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The 1800s were a time of milking cows and going to the county fair.\nSure... but what else? We tend to think of this century as a quiet, pastoral era when people were friendly and life was simple. But the 1800s were a crazy time! The American Civil War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Spanish-American War, conquest, the suffrage movement, the prohibition movement, massive technological changes. It's a wonder we ever made it out alive.\nIn this episode, we explore the early life of William Jennings Bryan and the Democratic Party, the party of Jim Crow that he would soon lead. After the Civil War, it was the Democrats who created Black Codes in the South to restrict the upward mobility of African Americans. They were the party of white farmers and soon transitioned into representing labor unions and, eventually, many black people in the United States. Bryan was one of the men responsible for that transition.\nHelpful Links and Sources:\n\n"A Godly Hero" by Michael Kazin\n\nTruce episode about the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)\ufeff\n\n\n\nMeeting notes of the 1873 Evangelical Alliance\n\n"Fundamentalism and American Culture" by George Marsden\n\n"A Righteous Cause" by Robert W. Cherny (book on William Jennings Bryan)\n\nInteresting bio on Stephen Douglas\n\nPresident Hays' acceptance speech\n\n\n\nDiscussion Questions:\n\nWhat do you think of when you think of the 1800s?\n\nWas the 1800s a simpler time?\n\nWhat mistakes did the Republican Party make in ending Reconstruction?\n\nHow should abolitionists have handled the South after the Civil War?\n\nCan a Christian lead a racist political party? Should they?\n\nWhat were some technological advances that came about in the 1800s? How might they have shifted the way people lived and thought back then?\n\nAre there technological changes going on now that could shift the way we think and interact with each other?\n\nChris ends the episode by talking about how Christians should be a people of the means, not necessarily the ends. Do you think the ends ever justify the means for Christians?\n\n\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices