Latest / Saberian History Lectures / Spoils System Under Jackson

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Spoils System Under Jackson · Saberian History Lectures

0:00
Now, so we talked about the presidential convention
0:04
process primaries. We've talked about that already.
0:10
So let me tell you what I mean by the spoil systems.
0:13
This is where you go from a president who is
0:16
a moderator to a president who is a gladiator.
0:25
So a moderator is more like a referee. What's
0:30
a gladiator? well he is a prisoner or a slave
0:37
but actually in the arena what does he do he
0:41
fights he gets into it do you get the idea now
0:46
think about this for a moment in the Constitution
0:49
as written the executives job is to enforce or
0:55
to execute the law was there any thought that
0:59
the executive should actually participate in
1:02
the legislation process But do our presidents
1:06
do that? They have even going back to Washington.
1:11
But Washington, the way he'd do it is he wouldn't
1:14
give a speech that would be on national television.
1:16
He would talk to this congressman here. He would
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talk to this congressman there. And Washington
1:19
himself carried enough weight that congressmen
1:22
would see themselves his way because everyone
1:25
adored him. And we deify him presently. What
1:29
does the word deify mean? To make into a god.
1:35
Oh come on now, we have statues of the man all
1:38
over this country. What's the difference between
1:43
that and an idol? Now that being said, but the
1:48
way Washington would carry himself was as a moderator
1:52
to oversee over the country. Now Jackson actually
1:56
got into the mud, literally. And so one of the
2:00
first things he does is the spoil system. Now
2:04
what the spoil system is this. He fired the major
2:11
officials of the executive. I am the commander
2:14
in chief. I want people loyal to me. Y 'all are
2:17
holdovers from the previous regime. By the way,
2:21
who was the previous regime? John Quincy Adams.
2:25
Now, there's the principle of the thing. Y 'all
2:28
are all a product of the rigged system. I need
2:30
to clean house and bring in new people. But there's
2:35
another reason for it. Why would that be effective?
2:38
If I fire all the new people, what do I get to
2:41
do? Or if I fire all the old people, what do
2:43
I get to do? Bring in new people and they would
2:46
be loyal to whom? To me. And so he says, yours
2:51
the victory, yours the spoils, and so he cans
2:53
most of the employees of the government and brings
2:56
in people loyal to him. Now what's the problem
2:57
with canning all the people from the previous
3:00
government and bringing in new people? They may
3:03
not know what the heck they're doing. Spoiled
3:07
system links to what we might call cronyism.
3:10
Now, there might be people in the government
3:12
who had experience, but it might be bad experience.
3:16
But you also have elements of, yeah. So that's
3:20
sort of a thing. And so a couple other things
3:25
happen. He fired all of the... federal employees
3:34
and only replaced about 20 percent of the bureaucracy.
3:37
So that'll have a highly efficient government.
3:40
But again, man of the people, does he necessarily
3:42
want a highly efficient government? No. Now,
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a couple of other things. How do you lose for
3:55
winning? Alright, so, how do you lose for winning?
4:04
You're the man, you're the president, and you
4:08
bring in your people. 1828, Jackson is elected.
4:20
Now he did bring someone who was an insider from
4:26
the Monroe regime on board as his vice president.
4:30
Who's his vice president? John C. Calhoun. So
4:33
Calhoun is the vice president. Again, he's a
4:36
holdover from the Monroe administration. He has
4:40
some government experience. He was also one of
4:44
the ones who he ran against back in 24, just
4:47
didn't get any big votes. Where's Calhoun from,
4:49
by the way? South Carolina. Big plantation country,
4:52
yes? Now, he also brings in Martin Van Buren.
5:05
Martin Van Buren will become president, albeit
5:08
later. Now, a section of... What happens when
5:13
you have a one -party system? Well, you still
5:16
have personalities. You still have conflicts.
5:19
How many of you have friends that don't get along
5:20
with each other? I mean, they like you, but they
5:22
hate each other. Oh, my God. Sorry. I just know
5:27
it's extremely relatable. Right. Nail, on the
5:30
head, hit it, right? Yes. Yeah, I mean, it happens
5:35
to everybody, and you're the glue holding it
5:37
together, right? Kind of. Now, here's the question.
5:40
Are you the brains to the operation? Obviously
5:42
not. They're my brain. Hang on. Let me get the
5:48
marshmallows, because that was pretty roasting.
5:50
All right. When you and your friends plan some
5:55
outing, you're usually the one. You're the one
5:58
coming up with the plan, Hannibal, all right.
6:01
Okay, now one of the things that happened is,
6:05
and this is the Peggy Eaton affair, so here's
6:07
the basic idea. It's actually pretty tasty if
6:11
you've read it, then be sure to read it because
6:13
it reads like a soap opera. So John Eaton, who
6:18
is one of the officials in the government, marries
6:25
Marries his mistress. Okay. Marries his mistress.
