Katharine Lee Bates was only a child when she began to write poetry. The daughter of a minister, she was born in 1859 in Falmouth, Massachusetts. She studied to become a teacher, and eventually accepted a position as the head of the English department at Wellesley College.

In the summer of 1893, while teaching summer school in Colorado, Bates took a trip to the top of Pikes Peak. Standing on the summit, she was inspired to write the poem "America the Beautiful," which would eventually become the lyrics for the beloved patriotic hymn.

"It was there," Bates wrote in her journal, "as I was looking out over the sea-like expanse of fertile country, that the opening lines of the text formed themselves in my mind."

Though the poem opens with a tribute to our country's natural beauty, Bates also extols the courage of the early settlers who explored it and the heroism of patriots who gave their lives to ensure its freedom. She completes each stanza with a plea for God's grace and healing.

"We must match the greatness of our country with the goodness of personal godly living," she said. "If only we could couple the daring of the Pilgrims with the moral teachings of Moses, we would have something in this country that no one could ever take from us."

"America the Beautiful" first appeared in print in the weekly journal, The Congregationalist, on July 4, 1895, and it quickly earned public acclaim. Over the next few years, the poem was sung to a variety of popular folk tunes, including the well-known "Auld Lang Syne." Then in 1910 the words were paired with Samuel Ward's "Materna"—the beloved tune we still sing today. As it had for Bates, natural beauty inspired Ward to write his song; he began composing it while on a ferryboat trip on a warm, summer day.

At various times over the following decades, there have been proposals to make "America the Beautiful" our country's national anthem, replacing the less singable "Star-Spangled Banner." Although thus far those attempts have failed, the song has been recorded by pop artists from Ray Charles to Elvis, and has been used in a wide variety of congregations, hymnals, and songbooks. It remains a poignant reminder that our country was founded on a faith in God as its Creator and the architect of its beauty.

Dawn Zemke is associate editor for Today's Christian.

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