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America's Hidden History | Muhlenbergs

October 31, 2019

27:33

America's Hidden History

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America's Hidden History | Muhlenbergs

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(dramatic music)
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- [Narrator] Modern historians have revised, re-written,
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and even deleted entire chapters of American history.
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So what are we missing?
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What happened to the history that didn't make the books?
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Join Historian David Barton, Tim Barton,
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and special guests as they uncover the facts
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some historians don't want you to know.
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This is America's Hidden History.
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(intense music)
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- We're in Woodstock, Virginia,
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here to tell a story of two brothers,
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John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg
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and Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg.
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Now, we're standing by the statue
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of John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg,
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and just looking at the statue,
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looks like maybe he's wearing a military uniform.
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Well, he was a military officer in the American Revolution.
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However, he was much more than just
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an officer in the revolution,
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he was actually also a minister as was his brother
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but that's only kind of the middle of the story.
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- They come from a family of Lutherans,
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in fact, their father's considered to be the founder
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of the Lutheran Church in America.
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And so the boys were raised as Lutherans,
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and most of the Lutherans in America at that time
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were German-speaking as was the family.
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And so the father says we want to send you
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to Germany to get a good education.
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Now, Peter actually had had some education
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at the University of Pennsylvania,
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what they called the College of Philadelphia at the time,
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so he's got some education
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and then his dad sent him to Germany
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and they started getting a German education.
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- Yeah, actually the dad sends all three sons,
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all three brothers over,
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so Frederick, John Peter, and Henry all go overseas,
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they're all getting a German education
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but John Peter really didn't like education,
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he didn't really like school,
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he actually drops out of school,
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he gets a job working over there
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and really didn't like his job very much either, apparently.
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He really just wanted to be
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in the military was what he wanted
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because he left his job and joined the German dragoons.
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And what he did was learn to be a soldier
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with these German dragoons, he did the drills with them,
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and so when he finally leaves Germany,
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he comes back to America,
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his heart really is still to be a soldier,
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although his father's a minister
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and he starts working for his father at his father's church.
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He does become an ordained Lutheran minister and starts
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serving in Pennsylvania as a pastor of a church.
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After serving at his father's church,
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he's now a pastor and then,
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here in Woodstock, Virginia, they need a pastor,
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and so they call on John Peter
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to come be a pastor here in Woodstock.
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- And a lot of Woodstock at the time
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was a German-speaking community,
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so it makes sense to have a German-speaking pastor
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and they were Lutherans here and so he came here
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for that congregation, to minister to that congregation
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but when you get here, you find out that Virginia
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is a state that has a state established religion,
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it is the Anglican religion
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and therefore in the state of Virginia,
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you can't do marriages, you can't do official funerals
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and burials, you can't have anything on record
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unless you're the Anglican minister doing that,
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well, he's a Lutheran minister,
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So in 1772, he goes to England and becomes ordained
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so he ends up with two congregations.
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He's a pastor of a German speaking Lutheran congregation,
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but he's also the pastor of an English speaking
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Anglican congregation.
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- And as pastor of a church he was
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a very influential citizen as well.
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In those days, pastors were often looked to
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as the ones who had the answers,
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in fact you had to be fairly well educated to be a pastor.
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There's records from early America when to be a doctor,
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you went to school for three years
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but to be a minister, you might go to school
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for seven years, so they were very well educated people.
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When their community is looking for someone
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to be even a political leader,
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John Peter Muhlenburg was the name that came to their mind
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and so he goes to Williamsburg
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to represent the people here of Shenandoah.
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(dramatic music)
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(intense music)
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- Pastor John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg
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is in charge of two churches there in Woodstock.
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The community elects him to be a member
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of the state legislature and the state legislature
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meets here at the state capital in Williamsburg.
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So, he comes here for legislative sessions
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and that should be a good thing
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except he's a patriot and the governor is a loyalist.
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And the governor doesn't like what the patriots are doing
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so from time to time the governor
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just shuts down the legislature, sends them all home.
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Well, they're not going home, they've been elected to serve
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and so sometimes they meet in Williamsburg,
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sometimes they have to find other places to meet.
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And as a matter of fact the legislative session
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that happened in December 1775 through January of of 1776,
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they met in Williamsburg but it wasn't at the capital.
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But they're here and at that point in time
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there's a lot happening across America.
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I mean, here in town, Patrick Henry's had
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to confront the governor
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because the governor's gone to the magazine
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and taken the powder round.
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- Yeah, the British have already come
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and tried to get the military arms, the powder,
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anything that can be used to oppose
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what the king was doing in the British
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but you can back up to Lexington Green
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where the shot heard around the world happened
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and that happened in front
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of the Reverend Jonas Clarke's church
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and so you have already Lexington Green
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the same day the British march on Concord
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trying to take the military guys from Concord.
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- Yeah, that's up in Massachusetts
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and even though it's away from here,
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they've heard about it down here.
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They see stuff going on all over America.
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- So, you've already had several conflicts
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so there's already a lot of tension that's building here
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in America and so as now you're having the governor
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opposing what's going on and then they try
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to seize the military's supplies here in Williamsburg.
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Patrick Henry's going okay, we've had enough,
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we're not doing this anymore.
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Well, John Peter gets fired up too.
