"Henry Timrod noted in the subtitle of his "Ethnogenesis" that it was written during the meeting of the Confederate Congress in Montr gomery, Alabama. The poem expresses lyrically some of the economic, proslavery, and imperialist; strands of the secessionist movement.

Hath not the morning dawned with added light?
And shall not evening call another star
Out of the infinite regions of the night,
To mark this day in Heaven? At last we are
A nation among nations; and the world
Shall soon behold in many a distant port
Another flag unfurled!

But let our fears—if fears we have—be still,
And turn us to the future! Could we climb
Some mighty Alp, and view the coming time,
The rapturous sight would fill
Our eyes with happy tears
Nor only for the glories which the years
Shall bring us; not for lands...