William Cullen Bryant Quotes
I think I shall return to America even a better patriot than when I left it. A citizen of the United States, travelling on the continent of Europe, finds the contrast between a government of power and a government of opinion forced upon him at every step.
Bryant, William Cullen. Letters of a Traveller; or, Notes of Things Seen in Europe and America, G.P. Putnam, 1850, p. 148.
President Benjamin Harrison and Congress proclaimed that October 31, 1892 be a national celebration of the 400th Anniversary of Columbus landing in America. Bellamy represented a juvenile weekly publication and was named chairman of the committee to conduct the celebration. A first draft of the pledge was written by James B. Upham, a staff member of the publication. The words "under God" were added in 1952 by an Act of Congress. The original had “to my flag.” The pledge was first used publicly at the Chicago World’s Fair on October 21, 1892. It was not endorsed by Congress until 1942. It is officially recognized as law in 36 United State Code 172.
William Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry early in his life. He soon relocated to New York and took up work as an editor at various newspapers. He became one of the most significant poets in early literary America and has been grouped among the fireside poets for his accessible, popular poetry.