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- He does and he decides, his church needs to know
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what's happening so at the end of the legislative session,
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he goes out, crawls on his horse, rides back to Woodstock
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which is about 200 miles from here
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which is maybe up to a week in the saddle
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but he wants to go back and let his church know
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exactly what the situation is,
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not only in Virginia but also across America.
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(dramatic music)
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(intense music)
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- So, after John Peter gets on his horse,
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rides back to the community of Woodstock,
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that's where he's from and he comes back here
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to his church, now this is not his original church
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but his original church was here.
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This is the rebuilt one, so he gets back here
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to the community in time to preach a sermon
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on January the 21st, 1776.
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That day he mounted the pulpit
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and colonial churches back then
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had an elevated pulpit that was kind of the PA system.
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So, he's in the pulpit and like all ministers back then
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he's wearing his clerical robes.
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So, he's standing there in the pulpit
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in front of the congregation, he has his Bible open
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and he chooses to preach out of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
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Now that's the passage that says through everything
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there's a time and a purpose and a season.
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When he got to verse eight, it says there's a time of peace
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and there's a time of war.
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He closed his Bible, he looked up he said,
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brethren, you know what's going on,
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you know it's happening here in Virginia,
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you've heard about what's happening up in Massachusetts.
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He said, this is no longer the time of the peace,
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this is now the time of war,
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He starts undressing right there in front
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of the congregation and when he gets that robe undone,
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he jerks it open and underneath he's
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wearing the full dress uniform of a colonel
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in the Continental Army.
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He now dismounts the pulpit and he walked down the isle
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of the church preaching as he went.
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He said, brethren, we came here to practice our liberties
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and if we don't get involved, we won't have
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any liberties left to practice.
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He says now who's going with me to defend our liberties?
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More than 160 men got up from the congregation,
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met him at the back door.
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By the next day it had swelled to over 300 men.
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- Yeah and this wasn't something that maybe was flippant
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that this pastor had this emotional moment
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and he's charged and we're gonna do something,
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he actually received a letter several weeks before
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from George Washington where Washington said,
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John Peter we really need some help,
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would you raise a regiment?
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Now, John Peter also had seen what happened in Williamsburg.
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He seen what the British had done
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so he probably is very passionate,
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he's very motivated but he's also responding to
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who was the Commander-in-Chief, George Washington,
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the leader of the military.
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So, John Peter does get involved,
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he leads the men from his congregation
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from the community and there on there
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from the revolution from 1776 when he begins
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all the way to 1783 when the peace treaty
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is signed in the revolution.
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And they go through all kinds of hardship,
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they endure all kinds of persecution
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and the persecution wasn't just from having
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to fight the British, there were actually locals
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who did not appreciate what they were doing,
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didn't support what they're doing.
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In fact, John Peter's brother Fredrick didn't even support
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what he was doing.
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- Frederick was a pastor in New York City
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at the same time John Peter was pastoring here.
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And when Frederick in New York heard what happened here
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he wrote a scathing letter to his brother, John.
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He said John, this is wrong, you're a pastor,
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you're not a soldier.
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You choose one or the other, you can't do both.
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And that starts a series of letters
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that go back and forth and back and forth
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and so John replies and said wait a minute,
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I am a pastor but I can be a soldier too
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because I've got duties to God and to my country.
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At times it gets pretty testy.
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- Yeah, now Frederick actually did say
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that he was a patriot.
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He said I support the American cause,
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I just don't think you should do that from the pulpit.
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He says pastors should not be patriotic in that regard.
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Pastors need to just preach the word of God,
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they shouldn't be getting involved
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in what's happening around them.
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Well, he felt that way until the following year
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when the British get to New York.
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Now what the British understood is a lot of times
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in these, especially, small communities,
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the pastors are the ones stirring up the people's actions.
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So, it was not unusual when the British would go to a town,
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for the British to actually destroy the church.
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Now maybe they desecrated, maybe they burned it
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but they would do something to the church
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to send a message maybe to the pastor,
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maybe to the community that you should not oppose,
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the British don't oppose the crown.
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Well, when the British are coming to New York,
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Fredrick senses there might be some danger.
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He sends his wife and kids away,
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he says it's better for you not to be here right now
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but he stays.
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Well, as the British arrives, he senses it's not safe
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for me to be here anymore either, so Frederick leaves
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but when the British get to New York
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there were 19 churches in New York City at the time,
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they burned 10 to the ground and the other nine
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apparently they destroyed on some level, some capacity.
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So, Frederick realizes his church has been destroyed
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and at this point he has this epiphany
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of maybe my brother was right.
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Maybe pastors can be patriots too,
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maybe they could take action more than just tell people
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that God loves them, maybe they can get involved
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in the community and culture around them
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and especially against tyranny.
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So Frederick does get involved,
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it actually becomes a state legislator
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and then becomes apart a Continental Congress
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and so this is kind of the beginning
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of Fredrick's political career.
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(dramatic music)
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(intense music)
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We're at Valley Forge which is where the Americans
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spent the very tough winter of 1777 to 1778.
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Valley Forge is a very notable winter.
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Most history books reference it and talk about it.
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You notice that we are standing beside barracks.
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This is exactly what they would have looked like
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at that time frame, in fact, John Peter Muhlenberg,
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his men would have built barracks
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just like this during the revolution.