6:31
Her first name is Peggy O 'Neil. Marries Peggy
6:34
O 'Neil. Peggy O 'Neil was already married to
6:41
a naval officer who was deployed. You have to
6:49
say it with more intensity, but yes, that's pretty
6:51
messed up, isn't it? While the cat's away, I
6:54
guess the mice are going to play, yes? But anyway,
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somebody Okay, so here's the thing. The dude
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finds out when he gets a letter from someone,
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his wife didn't tell him, I don't think, but
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he gets the letter informing him, dude, your
7:14
wife's getting around on you. He does not take
7:18
it well. He commits suicide. So now, here's John
7:26
Eaton, who's getting around with a married man's
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wife. The wife is now out, a husband in the era
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before, by the way, even now, do insurance companies
7:33
pay life insurance for a suicide? Yeah, I mean
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here we've got, he's being a home wrecker and
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she's not being a person of strong moral character
7:43
and this man is serving the highest office in
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the land. I always find that interesting. We
7:52
ascribe to our politics morality. Like politics
7:59
is a moral business, that's really funny. Now,
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here's the thing, Jackson gets involved. One,
8:09
because John Eaton is a friend and is close to
8:13
him. It was his campaign manager. But also, it
8:19
reminded Jackson of the terrible things that
8:22
the elite said about his wife Rachel. Now Rachel
8:27
was in a little bit of a different sort. The
8:30
book doesn't get into it in very much detail.
8:32
So Rachel had been abandoned by her husband.
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When Jackson was a young man, here he is, Rachel,
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he takes an interest in this woman who had been
8:47
abandoned by her husband. And back in the old
8:49
days, abandonment was a cause for what? Divorce.
8:55
So back in the old days, you could divorce a
8:58
person for a number of reasons. Infidelity, abandonment,
9:03
or... Well, or other irreconcilable differences.
9:06
By the way, how many of you are children of divorce?
9:10
Did any of them go to trial? Not for the money.
9:13
I mean for the cause. Okay, so in the United
9:19
States post -1980, you can get a divorce without
9:22
actually ascribing fault. Into the 20th century,
9:26
in order to get a divorce in the United States,
9:28
you had to go to trial by jury for finding fault.
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Jackson feels a sympathy for how this woman is
9:41
being abused by the prim and proper people. Now
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in the case of Jackson, he marries a woman who
9:46
had been abandoned, but the divorce decree hadn't
9:49
been finalized. So technically, she was married
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to how many men at the same time? Two. And there's
9:56
a word for that in English. It's called bigamy,
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and it's a crime in most states. Now, was she
10:03
actually being bigamous, fooling around with
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two men at the same time? No, but... Again, people
10:10
would use that as an opportunity to cast aspersions.
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Jackson, as a younger man, had gotten into a
10:14
duel with a guy on the issue. And so he's very
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passionate about it. I'm going to move on just
10:19
real quick because I do want to get to some other
10:21
bits. So anyway, of course, internal improvements
10:24
abound, but what are the things that are funding
10:25
the internal improvements to the United States?
10:29
The tariffs and the bank. Now, King Andrew I.
10:35
Now here's the thing. He gets into it. He is
10:38
such an overwhelming cult of personality, he
10:41
ushers in a whole bunch of congressmen who are
10:43
loyal to whom? Him. What does that look like
10:46
to the opposition? A tyranny. This is the bank
10:53
getting rechartered. This is a, I'm gonna zoom
10:55
in on this real quick. So here you have Jackson
11:00
fighting against the multi -headed hydra of the
11:03
bank itself. So let's go back for a moment. 1816.
11:18
Second Bank of the United States is chartered.
11:26
What happens? How long is the charter for the
11:29
second bank? 1836. It's a 20 year charter. Okay?
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So, 20 years later, this is when the bank expires.
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When's Jackson elected? 1828. When's Jackson
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re -elected? 1832. What happens? 1832. Is that
12:07
us? What is going to happen at the end of Jackson's
12:13
term, or what could happen? So the fight for
12:17
the bank is in the middle of its second term.
12:20
More on Monday. Wires on. Okay, so one of the
12:24
things that we got going on is this chapter,
12:30
in many ways, assumes you know things about American
12:33
religion that I'm willing to bet that most of
12:35
you don't. So, as part of this, I kind of have
12:44
to tell you about American religious beliefs
12:46
before the Great Awakening, because most of you
12:49
are in the shadow of modern times. So here's
12:52
the thing, and I've said it before, and I will
12:53
say it again. If I had to reduce American history
12:56
to two things, tobacco and revivalist Christianity,
13:01
those are the two things that you least understand.
13:04
Now, Hunter, tobacco was a plantation crop. That's
13:09
true. But one of the things that we have a hard
13:12
time grasping our mind around is revivalist Christianity
13:16
as a driving force in American politics and life
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because especially here We have some outlines
13:24
of revivalist Christianity, but some of that
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is fading away Here as in as we hear as in modern
13:32
humans here as in 21st century Americans Okay,
13:37
and so in order for this to make sense I kind
13:42
of need to tell you about people's beliefs as
13:45
they were, not as they are. And so that requires
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of me to transmit to you some aspects of Christian
13:53
doctrine. This is a matter of instruction, not
13:56
as a matter of proselytization. Does that make
13:59
sense? Now, one of the key facets, and this is
14:03
not a religious test, but rather an understanding
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of where you're coming from, how many of you,
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as a matter of course, go to church once a week
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or more. Okay. How many of you go to church twice
14:18
a year or more? Okay. You would include the once
14:22
a week. Once a week is more than twice a year.
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Yes? Okay. And so as a result, again, many modern
14:31
people and especially modern urban and suburban
14:34
people, their center of their life is their work,
14:37
not their church. And so there are certain schemas
14:42
that y 'all lack. And you may or may not be fully
14:48
ensconced with the particulars of religious doctrine.
