{"id":411,"date":"2026-06-08T10:43:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=411"},"modified":"2026-06-08T10:43:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:43:35","slug":"americas-promise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=411","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s Promise"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It is quite<\/span> interesting, and somewhat chastening, to realize that the most important piece of journalism published across the 169-year history of this magazine was not journalism at all, but a poem, and that it was published so early in the life of The Atlantic<\/i>. And it is particularly humbling to know that we will almost certainly never again publish something that so powerfully transcends space and time. The poem, \u201cBattle Hymn of the Republic,\u201d is one that, to borrow from its final stanza, \u201ctransfigures you and me.\u201d We are featuring it on our cover this month in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the republic.<\/p>\n

Read more Never Call Retreat<\/a><\/p>\n

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Explore the July 2026 Issue<\/h2>\n

Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

View More<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

Julia Ward Howe, the author of the \u201cBattle Hymn\u201d\u2014she wrote it in one fevered night at the Willard Hotel, in Washington, D.C.\u2014received either $4 or $5 for her submission. It was published in our February 1862 issue without her byline, as was then the custom. One of the many reasons we wanted the \u201cBattle Hymn\u201d to represent The Atlantic<\/i> on the semiquincentennial anniversary of American independence is that it would allow us to print the poem with Howe\u2019s byline on our cover for the first time. It\u2019s the least we could do, given all that she did for this magazine, and for her country as an abolitionist and a suffragist. And also because writing seemed, at times, so difficult for her.<\/p>\n

In a note to the editor of this magazine, James T. Fields, that she attached to her submission, Howe wrote: \u201cFields! Do you want this, and do you like it, and have you any room for it in January number?\u201d She went on, \u201cI am sad and spleeny, and begin to have fears that I may not be, after all, the greatest woman alive. Isn\u2019t this a melancholy view of things? But it is a vale, you know. When will the world come to end?\u201d<\/p>\n

Fields, to his credit, accepted the poem (we do not know if he also tried to soothe Howe\u2019s anxiety). He also gave it its grand, martial, and commanding title.<\/p>\n

Read more The Absurd World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

The question arises: What does the \u201cBattle Hymn,\u201d written to prepare the Union and its soldiers for the terrible fight ahead, say about America itself? Our in-house historian, Jake Lundberg, writes in this issue that the poem is both an explication of the promise of America and an exhortation to persevere on behalf of the country. The \u201cBattle Hymn,\u201d Lundberg argues, is our unofficial national anthem, one more relevant through the ages than the actual anthem, the difficult-to-sing by-product of a minor war. \u201cBy the time of the Great Depression,\u201d he writes, \u201cthe \u2018Battle Hymn\u2019 had achieved a truly national character. The song\u2019s stature is such that it can be used to make a statement in a way that the official anthem never can.\u201d<\/p>\n

You will see in this issue (and, I hope, in everything we do) that our journalists are engaged in worthwhile struggles with the meaning, promise, achievements, and shortcomings of our singular nation. In an article that explores the betrayal of Black military officers, Clint Smith calls out the forces of reaction for misunderstanding the nature of patriotism. And in an essay that examines the tortured debate\u2014inside and outside the academy\u2014over how to tell the American story, Yoni Appelbaum writes about the special challenge inherent in unifying a polarized nation around a common understanding of our history. \u201cFor more than two centuries, our creedal nationalism has been a source of strength, binding together Americans of diverse faiths and backgrounds,\u201d he writes. \u201cBut lately, we have discovered that it is also a vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ambition of The Atlantic<\/i>\u2019s founders was that this magazine would be the preeminent home for arguments about the American idea, and that we would endeavor to tell the truth about the grandness of America as well as its imperfections. That ambition animates this issue\u2014and all of our journalism.<\/p>\n

Read more Ukraine Is Not Losing. Russia Is Not Winning.<\/a><\/p>\n

This editor\u2019s note appears in the <\/i>July 2026<\/i> print edition.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julia Ward Howe's \u201cBattle Hymn of the Republic\u201d continues to inspire a nation to realize its ideals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-note"],"yoast_head":"\nAmerica\u2019s Promise - Commercial Relocation Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"America\u2019s Promise - Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Julia Ward Howe&apos;s \u201cBattle Hymn of the Republic\u201d continues to inspire a nation to realize its ideals.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Relocation Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-08T10:43:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=411#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=411\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a3374a445f1b5d4852b1d7c15b9fe3a\"},\"headline\":\"America\u2019s Promise\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-08T10:43:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=411\"},\"wordCount\":710,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=411#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e88c9cf03017a96043092d4cf211750e.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Editor\u2019s Note\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=411#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=411\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/commercialrelocationpros.com\\\/?p=411\",\"name\":\"America\u2019s Promise - 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