00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:05.240
In the winter at Valley Forge was noted
00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:08.210
as a very difficult winter, not because the winter
00:11:08.210 --> 00:11:10.290
was necessarily colder than normal.
00:11:10.290 --> 00:11:12.170
Just because the conditions the men had to go through
00:11:12.170 --> 00:11:15.090
were so difficult.
00:11:15.090 --> 00:11:16.160
- Yeah when the men arrived here,
00:11:16.160 --> 00:11:17.250
there was really nothing here.
00:11:17.250 --> 00:11:19.030
There was a little village close by
00:11:19.030 --> 00:11:21.090
but the British had gone into Philadelphia.
00:11:21.090 --> 00:11:23.110
They intended to capture Philadelphia,
00:11:23.110 --> 00:11:24.260
which they did but they hoped to capture Congress as well.
00:11:24.260 --> 00:11:27.040
Because in European warfare,
00:11:27.040 --> 00:11:28.240
if you can capture the enemy's capital,
00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:30.200
then you win the war.
00:11:30.200 --> 00:11:32.050
The American Army stops here and Washington stops here
00:11:32.050 --> 00:11:34.240
because it's high, it's elevated, you can defend this.
00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:37.030
It's within a days march of Philadelphia.
00:11:37.030 --> 00:11:39.050
So this is where General Muhlenberg would have been.
00:11:39.050 --> 00:11:41.150
These are the Muhlenberg barracks.
00:11:41.150 --> 00:11:42.260
This is where his guys would have been.
00:11:42.260 --> 00:11:44.090
The Virginia line was here.
00:11:44.090 --> 00:11:45.260
But while they were here, things began to change.
00:11:45.260 --> 00:11:48.080
Baron Von Steuben came in and he really
00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:50.240
helped the Continental Army with discipline.
00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:52.240
And he took 100 guys and started drilling them
00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:55.070
in European style discipline.
00:11:55.070 --> 00:11:56.280
'Cause we got a bunch of farmers and school teachers
00:11:56.280 --> 00:11:59.010
and shopkeepers trying to take on the British.
00:11:59.010 --> 00:12:00.280
Shortly after that you
00:12:00.280 --> 00:12:02.120
have the young French General Marquis De Lafayette
00:12:02.120 --> 00:12:04.160
who arrives and he's a real boost to these guys.
00:12:04.160 --> 00:12:07.030
As matter of fact before they left Valley Forge
00:12:07.030 --> 00:12:08.270
they got word that France had joined us as an ally.
00:12:08.270 --> 00:12:11.270
So, what happened was coming into Valley Forge
00:12:11.270 --> 00:12:15.100
they had had a measurable year,
00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:16.230
they're losing battles like crazy.
00:12:16.230 --> 00:12:18.170
They get into this training that happens here
00:12:18.170 --> 00:12:21.130
and when they leave Valley Forge
00:12:21.130 --> 00:12:22.280
over the next year suddenly they're almost on equal footing
00:12:22.280 --> 00:12:25.190
with the British but they're able to compete
00:12:25.190 --> 00:12:27.160
with these professional soldiers at a real different level.
00:12:27.160 --> 00:12:30.060
And based on the training that the soldiers received
00:12:30.060 --> 00:12:33.080
during the time here at Valley Forge,
00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:35.020
the Continental Army goes on to be a formidable force,
00:12:35.020 --> 00:12:38.010
battle after battle after battle, they go forward
00:12:38.010 --> 00:12:40.210
and General Muhlenberg actually ends up
00:12:40.210 --> 00:12:42.100
in the final major battle of the American Revolution,
00:12:42.100 --> 00:12:44.280
the Battle of Yorktown.
00:12:44.280 --> 00:12:45.270
(dramatic music)
00:12:45.270 --> 00:12:48.200
(intense music)
00:12:51.150 --> 00:12:54.050
- We're in Yorktown Virginia, where the last major battle
00:13:00.180 --> 00:13:02.180
of the American Revolution was fought,
00:13:02.180 --> 00:13:04.040
the Battle of Yorktown and this is actually a place
00:13:04.040 --> 00:13:06.090
where John Peter Muhlenberg took part in the action.
00:13:06.090 --> 00:13:09.090
As Cornwallis recognized that the American,
00:13:09.090 --> 00:13:11.030
the French forces were coming down on him,
00:13:11.030 --> 00:13:13.020
he said, I don't want them
00:13:13.020 --> 00:13:14.080
to get to Yorktown, I'm in trouble.
00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:15.150
Let's put small forts around Yorktown
00:13:15.150 --> 00:13:18.030
and these small forts can try to hold them off
00:13:18.030 --> 00:13:20.050
before they get here and they were known as redoubts.
00:13:20.050 --> 00:13:22.100
This is readout number nine, readout number 10
00:13:22.100 --> 00:13:24.120
is just over the hill, so we're standing kind of
00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:26.160
in the middle of some of these small forts.
00:13:26.160 --> 00:13:28.050
You go in through the side they would have spikes
00:13:28.050 --> 00:13:29.220
on the edge maybe to stop the advance and charge
00:13:29.220 --> 00:13:31.230
of a troop.
