but how people have interpreted it has changed dramatically since the end of the war. so how can we understand, how we recognize that text, says a lot about the transformation of culture. i should say, when i was asked to do this, one of the many reasons i decided to do it was that i remain curious about the wonderful title, "a fire never extinguished." david white and a few others of us -- it was such a literary phrase, we tried to figure out, who said that? is that whitman, emerson? who said "a fire never extinguished"? i have been doing a little research and have one possible source. one is edward everett hale, a well-known unitarian minister during the civil war in boston a writer especially of short stories. he is best known for his short story "the man without a country," published in "the atlantic monthly" in 1863. it is about a man who goes on the ship, disavows his country and loses his whole sense of identity. it is designed as a story to rally support for the union cause. the union cause is also an emancipationist cause. but the phrase is from a little-known short story. i was not familiar with it. a more recent usage of "a fire never extinguished" is from a collection of lesbian erotica called "adventures in eroticism." there is a poem called "summer seduction." it definitely does not come from there. someone at the vermont humanities council is very literary, and i appreciate that. [laughter] i am going to speak about a fire in a metaphoric sense, but it is a religious fire, apocalyptic fire. and the text i am going to talk about is something i have written on. it is "the battle hymn of the republic." the hymn by julia ward howe -- i think it is one of the great poems in american literature. i want to start by telling you a story of the hymn's origins, its influences, and its legacy, so you see it and get a sense of transformation and what we learn from it. you are familiar with julia ward howe, boston abolitionist. i did not know the origins of "the battle hymn of the republic." it is a southern hymn created largely by african-americans. the earliest use is as a southern camp meeting song in 1807. the camp meetings were especially popular in the south, because backwoods southern communities, small communities many people did not have enough manpower or wood or ability to create churches. every quarter or so, they would gather in the forest or woods. thousands of people. they would have weeklong camp meetings. and that is where they would be spiritually regenerated. these camp meetings were baptists and methodists, and most of the meetings were hymns that were sung. evangelists understood the power of hymnity. they understood the most powerful way to commune with, to emotionally interact with god or christ is through song. many of these ministers when they would hear a song being sung at the camp meetings, they would write it down and publish it in hymn books and circulate it. at these camp meetings, slaves blacks and whites would attend. the first known publication is a song that eventually becomes "say, brothers, will you meet us on canaan's happy shore?" it becomes "the battle hymn of the republic." i show the 1807 lyrics in this hymn book. you notice question, answer, question, answer. it is published in call and response format. it is an african form of singing. there are also numerous accounts of witnesses seeing slaves singing "say, brothers" on plantations in a ring shout, circling, which is another african tradition. the minister who first wrote this song down, he saw slaves at a camp meeting sing the song. wrote it down so he would capture the call and response format. there are numerous other corroborating pieces of evidence that suggest it was sung especially by african-americans. and that becomes the origin. it had a "glory, glory hallelujah" chorus. these slaves were particularly enthralled with the "glory glory hallelujah." it was especially popular among them. there were three uses before it became very popular. it was a song sung not just blacks, but by blacks and whites. let me play you a stanza of this. this is by bobby horton. [recorded banjo music] >> ♪ say, brothers, will you meet us? say, brothers, will you meet us? say, brothers, will you meet us on canaan's happy shore? glory, glory hallelujah glory, glory hallelujah glory, glory hallelujah forever, ever more ♪ >> it is a folk hymn. it is easy to repeat. you do not have to be literate. anyone can learn the tune. it is widely circulated canaan is a metaphor of the south. as canaan is this heavenly place, it is essentially heaven. for white southerners, canaan reflected deliverance from sin without touching slavery. for slaves, canaan's happy shore was deliverance from bondage. the happy shore was both a heavenly place and a place in the world. for example, frederick douglass, when he first plotted to run away from slavery on the eastern shore of maryland, he and his fellow slaves sang hymns with canaan in it. douglass said it meant more than a hope of reaching heaven. it meant reaching north. the north was our heaven. two very different meanings. "say, brothers" circulated into boston through hymn books. by the 1840's, it had become a popular song in boston, but bostonians did not know because of the way it was published -- did not recognize the origin had been at least as much african as american. and "say, brothers" then becomes the most popular song in the union army, which was "john brown's body." you obviously recognize the tune. how does this happen? april