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HISTORY: unwrapped – June 2007

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June 28, 2007 – Georgia on His Mind

General James Oglethorpe (1696–1785) conceived a plan to provide a refuge for persecuted Protestants of Europe. On June 9, 1732, he was granted a charter by George II to establish a new colony. Oglethorpe named his colony Georgia. He was motivated primarily from strong Christian principles, which are evident in his denouncement of slavery. In London, in 1734, he praised Georgia for its anti-slavery policy:

Slavery, the misfortune, if not the dishonor, of other plantations, is absolutely proscribed. Let avarice defend it as it will, there is an honest reluctance in humanity against buying and selling, and regarding those of our species as our wealth and possessions. . . . The name of slavery is here unheard, and every inhabitant is free from unchosen masters and oppression. . . . Slavery is against the gospel as well as the fundamental law of England. We refused, as trustees, to make a law permitting such a horrid crime. But, Oglethorpe’s words were not heeded. The “horrid crime” of slavery was soon introduced to Georgia. “In 1750 the law prohibiting slavery was repealed and Georgia became a slave-worked plantation colony like its neighbor, South Carolina.”

In keeping with the original charter which gave the colonists of Georgia “a liberty of conscience” to worship God, the 1777 Constitution retains its essential religious character. Article VI states that “The representatives shall be chosen out of the residents in each county . . . and they shall be of the Protestant religion.” Article LVI declares that “All persons whatever shall have the free exercise of their religion; provided it be not repugnant to the peace and safety of he State.” Like many of the state constitutions, the Georgia constitution prohibited clergymen from holding seats in the legislature.

June 27, 2007– Bones that Started a Reformation

England had a head start on the Reformation because of the work of John Wycliffe (c. 1324–1384). It was Wycliffe who held that the Bible alone (sola Scriptura) set forth the definition of true Christianity. Wycliffe’s efforts to translate the Bible into the language of the people prepared the way for a reform movement that would take England and the New World by storm. His hand written translations were based on Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, the only source text available to Wycliffe. Like Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and Tyndale, Wycliffe’s reform efforts did not go unopposed. Thirty-one years after his death, the Council of Constance condemned Wycliffe on 260 different counts, ordered his writings to be burned, and directed that his bones be exhumed and buried in unconsecrated ground. In 1428, on orders from the Pope, Wycliffe's remains were dug up and burned. His ashes were thrown in a nearby river. Wycliffe's followers, called Lollards,* carried on his work under severe persecution from Henry V (1413–1422). Because of continued opposition from the Crown and the outlawing of Bible reading in the English language, the Lollards worked in secret. But by the late fifteenth century, the activity of the Lollards began to grow more bold and effective. They brought the discussion of theological issues to the masses which in turn led some people to question certain aspects of Roman Catholic doctrine. In the end, Wycliffe’s views won out. His ashes became seed for a Reformation that transformed the world. “The sacred Scriptures,” Wycliffe wrote, “be the property of the people, and one which no party should be allowed to wrest from them.”

* The Lollards derived their name from the medieval Dutch word meaning “to mutter” (lollaerd), possibly a reference to their style of worship, which was based on reading the scriptures. The derivation may be of Latin origin, from lollen, “to sing softly” (cf. Eng. lull).

June 26, 2007 – Columbus Makes the Moon Die

In 1504, while shipwrecked in Jamaica, Columbus and his crew had a tough time trading with the natives for food. The Indians quickly became tired of the hawk bells and trinkets the Spaniards had brought with them, and their food supply became scarce. Columbus knew he had to take drastic measures. He told the Indians that if they did not keep his crew supplied with food, his God would get angry and make the Moon “die.” The Indians were skeptical. Was Columbus bluffing? Columbus turned to his copy of the Regiomontanus Ephemerides Astronomicae, or “Astronomical Diary.” This book was printed in Nuremberg, Germany, in the late 1400s and complied by Johann Müller von Königsberg (1436–1476), and was best known by the Latin pseudonym Regiomontanus, or “King’s Mountain.” After consulting the almanac Columbus was able to calculate that in three days (on February 29, 1504) there would be a total eclipse of the Moon. The Moon did “die,” and the astonished natives agreed to keep this “sorcerer” happy and well-fed.