14:52
So before we get to the novel religions, we kind
14:55
of need to go back to what the belief systems
14:58
were. So first of all, we're going to talk about
15:00
changes in the practice of religion in America
15:03
in the 19th century and the impact. I'm actually
15:06
going to let y 'all read about transcendentalism
15:08
on your own. Just not feeling it. Not a lit teacher,
15:15
not methane. Explore the origins of the major
15:19
social reform movements and the impacts of it
15:22
on American politics, particularly temperance
15:24
and American slavery. That's what we're going
15:25
to get through tomorrow, but today we're going
15:27
to talk about the religion. First of all, let's
15:34
go back for a moment. Christianity, when did
15:40
it get started? Twenty. We're coming up on Christmas.
15:50
Yes, he came out of the womb preaching right
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away, right? No, no. Maybe 15. Remember, some
15:59
of you may remember the story, his parents were
16:00
about to leave Jerusalem and here he is as a
16:02
young boy arguing with the rabbis in the temple.
16:05
Yes, you all know that story. But we can say,
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first century Anno Domini, first century of the
16:12
Common Era, you have Christianity. And for the
16:22
longest time, you have different churches in
16:27
the Middle East. and in parts of Europe. And
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then, what happens? There was a split, yes? What
16:35
was the schism between? The Eastern Orthodox
16:45
and the Western Catholic Church. You got the
16:55
one guy who was an iconoclast, he broke all the
16:58
icons and they decided to run the church using
17:00
windows. See DOS, see DOS run. Yes? Okay, that
17:04
joke was a lot funnier back when people used
17:06
DOS, but anyway. Alright. Hang on, I'm going
17:11
to finally have to explain this joke. This one's
17:12
kind of annoying. Alright, hang on. Hang on.
17:33
Alright, let's go back to H for a moment. Hang
17:35
on. Alright, let's say... Not well. Okay, so
17:51
now we'll go to... Let's see. I want to find
18:09
one that's really good. Hang on. Where is it?
18:19
Anyway, so you get the idea. I am going to cut
18:22
this. But actually, you can run Windows without
18:25
the use of a mouse, or you can run a computer
18:28
without the use of a mouse. It's using a series
18:30
of command line commands. So, for example, if
18:36
I wanted to... I forget how you actually open
18:47
graphics files, but you get the idea. Anyway,
18:51
but you... How is that the joke? C DOS, C DOS
18:54
run. In other words, they broke the icons. Okay,
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icons are these. What? They did not have iTunes
19:03
back then. Icons, icons, what is an icon? It's
19:07
something you see. Right, it's you click on the
19:10
icon and it runs the program. What is an icon
19:13
in a religious context? It is a physical manifestation
19:16
of the divine. No. DOS is the Disk Operating
19:30
System. So prior to the dawn of Windows, where
19:34
you actually had a graphic user interface where
19:36
you're manipulating icons, You had to run the
19:39
computer using a series of command lines. So
19:41
when I say they broke the icons, so you had to
19:44
run the church using Windows, or as they had
19:46
to run the church using DOS, that was a joke
19:48
about the similarities between the religious
19:50
speak and the... That was great. Yeah. Alright.
19:56
Alright. Let me put it to... The World Civ kids,
20:00
because they were older, they got it faster.
20:02
My college students at St. Phil's, they got it
20:04
a little bit faster. Alright. So, getting to
20:07
the idea for a moment. Okay, so you have the
20:10
Eastern Orthodox, you have the Western Catholic
20:11
Church. By the way, how many different flavors
20:13
of Eastern Orthodox do you have? Three. Oh, more
20:16
than three. Quite a few. Greek, Russian, Coptics,
20:29
Chaldeans. These are all Orthodox Christian denominations.
20:37
Coptic Christians are, of course, in Egypt. Chaldeans
20:39
are, of course, in modern -day Iraq. They've
20:41
become an endangered species thanks to ISIS.
20:45
among the Catholics. That's it, right? Catholic,
20:53
universal church. All right, each of these little
20:57
denominations of orthodoxy, they each has their
21:00
own patriarch. There's a Greek patriarch, there's
21:02
a Russian patriarch, there's a Coptic patriarch,
21:05
there's a Chaldean patriarch. However, in the
21:07
Roman Catholic tradition, there's one patriarch.
21:10
Who is it? The Pope. Okay? Now, With the exception
21:19
of immigrants from Egypt, Greece, and the Middle
21:22
East, what are most American religious practices
21:26
coming out of? The Western tradition or Eastern
21:31
Orthodox? Try again. Western Catholicism. Western
21:35
Catholicism. From Catholicism you have the break
21:38
to what we call modern Catholicism and who is
21:41
the guy, he said I got 95 theses but an indulgence
21:45
ain't one. Martin Luther, and so this begins
21:49
the process of what they call Protestantism,
21:51
yes? Now, what Luther was protesting was the
21:57
dominant religious doctrines of the Catholic
21:59
Church, specifically the sale of indulgences.
22:01
Now, from this idea of Protestantism, how many
22:04
flavors of Protestantism do we have? Many. Many,
22:09
many, many. Now, in among these you have, of
22:13
course, the Lutherans, the Anglicans, And the
22:17
Calvinists, these were the first main lines off
22:19
of Protestantism. What does it mean to be Christian?
