(inspirational music)

- The behind-the-scenes storyof what went on in America

is simply fascinating,and recently historian

William Federer told us aboutmiracles in American history.

Today we're bringing Bill back

to share some of these amazing stories.

I welcome you back, my friend.

Tell us about William Penn.

What part does he playin American history?

- Well, there's always crises

and God raises up little nobodies.

William Penn's dad was anadmiral in the British Navy

who captured Jamaica from the British,

defeated the Dutch, which caused New York

to go into British hands, andhe ushered Charles the Second

back to the throne in England,

in return getting the titleSir Admiral William Penn.

Well, his son, young William Penn,

was at the estate when his dad was at sea,

and visited by a Quakermissionary who told him

about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,

and young Penn said he began

to have divine impressions of the Lord.

Now he's at Oxford, he's a Cavalier,

an upperclass student, andhe visits a Quaker meeting.

Well, the king had passedthe Conventicle Act,

what was that?

It said that if five ormore people are meeting

talking religion withoutapproval of the government,

they're all criminals andthey'll all get arrested.

Well, guess what?

On campus there were five or more Quakers,

and one of them was youngWilliam Penn, he's arrested.

The dad fixes him out of prison.

It happened several different times.

Finally the dad threatens todisinherit the young Penn.

He flees to Europe, hetravels with George Fox,

the founder of the Quakers, comes back,

he's imprisoned in the Towerof London for eight months.

Well, he's finally outand the dad is dying

and writes to him andsays, "Never allow anyone

"to have you violate your conscience."

The dad had arranged withthe king, Charles the Second,

to have favor for the son.

So the young William Penn goes in and asks

to buy a little sliver ofAmerica called West Jersey.

King Charles the Second counters

and gives him 45,000 square miles

and makes young William Penn the largest

non-royalty landowner in the world.

And this young William Penn decides

he is gonna do a holyexperiment and invite Christians

of different denominationsto come and live together

in the same geographic area.

He called it a holy experiment,

with the capital beingPhiladelphia, city of love.

It's in Philadelphia wherethe Continental Congress meets

and the Declaration ofIndependence is written

and the Constitution is written,

and the first black churchesin America are in Philadelphia.

So we see that it trulywas the seed of a nation,

and it started with WilliamPenn's idea of conscience.

He says, "Force makes hypocrites.

"Tis persuasion only that makes converts."

So here we are today enjoying this country

that started with the seed in Philadelphia

of religious tolerance that went back

to this young WilliamPenn, who was imprisoned

in the Tower of London for his faith.

- And he actually,Philadelphia, philos adelphia,

the city of brotherly love,and that was the capital

of Pennsylvania and the statewas named after Penn, right?

- Right, actually named after the father,

the father, Admiral William Penn.

- Great, well listen, youalso got in your book,

it's so fascinating, so many of them,

but I wanna talk aboutBooker T. Washington.

What about him?

- 1856 he's born, he's a slave.

The Civil War ends, he's free.

He walks 500 miles toHampton Institute in Virginia

and he says that he has aprofessor, or a teacher,

Miss Natalie Lord, andshe teaches him the bible

and he learns to love the bible.

He then goes to Wayland BibleSeminary in Washington, D.C.

He is a Sunday schoolteacher in West Virginia,

where he works in a salt furnace.

Goes back to Tuskegeeand they're opening up

freeman's universities,colleges for former slaves,

and they suggest he be the president.

So he's the Presidentof Tuskegee Institute,

with 33 students.

He gets an architect fromMIT, he's a black man,

Robertson Taylor, Roberston Taylor,

and he comes and they bake the bricks

to build the university buildings.

He gets George WashingtonCarver from Iowa State to come

and head up the agricultural department.

He ends up becoming friends with Carnegie,

the steel leader, John D. Rockefeller.

He's visited by severalpresidents, William McKinley,

Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge.

He even goes to Europe andhas tea with Queen Victoria,

and who's there at thatsame day is Anthony,

the woman who was the leaderin the suffragette movement,

Susan B. Anthony.

So here he starts this university.

Teddy Roosevelt invites himto the capital for dinner.

He's the first black man tohave dinner in the U.S. capital,

invited by republicPresident Teddy Roosevelt.

One of his big issues, there was racism,

and he is down there speakingat the Atlanta Exposition,

sort of a precursor to the World's Fair,

and he's the keynote speaker.

And it has all of the blackswho were former slaves

saying, "Champion our cause," and there's

all these southerndemocrats and different,

Lincoln was the republicanwho freed the slaves,

so they were like, "Uhoh, is this guy gonna get

"a little pushing the edge?"

So he gives a speech and he says

a ship was there off thecoast of South America,

caught in the doldrumswhere there's no wind,

and it sends a messageto another ship saying,

"Send water."

The other ships sends a message back,

"Put your buckets down where you are."

They send a message back,"We're dying of thirst,

"bring water," the message comes back,

"Cast your buckets down where you are."

It happens a third time, finallythey cast the buckets down

and they pull up fresh water.

Lo and behold they're at themouth of the Amazon River

that has 11 million gallonsof water come out a minute,

and it pushes water200 miles, fresh water,

out into the ocean.

So he says to the AtlantaExposition, he says,

"To the white man, you'veknown us, you've trusted us,

"cast down your bucketswhere you are and trust us.

"And to us black men,let us take advantage

"of our opportunity and castour buckets down where we are."

That speech brought a healing,

and it ended up spreadingaround the country.

So Booker T. Washington said,"I'll never allow any man

"to belittle my soulby making me hate him."

And he says, "Every wise man encourages

"good relationships with his neighbor,

"whether he be white or black."

Such a great message even for us today.

- Well, Bill, I appreciate this miracles

in America's history, andthis book is so credible.

It's put together by your wife

from your "American Minutes."

Can people get this at bookstores, "Miracles in America"?

- Right, Amazon.com or they can go

to Americanminute.com,which is our website,

I send out a free daily history email.

But there's so manystories of little nobodies.

One is Charles Finney, and his preaching

helped started the YMCA, George Williams

and his preaching influencedWilliam and Catherine Boothe

to start the YMCA, so all their stories

of little individualpeople that have faith

and courage in times of crisis

and they let the Lord usethem to do great things.

- These are so inspiring,please come back with more,

because I'm just fascinated by it.

Isn't this amazing?- Wonderful.

- Bill Federer, these are called,

"Miracles in American History, Volume II,"

put together by SusieFederer, Bill's wife,

from his "AmericanMinute," isn't that great?

- A wonderful reminder ofwho we are as a nation.

- Oh my, and the miracles thatbrought these things to pass.

- Yes, wonderful.- Okay.