The+American+Soul

__The Americ an Soul __

** "A people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused" ** //--Nathaniel Hawthorne//, //"The Scarlet Letter"//

 **“I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors…; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.” --**//Alexis de Tocqueville, "Democracy in America"//

**GOD**

THOUGHT of the Infinite--the All! Be thou my God.

Lover Divine, and Perfect Comrade! Waiting, content, invisible yet, but certain, Be thou my God.

Thou--thou, the Ideal Man! Fair, able, beautiful, content, and loving, Complete in Body, and dilate in Spirit, Be thou my God.

O Death--(for Life has served its turn;) Opener and usher to the heavenly mansion! Be thou my God.

Aught, aught, of mightiest, best, I see, conceive, or know, (To break the stagnant tie--thee, thee to free, O Soul,) Be thou my God. The Salem Witch Trials Or thee, Old Cause, when'er advancing; All great Ideas, the races' aspirations, All that exalts, releases thee, my Soul! All heroisms, deeds of rapt enthusiasts, Be ye my Gods!

Or Time and Space! Or shape of Earth, divine and wondrous! Or shape in I myself--or some fair shape, I, viewing, worship, Or lustrous orb of Sun, or star by night: Be ye my Gods. //--Walt Whitman//

President Ronald Reagan with Rev. Jerry Falwell

One Nation Under God



To Our Crowd To A reflection on the American Soul Back to American Romanticism