22:38
Well, believe. What about Christ? That it was
22:42
the Son of God and divine, yes? Now, this is
22:49
where you get into doctrine. At this point, my
22:52
friend of mine, who is actually a philosophy
22:55
professor and also has been in almost every major
22:58
denomination known to God and man, would have
23:02
come in handy right about now, because he would
23:03
have set me straight for some of this. But enough
23:05
about my friend Dr. Lozano. Oh no, it's actually
23:10
kind of funny, because I remember one time I
23:13
got tapped to be the cross -bearer at this guy's
23:17
canonization. And of course, he becomes a bishop
23:20
in this sort of offshoot of Anglicanism. And
23:24
I'm the poor SOB who's got to carry this big
23:27
25 -pound Gothic cross. And so here I'm carrying
23:34
this wretched thing and and it's a holy wretched
23:37
I mean it's a holy thing, but it's it's wretchedly
23:39
heavy right and of course for some part of the
23:42
ritual here I am I'm holding this you know and
23:44
when you're holding a 25 pound gothic cross Where
23:46
is most of the weight? Up top so I'm holding
23:50
the 25 pound gothic cross the bishop is asking
23:53
or is doing some prayer And I am supposed to
23:56
kneel with this 25 pound gothic cross on a slick
23:58
surface And I know physics In physics, do you
24:03
want to be holding close to the center of gravity
24:05
or away from the center of gravity? Close. As
24:10
you're trying to maintain control of the subject.
24:12
So here I am, I'm holding this thing and while
24:15
everyone else is thinking holy thoughts, I'm
24:17
thinking, dear God, don't let me clock this bishop
24:20
in the middle of the prayer. Now, of course,
24:25
if you've never seen either a Catholic or an
24:28
Anglican canonization, there is a point where
24:30
the person who's about to be canonized lies completely
24:34
flat on the ground. This dude's prayer had gone
24:36
so long I thought my friend had taken a nap on
24:39
the floor, but I'm being sacrilegious on that
24:42
one. God protected both of us that day. Now,
24:55
actually that might have been one for the annals.
24:59
So here's the doctrine bit. Okay, how many of
25:03
you as part of your religious practice have the
25:06
recitation of some creed? Like the Nicene creed,
25:13
the Apostles creed, the Anastatians creed, somebody
25:15
got a creed. Creed literally means belief. So,
25:23
if you're reading off the creed, of course, I
25:25
believe in one God, Father of the Almighty, Maker
25:27
of all things, Judge of all men. Or as of all
25:31
things visible and invisible and in his son Jesus
25:33
Christ the only begotten Son of God eternally
25:35
begotten before all worlds God of God light of
25:39
light very God of very God begotten not made
25:41
of one being with the Father through him all
25:42
things were made for us men and for our salvation
25:44
came down from heaven and was incarnate by the
25:48
Holy Spirit and became man for our sake he was
25:50
crucified under Pontius Pilate suffered death
25:52
and was buried on the third day rose again in
25:54
accordance with the scripture he will come again
25:55
in glory to judge both the living and the dead
25:57
and his kingdom will have no end. Right. We all
26:02
know the drill, yes? May I ask what denomination,
26:04
if you don't mind? Oh, Catholic. All right. The
26:06
Anglicans have a similar one. The Anglicans use
26:09
the Elizabethan English. Now, couple of things
26:12
you've got going on. So, one God and the doctrine
26:18
of the Holy Trinity. Which implies, okay, is
26:23
it really one God or three? Well, I don't know.
26:25
We're still, it's a holy mystery. Yes, that's
26:27
one of the holy things about it. All right. So
26:29
you got a Holy Trinity. Of course, that's the
26:31
whole doctrine of the Father. the Son and the
26:34
Holy Ghost. And I believe in the Holy Spirit,
26:41
the Lord, the giver of life, eternally begotten
26:43
of the Father, who with the Father together is
26:45
worshiped and glorified, who's spake by the prophets,
26:47
and he will come again with glory to judge the
26:51
living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have
26:56
no end. Which also means, in whether you are
27:00
Greek, Russian, Coptic, Catholic, or Protestant,
27:02
you believe in this part. Which also means you
27:06
are waiting for a judgment day. Thy kingdom come,
27:10
thy will be done means what? On earth as it is
27:14
in heaven. But the kingdom come is a specific
27:16
reference to what? Thy kingdom come is a specific
27:22
reference to the end. Now, here's the thing.
27:28
Plenty of Christians want to go through life
27:30
enjoying life, but fundamentally, if you believe
27:32
in the words of your own prayer, you are waiting
27:34
for it. You are waiting for the judgment. You're
27:38
really looking forward to what Newton called
27:41
the second coming. He's expecting it 2060. Most
27:43
of you should be alive to see it. I'll be old.
27:49
I might not make it. Now, again, Newton also
27:52
had some other fun things besides coming up with
27:54
calculus on a summer break. And so you're thinking,
27:57
oh my god, if Newton thought the second coming
27:59
is 2060, good god, calculus was eternally painful.
28:03
I'm almost afraid to know what happens next.
28:06
No. But anyway, so here you have these concepts,
28:09
yes? Now, embedded in the concept of judgment
28:13
is what? The concept of what? How do you avoid
28:17
judgment? Not that you do good things. What?