of 1861, for war and outside of boston harbor, the second battalion, the tigers were stationed there. the figure who was the most talked about figure in boston and throughout the north was john brown, the abolitionist whose raid on harper's an -- on harper's ferry interracial army of blacks and whites -- everyone recognizes it is a major catalyst, a major spark to secession. soldiers at fort warren have a lot of downtime. soldiers, as soldiers do started singing. some of the soldiers in the tigers regiment love to sing. they have beautiful voices. they got up a choral group, and as soldiers do, started ribbing each other. there was a scottish immigrant john brown, the abolitionist and in the fort, there is another john brown, a scottish immigrant, sergeant john brown. and soldiers started needling him, saying, you can't be john brown. he is dead. you must be his soul marching on. that is essentially one stanza. they start riffing on that, and eventually they create "john brown's body." it becomes the signature anthem of the massachusetts 12 regiment, when the tigers join with the massachusetts 12. it is published in boston in early june of 1861, a time in which sheet music is immensely popular. it sells out immediately. the 12th regiment sings on boston common to tens of thousands of people as they marched to a ship to go fight in the war. they go to new york city. the 12th regiment sings "john brown's body" as they marched through new york city. a new york reporter is captivated, and publishes it in the new york tribune. it is already the mascot of the union army. there is the first sheet music published. here is paul robeson singing. [fife and drums] >> ♪ glory, glory hallelujah glory, glory hallelujah glory, glory hallelujah his truth goes marching on john brown's body lies a moldering in the grave john brown's body lies a moldering in the grave john brown's body lies a moldering in the grave his soul goes marching on glory, glory hallelujah glory, glory hallelujah ♪ the >> one of the many people who knew john brown's body actually had known john brown. samuel gridley howe was one of the secret six conspirators helping to fund the raid harpers ferry. his wife, julia ward howe had invited john brown for coffee. she knew brown and loved the song. samuel gridley howe in 1861 becomes one of the heads of the sanitary commission. julia goes with samuel gridley to washington, d.c. julia ward howe is now remembered only for "the battle hymn of the republic," but she was impeccably educated. she comes from new york city from one of the elite banking families. in the 1850's, she was one of the most accomplished poets in the united states. yesterday, i talked about how women were highly regarded and respected as among the greatest writers. julia ward howe was with harriet beecher stowe and louisa may alcott, although as a poet. "passion flowers" is still a brilliant collection of poetry. nathaniel hawthorne, often no friend of female writers, in part because he was envious of their success, referred to julia ward howe as the poetess of america, and hawthorne was not generous in his praise. this is based on her first two books of poetry. so she goes with her husband to d.c. she and her unitarian minister james freeman clarke, is with her. while her husband is doing work for the sanitary commission, james and julia witness a review of troops across the potomac. there is a skirmish. a few confederates attacked. essentially, there is the equivalent of a 19th-century traffic jam, where it takes hours to get back in their carriage to d.c. and the willard hotel, where julia ward howe was staying. to pass the time, juliett and james freeman clarke start singing songs. julia also has a beautiful operatic voice. she was, i think, beautiful. she was considered the catch of boston. she starts singing "john brown's body" in her beautiful voice and soldiers hear and say, go girl. [laughter] james says, julia, you should rewrite the song, but you should elevate it. julia says, it is a great hymn. i have thought of doing it, but have never received inspiration. she goes back to her hotel, and as she tells it, she wakes up in the predawn morning. it is grey, very dark. as she wakes up, essentially all the stanzas are preformed. she grabs the stub of a pencil and writes down initially six stanzas. she says what harriet beecher stowe eventually said about "uncle tom's cabin." i did not write that. god wrote that. you have to appreciate the power and imagery, and the beauty of the king james version of revelations. if you have not read the king james version of revelations please do. it is a gorgeous epic poem. the imagery is stunning. the language is stunning. read it out loud. this hymn, this poem, is impossible to fathom without the king james version of revelations, because it comes from revelations 14. what is interesting is that julia ward howe is a unitarian. unitarians are not known as having memorized revelations. [laughter] but it highlights the degree to which this apocalyptic millennial thinking is everywhere. i said yesterday that the vast majority of northerners, black and white, men and women understood the civil war in apocalyptic terms. not symbolically, but literally. hence, she draws on the language that resonates profoundly. so let me briefly discuss the influence. during the war itself, "john brown's body" was far more influential than "the battle hymn of the republic." one of the reasons is, how many in this room have memorized the battle hymn of