June 25, 2007 – Hot Off the Press

In the book, "1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium," Johannes Gutenberg (1394?–1468), inventor of the printing press, is first on the list. The first book that came off his press was the Bible.The process of preparing a press for printing a book has not always been as easy as it is today. By the tenth century, the Chinese were printing books using carved wooden blocks. Medieval European printers followed a similar method. This was a long and tedious process. The Chinese tried to speed up the process by making ceramic characters. Since thousands of such characters were needed, the project was abandoned. Gutenberg’s printing press was revolutionary because it featured movable metal type that kept its shape after numerous impressions. Individual letters were cast from master molds and could be put together in any combination to form any word. The type was then inked and pressed down onto paper with a large wooden screw. Although still a slow process (by today's standards), Gutenberg's press paved the way for modern mass media, although almost no one today uses hard type to typeset books. Most if not all books are typeset electronically. Gutenberg captured the true significance of his invention with these words: “Religious truth is captive in a small number of little manuscripts, which guard the common treasures instead of expanding them. Let us break the seal which binds these holy things; let us give wings to truth that it may fly with the Word, no longer prepared at vast expense, but multiplied everlastingly by a machine which never wearies—to every soul which enters life.”

June 22, 2007– The Foundation of Civilization

“The Battle of Britain,” said Winston Churchill on the 18th of June 1940, “is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.” Churchill saw something in his nation’s history and moral composition that made him identify Christianity with the preservation and advance of civilization. England had a long history of Christian influence that resulted in the advance of civilization around the world. America’s earliest founders did not break from their English heritage. In fact, they sought to establish old England in New England. Samuel Eliot Morison writes the following in his Builders of the Bay Colony:

New England was founded consciously, and in no fit of absence of mind. Patriots seeking the glory of England first called the attention of their countrymen to these shores. Commercial enterprise made the first attempts at settlement. Puritanism overlaid these feeble beginnings by a proud self-governing commonwealth, dedicated to the glory of God and the happiness of a peculiar people. These three main streams in the life of old England, the patriotic, the commercial, and the religious, mingled their waters on every slope.

It’s no wonder that John Winthrop described colonial America as a “City on a Hill,” a light to the nations.

June 21, 2007– Magellan's Miscalculations

Ferdinand Magellan’s (c. 1470–1521) passage across the Pacific Ocean was one of the most grueling voyages of all of sea-faring history. The crossing took nearly four months through an open stretch of blistering heat. When the ships ran out of provisions, the starving crew began to mix sawdust into thin fish broth and to eat the ox hides that covered the mainyards of the ships. The ox hides were soaked in the sea for four or five days to soften them and then cooked for a few moments on top of hot coals. Even rats lurking in the ship’s filth became a prized delicacy. As the sailors began dying one by one, Magellan knew that the voyage had become a race for their very lives.

Magellan’s miscalculations of the circumference of the earth were compounded by corrupt suppliers in Seville. Magellan had specified and paid for food reserves to last a year and a half but only received provisions for a six-month voyage. On January 24, 1521, after two months of sailing across the Pacific, Magellan and his crew sighted land, an uninhabited island east of Tahiti. There they found sea birds, turtle eggs, crabs, and fish. After gorging themselves on these rare delicacies, they continued to sail west. By March 5, the remaining crew members were once again on the verge of starvation. The next day the island of Guam was sighted. Magellan named it and its neighbor, Rota, Islas de Ladrones (“Isles of Thieves”). When the natives boarded the ships they overran them and took everything that was not nailed down.

While Magellan planned and executed the voyage to circumnavigate the earth, he was killed by Philippine natives before he could complete his voyage. It was his second in command, Juan Sebastian del Caño, who led the remaining crew to the finish line. Del Caño received official credit for the accomplishment when King Charles greeted him and awarded him a coat of arms showing a castle, two crossed cinnamon sticks, three nutmegs, and twelve cloves, and above them a globe bearing the Latin motto, Primus circumdedisti me, “Thou first circumnavigated me.”

June 20, 2007– Up, Up, and Away

The idea of using balloons for transportation had always intrigued George Washington from the time of the first manned flight in Paris in 1783. When the greatest of the aeronauts, Jean Pierre Blanchard, crossed the Atlantic to give a demonstration, Washington was present. The site chosen for the lift-off was the Walnut Street Prison courtyard in Philadelphia, the nation’s capital at the time. Arriving at 9:00 A.M., Washington presented Blanchard with a passport he himself had signed. Not knowing how far the balloonist might travel, Washington had thoughtfully prepared a passport, just in case. It would seem that the nation’s president had high hopes for Blanchard’s flight.