28:22
Salvation. Now, what do we call those whom God
28:33
has chosen to save? Starts with an E we talked
28:37
about in the First Great Awakening. Predestination
28:40
for the elect. So, here is what is the common
28:46
Christian consensus. Now, You have coming out
28:50
of the first great awakening. We'll just call
28:52
it FGW for it first great awakening or FGA there
28:56
we go for the first great awakening You have
29:02
the doctrine of the elect Which means that there
29:08
is a set group of people. God is going to say
29:10
from them from damnation Yes Okay, and he's already
29:18
decided this from the beginning of the world
29:20
So that's the concept of predestination Alright,
29:29
so God already decided who he was going to save.
29:31
That occurred before the beginning of the world.
29:32
That is the doctrine of predestination. Them
29:35
who is saved already is called the elect. Okay,
29:37
so far so good. Everybody gets the basic outlines
29:39
of Christianity. Whether you believe it or not
29:41
is your problem, yes? Now, that being said, I
29:45
say it exactly that way because I'm not here
29:46
to proselytize you. I'm trying to give you an
29:48
idea of where these people are coming from. Now,
29:55
just a sort of a quick review. Most Americans
30:03
say their prayers their vernacular language.
30:08
Yes? Whether it is a Spanish -speaking Catholic
30:13
Church or an English -speaking Catholic Church
30:16
or an English -speaking Baptist Church or an
30:19
English -speaking Methodist Church, most people
30:22
say their prayers in their own language. By the
30:24
way, is that always been a thing? My Catholic
30:29
friends, that is 1960s when they stopped. doing
30:34
the service in Latin. But if you look at most
30:39
American churches, American -made churches, and
30:42
why do I say American -made churches? Because
30:44
there are a fair number of churches made in the
30:46
U .S. The Baptists and the Methodists are made
30:50
in the United States. They are offshoots of Anglicanism.
30:55
And the reason they're offshoots of Anglicanism
30:56
is this is what we call the English Church, the
30:58
English -speaking Church. All right, so moving
31:00
into the next bit. Okay, everybody good so far?
31:06
Now, One of the things that the book talks about,
31:09
and people have a nasty habit of getting these
31:11
two things confused because they occur at the
31:12
same time, is the Enlightenment. Okay, couple
31:27
of things going on. In the Enlightenment, you
31:29
have the idea of rational religion, but you also
31:35
have, coming out of the Enlightenment, a really
31:38
kind of rabid antitheism. What do I mean by antitheism?
31:47
What's the difference between antitheism and
31:49
atheism? How many of you have known a person
31:59
who, you know, really is adamant about their
32:01
own atheism? So traditionally the atheist has
32:07
always sort of thought of religion as the way
32:10
Marx put it, the opiate of the masses, that sometimes
32:13
you just need to have, you let the masses have
32:14
their opiate, yes? What is opiate? What is opium
32:18
by the way? It's a drug, but it was treated as
32:21
medicine, yes? What's an antitheist then? You
32:30
don't want them to have their religion that somehow
32:32
their religion is an imposition on you. How many
32:36
of you have seen those people? No, you can't
32:41
pray in this place or that place. Well, we've
32:42
been praying before the start of the meeting
32:44
for hundreds of years. Well, okay. A true atheist
32:54
is a person themselves without religion. What's
32:56
interesting is a true atheist has no intent,
32:58
has no reason to proselytize. However, how many
33:02
of you have met a proselytizing antitheist? You
33:06
get what I'm saying. Antitheism is my word. I'll
33:09
claim it. I've also created a few other words
33:12
for y 'all. Omni -militarism is one. Afro -Eurasia,
33:16
I don't think I actually made up, but it's the
33:18
first you've heard of it. So I'm just gonna roll
33:22
with it. Now, rational religion. This is the
33:24
part that's kind of interesting, and I don't
33:26
like the way the book paints it. Okay. So think
33:30
about this for a moment. One of the great myths
33:34
is that people who ascribe to religion are somehow
33:36
superstitious ignoramuses. How many of you have
33:39
met people who have acted on the presumption
33:41
that religious people are superstitious ignoramuses
33:43
or idiots? I've met a few. Makes dehumanizing
33:49
a person very easy. Why is that dangerous? But,
33:57
no? Alright, so here's the part that's interesting.
34:01
Can a person have a scientific mind and still
34:04
be Christian? Well, the earliest scientists were
34:07
deeply religious people. Okay, so you actually
34:11
have the beginnings of the scientific method,
34:13
and I don't know if you got into this in World
34:15
Civ. Who was actually the father of the scientific
34:18
method? Francis Bacon. Not Nathaniel Bacon, not
34:25
the Bacon's Revolt, but Francis Bacon. Charters
34:28
the Royal Society of London, where they actually
34:31
begin to do these scientific inquiries. Name
34:33
one other English scientist who might have been
34:35
deeply religious. I just told you his name. Father
34:40
of modern physics. Newton. Sir Isaac Newton.
34:44
Now, there were others, whether it was Galileo,
34:48
whether it was Copernicus, these were people
34:50
who deeply believed in the traditional religion
34:54
and yet wanted to explore it and for them exploration
35:00
of the natural world as they called it natural
35:04
philosophy was a calling equal in value to the
35:09
vocational calling of spreading the gospel because
35:13
the idea is if there is a God who puts order
35:17
to the world that nature was seen as a way of
35:21
exploring the beauty of God's creation. Do you
35:26
see the idea? Now, from this exploration of the
35:32
creation, they found that there are certain systems
35:34
that are repeated each time. Yes? The pen falls
35:38
because I let it go. It's not going to levitate.
