My country tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died! Land of the Pilgrim's pride! From every mountain side, Let freedom ring!   - Samuel Francis Smith (1831

    God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her, Through the night with the light from above. From the mountains to the prairies, to the ocean white with foam - God bless America, my home sweet home. God bless America, my home sweet home.   - Irving Berlin

    Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?   - Francis Scott Key

Congress Made it the U.S. National Anthem 1931

    This is my country, land of my birth. This is my country, grandest on earth. I pledge thee my allegiance, America the bold, For this is my country to have and to hold. This is my country, land of my choice. This is my country, hear my proud voice. I pledge thee my allegiance, America the bold, For this is my country to have and to hold.... America!

Don Reye and Al Jacobs

    This land is your land, This land is my land, From California To the New York Island, From the redwood forest To the gulfstream waters, This land was made for you and me. As I went walking that ribbon of highway I saw above me that endless skyway, I saw below me that golden valley, This land was made for you and me. I roamed and rambled, And I followed my footsteps, To the sparkling sands Of her diamond deserts, And all around me A voice was sounding, This land was made for you and me. When the sun come shining, Then I was strolling, And the wheat fields waving, And the dust clouds rolling, A voice was chanting As the fog was lifting, This land was made for you and me. In the squares of the city By the shadow of the steeple Near the relief office I saw my people And some were stumbling And some were wondering if This land was made for you and me. As I went rumbling that dusty highway I saw a sign that said private property But on the other side It didn't say nothing This land was made for you and me. Nobody living can ever stop me As I go walking my freedom highway Nobody living can make me turn back This land was made for you and me.

    You're a grand old flag, You're a high flying flag And forever in peace may you wave. You're the emblem of The land I love. The home of the free and the brave. Ev'ry heart beats true 'neath the Red, White and Blue, Where there's never a boast or brag. Should auld acquaintance be forgot, Keep your eye on the grand old flag.  - George M. Cohan

The US Supreme Court

A person gets from a symbol the meaning he puts into it.

Gettysburgh address

    "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal..." "...that this nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The hero is commonly the simplest and obscurest of men.  - Henry David Thoreau

    What difference if I come from North or South, Or from the East or West? My heart is filled with love for all of these. I only know I swell with pride, And deep within my breast, I thrill to see Old Glory paint the breeze.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the 
United States of America and to the 
Republic for which it stands, one nation 
under God, indivisible, with liberty 
and justice for all.  

We hold these Truths to be self-evident,
that all Men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  From Declaration of Independence

    A nation thrills, a nation bleeds, A nation follows where it leads, And every man is proud to yield His life upon a crimson field For Betsy's battle flag.   - Minna Irving

I thank God I am an American,
Let me live and die that way.
While there is strife in other nations,
We have peace, for which I pray.
Keep aloft the torch of freedom,
Burn it bright to lead the way.
Hold me steadfast to my country,
From the path don't let me stray.
I thank God I am an American,
Let me live and die that way.

Our country stands for humanity And may we be loyal and true To the flag that ever protects us - Old Glory, the red, white, and blue.

(Inaugural Address - January 20, 1961) - President John F. Kennedy
Let every nation know, whether it wishes
us well or ill, that we shall pay any
price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,
support any friend, oppose any foe, to
assure the survival and success of liberty.

I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.  - Patrick Henry

    Inscription on the Statue of Liberty Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed, I lift my lamp beside the golden door. - Emma Lazarus

    And so, my fellow Americans; ask not what your country can do for you-- ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world; ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.  - President John F. Kennedy

May we nurture her strengths, and strengthen her
weaknesses so she will be, that she will always
be, Land Of The Free, and Home Of The Brave.  John Wayne

We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather

die on our feet than live on our knees.  - Franklin D Roosevelt

We take the stars and blue union
from heaven, the red from our
mother country, separating it by
white stripes, thus showing we have
separated from her, and the white
stripes shall go down to posterity
representing liberty.   - George washington

The union of our hearts -- the union of hands -- and the flag of our union forever.  - George Pope Morris

What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly.
It is dearness only that gives everything its value.
Heaven knows how to put a price upon its goods, and it
would be strange indeed if so celestial an article
as freedom should not be highly rated.
***Thomas Payne 1776***

BEACON OF FREEDOM

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations

of our biggest buildings, but they cannot

touch the foundation of America.

These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent

the steel of American resolve.

America was targeted for attack because

we are the brightest beacon for freedom

and opportunity in the world.

And no one will keep that light from shining.

President George W. Bush

September 11, 2001

    What though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight, though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind. - William Wordsworth

    You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains.  The Holy Bible  Matthew 24:6-8