Skip to content What Pilgrims Discovered About Economics that Changed America with William Federer Feb 21 · 35 min ...more
What Pilgrims Discovered About Economics that Changed America with William Federer
February 21, 2026 · 35 min
Ep. 0021 - Historian Bill Federer reveals how biblical faith, true freedom, and Christian-minded capitalism work together to bless others and stand against socialism and tyranny.
Series The Christian Capitalist Show with Russell Gray February 21, 2026 · 35 min · The Christian Capitalist Show with Russell Gray
Ep. 0021 - Historian Bill Federer reveals how biblical faith, true freedom, and Christian-minded capitalism work together to bless others and stand against socialism and tyranny. ...more Show the full description Show less Ep. 0021 - Historian Bill Federer reveals how biblical faith, true freedom, and Christian-minded capitalism work together to bless others and stand against socialism and tyranny.
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Introduction and the Historical Rise of Islam 0:00 All for 1 and 1 for all or every man for himself? Could both be true at the same time? My guest today is a Christian historian who reveals how the first pilgrims to America discovered a harsh truth0:11 that laid the foundation for world changing prosperity and liberty. Stay tuned.0:23 Welcome to the Christian Capitalist Show. I'm your host, Russell Gray. We are here live, at the Turning Point USA, America Fest day 3. I'm getting a little punchy, but, we're doing interview after interview after0:35 interview, meeting all kinds of amazing people. And in this case, we're gonna get a chance to sit down with a man that I've gotten a chance to know. He's a historian and a a very smart guy, very excited about some of the0:45 things we're working on, and that's doctor Bill Federer.0:48 Hey. Great to be with you.0:50 Yep. Great to be with you. So, Bill, let's just talk a little bit about who you are, what you're doing so people can kinda get grounded in that, and then we'll dig into the weeds and and and and talk about, I1:01 think, the context of history. The old the old adage. Right? People who don't study history are doomed to repeat it.1:08 But Right. Right. So I've written about 30 books. My first 1 was in 19 94 called America's God and Country Encyclopedia Quotations. Went on to sell, over half million copies,1:20 focused on the family, sold several hundred thousand copies, and spend used on the floor of congress, been used in supreme court cases. And it's alphabetically arranged Abigail Adams at the front and Booker t Washington1:29 at the head. And then I, ran for congress several times, didn't win, came close, learned what it was like. And and then I wrote, a book on the history of Islam, which came out in1:41 2007. It talked about it for years and then sort of went on to write other books on socialism and others up. But now it's seeing a resurgence, and we're we just had 1 organization, Gene Bailey with Flashpoint1:53 Television, ordered 6000 copies of it. But I go through how the this the 1400 year history of Islamic conquest, that Mohammed went from being a religious leader to a political leader to a military leader.2:05 Mohammed himself fought in 66 battles and raids, killing an estimated 3000 people. And so his followers would go from religious to political to military. And people forget all of Egypt used to be2:17 Christian for 6 centuries until Amir ibn al As invaded. All of North Africa used to be Christian. 250 Catholic diocese until the Umayyad Muslims conquered. 7 11, the Muslims conquered Spain, crossed the Pyrenees2:28 mountain, con conquered Southern France, stopped in 7 23, outside of Tours, with, what, 7 32, by Charles Martel, 100 years after Mohammed's death in 6 32. So in 1002:40 years, they go from Arabia to Paris. They had the stirrup and the cemetery sword, which were new inventions. Then they conquered Syria, which had been completely Christian, evangelized by Paul. The name Christian was2:50 first used in Syria until Caliphubar conquered it around 6 48 a b. And then the Turks converted Islam when they conquered into what is today Turkey. Back then, it was the Byzantine Christian Empire. All 7 churches3:00 mentioned in the book of Revelation were wiped out by Muslim Turks. They're begging the West for help. The West send help. It's called the Crusades. And when the Crusades end, they pick up where they left off and they3:08 conquer Constantinople, 14 53, cutting off the land routes to India. And that's why 14 92, Columbus looks for a sea route to India. Meet some people, call some Indians and and name sticks,3:20 and so Columbus would have never set sail had it not been for Islamic Jihad. I mean, you look at the 1400 years wiping out Christianity off of 2 continents. Anyway, I I go through the pattern of,3:32 immigrate increase eliminate. So they'll first come in and as immigrants, and then they go into minority neighborhoods and build a community and get about in politics. And then there's random outbreaks of violence, and3:43 the previous inhabitants of the neighborhood no longer feel safe, move out, and they take over the neighborhood.3:47 So is this, Minneapolis? Is that what we're seeing?3:50 Yeah. And in Paris and in London and in all these areas. So it's pretty it's pretty predictable. It's like an investment. You have a 1400 year track record of an investment. It's like, okay. You you can pretty4:02 well figure what what's the outcomes what the return is gonna be. Right? There's a 14004:07 Yeah. And the the guys that do technical analysis look at patterns, and they can see when patterns are treated. You'll cup and