When the 46-minute flight ended in New Jersey, 15 miles away, Blanchard was met by two astonished farmers, one carrying a gun! Blanchard, who didn’t understand English, waved the paper with the presidential signature and produced a bottle of spirits. Fortunately for Blanchard, his actions lessened the tension, and he was given a warm reception and passage back to Philadelphia. The balloonist presented Washington with the first flag literally to fly over U.S. soil.

June 19 , 2007– Little Goody Twoshoes

No one wants to be called a “goody two-shoes”—someone who is prudish and self-righteous. But years ago American colonists considered the term “goody two-shoes” a compliment. The colonists believed that good literature had two purposes: to delight and to instruct. By the early eighteenth century interest in children's literature (and a rise in literacy) led to new markets and a flourishing of new publishers, particularly in England. Innovations in typography and printing allowed greater freedom in reproducing art through engraving, woodcut, etching, and aquatint, although illustrators were still largely anonymous and illustrations confined to frontispieces. One of the most popular fictional books in the colonies was The History of Little Goody Twoshoes, published by one of the most important early publishers, John Newberry. Goody (or Mrs.) Twoshoes was an industrious and godly woman who went through many trials but was eventually rewarded for her virtues.

Thomas Boreman was one of the first entrepreneurs to respond to the market with his miniature books entitled Gigantick Histories (1740–1743) as well as other illustrated books on subjects such as natural history. The most important of the early publishers was John Newbery (1713–1767). Newbery published vast quantities of children’s literature of all types as well as a wide range of books on reading, philosophy, and science, most covered in flowered and gilt Dutch paper and enlivened by simple woodcut illustrations. His first children’s book was A Little Pretty Pocket Book (1744), and one of the most popular was his 1765 History of Little Goody Two Shoes, regarded as the first novel written specifically for children (it is said to have been written for Newbery by Oliver Goldsmith).

June 18 , 2007 – God and Yale

Yale College was founded in 1701 because many people in New England felt that Harvard was drifting away from the Calvinistic theology on which it had been founded. In the early 1700s, all Yale undergraduates studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew followed by logic, metaphysics, math, physics, and theology. They did it all—lectures, discussions, and exams—in Latin! Today, Yale students can choose from among 2,000 courses, but any inkling of the school’s Calvinistic beginnings is hard to find. The college where one of the early rules stated: “All Scholars Shall Live Blameless Lives, according to the Rules of God’s Word, diligently Reading the holy Scriptures the Fountain of Light and Truth; and constantly attend upon all the Duties of Religion both in Publick and Secret,” has, for the most part, forgotten its godly heritage.

June 15 , 2007– The Failed Assassination Plot

On July 20, 1944, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg planted a bomb during a meeting at Adolf Hitler’s headquarters in Rastenberg, East Prussia, which is now Poland. The bomb, contained in a briefcase, exploded, killing four. Hitler survived with only minor injuries, including burns, a concussion, and a loss of hearing. The injuries were not serious enough for him to cancel his meeting with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini later in the day. The bomb had been placed on the right side of one of the oak table’s two heavy support legs, shielding Hitler from the major force of the blast. After planting the bomb, Stauffenberg left the room. The officer who took his place at the table noticed the briefcase, and with his foot pushed it further under the table.

Stauffenberg waited for the explosion and assumed Hitler had been killed. Big mistake. He flew back to Berlin where he and his co-conspirators hoped to stage a coup de état and install a new government. It was not to be. Hours after the failed assassination attempt, Stauffenberg and other army officers implicated in the plot were rounded up and executed on Hitler’s orders. Eight of the conspirators were hanged with piano wire from meat-hooks. Their executions were filmed and shown to senior members of the Nazi Party and the armed forces as a not so subtle warning to future traitors to the Nazi cause.