the republic? i am impressed. there is maybe two or three hands. it is a sophisticated poem that requires a lot of work to memorize. "john brown" is a folk song, easy to memorize. repeat the first three lines. you do not have to be literate. for soldiers, it is easy to march to. also, john brown speaks more profoundly to common soldiers. it is not only a simple ballad that is easy to memorize, it plays on the image of bodily decay and spiritual rebirth, which, if you are a soldier facing the possibility of death and they hope for rebirth, that is hugely popular. "john brown's body" also circulates much more widely in sheet music, because it is a hymn that is more popular. it is easier for everyone to sing. and sheet music is the most profitable print medium at the time. "john brown's body" is also a heroic, inspirational song, a revenge song, a comradeship song. soldiers sang it for lots of reasons. it is significant that "john brown's body" first becomes immensely popular throughout the north at the very moment the first confiscation act is passed, which is an act that in practice -- not technically or legally, but in practice, freed slaves who reached union lines because it authorizes union soldiers to put them to work, to feed them, to clothe them. it is the first congressional act that culminates with the emancipation proclamation. let me give you an example of the power of "john brown's body." one union officer said "john brown's body" made heroes of all his men. another officer required his troops to sing the song every day, to imbue them with cromwellian earnestness. [laughter] a new hampshire lieutenant said the act when in camp or on the march was simply indescribable. it happens when they were for the union converges with the war for emancipation. it highlights the degree to which a social revolution had occurred. john brown had been mainstreamed, this militant abolitionist, seen as a hero. oliver wendell holmes senior captured it when he wrote and described the apotheosis of john brown. he said it should not be seen as a failure, but as a posthumous campaign. his soul marches ahead of half a million men, shaping the world with a chorus of "glory hallelujah." in and "john brown's body" was especially popular with african americans. the symbolic end for the war for many northerners was in february of 1865, when the massachusetts 55th colored regiment marches on charleston, the cradle of the confederacy, singing "john brown's body." sojourner truth revised it. "the battle hymn" is promoted among the colleges. a civil war chaplain first reads it and thought it was just a poem. he did not realize it was meant to be sung to "john brown's body." and he loved it. he was captured by confederates and sent to prison. he sang "the battle hymn of the republic" to the union prisoners, and said it kept him alive. mccabe, like julia ward howe had a rich, musical voice. he sang "the battle hymn of the republic" with lincoln in attendance, and lincoln was so moved, he cried. he said, sing it again. that song you were singing is the best i have heard. so "the battle hymn of the republic," it's origin is african-american, in the south. him him "john brown's body" is an unambiguously militant abolitionist hymn. "the battle hymn" is by an abolitionist. one of the fascinating aspects of "the battle hymn of the republic" is, beginning in the 1880's, southerners begin to embrace "the battle hymn of the republic" as their song as well. and until this day, "the battle hymn of the republic" has been an unofficial national anthem. how could a song sung by the wife of one of john brown's conspirators be sung and embraced by white southerners? john brown, for most of the 20th century, and even today for many if not most white southerners -- john brown is the embodiment of satan. the only thing worse than the specter of a slave rebellion is a rebellion led by whites, by john brown, a harpers ferry man. the way the battle hymn of the republic is embraced by southerners relates to memory and forgetting, what david blythe talks about. "john brown's body" needed to be sidelined, uncoupled from "battle hymn," essentially forgotten. that begins to happen by the 1880's, with the rise for the quest for reunion between white southerners and white northerners. at the same time, "the battle hymn of the republic" starts to be impressed by white southerners. "john brown's body" gets marginalized and some by african-americans and radical whites like socialists. today, the only whites who really sing "john brown's body" are a few socialists and communists and african-americans. the language also accommodates the southern interpretation. after all, the main character is god, and it is about freedom. southerners had seceded for states rights, for freedom. they were fighting for freedom as well. unlike "john brown's body," they don't name geoff davis hanging on a cider apple tree. it is wonderfully ambiguous, so southerners can imbue it with their interpretations. part of the ambiguous brilliance of the song. southerners saw "the battle hymn of the republic" as fighting for freedom southern style. the spanish-american war fuels this reconciliation. northern and southern soldiers are singing "the battle hymn of the republic" together. the spanish-american war also prompted the greatest parody of the song, mark twain's, in which the first line is "mine eyes have seen the orgy of the launching of swords." it is anti-imperial. twain did not publish this in his lifetime, in part because he