A celebration of the patriotic tradition of the U.S.A. in the words, music, and experience of those who loved it best.

Includes index.

The Three Branches of the Government -- The Great Adventure Begins -- Just and Equal Laws -- The Roots of Religious Freedom -- Free Press: Pillar of Democracy -- The Roots of Revolution -- 1775: Year of Decision -- Call It Macaroni -- Washington: Our First Leader -- We Hold these Truths to Be Self-evident -- The Difficult Road to Independence -- Home-grown Heroes and Friends from Overseas -- Betsy Ross: A Flag for a New Nation -- Valley Forge: The Darkest Hour -- "These Are the Times That Try Men's Souls" -- A New Nation Victorious -- Franklin and Hamilton: Men Who Charted the Court of a Nation -- The Constitution: Cornerstore of the Republic -- The First President -- First in the Hearts of His Countrymen -- "Eternal Hostility Toward Every Form of Tyranny": Thomas Jefferson -- Sea of Glory -- What So Proudly We Hail -- The New Nation Spans a Mighty Continent -- Two Presidents Who Helped Shape the Nation -- "Remember the Alamo" -- Daniel Webster: "Liberty and Union, Now and Forever" -- Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean -- Honest Abe Lincoln -- A House Divided -- The Union Must Be Preserved -- Two American Heroes -- A Nation Torn Asunder -- Words to Stir a Nation -- Songs of War -- "Slavery Must Die That the Nation Might Live" -- Gettysburg: A Fusion in Blood -- A New Birth of Freedom -- With Malice Toward None -- Surrender at Appomattox -- To Live and Die for Dixie -- A Leader Is Lost, but the Nation Survives -- "I Will Bear True Faith to the United States" -- America Flexes Its Muscles -- Stars and Stripes Forever -- "Meet Me at the Fair" -- "I Lift My Lamp Beside the Golden Door" -- "A Splendid Little War" -- "God Shed His Grace on Thee" -- Cowboy! -- The Simple Life: This Land Is Our Land -- Making the World Safe for Democracy -- A Great Nation in a Great War -- The General and the Sergeant -- From the Halls of Montezuma -- The Yankee Doodle Dandy -- America Gets Back on Normalcy Track -- The American Spirit in Crisis: FDR -- The Struggle for National Regeneration -- The Growing Shadow of War -- Remember Pearl Harbor -- The Nation's Leaders in War -- The Images of War -- Patriotism on the Home Front -- "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" -- "Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder" -- "Duty, Honor, Country" -- Eloquence in the Service of Patriotism: Stevenson -- How Shall We Use Our Power?: Eisenhower -- The Thousand Days of JFK -- From Disillusion to a New Patriotism -- The Presidents of the United States -- Long May It Wave -- Armed Forces Decorations and Awards -- A Calendar for Americans.