00:13:31.230 --> 00:13:33.080
And so what the Americans recognize is in order for us
00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:34.250
to get close enough to Yorktown,
00:13:34.250 --> 00:13:36.180
to really put a siege like we wanna put a siege on Yorktown,
00:13:36.180 --> 00:13:39.110
to really try to bottle up and cause Cornwallis,
00:13:39.110 --> 00:13:42.190
ultimately to be defeated or surrender,
00:13:42.190 --> 00:13:44.130
they said we need to get closer.
00:13:44.130 --> 00:13:45.270
These are the ones that are on the far outside edge,
00:13:45.270 --> 00:13:48.010
number nine and number 10, 10 is closest to the water
00:13:48.010 --> 00:13:50.210
and so they came up with a plan
00:13:50.210 --> 00:13:52.170
that they're gonna come at night,
00:13:52.170 --> 00:13:53.230
kind of like a Navy SEAL operation,
00:13:53.230 --> 00:13:56.230
where they're gonna do this invasion.
00:13:56.230 --> 00:13:58.020
And so 400 Americans came
00:13:58.020 --> 00:13:59.230
and they went after readout number 10,
00:13:59.230 --> 00:14:01.290
400 French came and they came after readout number nine,
00:14:01.290 --> 00:14:04.020
they were able to capture both of those.
00:14:04.020 --> 00:14:05.170
Now, John Peter Muhlenberg was part of the American forces
00:14:05.170 --> 00:14:08.180
that captured readout number 10 just over the hill,
00:14:08.180 --> 00:14:10.260
so he was responsible or partly responsible
00:14:10.260 --> 00:14:13.100
with the guys that actually captured and did that
00:14:13.100 --> 00:14:15.220
and was on General Lafayette's staff
00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:17.280
and so he was assigned a brigade as the Siege of Yorktown
00:14:17.280 --> 00:14:22.110
is taking place and this ended up being a pretty long
00:14:22.110 --> 00:14:24.270
but significant siege and battle.
00:14:24.270 --> 00:14:26.210
- Once they take these redoubts it enabled them
00:14:26.210 --> 00:14:28.280
to their cannons up and now they can shell the British
00:14:28.280 --> 00:14:32.070
and so they kind of did this little leap frog thing
00:14:32.070 --> 00:14:34.090
across the way and really they did a great job
00:14:34.090 --> 00:14:37.150
but they had a lot of help winning this?
00:14:37.150 --> 00:14:39.130
There's a lot of providential intervention
00:14:39.130 --> 00:14:41.080
that came into this.
00:14:41.080 --> 00:14:42.220
- Yeah, so it was interesting is Cornwallis recognizing
00:14:42.220 --> 00:14:44.080
that he's getting bottled up, recognizes the French
00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:46.130
and the American forces are closing in.
00:14:46.130 --> 00:14:48.090
He actually sends a message up to New York
00:14:48.090 --> 00:14:50.170
which is where the Royal fleet was,
00:14:50.170 --> 00:14:52.060
the British fleet says I need ships down here,
00:14:52.060 --> 00:14:54.160
otherwise, if the French get here they're going to
00:14:54.160 --> 00:14:56.170
block the harbor then I'm totally surrounded
00:14:56.170 --> 00:14:58.130
and as they're looking to move the British fleet down
00:14:58.130 --> 00:15:02.070
there's what we would know as providential weather
00:15:02.070 --> 00:15:04.220
whereas they're trying to sail south,
00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:07.000
the wind is blowing them north,
00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:08.130
they're not able to come down in a timely manner.
00:15:08.130 --> 00:15:10.180
The French on the other hand are able to come in
00:15:10.180 --> 00:15:12.270
and bottle this thing up and actually
00:15:12.270 --> 00:15:14.220
as Cornwallis realizes he's getting bottled up
00:15:14.220 --> 00:15:16.180
he says okay I need to get off the edge of this peninsula,
00:15:16.180 --> 00:15:18.130
let me get across the water to the other side
00:15:18.130 --> 00:15:20.220
of this land and then we can kind of escape
00:15:20.220 --> 00:15:22.170
and maybe survive and then this huge storm comes in,
00:15:22.170 --> 00:15:25.080
huge waves, turning these little ships over.
00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:27.060
So, he calls off the evacuation but when he calls it off,
00:15:27.060 --> 00:15:30.130
about half his men have now left the fort
00:15:30.130 --> 00:15:33.030
and they're on the other side.
00:15:33.030 --> 00:15:34.120
So now his forces are cut in half
00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:36.020
and it doesn't take very long
00:15:36.020 --> 00:15:37.170
before he realizes that we are going to have to surrender.
00:15:37.170 --> 00:15:40.040
We're not gonna be able to make it.
00:15:40.040 --> 00:15:41.160
So, when they decide to surrender
00:15:41.160 --> 00:15:42.270
that they raise the white flag,
00:15:42.270 --> 00:15:44.030
he sends out an officer and a drummer boy,
00:15:44.030 --> 00:15:45.200
they come meet the Americans
00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:47.000
and they're trying to work this out.
00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:48.150
Okay, so tomorrow let's have our officers get together
00:15:48.150 --> 00:15:51.040
and let's negotiate the terms of surrender.
