William Haines Lytle.
CHAPTER VI
FOURTEEN YEARS OF PEACE
In his message to Congress at the opening of the December session of 1847, President Polk recommended, among other things, the construction of a ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama—a recommendation which was not to bear fruit for sixty years.
THE SHIP CANAL FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC
AN ODE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THEIR CONGRESS,
ON READING THE MESSAGE OF THE UNITED STATES PRESIDENT IN DECEMBER, 1847
Rend America asunder
And unite the Binding Sea
That emboldens man and tempers—
Make the ocean free.
Break the bolt that bars the passage,
That our River richly pours
Western wealth to western nations;
Let that sea be ours—
Ours by all the hardy whalers,
By the pointing Oregon,
By the west-impelled and working,
Unthralled Saxon son.