Sixty years later, on July 20, 2004, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder led a series of tributes to the conspirators at a ceremony in Berlin. At the army headquarters where Stauffenberg was executed by firing squad for his role in the assassination attempt, Prime Minister Schroeder said Germans should remember all those who stood up to the Nazis. The Stauffenberg plotters are today regarded by most Germans as heroes for their attempt to free Germany from the Nazi regime and its megalomaniac dictator

June 14 , 2007– The Black Regiment

The clergy helped lead the resistance and independence movement in America. They were often described as the “black regiment” because of the black robes they wore while preaching. Before marching off to join Washington’s army, Lutheran pastor John Muhlenberg delivered a powerful sermon from Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 that concluded with these words:

The Bible tells us there is a time for all things and there is a time to preach and a time to pray but the time for me to preach has passed away, and there is a time to fight, and that time has come now. Now is the time to fight! Call for recruits! Sound the drums!

Then Muhlenberg took off his clerical robe to reveal the uniform of a Virginia colonel. Grabbing his musket from behind the pulpit, he donned his colonel’s hat and marched off to war. There is a war going on in America today. It has not come to the force of arms, but it is a war nonetheless. Pastors should thunder from the pulpits where the battles are waging, and what we can do to engage in the fight.

June 13, 2007 – I Owe, I Owe, Off to Work I Go

The majority of laborers throughout the seventeenth century were white indentured servants. “Indentured servitude” means working off a debt a person cannot repay. The person worked without wages, usually for a period of five to seven years, in exchange for payment of the person’s passage to the American colonies. The contract, called an “indenture,” entitled the servant to food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention. Devised by the Virginia Company in the late 1610s, the system provided much needed cheap labor. It is estimated that one-half to two-thirds of all European immigrants to the colonies participated in the system, some voluntarily, some as victims of penal servitude. More often than not, the indentured servants were shocked by their new conditions. Rather than finding venues in which they could practice their profession, like gardens and orchards, overseers marched servants out to the fields. Many died, attempted to return to England, or ran away. In addition to mistreatment, many servants also encountered contract extension, a popular punishment of planters for rowdy indentures. Even the worst human abuses did not take the mortal tolls that the climate of Virginia claimed. The temperate springs and falls, and sweltering summers in the New World, created a market for fresh servants.

June 12, 2006 – Liberty's Pioneer

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, individual freedom, either political or religious, was virtually unknown. Geneva was a good example. Before the city council had disestablished Roman Catholicism, the Church ruled the State through the Roman Catholic bishop. Afterwards, the State ruled the Church through the council. When John Calvin arrived at Geneva in August 1536, he was confronted with this unbiblical approach to government. Calvin's goal was to establish a Church governmentally independent of the council while assuring that the council would not be independent of God's law as it pertained to its civil jurisdiction. His tool in accomplishing this difficult task was the Word of God. He preached and lectured from the Bible every day. He knew that when changes came they would come from the bottom up--from the people who desired a true Reformation without revolution. Calvin drew a clear line of distinction between the civil magistrate, whose authority was confined to civil matters, and the elders of churches, whose authority was confined to ecclesiastical matters. He established in Geneva the biblical idea of the jurisdictional separation between Church and State. Contrary to popular opinion, Calvin did not set up a system of government in which the clergy dominated the city council. He was not even a citizen of Geneva until 1559, and he appeared before the council when he was called on to offer his opinions on theological issues. He never occupied a political or civil office in Geneva.

June 11, 2007– Go Fly a Kite

Building a bridge across Niagara Falls was a challenge that taxed both the skill and imagination of the best engineers. Two bridge companies, one from Canada and one from New York, commissioned Charles Ellet Jr. to construct the engineering marvel—a suspension bridge over the Niagara River. The first obstacle was stretching the first cable between the shores. A boat would be swept over the falls if it tried to cross.  It occurred to someone that flying a kite might be the answer to the dilemma. A contest was held with a five dollar prize being offered to the person who could fly a kite across the Niagara Gorge. A young American boy, Homan Walsh, won the contest on the second day of competition. The string of his kite was fastened to a tree on the American shoreline and the building of the new bridge began. On July 26, 1848, the first Niagara Suspension Bridge was completed, and Charles Ellet Jr. was the first to ride across in a horse and carriage. It was officially opened to the public on August 1. Soon after its completion, Charles Ellet Jr. and his brother began charging pedestrians and carriage traffic a fare for crossing the bridge in each direction without permission of the Bridge Directors. The brothers kept the money generated by the fares. The dispute over the fares had to finally be resolved in court.