35:43
There's no supernatural phenomenon to it. Yes?
35:47
Actually, it was kind of funny. One of the critiques
35:49
of Galileo's system was that one of the priests
35:53
is like, oh, you're a heretic because you believe
35:55
that the earth revolves around the sun. But clearly,
35:59
in the book of Joshua, there's this battle and
36:01
Joshua says, sun stand thee still and the sun
36:04
stood still. How is that not a counter argument
36:09
against it? And of course, Galileo says, well,
36:12
if the sun doesn't move, neither does the earth.
36:17
By the way, does the sun stand still or does
36:19
the sun rotate? Sun rotates. You got the idea.
36:25
Okay, so you have that going on. So there is
36:29
a religious undertoning to the earliest scientific
36:31
explorations. Now in the French Revolution, you
36:35
have rabid anti -theism. Why? Why would the French
36:40
Revolution have a negative view about religion?
36:43
What did the religion reinforce? The divine right
36:48
of kings. And so they threw out a whole bunch
36:50
of religious undertones. During the French Revolution
36:54
at one point, they tried to throw out the seven
36:56
day week and replace it with a ten day week.
36:58
That would be dreadful, wouldn't it? I don't
37:04
know if it was two or three. No, no, no. Alright,
37:10
now this gets us to the next idea. Alright, now
37:14
here's the other thing. Embedded in the idea
37:16
of judgment, embedded in the idea of salvation
37:19
is the idea of intervention. What is intervention?
37:31
What is the idea of intervention in religion?
37:35
You pray to God, and God answers. Yes? How many
37:41
times have you heard the preacher man say, ours
37:43
is a God who answers prayer. What is prayer?
37:47
When you ask God for something, yes? Or when
37:51
you praise your God and Master, yes? The forms
37:55
of prayer have varied from praying on your knees,
37:58
to praying on your face, to praying with your
38:00
arms outstretched towards the heavens. I always
38:04
thought the arms outstretched towards the heavens
38:06
was a lot cooler looking, but that's just me.
38:10
Traditional Greek. Pre -Christian Greeks. So
38:18
now we get into deism. Now, deism is this idea
38:28
that the universe is a well -oiled machine, which
38:33
is God has created the machine and has set it
38:37
in order. Okay, now, here's the thing. Was there
38:43
scientific reasoning behind the idea of a universe
38:47
in order? Is there an order to the universe?
38:51
Yes, I mean, they've had navigation charts, they've
38:54
calculated the seas, they've got, you know, gravity,
38:56
all this other stuff. And so, there is this idea
38:59
of, okay, the universe is in order, God has set
39:02
the clock and maybe He walked away. What's the
39:09
problem with a universe that is a well -ordered
39:12
machine? Why are there problems? Not just that.
39:17
What don't you need anymore? If God's set, you
39:24
don't need a creator. You also don't need salvation
39:27
and also there is precious little point to prayer
39:30
if he's already set the machine in motion. However,
39:36
the idea of the universe in order, you also hear
39:41
it in one word that Washington talks about. Providence.
39:49
Providence was a 18th century term for God. They
39:52
called it divine providence. What's the root
39:54
word? Provide. What does it mean to provide for
40:02
something? to see to its needs, yes? Actually,
40:06
it means to look for, pro -ethio, video, like
40:11
looking at an image, yeah? It's kind of one of
40:13
those funny words. But anyway, so in Aideism,
40:17
you don't need salvation, you don't need intervention.
40:20
What may or may not happen? Well, will the clock
40:22
eventually run down? Maybe there's a judgment,
40:24
maybe not. And so in many ways deism is the first
40:28
step towards atheism. If God set the universe
40:31
in motion and walked away, maybe there was no
40:34
God to begin with and maybe the clock was just
40:36
there. But you see how deism flies in the face
40:42
of the traditional doctrine, yes? Now for the
40:46
next part. And actually I want to kind of take
40:50
a little side turn here. You have, I already
40:54
talked to you about election and predestination,
40:56
yes? Okay. So now comes the next part. This is
40:59
the most common thing that you all might screw
41:01
up on the test. Unitarianism. How many of you
41:13
have heard the person who has said, well, it's
41:15
all the same God? Oh, come on, more than just
41:20
a few of you. Yes, we've all heard the idea.
41:22
It's all the same God. That's the person who
41:25
says, you know, Jesus was probably a saint and
41:28
a great teacher, right? In which case, The person
41:34
who says, alright, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, they
41:37
all go to the same God. How many of you have
41:39
heard that idea? Right? That's Unitarianism.
41:45
What's wrong with Unitarianism as it squares
41:48
against the traditional doctrine? Can a saint
41:54
be a savior? No. So Unitarianism in many ways
42:01
is seen as heretical. And so while there are
42:05
Unitarian churches in the Northeast that get
42:07
started, they are widely seen as heretics. Now
42:11
the one that's interesting is, so we've talked
42:13
about deism that is kind of seen as a heresy
42:16
against traditional doctrine. We've talked about
42:19
Unitarianism that's seen as a heresy against
42:21
traditional doctrine. But now let's talk about
42:24
Universalism. This is actually a common feature
42:32
of American Protestant churches to this day.