had immense respect for julia ward howe as a poet, and because he loved "the battle hymn of the republic" as a song. he attended a veterans memorial service, lincoln's birthday party -- he came as a confederate veteran after all. he joined the confederacy. an example of the degree to which southerners are embracing this, "the battle hymn of the republic," an immensely popular early movie, this is a film still from it. howe meets lincoln in the white house, and lincoln needs her because he cannot get any recruits, so she writes a song and start circulating it, and suddenly lincoln has millions of recruits. this film was especially popular in the south. another example of the southern embrace of "the battle hymn of the republic" is that the university of georgia, from 1890 to today, its fight song is "the battle hymn of the republic." reconstructing "battle hymn" requires both remembering and forgetting. it also becomes a progressive anthem. teddy roosevelt's favorite hymn, favorite song, favorite poem was "the battle hymn of the republic." it is his notion of a strenuous life. he almost got "the battle hymn of the republic" passed as the official national anthem, but there were a few southern holdouts of people who did remember the link with "john brown's body," and they were not about to accept that. in fact, teddy roosevelt helps to circulate it during world war i. it becomes a british anthem. winston churchill's favorite hymn was "the battle hymn of the republic," because he heard american soldiers singing it in world war i. it was sung at his funeral. it becomes, in the 20th century, the evangelical anthem. it is the theme song of both billy sunday and billy graham, the greatest evangelical preachers in the 20th century. billy graham, probably the greatest evangelical preacher ever. billy sunday has his orchestra perform "the battle hymn of the republic" in every single crusade that he gave. in fact, billy sunday supposedly saved a third of new york city which was known as the babylon of preachers, because nobody could convert new yorkers. [laughter] in 1917, he preached to roughly a third of new yorkers. and twice a day, "the battle hymn of the republic" was sung. billy graham is really interesting, because billy graham is from north carolina. billy graham's two grandfathers were federate soldiers. one grandfather had a limb lost during the civil war, and the other died with a union bullet in his arm. when billy graham was starting his ministry, he met with his mother and cliff barrows, who was his lifelong musical director, who i interviewed. cliff barrows told me this story. he said, it is his mother who recommended "the battle hymn of the republic" asked billy graham's theme song, in part because he loved the song, but also because billy graham had great ambitions as a preacher, and he did not want to be dismissed as just another southern preacher. by having "the battle hymn of the republic," a song he loved he was a national, even international preacher. he houses his ministry in the north, in minneapolis. he exemplifies the message -- his truth, our day, our god is marching on. "the battle hymn of the republic" speaks to his very straightforward evangelical message, and it also liberates graham from his southern identity. there is billy graham, who had been a former baseball player. he was a centerfielder for the chicago white sox. billy sunday on the record for most bases stolen in one season until ty cobb broke it. he was brilliant at displaying this notion of muscular christianity. billy sunday would shadowbox the devil. he was sweating profusely by the end of every sermon. he had a masseuse who was a former boxer give him a massage after each sermon, so that he the next day, like an athlete. here is billy graham in new york city in 1957. it is in one sense ironic -- it becomes a radical -- the workers anthem of the 20th century. it was rewritten as "solidarity forever" by ralph chaplin, one of the leaders of the industrial workers of the world, known as the wobblies. close kin to socialists, the wobblies vision one big union. everyone. everyone from the janitor all the way up to managers who do not have an ownership stake in the company, join the union. it is a way of overthrowing the capitalist corporate structure. that was their vision. they were very close with socialists. eugene debs and the wobblies for almost a decade were aligned. the socialists would provide political cloud to overthrow capitalism. the wobblies would use direct action, the strike and the sitdown strike to interfere with the production process. and ralph chaplin -- i will play you a little bit of chaplin, pete seeger, "solidarity forever." [banjo music] >> ♪ solidarity forever solidarity forever solidarity forever for the union makes a strong ♪ >> ♪ when the union's inspiration through the workers blood shall run there can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun the union makes us strong ♪ >> ♪ solidarity forever solidarity forever solidarity forever for the union makes us strong ♪ >> ♪ it is we who plowed the prairie ♪ >> wobblies and socialists self-consciously and frequently referred to themselves as the modern-day abolitionists fighting against the slavery of their day, which is wage slavery. teddy roosevelt and the progressive party also saw themselves as following in the footsteps of the abolitionists. and billy sunday and billy graham also saw themselves as fighting for spiritual freedom in the footsteps of the abolitionists. billy sunday