June 8 , 2007– Star Light, Star Bright

The Star Chamber was a room in the palace at Westminster, England, where the king's council met. The room was named because of the star-decorated ceiling. From medieval times the king's council had ruled on specific legal cases that were beyond the jurisdiction of the common courts. By an act of Parliament in 1487, Henry VII strengthened the power of the council so nobles could be put on trial. In 1540 Henry VIII put the committee under his direct control that came to be known as the Court of Star Chamber. There was no jury and any punishment could be inflicted except the death penalty. The Star Chamber forced people to testify against themselves. By the time of Charles I, the Star Chamber had the reputation of being a "legal" way for the king to get rid of his political enemies. The authority of the Star Chamber was taken away by the Long Parliament in 1641 and restored the concept of "lawful judgment" of a defendant by "his peers or by the law of the land." The Courts of High Commission served a similar purpose but were directed at the clergy, especially Puritan ministers. They, too, were abolished in 1641.

Michael Douglas and Hal Holbrook starred in the movie The Star Chamber (1983). When cases must be dismissed because of technicalities, a small cadre of judges resort to establishing a secret tribunal—a star chamber—to try cases and pass their own sense of justice. At first, justice seems to prevail. But before too long, things go awry. Open tribunals, as frustrating as they may be, are better than any star chamber no matter how perfectly conceived.

June 7, 2007– Leadville's Ice Palace

The town of Leadville, Colorado was in the doldrums. Its glory days as a silver-mining center were ending. In an effort to keep their city alive, the citizens decided to stage a winter carnival. Workmen worked day and night using 5,000 tons of ice to build an ice palace for the carnival. On New Year’s Day, 1896, the town turned out for the grand opening. The huge ice palace covering three acres had been completed costing more than $40,000. The towers that flanked the entrance were 90 feet high. The inside contained a 16,000-square-foot ice rink, dance floor, curling rink, restaurant, gaming room and other activity areas. It was illuminated with a dazzling array of electric lights and adorned with gleaming search lights with wonderful prismatic colors illuminating the walls of ice outside.

One woman viewing the fireworks reflecting off the palace walls looked away saying that it was “too unearthly a vision” to gaze upon. By the end of March, the vision was melting away. The thousands of visitors coming from far and wide had spent very little money, but the townspeople felt it had all been worthwhile.

June 6, 2007– The Voice of the Century

Born in New York City in 1902, Marian Anderson was the first American of African descent to perform with New York’s Metropolitan Opera. For many years, she performed mostly for European audiences because the larger American venues prohibited blacks from appearing in them, even one as musically gifted as Miss Anderson. She never complained and endured the snubs with great dignity. The elegant singer’s most trying incident went very public when Howard University in Washington D.C. invited her to perform in 1939. The university needed a place large enough to accommodate the expected crowds and chose Constitution Hall, owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The DAR refused date after date submitted to them, and it was discovered that the dates really were available, only not to Negroes. The music world was shocked and spoke up in support of Miss Anderson. Eleanor Roosevelt revoked her DAR membership. Other prominent women did likewise. The U.S. Department of the Interior offered the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday for an outdoor concert instead. Miss Anderson performed before 75,000 people whose wild applause at the concert’s end overwhelmed her. Four years later, in 1943, a mural of that concert was unveiled at the Department of the Interior, and the following day, Marian Anderson sang at Constitution Hall at the request of the DAR.

June 5, 2007– The Gentle Professor

The most famous scientist of the 20th century, Albert Einstein, was born in Germany in 1879. Einstein didn’t talk until he was three, but the precocious boy taught himself Euclidean geometry at twelve. He detested dull education and often cut classes to study physics or play his violin. His professors turned him down for a teaching position. Instead he worked as tutor, substitute teacher, and an examiner in the Swiss patent office. Einstein earned a doctorate and published three theoretical papers that would change the way scientists regarded light and motion. Like Sir Isaac Newton, Einstein believed in a universe ordered by God. When Adolph Hitler came to power in 1933, Einstein accepted a position at Princeton University. At Princeton, Einstein became a beloved and familiar figure who was often seen taking walks and checking out the kitchen gadgets at Woolworth’s.  His rumpled appearance and finger-in-the-light-socket hair often caused visitors to the university to mistake him for a bum. Always approachable, Einstein, whose brilliance rocked the scientific community, was not above helping a young neighbor with his math homework.