42:41
Who can be saved? Everyone. Universalism is the
42:46
idea that salvation is for everyone as a quotient
42:51
of what? Belief and free will. Now, does this
43:09
universalist idea directly conflict with any
43:13
of these stated doctrines? No, it conflicts with
43:17
the doctrine of the elect. What's the difference
43:20
between universalism and the doctrine of the
43:22
elect? Not only that, the idea of the elect is
43:28
that there would be a large number of people
43:30
who claim to be saved, but are not. The doctrine
43:35
of the elect is the idea that there are many,
43:42
broad is the path to destruction, and many are
43:45
those who find it, but narrow is the path that
43:47
leads to salvation, yes? You notice that the
43:49
doctrine of election is actually really quite
43:52
exclusive. And so if you're in the first grade
43:56
awakening, you work. You pray and you hope like
43:59
hell that you're not going there. I was going
44:05
for a pun, alright, apparently y 'all don't think
44:07
damnation's funny, alright. It's like we got
44:10
it, Sabirian, it's just not funny, actually it
44:12
was a little too dramatic, alright. Whereas universalism
44:19
is the idea that everyone can be saved and we
44:21
like the idea that we could be saved. We like
44:23
to think that we are not irredeemable. Oh, sorry.
44:37
And so universalism as a doctrine particularly
44:40
makes its way to two churches that offshot from
44:45
Anglicanism, and that is the Baptists and the
44:48
Methodists. Just for my own curiosity, do any
44:54
of you have any familiarity with either of those
44:57
denominations? All right. Hmm? Baptists? Both?
45:03
One parent, one of each? My mom was Baptist,
45:06
and then I went to a place that had truth in
45:08
it for a while. All right. So you might be able
45:11
to explain to me the subtle nuances of each,
45:13
but we'll get there in a bit. All right. Before
45:15
we get to the frontier revival, let me sort of
45:17
finish this line. All right. Is everybody good
45:19
with this part? Yes? All right. I'm going to
45:21
erase this part here, too. So a couple of things.
45:26
So we're good with the doctrine bits. OK. So
45:31
one of the things I was going to tell you. So
45:33
first of all, Anglicanism. Who's the head of
45:43
the English church? The monarch, yes? So if you're
45:48
an Anglican in the United States, does that work
45:52
out well for you? No. So what do you do when
45:55
the head of your church is a foreign monarch?
45:57
You become Episcopalians. Same great communion
46:07
wine, same building, same time, different name,
46:10
right? Rebranding, yes? Now, the Episcopalian
46:16
church, the Anglican church, it's a highly ritualized
46:18
church. It has some Catholic overtones, it's
46:22
got priests, it's got bishops, it's got all the
46:24
fancy silverware. Might there be people who have
46:28
a problem with that? Yes, you've got the Baptists
46:31
and then you have the Methodists, they split
46:34
off from the Episcopal Church. Key thing is,
46:40
this is the English speaking church in the United
46:42
States. What about Evangelicalism? These are
46:45
a speci - Evangelicalism is a speci - Prac is
46:49
a style, so these would both qualify as evangelical
46:51
churches, whereas typically the Anglican church
46:53
is not widely seen as evangelical. Now, what
46:58
does evangelism mean? To go out and to proselytize
47:03
and to convert people. Make sense? We could actually
47:09
say, well, when Marquette was out proselytizing
47:13
the Indians, or the native peoples, that was
47:15
a type of evangelism. Does that make sense? But
47:18
nowadays, Those of you who are Catholic, were
47:21
most of you converted or were you born into it?
47:24
Born into it. So if you're born into it, you
47:26
didn't really get evangelized. How are you there?
47:29
All right. Now, Baptist, yes? Have you been baptized
47:37
yet or no? All right, and you are 16, yes? All
47:41
right. What's different about that? If you're
47:46
a Catholic or if you're an Episcopalian or if
47:48
you're an Anglican or if you're a Lutheran, when
47:50
do you get baptized? When you convert to the
47:54
religion, but if you're born into it, when you
47:56
get baptized. When you're a baby, I mean, by
47:58
God, you know, as soon as the belly button thing
48:00
drops off, into the font you go and they're pouring
48:03
the water on you and into the church you go.
48:06
Now, I will say, whereas if you're a Baptist,
48:10
when do you get baptized? When you choose to,
48:15
typically at some level of adolescence or adulthood,
48:18
yes? That's different. That's one of the major
48:24
differences between the denominations. Now, one
48:26
of the things that's kind of interesting, kind
48:27
of an aside, and I'm not, okay, this is terrible,
48:33
but it's also, all right, ironic. Okay, so for
48:36
those of you who don't know, you know, when they
48:38
baptize a baby, they do not dunk the baby and
48:39
hold him underwater the way they do with an adult
48:42
baptism, because that would just be terrible
48:44
because children don't know how to regulate themselves.
48:46
But anyway, so they take the baby and they pour
48:48
the stuff over the baby and there you go. Now,
48:50
have you seen a Baptist baptism? Alright, describe
48:54
it for us. Describe the dunking part. I mean
49:04
they submerge you, I mean they put you under
49:06
the thing and I mean it's full on and maybe the
49:09
priest is in the body of water with you and he's
49:11
up to his hips, yes? So there was this freak
49:14
accident in Waco. I remember it well, it made
49:18
the news. Wait, you remember this or I told you
49:20
this one? Okay, no, not the David Koresh one,
49:24
although we'll get to that. So, in this one Baptist
49:29
church in Waco, and I know this because I lived
49:31
in Temple at the time, there was only one television
49:33
station and it made the news. So, Baptist baptism.