00:15:51.040 --> 00:15:53.010
So, the following day, some officers of each side
00:15:53.010 --> 00:15:55.170
met at a house, they began negotiating the terms
00:15:55.170 --> 00:15:57.230
of surrender and the following day the surrender
00:15:57.230 --> 00:15:59.190
was enacted.
00:15:59.190 --> 00:16:00.200
There's a very famous painting
00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:02.050
of the surrender of Cornwallis in the U.S. Capitol building
00:16:02.050 --> 00:16:05.080
in the Rotunda and in this the depiction
00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:07.230
of Cornwallis surrendering, there's a general
00:16:07.230 --> 00:16:10.100
off to the side who
00:16:10.100 --> 00:16:11.250
is General John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg
00:16:11.250 --> 00:16:14.280
but the Battle of Yorktown was the last major battle
00:16:14.280 --> 00:16:17.070
and this is where John Peter Muhlenberg
00:16:17.070 --> 00:16:19.000
really saw the last action as an officer
00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.140
of the American forces.
00:16:21.140 --> 00:16:22.120
(dramatic music)
00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:25.050
(dramatic music)
00:16:34.270 --> 00:16:37.200
(intense music)
00:16:44.170 --> 00:16:47.070
We're in New York City standing outside of Federal Hall
00:16:51.180 --> 00:16:53.110
and Federal Hall becomes very significant
00:16:53.110 --> 00:16:54.260
in this story of America really becoming a nation.
00:16:54.260 --> 00:16:56.260
So, 1783 is when the peace treaty is finally negotiated.
00:16:56.260 --> 00:16:59.150
Now, after 1783, it takes a few years
00:16:59.150 --> 00:17:02.210
for the states to figure out what they're gonna do
00:17:02.210 --> 00:17:05.110
to really become a nation.
00:17:05.110 --> 00:17:06.260
So 1797 is when we realize we need a constitution.
00:17:06.260 --> 00:17:09.080
They write the Constitution but one of the provisions
00:17:09.080 --> 00:17:11.270
that many states had before it was ratified,
00:17:11.270 --> 00:17:14.090
before we move on is they said we need a bill of rights.
00:17:14.090 --> 00:17:17.040
And the Bill of Rights
00:17:17.040 --> 00:17:18.120
is what limited the federal government,
00:17:18.120 --> 00:17:19.250
so there's certain things you can never touch.
00:17:19.250 --> 00:17:21.250
You can't touch the freedom of religion
00:17:21.250 --> 00:17:23.140
or the freedom of speech or the press
00:17:23.140 --> 00:17:25.130
or the right of self defense and our private property,
00:17:25.130 --> 00:17:27.140
so it goes through things the government's
00:17:27.140 --> 00:17:29.100
not supposed to mess with.
00:17:29.100 --> 00:17:30.170
Well, as it goes to states to be ratified,
00:17:30.170 --> 00:17:33.020
finally it's ratified, George Washington
00:17:33.020 --> 00:17:34.270
is chosen as president
00:17:34.270 --> 00:17:36.090
and this is where John Peter Muhlenberg
00:17:36.090 --> 00:17:38.080
and Fredrick Augustus Muhlenberg
00:17:38.080 --> 00:17:39.160
kind of enter back into the scene.
00:17:39.160 --> 00:17:41.020
- This building is actually the first capital
00:17:41.020 --> 00:17:43.070
of the United States of America,
00:17:43.070 --> 00:17:44.200
long before we went to Washington D.C. we met here.
00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:47.030
This is where George Washington was inaugurated.
00:17:47.030 --> 00:17:48.280
This is where the first Senate and the first Congress met
00:17:48.280 --> 00:17:51.270
and among the members of the very first Congress
00:17:51.270 --> 00:17:54.260
who met here were the two Muhlenberg brothers.
00:17:54.260 --> 00:17:57.180
Now when they're here you have the President,
00:17:57.180 --> 00:18:00.110
so that's established, you have the Senate,
00:18:00.110 --> 00:18:02.110
they need a leader, that's going to be the Vice President,
00:18:02.110 --> 00:18:04.210
which is John Adams and the House needs it's own leader
00:18:04.210 --> 00:18:08.030
and they choose Speaker of the House of Representatives.
00:18:08.030 --> 00:18:10.160
And the man they chose was Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg,
00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:13.240
first ever Speaker of the House and he was really qualified
00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:16.200
for that, he'd been the Speaker of the House
00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:18.010
back in Pennsylvania.
00:18:18.010 --> 00:18:19.070
He actually led the ratification convention
00:18:19.070 --> 00:18:21.040
for Pennsylvania to ratify the Constitution,
00:18:21.040 --> 00:18:23.050
so, he's had that experience.
00:18:23.050 --> 00:18:24.270
Well, he becomes the first Speaker of the House,
00:18:24.270 --> 00:18:26.230
that's a position he actually holds twice
00:18:26.230 --> 00:18:28.200
while George Washington is president
00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:30.060
and so one of the first tasks they have to do
00:18:30.060 --> 00:18:32.190
is okay, we've got the message from that the states,
00:18:32.190 --> 00:18:34.140
we've got to have a Bill of Rights, let's get it done.
00:18:34.140 --> 00:18:37.080
Well, 200 proposals have come in from the states
00:18:37.080 --> 00:18:39.110
saying hey, these are changes we ought to make
00:18:39.110 --> 00:18:41.070
in the Constitution.
