making this thing work. And so where did they get this idea? From their pastor, John Robinson. He was not an Anglican king appointed pastor. He's considered one of the founders of a congregationalist church, which was this church model that everybody in the congregation fast and craves and votes. They simply took their church model of government, and they made it their little Mayflower and their little pilgrim model of government. And this became the blueprint for the other New England colonies. And eventually the U.S. Constitution, which starts off how we the people. So that's why we look back to the pilgrims as this idea of self-government,

to bottom-up form of government. And now they land. The first winter, half of them die. In the spring, out of the woods comes squanto, right? This Indian who speaks to them in perfect English. Could you imagine the dismay on their face? And William Bradford says about the squanto had been taken captive by a Thomas Dermar, a sort of a crook type of guy, with other Indians and taken to Spain and sold into slavery. He was purchased by some monks given his freedom.

He hitchhikes his way across England. He's working in England, getting jobs for years. Finally, he gets dropped off at the shore of Massachusetts the winter before the Pilgrim's Land. only to find that all of his tribe are dead. William Bradford bribes that three years earlier, a French ship had shipwrecked at Cape Cod, the sailors got ashore, the Indians never left watching them and dogging them

until they got the advantage, killed them all the three or four, and evidently these guys must have had some illness. The Indians caught it and wiped out the tribe, which ironically, almost providentially, had Squanto not been taken captive and sold as a slave, he would have died in that. That's what's so amazing.

What's the things would God turn to around? I have to say the Squanto story is one. I wrote a book, a children's book about Squanto, but I also put the Squanto story in my book, if you can keep it, is one of the most fascinating stories in our history. Just absolute proof or at least strong evidence of the hand of providence in our history. It's mind-blowing what happens, but I don't want to get in the way of your story. I'll tell the Squanto story another time. But it is truly amazing.

one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard. So, yes, if it weren't for Squanto, the pilgrims may well have returned to England or to Holland. Yeah, and so he taught him how to catch beavers. It took 40 years worth of beaver skins to pay off their debt for that boat ride. He taught him how to go down to the river and squeegee in the mud and catch eels and clams and taught him how to catch fish and plant corn and shake the corn over a fire and make popcorn. And he was an interpreter, so he put him on good terms with the other Indian tribes. so they didn't have the battles that Jamestown had.

But I thought this was interesting. William Bradford writes that two years later, they were sailing in a bay and a freezing rain, catches them off guard. They couldn't get back to land. And it says they put in at a island, and it says here squanto fell ill of Indian fever, bleeding much of the nose. Hang on because this is such a dramatic moment. We're going to go to a break.

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They can't get to shore. They land, and Squanto catches a fever. And William Brepp says, here Squanto fell ill of Indian fever, bleeding much at the nose, which the Indians take for a symptom of death. He died within a few days. He begged the governor to pray for him that he might go to the Englishman's God in heaven. He queues several of his things to his English friends as rembranded as his death was a great loss. He begged the governor pray for him that he would go to the Englishman's God.

Well, who were the Englishman, the pilgrims? and they were Christians, and they were really sincere, meaningful Christians. And so he said, basically, I want to go to your Christian God. So I believe that he did invert. One last part of the story, the Pilgrims, I said how they saved up beaver skins to pay off their debt. One of their ships, they had 800 pounds of beaver skins. They sent it back to England. And lo and behold, a Turkish man of war, a Muslim ship, captures it in the English Channel,

takes the crew to Morocco and sells him into slaves. William Bradford says that because of the ship taken by the Turks, all trade was dead. And in that year alone, 1625, the Turkish Barbary pirates had captured over a thousand people from Britain, from all these little islands in the coasts. And they would go up and raid it and take them away as prisoners. And so, again, the Pilgrims had to deal with some of the same issues that we're dealing with. I'm not sure how much time's left, but the company has... No, we've got time.

This is an eight-minute segment, and we've got a segment. after that. So I mentioned companies with the middle ages. There were no companies. There was a send a user to pay or receive interest. And so now you had the Dutch East India Company and then the English have a British East India Company and then the Virginia company. So the Pilgrims, they land in what is North Virginia, but they basically get some of their business guys. to quickly throw together a company and get it approved by the king.

And so now they get to stay there, but it's called the Massachusetts company. And it has bylaws. And the bylaws say what? They say that all profits and benefits, not by trade traffic, working, trucking, fishing, or any other means, shall remain in ye common stock. And then everyone should be paid out of ye common stock for the purpose, for the term of seven years. And after seven years, whatever's left in, ye common stock, is divided up equally among the planters and the adventurers, which were these investors back in England.

And so William Bradford says that it didn't work. That it says the failure of the experiment of communal service, which was tried for several years by good and honest men, proves the emptiness of the theory of Plato. Plato back in 380 BC, his republic talked about how everything would be owned in common, women and children and property. But every communist dictator says, oh, I'm the philosopher king that Plato talked about. But Plato talked about owning everything in common. And so here's William Bradford's talking about the emptiness of the theory of Plato. And it says, quote, that the taking away of private property and the possession of it in the community by a commonwealth would make a state happy. and flourishing, as if they were wiser than God.

For in this instance, community of property was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment, which would have been to the general benefit. For the young men, who were most able and fit for service, objected to being forced to spend their time and strength in working for other men's wives and children without any recompense. And the strong man and the resourceful man had no more share of food clothes excepted than the weak, who was not able to do a quarter of the work. This was thought in injustice. And the age and graver men who were ranked and equalized in labor food with a humbler and younger ones thought it was an indignity and disrespect for them.