49:38
The Baptist E gets baptized. The Baptist E goes
49:40
out of the font. The priest is still preaching
49:42
in the font, up to his knees in water. The priest
49:45
is Preaching using an amplified sound system
49:47
drops the mic and is summarily electrocuted in
49:50
front of his congregation, he dies. So that being
49:58
said, I don't know if after that event the whatever
50:03
diocese or governing body actually put like OSHA
50:05
laws in place so that people don't, you know,
50:07
rock the mic while they're in the water. But
50:09
yeah, that happened. No, no, you just make sure
50:15
he's not wearing a wire. All right now that being
50:25
said Frontier revivals now what you actually
50:31
have in the second grade awakening you have two
50:34
religious things going on is so second grade
50:39
awakening you have an intellectual side and you
50:50
see that with The rise of various Methodist and
50:55
Baptist and deeply religious schools separate
50:58
and apart from the mainline Christian institutions
51:00
like West Lane and other schools like that. We
51:04
see them in Texas later on with Baylor and SMU,
51:07
but again, there are other types of deeply religious
51:09
schools, private schools popping up all over
51:11
the place. So you have colleges teaching new
51:15
doctrine. By the way, if you went to college
51:18
in the 18th century, what did you go to college
51:21
to learn? Medicine, divinity, or law. That's
51:25
it. You didn't go to college to be an engineer.
51:29
And then you had the frontier revivalist movement.
51:36
Here you have charismatics preaching to common
51:42
folk. Now, here's something kind of interesting.
51:52
Most of you who have gone to a church, your priest
51:55
probably has some degree, either a master's or
51:58
a doctorate, in divinity. Yes? They've got some
52:02
fancy letters next to their name, but I will
52:04
tell you there is one of the most successful
52:08
religious leaders in the United States has no
52:11
formal training in divinity. Runs one of the
52:16
biggest mega churches outside of Houston, no
52:18
formal training in divinity. Joel Osteen. Why
52:21
has this man got a movement? He's a charismatic.
52:29
He's the modern charismatic for the tent revival
52:32
in the 21st century. Yes? the Frontier Revivals,
52:44
can you just like picture them in your head?
52:46
Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, you can picture a freaking
52:50
tent revival. Now, what's interesting about it
52:52
is, and you've got people, they're preaching
52:54
the word, you've got people rolling on the floor
52:57
speaking in tongues, they probably look like
52:59
they're having a seizure. I mean, I mean, this
53:07
was breakdancing before breakdancing, yes? Actually,
53:10
that's... For those of you who grew up in the
53:12
80s and never saw anybody doing breakdancing,
53:15
it takes you a while to figure out that this
53:16
is a person who is actually breakdancing and
53:19
not having an episode. The Methodists, one of
53:23
the things about the Methodists is they would
53:25
actually use circuit riders. Now, do any of you
53:28
actually belong to a Methodist church, just for
53:30
my own curiosity? One of the hallmarks of the
53:33
Methodist church is they actually put their,
53:37
unlike some churches where the church gets to
53:39
keep their priest if they like them. The organization
53:43
cycles the priests in and out every two to three
53:46
years. Well, yes, but it's a bit, well, but we
53:51
already know the Catholics have a centralized
53:52
command and control structure. Among Protestant
53:55
churches, it's a little, some of them are very,
53:57
like, regional, and then some have a central
54:00
command. You get the idea? Kind of a funny thing,
54:05
when you're in a Catholic church, but you weren't
54:06
raised Catholic, when your wife asks you to hand
54:09
her the missile, you're picturing something a
54:11
bit more explosive than a little book. And it
54:14
doesn't help that my wife has a bit of an accent,
54:16
which is impressive, because she's from Seguin.
54:20
Her mother is California and her father is Midwestern.
54:23
But somehow she has an accent. Yes, we all know
54:27
they barely speak English. No, kidding. All right.
54:31
Now, moving on. they get into also African -Americans
54:37
get into this revivalist thing you have the rise
54:39
of the African Methodist Episcopal Church still
54:42
the largest African -American religious denomination
54:44
second after that is Baptists all right let me
54:51
get to this Camp meetings and women what's different
54:56
about this second great awakening is a move in
55:02
the religion now think about this for a moment
55:05
traditionally Is religion as an institution matriarchal
55:10
or patriarchal? Patriarchal, the priests are
55:13
men, the bishops are men, the pope's a man, everybody's
55:15
a man, yes? Who runs American churches, if you
55:19
think about it though? The church ladies. How
55:25
many of you, and you know who they are? They're
55:29
the ladies who have the snacks after the service.
55:32
They're the ladies trying to turn everybody into
55:35
a busybody. And by the way, how many of you who
55:38
go to church with some degree of regularity,
55:40
who gets your butt up and who puts you in the
55:42
car? It's not dad, who is it? It's yo mama. Right?
55:49
And your mom gets you in the car because your
55:52
mom is trying to save your soul. This is an outcropping.
55:56
of the Second Great Awakening. Whereas how many
55:59
of you know your dad would just as soon sleep
56:01
in and watch football? Again, but also kind of
56:08
a slight difference. Again, the American Protestants,
56:11
the driver behind it is the women. Whereas again,
56:14
the Catholic Church doesn't go through those
56:16
changes until 60s, 1960s. Adios, we'll have to
56:22
deal with the Mormons later.