00:18:41.070 --> 00:18:42.210
They take all that, they boil it down to 12 amendments.
00:18:42.210 --> 00:18:45.160
These are the 12 proposed amendments that Congress says
00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:48.030
we should give to the states,
00:18:48.030 --> 00:18:49.100
see if they want to protect these rights.
00:18:49.100 --> 00:18:51.030
Of those 12 the states ratified 10 of the 12.
00:18:51.030 --> 00:18:54.110
Those 10 amendments is what is now
00:18:54.110 --> 00:18:56.180
called the Bill of Rights, that is what guarantees
00:18:56.180 --> 00:18:59.110
to us the government is not gonna touch certain
00:18:59.110 --> 00:19:01.190
specific personal rights and at the bottom of that document
00:19:01.190 --> 00:19:05.070
when they get it all done and it's all ratified
00:19:05.070 --> 00:19:07.010
by the states, you'll find
00:19:07.010 --> 00:19:08.170
that there's two signatures there.
00:19:08.170 --> 00:19:09.290
The head of the Senate signed it, John Adams
00:19:09.290 --> 00:19:11.260
and the head of the House also signed it,
00:19:11.260 --> 00:19:14.170
Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg.
00:19:14.170 --> 00:19:16.230
Now think about that for a second, the Bill of Rights,
00:19:16.230 --> 00:19:18.200
the work that was done on the House was led by a pastor,
00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:21.190
Frederick Muhlenberg, his signature is on it
00:19:21.190 --> 00:19:24.190
and think about just for a second,
00:19:24.190 --> 00:19:26.090
what if pastors were the ones leading the nation again.
00:19:26.090 --> 00:19:29.170
They're the ones in Congress, well this is how it was.
00:19:29.170 --> 00:19:31.260
In fact, of the 90 members of the first Congress,
00:19:31.260 --> 00:19:34.160
roughly 10 of them were pastors, which is kind of crazy
00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:37.040
to think about and yet very cool,
00:19:37.040 --> 00:19:38.250
when you think about the Bill of Rights.
00:19:38.250 --> 00:19:40.030
Today a lot of people think about separation
00:19:40.030 --> 00:19:41.190
of church and state were the first amendment,
00:19:41.190 --> 00:19:43.110
actually, they were protecting the freedom of religion
00:19:43.110 --> 00:19:45.280
and the rights of conscious because we wanted to make sure
00:19:45.280 --> 00:19:48.060
in America that the government could never tell us
00:19:48.060 --> 00:19:50.160
what we could or couldn't do with our religion
00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:52.020
and that's between us and God and Frederick Muhlenberg
00:19:52.020 --> 00:19:55.040
is one of the guys leading to make sure that happens.
00:19:55.040 --> 00:19:57.110
Now remember, when his church was burned down
00:19:57.110 --> 00:19:59.250
he decides, I need to get involved,
00:19:59.250 --> 00:20:01.120
when his church was destroyed.
00:20:01.120 --> 00:20:02.150
And this epiphany comes to him,
00:20:02.150 --> 00:20:03.240
I've gotta do something, he is the guy
00:20:03.240 --> 00:20:06.060
that helps do the Bill of Rights,
00:20:06.060 --> 00:20:07.220
he's the first Congress, he got involved in a big way.
00:20:07.220 --> 00:20:09.290
And this is what's cool looking at their story
00:20:09.290 --> 00:20:12.140
is these are two brothers who definitely
00:20:12.140 --> 00:20:15.040
love God the whole time but they decided to get involved
00:20:15.040 --> 00:20:18.110
in different ways, like John Peter and the military.
00:20:18.110 --> 00:20:20.280
Frederick finally in political life,
00:20:20.280 --> 00:20:22.270
John Peter joins him in political life
00:20:22.270 --> 00:20:24.290
and at the end of Washington's presidency, Frederick,
00:20:24.290 --> 00:20:27.150
he kind of at that point retires,
00:20:27.150 --> 00:20:29.020
resigns back to private life but John Peter
00:20:29.020 --> 00:20:31.170
continues serving for just a little bit longer.
00:20:31.170 --> 00:20:34.100
(dramatic music)
00:20:34.100 --> 00:20:37.020
- Hey, everybody, I'm down here in Wallbuilders collection
00:20:41.250 --> 00:20:43.270
again, this time I'm going through the archives
00:20:43.270 --> 00:20:46.120
looking for artifacts relating to the Muhlenberg brothers.
00:20:46.120 --> 00:20:49.050
We actually have a lot of different ones
00:20:49.050 --> 00:20:51.120
and I'll start here.
00:20:51.120 --> 00:20:53.010
This is, it's got Frederick Muhlenberg's signature on it
00:20:53.010 --> 00:20:56.190
and this is actually a certificate for one of his people
00:20:56.190 --> 00:20:59.260
in his church receiving communion.
00:20:59.260 --> 00:21:01.200
So, it's got sacrament of a Lord's supper
00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:04.060
and it's a certificate, right.
00:21:04.060 --> 00:21:05.200
Imagine going to church and you take communion
00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:07.220
and then before they leave they stop you like,
00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:09.240
oh, you forgot your certificate.
00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:11.080
So, really interesting, over here, we got some more
00:21:11.080 --> 00:21:14.250
from Frederick, this is while he was in the Legislature.