As for men's wives who were obliged to do service for other men, such as cooking, washing their clothes, etc., they considered it a kind of slavery. And many husbands would not brook it, would not allow it. I'm not going to let my wife could wash somebody else's clothes. And then William Bradford says, if all were to share alike and all were to do alike, then all would be on an equality throughout, and one was as good as another.

And so it did greatly diminish the mutual respect that is so important that should be preserved amongst them. Let none argue that this is due to human failing, rather than to the communistic plan of life itself. I answer, seeing that all men have this failing in them, that God, in his wisdom, saw that another plan of life was fitter for them. And then he goes on to say, so they began to consider how to raise more corn and obtain a better crop than they might have done. And so they wouldn't endure the misery of want at length, after much debate. The governor allowed each man to plant corn for his own household, and to trust themselves for that.

in all other things to go on as before. So every family was assigned a parcel of land. And according to the proportion of their number, this was very successful. It made all hands very industrious so that much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any other means the governor could have devised and saved him a great deal of trouble. The women now went willingly into the field and took their little ones with them to plant corn while before they would allege weakness and inability and to have compelled them would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.

So here you have the pilgrims experimenting with communism and they said this is not going to work. And I mean, it's so funny to think that so much of how America ended up being has its roots in these few years, among these few people in Plymouth Colony. It's extraordinary. They really end up being the template for so much that follows. We're going to go to a break. Folks, I'm talking to William Federer. The new book is The Tretcherous World of the 16th Century and How the Pilgrims Escape It. The prequel to America's Freedom loaded with important information. Grab a copy. We'll be right back. Hey there, folks. It's here with Texas show. I want to talk to you before we get back to William Federer and his great book on the Pilgrim I want to talk to you about the good, the true, the beautiful.

How do you understand those three concepts? These noble ideas, well, it starts with the right kind of education. And that's not exactly easy to find these days. But I do know of one college that provides a comprehensive education of the best kind and education in the philosophical, political, theological, scientific, and literary heritage of the West. It's called Hillsdale College. Every student, regardless of their major at Hillsdale, nonetheless, spends half their time on the same liberal arts core curriculum,

studying science, theology, history, mathematics, philosophy, literature, and the Constitution. At Hillsdale, all students learn about our great Western and American heritage. What's the result? Well, Hillsdale alumni are leaders with intelligence and character

who make a difference all through their lives in their own families, communities, and in their country. But of course, it starts with the core curriculum that develops a moral and intellectual virtue. That's the core that helps them understand the good, the true, and the beautiful. So that's the Hillsdale core curriculum learning for the long run.

If you want to know more about Hillsdale, go to Metaxusforhillsdale.com. Mataxis for Hillsdale.com. And since we're talking about American exceptionalism, we're going to go back to William Federer. Bill, I've got to ask you, this book in all of your books are terrific. I hope people, especially homeschoolers or people who are just interested in history, will grab a copy of this new book, the treacherous world of the 16th century, because there's so much in it. And it connects so many pieces together.

That's what I love about history and I love about the way you write history. You connect so many different pieces. What led you to write history? I know you ran for Congress. You've done all kinds of stuff. What led you to write history books? Well, one presentation I give, I start off with a digitized picture and you're so zoomed in. All you see is the pixels.

And I ask the audience, what are you looking at? They're like, I can't tell you. hell, this pixel sort of looks like that pixel. But I click zoom out, zoom out, zoom out, and all of a sudden you begin to recognize there's a face. Oh, I recognize what this. Sometimes we're so zoomed into the day-to-day news. And I ask people, what's happening in the world?

I don't know. Today sort of looks like yesterday. Well, let's zoom up, look at a couple decades, a couple centuries, a couple millennium. It's like, okay, I can begin to see the picture. We've got those totalitarian dictatorships that keep repeating themselves around the world, kings, Pharaoh, Caesar, Kaiser, Sultons, and Tsars,

and if your life is worth something to the king, you're worth more, and if you're not, you're worth less, and the kings would kill you if you didn't bow to their statue or believe the way they told you. And so America's founders, it's this window of saying, hey, we get to be the king over our own life. We get to decide where you want to go to church and who you want to marry, what food you want to eat,

and what you want to do with your life. And so you go zoom out. It's like, wow, we really do have something unique in America. one of my favorite coach from Ronald Reagan. He said, here for the first time in all the thousands of years of man's relation to man, the founding fathers established the idea that you and I had within ourselves the God given right and ability to determine our own destiny. And you'll make America great again.

I mean, here you get to decide, you know, those in the listening audience, you get to decide what you want to do with your life, you know. And this is a great gift. Our founding fathers for all their faults gave us a false. former government where we're in charge. Kings have subjects who are subjected to their will. The word citizen is Greek. It means a co-ruler, a co-region, a co-king where citizens were kings. Now, a democracy is all the citizens had to be in the market every single day. Right. If you don't show up for a couple days, you're going to deal with. And now we have a

republic where we don't have to do that, but we have to vote. Listen, we're out of time. Bill, is there a website for you? Right, American Minute.com. What is it American Minute? Correct. American Minute.com. And I didn't get into, there's one humorous story of Christmas because the Puritans outlawed Christmas. We're going to have to talk about that when Christmas is coming up because we're absolutely out of time. So American Minute.com, you said?

Yes, American Minute.com. Folks, the book is the treacherous world of the 16th century. William Federer. Thank you so much. Thank you, Eric.