handle. They're like, oh, okay. Well, I've seen this before. I know how it ends. There's a4:17 pattern. But if you don't study the past, you don't see the patterns. And so that's really interesting. So, so we've discovered that you are a brainiac, number 1. Number 2, we have figured out that you are a prolificMotivation, Socialism's Failures, and the Pilgrims' Experiment 4:29 author. I know how hard it is to write a book. I've written 2. And I have, like, 10 on my list, but I can't bring myself to do it because it's such hard work. And I have so much respect for people who are able to do4:40 that. It takes a high degree of motivation. What motivates you? What what is your purpose? What is your why? What is the thing you say? Man, I'm gonna write this book because it's going to do what?4:52 For you? For the world?4:54 Yeah. Well, I I see a a need something that's being misrepresented. And I said somebody needs to tell the truth. So, they're pushing socialism to all the young kids. And so I wrote a book on socialism. It's called5:05 socialism, the real history from Plato to the present.5:08 In other words, this isn't socialism's first rodeo.5:11 So Plato was the first first 1 that talked about everybody owning everything in common. And it sounds good till you think it through. Somebody has to be in the government handing out the common stuff, and they're always5:22 gonna be tempted to give a little extra to their family and friends and hold back from someone they don't like, and it gets discretionary. And the saying is he who holds the purse strings has the power. Yeah. So every5:31 attempt that everybody owning everything equally always ends up with a deep state bureaucracy passing out favors to their friends, weaponizing the government against their enemies.5:38 So let's I I know I asked you about your purpose. We'll come back to that. Don't let me forget. But I have a copy of William Bradford's, journal, his diary.5:47 It's through the Plymouth settlement?5:48 From the Plymouth Rock settlement. And it's been a long, long time. And you know what? It's funny that the 19 94 book you wrote, I own it. Oh my. And the reason I own it is because we were homeschooling our children in6:00 19 94, and I went to a convention, a homeschool convention to pick out curriculum. And I saw the book, and I bought it. It was several others, and it it was part of how I6:12 was realizing. It's what really literally led me here. So it's actually an honor for me to meet you6:18 Oh, god.6:19 Because men like you who were explaining to young fathers like I was in 19 30 in in 19 94. I was 34 years old. And I'm realizing a year later is when I realized6:31 that our financial system was completely broken, that my kids were gonna grow up to be debt slaves, that this financial system we have had a shelf life, and it probably would expire somewhere in my lifetime,6:42 certainly within my children's lifetime. And what could I do to prepare them and more more prepare society to be able to go through that transition successfully? And history6:54 provides a lot of clues. So I I actually became a kind of a history and economic history buff because work like yours inspired me. So for whatever that's worth, just know that7:06 part of the reason I'm here is because of that book and the work that that men like you do.7:12 Well, Russell, I'm humbled and honored, and I'm really impressed how you've taken it and ran with it. And now you're doing so something so tremendous as the Christian capitalist. I'm so thrilled with that. And every7:22 church needs to have a chapter to teach people that you need to be blessed so you can establish God's covenant. God blessed Abraham so he could be a blessing. Yes. I talked with missionaries to7:34 Africa, and they say that Muslims will prop up a man in each village to be the wealthiest business person, and everybody will wanna be friends with the wealthiest businessmen.7:46 Flintshire. And they'll be I mean, we've got7:48 them gravitate to celebrities and anybody who's wealthy. They automatically think they're brilliant on all subjects.7:53 And they wanna emulate them. And if there's a Muslim, they end up adopting Islam. He says if Christians were smart, they would prop up of somebody and help them to become the most successful businessmen in the village,8:05 and everybody would wanna be his friend. He goes, instead, Christians send over poor missionaries. What's the saying? Oh, I gave up all. We gave up missionaries to Africa. So they send over poor people that replicate8:14 poor people, and Islam comes in and says, hey. We'll help you to be successful. Right? And and so we need to realize that the goal needs to be teach Christians so that you can be successful so that you can8:26 advance God's kingdom and you can establish God's covenant.8:29 Yeah. I think I think there's a a lot of misunderstandings in what I call pop Christianity with respect to prosperity and wealth. There's certainly been prosperity gospels, and I'm not about that. I think that,8:42 we certainly have the ability to do it, but I don't think it's name it and claim it. That's that's me. But I do I do think we're called to be fruitful and multiply, and I think the principles of prosperity are given to8:53 us in the Bible if we'll just read them and listen. Yeah. And, let's go back though because, I I believe that that the foundation of all freedom is spiritual freedom. And if I just look at the9:05 history of the United States, which you you know 10 times better than me, but the way I explained it to people is that the pilgrims wanted to escape religious persecution so that they could worship9:16 or have spiritual