00:21:14.250 --> 00:21:18.060
And right here we've got two kind of parallel documents
00:21:18.060 --> 00:21:21.000
for the two brothers.
00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:22.020
So we've got one of Peter
00:21:22.020 --> 00:21:24.090
and then we've got one of Frederick.
00:21:24.090 --> 00:21:26.080
And what these are are pay receipts
00:21:26.080 --> 00:21:27.250
for while they were serving in Congress.
00:21:27.250 --> 00:21:30.060
And so right here, he's being paid
00:21:30.060 --> 00:21:32.040
for his days in attendance and also his mileage.
00:21:32.040 --> 00:21:35.220
So, right as he's writing back and forth on his horse,
00:21:35.220 --> 00:21:39.020
he's got to stop, fill it up with oats,
00:21:39.020 --> 00:21:40.230
so they're gonna compensate for that too.
00:21:40.230 --> 00:21:42.150
And over here we've got more artifacts from Peter.
00:21:42.150 --> 00:21:46.240
So, I'll pick this one up and I'll pick this one up
00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.100
and as you're looking you can kind of tell,
00:21:49.100 --> 00:21:51.060
they're actually written on two different materials.
00:21:51.060 --> 00:21:53.240
So, this one right here is while he was,
00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:55.190
port authority, kind of after he is retired
00:21:55.190 --> 00:21:57.180
in his later years, winding down,
00:21:57.180 --> 00:21:59.150
doing things closer to home but you look,
00:21:59.150 --> 00:22:01.160
this is written on the same paper.
00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:02.270
But this one is written on what's called vellum.
00:22:02.270 --> 00:22:05.200
If you were here I'd hand it to you
00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:07.040
but obviously not so you can't, so I'll feel it for you
00:22:07.040 --> 00:22:09.270
but as you feel it, it feels like skin.
00:22:09.270 --> 00:22:13.080
Well, it's actually animal skin so they would take it,
00:22:13.080 --> 00:22:15.160
this is extremely durable, it'll last for hundreds of years.
00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:19.090
As it already has lasted a hundred years
00:22:19.090 --> 00:22:20.270
and you can see it's basically no worse for wear.
00:22:20.270 --> 00:22:23.000
So, they would do their official documents,
00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:24.210
their really important documents on vellum,
00:22:24.210 --> 00:22:26.220
so this is a land dead, something that's meant to be
00:22:26.220 --> 00:22:28.290
passed down through the generations.
00:22:28.290 --> 00:22:30.240
So, we've got a bunch of different artifacts
00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:32.110
from two extremely important brothers
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during the Revolutionary period.
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(dramatic music)
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(intense music)
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- We're here at the statute
00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:52.000
of the John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg in Washington D.C.
00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:53.200
Now we're in New York City but then the federal capital
00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:56.180
moves to Philadelphia where he becomes the Congressman
00:22:56.180 --> 00:22:59.040
of Philadelphia and then the federal capital
00:22:59.040 --> 00:23:01.090
moves here to Washington D.C. and he's the Congressman
00:23:01.090 --> 00:23:04.070
here at Washington D.C.,
00:23:04.070 --> 00:23:05.130
he served under President John Adams.
00:23:05.130 --> 00:23:06.290
Then when Thomas Jefferson becomes president,
00:23:06.290 --> 00:23:09.030
by the way he had a lot to do with the election
00:23:09.030 --> 00:23:11.080
of Thomas Jefferson as president.
00:23:11.080 --> 00:23:13.030
When Jefferson becomes president,
00:23:13.030 --> 00:23:14.140
he appoints John Peter Gabriel back
00:23:14.140 --> 00:23:16.210
to a position in Pennsylvania.
00:23:16.210 --> 00:23:19.130
He finishes his political career and his life there
00:23:19.130 --> 00:23:22.020
but it was a great life, he and his brother both.
00:23:22.020 --> 00:23:24.220
And I love what it says on the monument,
00:23:24.220 --> 00:23:26.130
he served his church, his country and his state.
00:23:26.130 --> 00:23:31.020
And he did, he had a huge impact in all three areas.
00:23:31.020 --> 00:23:34.030
- Yeah and the legacy of Frederick and John Peter
00:23:34.030 --> 00:23:36.030
certainly is significant in American history.
00:23:36.030 --> 00:23:37.260
And talk about hidden heroes, these are guys that say
00:23:37.260 --> 00:23:40.040
almost nobody knows and yet every American
00:23:40.040 --> 00:23:42.120
should celebrate these guys,
00:23:42.120 --> 00:23:43.210
what John Peter did in the military
00:23:43.210 --> 00:23:45.210
and then coming out and he and his brother for the Congress
00:23:45.210 --> 00:23:47.020
and the Bill of Rights and Frederick
00:23:47.020 --> 00:23:48.180
being the Speaker of the House
00:23:48.180 --> 00:23:50.050
these are huge names in American history
00:23:50.050 --> 00:23:52.240
and yet, today so few people know them
00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:55.070
which is why we are doing this
00:23:55.070 --> 00:23:56.260
to help more people know some of these hidden heroes
00:23:56.260 --> 00:23:59.160
from American's history.
