Henry Ward Beecher Quotes
Not another flag has such an errand, carrying everywhere, the world around, such hope for freedom such glorious tidings.
Beecher, Henry Ward. Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit. D. Appleton and Company, 1887, p. 88.
As the U.S. flag was unfurled on the brig "Charles Dogget" before a voyage to Asia, the captain said:. This was the origin of the nickname for the American flag which later became so popular in the Civil War. The flag from that ship resides at the Smithsonian Institution.
The symbolic value attached to the flag in America was surprising for this French observer.
The song was adopted as the Polish national anthem in 1927. At the battle of Macieowice, the great Polish hero, Thaddeus Kosciusko, was seriously wounded and is said to have uttered, “Poland is finished.” The song written by another General was meant to counteract the psychological effect that the Russian enemies of Poland were trying to create by quoting Kosciusko. There are even today, Polish patriots who claim that Kosciusko never made the statement and it was all propaganda.
See {594200} for the first verse—the one most commonly sung. This second verse, suggests that America is not perfect—a problem for some people in a patriotic song which is usually only general glorification and uncritical praise. This song was considered seriously as our national anthem, and was actually used at the first international Olympics when an American won the event. Our National Anthem had not been officially selected then. One of the reasons for its selection over America, The Beautiful was the line in this verse asking God to mend the American flaws.
The notion that a the first line of a national anthem should be focused on the survival of the nation is explained by the history of countries that have and have not existed having been overrun and occupied and absorbed into other nations. That fear exists centuries later. See Ukraine for another example {642421}.
Henry Ward Beecher was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love, and his 1875 adultery trial. His rhetorical focus on Christ's love has influenced mainstream Christianity to this day.
