America the Beautiful at The Hill Pointe School

Are you familiar with the story behind our beloved song, “America the Beautiful”? The source of inspiration was Katharine Lee Bates’ hiking trip to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado in 1893. She and fellow teachers from Colorado College traveled up the mountain by prairie wagon and then mule. Bates later recalled the moment when she first beheld the awe-inspiring vista as she stood atop the 14,000-foot peak. “I was very tired, but when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse.” Her poem written from that experience was gradually modified and later set to music. “America the Beautiful” has been taught to generations of school children, and its gracious lyrics serve ti inspire patriotism. Read the lyrics on AmericanLiterature.com

The word “patriotism” is derived from the Latin word pater, patris meaning “father”. Patriotism is defined as the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one’s country. Not only does the American classical education model stress the importance of children learning Greek and Latin roots to understand English vocabulary better, but love of country is instilled via the study of American history and literature and also conscientious development of moral character and civic virtue.

President Larry Arnn of Hillsdale College writes: “In 2026, we will reach the 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation. By any reckoning, this is a significant milestone. Our nation has grown from a few people huddled in a strange land along the Eastern seaboard to a huge nation that spans the continent. Through the vast changes that have come upon the world and the United States in these centuries, the nation has been governed under a written Constitution, the oldest surviving in human history. Under the principles of the Declaration of Independence, that Constitution provides for a government operating under the authority of the governed. This achievement is unprecedented.”

 

O beautiful o spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness

America! America!
God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
And mercy more than life.

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.

America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.

America! America!
God sheds his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.