hated the socialists and wobblies, and said they should be lined up and shot. it is not as though they all got along. now, what is fascinating about ralph chaplin in the socialists and the wobblies parody rewriting of "the battle hymn of the republic," chaplin said he did this because people had lost sight of the true meaning of "the battle hymn of the republic," a song about universal freedom and equal rights. he felt people were not paying attention to the lyrics. most people -- i did before i started doing work on it -- assumed the socialists, the wobblies, were secular. not true. chaplin's version of "solidarity forever" ends on a millennialist note. the note is, we can bring to birth a new world through the ashes of the old. the union makes us strong. not nearly as apocalyptic as "battle hymn." it is a muted version of this vision of sudden transformation, but it is still there. chaplin and debs and the socialists -- eugene debs says this specifically. they believe the socialists or the wobbly revolution is the material manifestation of christ's second coming. that is almost a quote. the material manifestation of christ's second coming is the success of the socialist or wobbly revolution. it also becomes the battle hymn, a new deal anthem, particularly reflected in "the grapes of wrath." when steinbeck was working, his wife suggested the song, and the image from the song, as the title. steinbeck loved the idea. he said to her, and he wrote it down, now that i have a title, i have confidence in that book. i am going to finish it. he called it one of the great songs of the world. it suggested the nation's own revolutionary tradition, which farmers and workers owned as they battled against oppressors during the depression. the title would blunt attacks from conservatives. the fascist crowd will try to sabotage this book because it is revolutionary. they will give it the communist angle. however, "the battle hymn of the republic" is american, and intensely so. the book is keyed in to the american theme from the beginning. the plot of the novel -- i assume all of you are familiar. the plot resonates with "the battle hymn of the republic." jim casey, j.c., christlike figure, sacrifices himself for the greater good of the community. he is a christlike martyr, a labor organizer killed during a strike. tom joad avenges the death and becomes a fugitive. becomes a kind of fugitive slave, and vows to carry on the work that casey began. let me read you a passage near the end where tom tells ma joad, the heroic figure keeping the community together -- tom tells ma as a fugitive, before he leaves to be alone again, so he is not caught -- maybe a fella ain't got a soul of his own, but only a piece of a big one. this vision of collective unity, collective identity blurring with individual identities. amid tragedy, there is a possibility of regeneration. the novel, as you know, ends when the rose of sharon, like the lily of the valley, nurses a grown child. she regenerates this generation, not the next generation, as though a baby. "the battle hymn of the republic" is a profound civil rights anthem throughout the 20th century. it is one of w.e.b. dubois's favorites. there is a conference in harpers ferry to commemorate john brown. dubois had written a sympathetic biography. he loved "john brown's body," "the battle hymn of the republic." he said, john brown meant to wipe out an evil he could no longer endure. it is because of dubois that this tablet honoring john brown appeared, and this is his language that he used. he aimed at human slavery a blow that will a guilty nation. you might also know the battle hymn of the republic was one of martin luther king jr.'s favorite hymns. in the march to montgomery, in montgomery, alabama, when king gave his speech, to give you a sense of the degree to which it becomes a civil rights anthem, if not the civil rights anthem -- he spontaneously launches in to "the battle hymn of the republic," and the others join in and sing all five stanzas of the song. they have memorized it. the last public utterance before king is assassinated, in his last public speech in memphis, are the words "mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord." it is a profound african-american hymn. the legacies of "the battle hymn of the republic," as i suggested, are also the legacies of the abolitionist movement especially the wobblies, the new deal, civil rights. i emphasize this because most scholars have said -- there have been very few legacies of abolitionists, because abolitionists have been forgotten or demonized in the 20th century, particularly among the wobblies, new deal civil rights activists. "the battle hymn of the republic" lets them -- and themselves as holy words freshen themselves as holy warriors, as a source of transformation. they are born again as the new abolitionists. they speak truth to power, and they fight for equal protection under the law. the more conservative evangelicals are fighting for freedom, for the progressives. "the battle hymn of the republic," what i am suggesting, throughout the 20th century has been an unofficial national anthem. it is helpful, i think, to see it not as the official national anthem, because it has been freed from obligatory sporting events. [laughter] when it is actually somewhere performed, people hopefully will pay a little more attention to it. for decades, it has been a finale performed by both the democratic national convention the national republican convention -- "the