And States, that might else into anarchy run,
Were banded and leagued, indivisibly one—
And a Nation was born, with the rallying call,
"The Stars-and-Stripes Banner that waves over all!"
Secession may rage, and the kingdoms afar
May shout the brief wrath of a fiery star,
But E Pluribus Unum shall evermore be
The motto and law of the land of the free!
"I must declare here, as I have often done before, and which has been repeated by the greatest and wisest of statesmen and patriots in this and other lands, that it [the United States] is the best and freest government, the most equal in its rights, the most just in its decisions, the most lenient in its measures, and the most aspiring in its principles to elevate the race of man, that the sun ever shone upon."—Alexander H. Stephens, in Georgia Convention, Jan. 1, 1661.