00:23:59.160 --> 00:24:01.080
(slow music)
00:24:01.080 --> 00:24:03.210
I think apart from George Washington,
00:24:14.210 --> 00:24:15.290
my favorite story from early America
00:24:15.290 --> 00:24:20.190
has to be the Muhlenberg brothers.
00:24:20.190 --> 00:24:22.120
Their relationship, their story,
00:24:22.120 --> 00:24:25.010
one of my favorite stories in history.
00:24:25.010 --> 00:24:26.240
- When you look at how close they were as a family
00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:29.050
and yet the really almost vicious disagreements
00:24:29.050 --> 00:24:32.260
they get into with each other.
00:24:32.260 --> 00:24:34.110
I was thinking about them in terms of even scriptures,
00:24:34.110 --> 00:24:36.150
because to be a good leader,
00:24:36.150 --> 00:24:38.210
you've got to be pretty strong willed in a lot ways,
00:24:38.210 --> 00:24:41.010
as a Speaker of the House-- - You have to have resolve.
00:24:41.010 --> 00:24:43.050
- You've got to have a drive.
00:24:43.050 --> 00:24:45.290
And so you've got two type A personalities here
00:24:45.290 --> 00:24:48.150
and I kind of look at the Muhlenberg brothers,
00:24:48.150 --> 00:24:50.080
like a Paul and Barnabus almost.
00:24:50.080 --> 00:24:52.000
There was a lot of friction but in their case,
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:54.040
they really came back to join together
00:24:54.040 --> 00:24:56.230
and now you've got the stronger brother, Peter
00:24:56.230 --> 00:24:59.090
who had the more stronger opinion at the beginning,
00:24:59.090 --> 00:25:01.170
he's actually serving under his brother
00:25:01.170 --> 00:25:03.070
who's Speaker of the House and so the ability
00:25:03.070 --> 00:25:06.150
to have strong, disagreements and then not get bitter
00:25:06.150 --> 00:25:10.050
and hateful over it and not turn your back.
00:25:10.050 --> 00:25:12.080
And I think that's a tendency we have today
00:25:12.080 --> 00:25:14.010
is if we get challenged in our opinion,
00:25:14.010 --> 00:25:16.140
we just pick up our stuff and go home.
00:25:16.140 --> 00:25:18.120
I'm not gonna talk to you anymore because you're mean.
00:25:18.120 --> 00:25:20.240
And I look at what they worked through back then
00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:23.170
and it's the same kind of stuff that really
00:25:23.170 --> 00:25:25.200
broke the New Testament and broke the New Testament church.
00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:27.240
- Well and recognizing too, that they were both Christians
00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:30.240
and this is a significant theological difference.
00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:33.170
When Frederick saying you can't be a pastor
00:25:33.170 --> 00:25:36.220
and be a soldier, those are incompatible
00:25:36.220 --> 00:25:39.130
and Peter's going what are you talking about?
00:25:39.130 --> 00:25:42.060
This is as natural as anything in life
00:25:42.060 --> 00:25:45.020
and ultimately when Frederick encounters the British
00:25:45.020 --> 00:25:48.130
and goes, oh, wow, okay.
00:25:48.130 --> 00:25:49.270
- Epiphany time. - Right, I think my brother
00:25:49.270 --> 00:25:52.170
might have been right.
00:25:52.170 --> 00:25:53.260
At this moment you see that he's catching up
00:25:53.260 --> 00:25:56.210
to what his brother was arguing.
00:25:56.210 --> 00:25:58.050
Now I don't know if he ever fundamentally changed
00:25:58.050 --> 00:26:00.190
to match where his brother was.
00:26:00.190 --> 00:26:03.020
So much of what we enjoy in America today
00:26:03.020 --> 00:26:04.290
is because of the legacy of these two guys.
00:26:04.290 --> 00:26:06.180
I mean, look at the Bill of Rights,
00:26:06.180 --> 00:26:08.080
largely the Muhlenberg brothers
00:26:08.080 --> 00:26:09.290
are two people you can point to.
00:26:09.290 --> 00:26:11.160
And to think for the reason we have the freedom of religion
00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:13.210
the freedom of speech, the reason we're able to do so much,
00:26:13.210 --> 00:26:16.150
I think these two guys are not appreciated nearly enough
00:26:16.150 --> 00:26:19.070
in history but it's why they're two of my favorite people
00:26:19.070 --> 00:26:22.050
from early America.
00:26:22.050 --> 00:26:23.080
(dramatic music)
00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:27.120
- [Narrator] We hope you're enjoying TBN's exclusive series,
00:26:30.030 --> 00:26:33.010
America's Hidden History.
00:26:33.010 --> 00:26:34.150
Thrilling stories of ordinary and unsung Americans,
00:26:34.150 --> 00:26:37.130
God used in extraordinary ways to shape our nation.
00:26:37.130 --> 00:26:40.290
Right now we want to send you the entire first season
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of America's Hidden History as our way of saying thank you
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And if you're able to support TBN's mission
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You will learn how the scriptures played
00:27:02.230 --> 00:27:04.220
such a foundational role in the formation
00:27:04.220 --> 00:27:06.290
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America's Hidden History | Muhlenbergs

America's Hidden History | Muhlenbergs

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America's Hidden History | Muhlenbergs

America's Hidden History | Muhlenbergs

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