battle hymn of the republic" was sung at the funerals of bobby kennedy, teddy kennedy, lbj, nixon, reagan. today, about the only thing that glenn beck and rush limbaugh have in common politically and ideologically with al sharpton and jeremiah wright is that "the battle hymn of the republic" is one of their favorite songs. [laughter] the finale of the 9/11 memorial service at national cathedral, in which billy graham gives his last public formal sermon -- "the battle hymn of the republic" is performed as the finale. and it is a service in which you can see -- it is available on youtube. you can see tom delay, who is no sentimentalist, and bill clinton, both crying as they hear this song. many of you know martin luther king in montgomery. at obama's second inaugural, the brooklyn tabernacle choir performs "the battle hymn of the republic." what are the lessons this song teaches us about the transformation of the culture after the civil war? one, it highlights the displacement of god among progressives, a theme i talked about yesterday. for the wobblies and the socialists, "solidarity forever" reflects the material manifestation of christ's second coming in the socialist revolution. it suggests the transformation of society will transform the south, if the new age, if the apocalypse, if the revolution comes, because of the socialist and wobbly revolution. the path of reform is from the society to the self. for evangelicals, the displacement of god in the 20th century for evangelicals remain somewhat consistent, as it was in the 19th century, all with a focused more on personal born again experience, rather than changing the structures of society. and any path from self to society begins with the self to society, which has profound implications about questions about the social safety net, as i mentioned yesterday. second, the masculinization of society, the transformation. here is a song that is created by this young, beautiful, petite woman, who was considered a great, great -- one of the greatest writers of her day, in the 1860's. it is a song that is appropriated by muscular masculine man. billy would shadowbox the devil. he would stand up on the pulpit. he would be sweating. here is some of his language. come on, you weasel, blackhearted gang of thugs. i defy you. i ask no quarter, and i give none. he is basically one of the twain characters in "huckleberry finn." [laughter] a manly man. billy sunday bragged about having a former boxer lube him down every day after his workout as a minister. billy graham was much more subdued, but if any of you have ever heard billy graham preach it is very masculine. he would look straight at you and point. he created a slogan -- look them in the eye. malcolm x learned how to speak by watching billy graham. if you see videos of malcolm x speaking, and you put it side by side with billy graham, it is the same. malcolm x is brilliant at borrowing from billy graham. martin luther king, who is also this virile, masculine preacher his big flaw is that he was a womanizer. this hymn, this poem becomes a masculine song, even though its origins were feminine. at a time when julia ward howe is forgotten. aside from battle -- elaine showalter, one of the great literary scholars of princeton is now doing a full book on julia ward howe, solely as a poet, making the case that her poetry in general will stand up to any poet in the 19th century, one of the great poets in the english language. and there is a whitening, you can sense. this song has its roots in african american culture. its race is forgotten. it is indelibly yoked to "john brown's body." that is forgotten and erased. many whites do not recognize that it has remained a powerful african-american hymn, not just in civil rights. a friend of mine, the scholar richard fox, who published a book on lincoln's assassination -- he is at university of south carolina and has family in boston. he told me a great story. he was flying nonstop from l.a. to boston. he is on the plane in l.a. with two african-american teenage girls, one 13 and one 15. they are in a row. once the flight get started, the young women realize they need to try to sleep, so they will not be so exhausted. as richard told me the story, he said, one turns to the other and said, before we go to sleep, we need to say our prayer. what was the prayer? all five stanzas of "the battle hymn of the republic." in a broader sense, the story highlights the ongoing legacies of the civil war. it has been a national anthem in its day and remains a national anthem now. so what are those legacies? let just sketch them out for you. first, "the battle hymn of the republic" is a brilliant song that clarifies a sense of collective and especially national identity, because it is a song that unites and divides. it brilliantly defines us versus them. especially in a pluralist nation, a nation that holds together at all, you need a song that establishes us versus them. it is an ideal song for a nation at war. the united states, since the civil war, has been at war a lot. the indian war, the spanish-american war -- we are a nation that has liked to go to war. it also has encouraged individual sacrifice for the greater good. the fifth stanza -- the beauty of the lilies, christ was born across the sea, with a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me. as he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free. his truth is marching on. this willingness to sacrifice for a greater good helps create bonds of national