puritans, nothe the pilgrims. the pilgrims come in 1620, and then the puritans is 10 years later. it is the puritans who end up setting the tone of the massachusetts bay colony. they could be very harsh on people who were not puritans. particularly quakers. if you were a quaker, they expelled you. if you came back they hang dear. they did hang for men and women in the 17th century. there is that blood on their hands. on theying to focus positive story of people being aware of liberty and trying to achieve it. said syverson, the man who no more quakers, it wasn't just quakers he disliked. onalso tried to crack down lutherans and jews. he got his chain yanked when he did that by his employers. he worked for a thing called the dutch west indies company, which literally owned new amsterdam. they had directors and investors who were jews and lutheran. when syverson is leaning on those two religions, he gets word from his bosses in holland, candid out. he probably thought he could get away with this when the victims were quakers, because quakers worry religion. there were a countercultu

case.s definitely not the in fact, our pilgrim forefathers and the puritans did not particularly care for the holiday at all. in fact, they shunned it. -- asiewed it at the being associated with things like the church of england which they had to flee or catholicism which they definitely didn't like. in new england, the holiday was not celebrated at all. for quite a period of time in places like boston, eight was illegal to celebrate the holiday. if you were caught doing so, you would be severely fined. other colonies had a far different approach to the holiday. in places like jamestown, they butcelebrate christmas, they don't celebrate it or didn't celebrate it in the way we do today, the referential way. it was more of a partying type of holiday. captain john smith of the jamestown colony recorded that he had lots of eggnog that day and was full of spirits but not necessarily religious spirit. from our colonial times, the holiday is perceived in different ways by americans. can watch this and other american history programs on our website, where all our video is archived. that is c-

the puritan hated bearbaiting not because it gave pain to the bare but because it gave pleasure to the spectators. who said that? and it could be any one. >> so, this was a sample of the test folks would use. very different from the 1940 version. it gives sample questions as well as list of colleges in different states where you can take the exam. but all so opening it up to more locations around the country. this is an interesting booklet. it doesn't have a sample exam. this was used by a woman named mary pendleton. she used it to apply to take the foreign service officer test. you can see that she ripped off and mailed it in. she did join the foreign service and she later became the first female ambassador to moldova in 1992. a nice use of history there. things were changing for women. >> very much so. just as there was an evolution of wanting foreign service officers to be more generalist. women were not precluded from joining the foreign service, but there were caveats. they had to be single. the first officer to join was in 1924. lucille tried to get married a few years later, so

in fact, our pilgrim forefathers -- the pilgrims and the puritans -- did not particularly care for the holiday at all. in fact, they shunned it. they viewed it as being associated with things like the church of england, which they had to flee, or catholicism, which they definitely did not like. in new england, the holiday was not celebrated at all. in fact, for quite a period of time in places like boston, it was illegal to celebrate the holiday, and if you were caught doing so, you would be severely ed. other colonies had a far different approach to the holiday. in places like jamestown, they did celebrate christmas, but they did not celebrate it in the way we do today, kind of a reverential way. it was more of a partying type of holiday. john smith of jamestown colony recorded that he had lots of eggnog that day and was full of spirit but not necessarily religious spirit. again, from our colonial times, the holiday is perceived in different ways by americans. in revolutionary times, again, different colonies look at different ways and people within the colonies look at it in differen

culture and how important it was that the very beginning of the settlement of north america when the puritans came to massachusetts in the colony they brought with them the charter r that they have gotten from the king of england to govern themselves. they exploited a loophole, there's a loophole that allowed them to bring them to the shores which they wanted to because they wanted the assurance of having a document setting out their self-government in their own position. they verpossession. they very quickly worshiped their own way, very quickly established their own mode of govern off to the liking of the people around the king who began to urge him or don't you go back and take the charter. .. >> that 140 years before the english royal authority led by independent minded and bat - - in my boston massachusetts there was barely a revolt against royal authority centered in boston massachusetts led by stubborn minded people this is how the culture grew in this country we can also talk the bible is so important to our history and culture initially it was the geneva bible that dominated when the

in fact, our pilgrim forefathers, the pilgrims and puritans did not particularly care for the holiday at all. in fact sthey shunned it. they viewed it it as associatewood things like the church of england which they had to flee or catholicism which they didn't like. so in new england, the holiday was not celebrated at all. in fact for quite a period of time in places like boston it was illegal to celebrate the holiday. and if you were caught doing so you would be severely fined. now, other colonies had a far different approach to the holiday. in places like jamestown they did celebrate christmas. but they don't celebrate it -- or didn't celebrate it in the way we do today in a refer inks day it was for the more of a partying holiday. in his diary captain james smith of the jamestown colony recorded he had lots of eggnog that day and full of spirit but not necessarily religious spirit. again, from our colonial times, the holiday is perceived in different ways by americans. now we'll go to revolutionary times. again, different colonies look at it different ways. and people within the co