freedom. They got in rickety boats, came across the ocean, and they landed in the Americas. Then they, had effective political freedom because there was no rules over here,9:28 And they built up a degree of financial prosperity that eventually resulted in the king's attention, and he they pushed back on the king, and then they set up a system of government that would leave9:40 people free to be productive. And so that's kind of the way I I I explained spiritual freedom, political freedom, financial freedom. People come into me, they wanna be financially free, but I say, well, that's great.9:52 But if you don't collect your political freedom, your financial freedom is not gonna mean much. And if all you do is end up, like, protecting your political freedom in our system, John Adams said our system of government10:04 was designed for a moral and religious people. It is completely inadequate for any other. Right? So you've gotta have that moral component spiritually. And then ultimately, what shall it profit a man to gain the whole10:14 world and lose his own soul? So the ultimate freedom is when all this is over, you you get the the big treasure in heaven. But, William Bradford tried to run the the original settlement10:26 2 different ways as I recall, and the end result was he decided that every man for himself was actually better than all for 1 and 1 for all. Am am I correct in10:38 remembering that that10:39 way? A little background. So in the middle ages, there were no companies because it was a sin of usury to pay or receive interest. So if you wanted to do something big like sail around the world looking for spices, you'd10:51 have to hit up some rich guy like a king. When the reformation happened, you had the first companies. The first was a 15 55 Muscov, company of merchant11:02 inventors. These were British people who pooled together their funds, and they wanted to sail north of Russia to get to China.11:08 And the purpose of setting up the companies was to limit their liability to only their investment?11:14 Well, yeah. It it came out of piracy. So, Queen Elizabeth, sir Francis Drake, they're robbing the Spanish ships, and the queen would give them a letter of mark that says, I won't ask any11:26 questions where you got it, but you gotta land somewhere at some time. And if you land back in England, I get a percentage. And I won't ask any questions, I I get a percentage. And so that turned into companies11:38 where the king would say, look, I'm not gonna give you any money, but I'll give you a monopoly. If you go over there and and do be successful, nobody else can go over there. But when you bring it back, I get a11:49 percentage. And and so the the Royal Merchant Ventures ships froze in the ice. 1 of them survived, and they took them on a dog sled to Moscow, and they changed it to the Muscovy company, never12:01 made much money. But it was just rich people doing this deal. Holland, you come up with the joint stock limited liability partnership. And so that's was12:13 a big change. So anybody, not just a rich person, but a butcher, baker, candlestick maker could invest money in a ship going to Indonesia looking for cinnamon and nutmeg. And when it came back, you would get12:25 paid a profit, a a dividend. And if you wanted to sell your interest while the ship was at sea, you would, go to what something they invented called an Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the first 1 ever in the world.12:36 Okay. And, and they even experienced the first stock market crash. It was for whatever reason, tulips were considered a, wealthy item. It came from Turkey.12:48 That's where tulips came from. And little bacterias would cause them to come up different colors, and they would invest. And it it went so crazy that people would put an entire year's income to purchase 1 tulip bulb, but13:00 then they would turn up, flip it, and sell it. And and and then finally, the the tulips started blossoming, and nobody wanted to buy them, and the whole thing crashed. Anyway,13:09 the the tulip mania that some critics have say Bitcoin use and I'm not throwing Bitcoin under the bus. I'm not that smart. But for for just listeners to relate all this ancient history to today's13:21 world, you hear these terms, you're like, I don't even know what that means.13:24 Yeah. And then the Dutch invented insurance companies. So what if your ship was captured by Muslim pirates or sunk in a hurricane? And so you you would pay it into this insurance company, and so you would have the13:35 insurance anyway, the Dutch settled New Amsterdam. And they had a, part it was at Manhattan Island, and then they had a wall for the other half of the island. And along the wall is where the13:47 inhabitants of New Amsterdam would sell their stock. And when the British took over New Amsterdam in 16 64, that became Wall Street. Right? The the New York Stock13:59 Exchange, Wall Street. And, so, anyway, the, idea of companies. So the pilgrims, New York was founded in 16 24.14:11 The pilgrims settled in 16 20. So we're talking the same same time zone. Yeah. The pilgrims had no money. They even had the Dutch approach them, said, hey. We'll fund you. Well, you can be a14:22 company under us. And they said, no. We wanna go with the British. And so the the Virginia company by the way, the Dutch had the Dutch East India Company, which became the most profitable comp company for14:34 200 years, more than all the other company firms.14:37 Fine. Halfway of its day.14:39 Yeah. Yes. And and, they had an island off the coast of Japan. They would bring in China and tea and everywhere else. And so in in the, Virginia company, sir