identity. i am not saying i agree with it, but i am trying to give you a sense of the power and beauty of the language. in the last stanza, christ is both an exemplar for humans -- let us follow christ's example as a source of regeneration. it can also be seen as an object of faith. he is a catalyst of some larger force. he is a catalyst of social change. second, battle hymn of the republic has always been brilliantly, in very different ways, a song about american civil religion, which is about memory, a sacred song. what is american civil religion? a notion that americans are acting on what they believe to be god's will, what god wants for the nation. what god wants for the nation can be contested at any given time, but it reflects american religiosity. the united states, as a developed nation, is exceptional, almost unique, in its religiosity compared to europe. three, its adaptability. "the battle hymn of the republic" has always served -- violent, nonviolent, northern, southern, conservative, radical. billy sunday hated the wobblies. billy sunday said more than once, julia ward howe is burning in hell, because all unitarians are burning in hell. she is not a good evangelical. and yet it is embraced by these different people. it taps into the ongoing millennialist strain in american culture. as i pointed out yesterday, it is a central theme in our culture. to this day -- if you were not there yesterday, to this day, a third of americans believe that christ's second coming will occur in their lifetime, based on polls. it is also an aspirational hymn. it is a hymn that envisions a future good society. it is hopeful. amid tragedy, it offers a kind of hope. it is a sublime song. what is sublimity? it is uniting terror and delight. there is something terrifying about that. but it is also delightful. sublimity is a defining aspect of art and literature. from frederick douglass, rebecca harding davis, twain, melville and hawthorne, down to james baldwin, elizabeth alexander the contemporary african-american poet, whose new collection is entitled "american sublime," or wallace stevens sublimity is a major theme among american artists and writers. here is a wallace stevens poemit is also a way to suggest in the national anthem, the national cathedral in washington, their release of the song "beautiful release." there is wallace stevens' poem titled "american sublime," connecting the civil war to this moment in the early 20th century. it is a beautiful poem that i will just read because he is referring to general stonewall jackson. how does one stand to behold the sublime to confront the mockers? when general jackson posed for his statue, he knew how one feels. should a man go barefoot blinking them blank? how does one feel? one grows used to the weather, the landscape, and sublime consent of the spirit itself. the spirit and space, the empty spirit and vacant space. what wine does one drink? what bread does one eat? it's a beautiful, rich, symbolic poem. let me play just a little bit of my favorite rendition of "the battle hymn of the republic." one of the problems of putting "the battle hymn of the republic" to a tune is the language of "the battle hymn of the republic" is too sophisticated unless you slow it down. you got to squeeze the words in and sing it too fast. fred waring, one of the great singers and recorders in the 20 th century expanded the melody. he gave the wonderful words a chance to express themselves by slowing it down. he did a recording that was a huge hit on radio. the u.s. army corps does the same thing. i'll play you just a couple stanzas. ♪ you got music going? >> ♪ my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord ♪ >> can you pump it up a little bit? louder? >> ♪ he is tramping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored his truth is marching on glory, glory, hallelujah glory, glory, hallelujah glory, glory, hallelujah his truth is marching on ♪ >> i would just play the last stanza. >> ♪ as he died to make men holy let us fight to make men free our god is marching on glory, glory, hallelujah glory, glory, hallelujah glory, glory, hallelujah his truth is marching on glory, glory -- ♪ >> i will stop there. thank you. [applause] >> i went a few minutes over than i expected. i am sorry. we have about five minutes or so for questions, criticisms, comments. are there any? i'm sure there are some. >> got a question in the back. >> ok. >> i have a question. in the mid-1960's, a folk singer and consume -- composer named mickey newbury created a compilation of songs that have lived on as the american trilogy. he linked the "the battle hymn of the republic" with "dixie," a haitian slave song, "hush little baby, don't you cry." it became very popular and covered by 400 artists. later in the century, they declared elvis presley's cover of it the best in the 20th century. how does this fit into the legacy that you were talking about, particularly the linking of "dixie" and "the battle hymn of the republic"? >> great question. it fits perfect. linking -- as i said part of the , brilliance about the "battle hymn of the republic" is the open-ended ways in which you can interpret it. it is open ended enough so that people can interpret it in multiple ways. it's not an advertisement. it has many different meanings or resonances. "dixie" is not like that. although more than most people would recognize it. "the battle hymn of the republic" connected to dixie reflects "the battle hymn of the republic" from the 1970's or so to the