and it was really kind of a puritan protestant effort to protect the institution.962, i think the school prayer decision, we focus on roe but i think the school prayer decision is the kind of pearl harbor of these culture wars where judges became so important. i think what we've seen there is the replacement of adoll tricep power. "blinded by might," he argued that the religious right's besetting problem would be the pursuit of temporal powers instead of religious objections. i think we're seeing that in the fullest expression right now. >> what's amazing is president trump said look what i've done for you. he himself said -- >> he himself. >> yeah. >> you know, a lot of other people might wonder about that. but it was, hey, this is transactional. and i think that's what's been uncomfortable for people of faith, some sort of rank and fuel of people of faith, the leaders have decided okay let's have the transaction. >> that's exactly right. it's a sense of, you know, they've rejected the advice, put not my trust in princes. jesus said my kingdom is not of this world

she thought it was the cantaloupe. ( laughter ) >> alfonsi: his first job was at the puritan. >> sandlerhester, new hampshire, famous for its ice cream... not it seems, adam sandler. >> sandler: a cherry seinfeld that's disgusting. >> alfonsi: when it was time for college, he went to new york university, which allowed him to work the city's stand up clubs at night. he worked hardit, hiing this stage at coc stlive more than 500 times. >> when you go to the bathroom, public bathrooms are never fun. you know, you always go in there with the same deal. take one piece of toilet paper and put it there, another piece over there, and then you pull down your pants and a gust of wind knocks the left piece down. ( laughter ) >> alfonsi: what were you making when you-- >> sandler: oh, money? >> alfonsi: --came in here to play a set? >> sandler: i think it was ten bucks a night, ten bucks. that was good. didn't care. >> alfonsi: stand up is how adam sandler discovered what would become a trademark of his act-- >> the bar mitzvah boy, bar mitzvah boy-- >> alfonsi: using the guitar to sell his jokes. ♪

no one standing in this house today can pass a puritanical test of purity that some aren't amending thatur elected leaders take. [applause] are demanding our elected leaders take. if we demand mere mortals live up to the standard, we will see our seats of government lay empty. and we will see the best, most able people unfairly cast out of public service. we need to stop destroying imperfect people at the altar of an unobtainable morality. [applause] we need to start living up to the standards which the public, in its infinite wisdom, understands that imperfect people must strive towards, but too often fall short. we are now rapidly descending into a politics where life fratriciderce, dominates our public debate, and america is held hostage to tactics of smear and fear. say no of us here today to resignation, no to impeachment, no to hatred, no to intolerance of each other and no to vicious self of righteousness. [applause] applause]d -- vicious self-righteousness. we need to start healing. we need to start binding up our wounds. we need to end this downward spiral which will culminate i

nott: well, the puritans -- the pilgrims, the pilgrims come in 16 25th the great migration is 10 yearsater. it is the pilgrims and the setting the tone of the massachusetts bay colony. they can be very harsh of people that were not. in schema particularly quakers. if you were a quicker, they expelled you come -- quaker, they expelled you. if you came back, they would hang you. four men and women in the 17th century. there is that on their behalf. i am trying to focus on the positive story of people being aware of liberty and trying to achieve it. peter stuyvesant, the manning said no more quakers in new netherland -- the man who said no more quakers in new amsterdam, it was not just quakers. he tried to crack down on lutherans and jews. thatrked for something literally owned the netherland and new amsterdam, and they had directors and investors that were jews and lutherans, so when stuyvesant is leading on those two religions he gets no word back from his bosses in holland, cut it out. he probably thought he could get away with this when the victims were quakers because they were a new

mean, he was accused of lying under oath and obstructing justice, but essentially it felt like a puritanicalar more serious, but as you say, the public are less riveted, and i think it speaks of how far more partisan politics has become. impeachment in 1998 was an incredibly polarising episode in american life, i was stood here on capitol hill 20 years ago, and the atmosphere was toxic, but it is even more sulphurous now. 0ne but it is even more sulphurous now. one of the corollaries of that is people kind of almost expected impeachment to happen the moment the democrats got a majority in the house of representatives. i know nancy pelosi was reluctant to go down that path, she remembers the history, she remembers newt gingrich, she remembers bob livingston stepping down, she remembers that bill clinton left office with the highest approval ratings of any departing president, but the seriousness of the allegations against donald trump actually did lead her to go down this impeachment path that we find ourselves in today. ok, nick bryant outside the senate on capitol hill, we are still checkin