Walter Raleigh14:52 spent 30000 pounds sterling to settle Virginia Roanoke Island in 15 84. In 15 88, the Spanish Armada attacked England. And everybody's all15:04 hands on deck, and they neglected this Roanoke colony. After the Spanish Armada sunk, they send some ships over in the 15 nineties, and the colony's gone. Just and then somebody carved15:16 into Croatan, which was the name of an Indian tribe, and they did DNA test. And they said, yeah. They just went became Indians. So the, nobody wanted to invest in America.15:27 It was a loser. I mean, here's a guy who loses 30000 pounds sterling. It wasn't until the early 16 hundreds that you had some businessmen and some wealthy guys, and they met. And they15:39 said, look. Let's pull money and form a Virginia company. And, the limited liabilities, if it if it goes belly up, all you lose is your investment. They can't come after you. Right. And, and15:51 so the Virginia company eventually went bankrupt. I mean, once 1 winter started off with 500 people. The end of the winter, they had 50.15:58 Wow.15:59 Indian attacks, malaria disease. But anyway, so it was providential. The pilgrims were gonna go to Virginia, get blown, of course, to Massachusetts. Now before they left, they had fled to Holland for 12 years. They16:10 wanted to come to America, and they had no money. So they approached the Virginia company in which branched off the London company. And the London company agreed to lend the pilgrims money,16:23 but they were gonna write the bylaws for the company. And the bylaws said everything was gonna be owned in common for 7 years, and then it would be divided up equally between the planters and the investors. Well, they16:34 come to America. They tried for a couple years. And what the bylaws said, everything got by cooking, hunting, fishing, trading, trucking are will go into ye common stock, and everyone's16:46 livelihood shall come out of ye common stock, and they tried it and almost starved to death. William Bradford said that the young man objected to doing twice as much work as the old guy but got paid the same. The old man16:58 objected to being classed in labor with the young man, considered it in disrespect. The women objected to having to wash other men's clothes, and some men would not allow it. And he said that,17:10 after much discussion, it was decided that every family would get their own plot of land.17:14 Yes. That and that's the way I I tell it in a very simplified form, but that's the way. I it's like, hey. Every man for himself, and then everybody expects somebody else to do it, so nobody did it. And there wasn't17:25 enough. And then it's like, okay. You wanna eat? There's your plot of land. You Yeah. Yeah. Joneses, you figure it out.17:30 Smithes, you figure it out. The women now went willingly into the field and took their little ones with them to plant corn. While before they would allege weakness and inability and to have forced them would have been17:40 considered great oppression. Right? So it's it's so before it was, oh, my husband died because only 4 women made it through the first winter. At that first Thanksgiving, they had 140 people and only 417:52 women, adult women.17:53 Wow.17:54 Anyway, so that here the women, you know, those kids are sick, but then after 2 years, they said, okay. You get your own land. It's like, come on, kid. We're planting. For I don't care if you got snotty nose. We're gonna18:04 go plant because what comes up is ours.18:06 That's right.18:07 You know? And so, anyway, so so that's the pillars. I wanted to, also mention anyway, I'll I'll toss it back to you, but I can go18:19 share something else on my book on social18:21 as well. Yeah. So I mean, the thing is, the the point is is in history, in American history, the the principle is that spiritual freedom was the foundation of of people coming here, and they were seeking18:33 all 3 forms of freedom. Spiritual freedom, political freedom, and financial freedom. And they tried an experiment, which was everybody all for 1, and it didn't work. And they had to18:44 abort quickly and unleash the power of self interest to get people to actually work harder and push harder to to to to produce. And the way I recall18:56 it and, again, you know it much much better than me. I I I looked at it 30 years ago, and I've I've I I just kinda got the cliff notes.19:03 Yeah. But you got it right. You got it right.19:05 But but fundamentally, what happened is is they people created more than they needed. Most people created more than they needed, so they created abundance not only for themselves but for the community19:17 because when each cell or each individual is abundant, the whole community is abundant. And for the small number of people that literally could not provide for themselves, there was enough abundance to take care of it.19:28 And that's really the fundamental difference between communism or even socialism and capitalism. I mean, they found out capitalism was the cure to19:40 their poverty. I'm working on a book called Main Street Capitalism is the Cure. And I tell that story because it's like, guys, this is from the very foundation of this country. Forget everything else has19:52 gone in the world prior to that. This country was founded, and only reason we survived is because we converted to capitalism.Show more In this video 0:00 Introduction and the Historical Rise of Islam4:21 Motivation, Socialism's Failures, and the Pilgrims' Experiment19:55 Christian Capitalism, Biblical Government, and Eternal Purpose22:22
Contemplating Contemplation and Meditation Russell Gray Oct 20
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