present. the majority of americans who really love "the battle hymn of the republic" are southerners and conservatives. so there is the link between traditional southern -- well dixie was northern. lincoln sang it twice near the end of the war, saying i want to re-appropriate "dixie" for the north. but it became a southern anthem. so the link reflects its southern residents, the fact that southerners use the song to remember their lost cause. these two links are in one sense contradictory, but that is part of the beauty. the fact that billy sunday and another group are both embracing "the battle hymn of the republic" as their battle hymn is contradictory. in my view, that's part of the brilliance of the song particularly in the lyrics that it can be open ended enough as a work of art that can have both what we could call conservative and radical aspects. -- valences. in the same way that melville is embraced by radicals and conservatives. hawthorne is embraced by radicals and conservatives because of the ambiguity of the language that is used. that is a great question. >> could you elaborate about your statement that the -- god became less active in human affairs as something to speak to after the civil war? >> i elaborated on this yesterday and did not want to repeat myself. it was primarily among progressives. as i said yesterday, before the civil war, abolitionists and slaveholders were evangelicals. southerners were seeking both a personal -- but then they started to reform. the southern reform was to expand their vision of the good slave society. they did not see slavery as a problem. they sought it as a positive good. they saw the bible as sanctioning slavery. they also saw god as opposed to slavery. they were acting on god's will to end slavery. the path to reform for both northerners and southerners -- in order to transform society, you first had to. five the self. -- you first had to purify the self. that was widely held in both the north and south before the civil war. after the war, among progressives, the evangelical ethos of the personal relationship with christ, the born-again experience, that remains true for conservatives. it leads to the fundamentalists. it leads to what we now think to as the evangelicals or conservatives, certainly theologically. today, politically. abolitionists were among the most fervent evangelicals. they acted on what they saw. they said that they had been born again, expressed through christ and abolitionism. for progressives after the civil war, the displacement was that god or christ is transforming the outside social structures first. christ is bringing about the socialist revolution, not immediately affecting the self. it is through the social transformation of the self to be regenerated or transformed. god is more distant from the self from the inner soul. does that make sense? >> one more. >> ok. >> [indiscernible] >> i will repeat it. >> at one point, the song, the lyrics to the song changed. it was taught and sung as he died to make men holy -- what is all that about? >> that is a great question. the mormon tabernacle choir won a grammy in 1961, and today when the mormon tabernacle choir sings, they sing that version. as he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free. that reflects the explicitly evangelical nature. as christ died, as he gave himself for us, that allows us to live. so, we are redeemed through christ. by being redeemed through christ, then we can help others be free and live. it is a profound shift from the original intention. i have had a debate about this. it was reviewed in "christianity today," which is theologically a lot more conservative than billy sunday when he started the magazine. "christianity today" criticized "the battle hymn of the republic." it is no longer an anthem of billy sunday's evangelical ministry. his son who is far more conservative theologically and politically than billy graham was has a lot to do with it. they argue that a true evangelical does not see christ as an exemplar. he is only an object of your faith. whereas if you sing the song as it was originally written, as was performed for much of the 20th century, as he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, we are being inspired by christ. christ is an exemplar of what we would like to do. i think that is a way to narrow understanding of evangelicalism. after all, throughout the 20th century, a central message or question among evangelicals is "what would jesus do?" what would jesus do? you still hear that. evangelicals today, in the original version, helps to answer that. that is a great question. >> thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] 5] >> the civil war airs here every saturday at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. eastern time. you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span three. president obama delivered his state of the union address to a joint session of congress. next american history tv looks back to 1975, and president ford's state of the union delivered five months after he took office. he said he did not expect much applause, because he said "i've got bad news." on the eve of the american bicentennial, he urged his countrymen to go in a new direction. [applause] [applause] >> my colleagues of the congress, i have the distinct privilege and the high personal honor of presenting to you the president of the united states. [applause] >> mr. speaker, mr. vice

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