Behold a republic increasing in population, in wealth, in strength and in influence, solving the problems of civilization and hastening the coming of an universal brotherhood — a republic which shakes thrones and dissolves aristocracies by its silent example and gives light and inspiration to those who sit in darkness. Behold a republic gradually but surely becoming the supreme moral factor in the world's progress and the accepted arbiter of the world's disputes — a republic whose history, like the path of the just, "is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (112)

Golly gee-whiz and wee-willy willickers, aren't we just the bestest, brightest, and most beautiful country in the world?

Bryan would be hard pressed to bring up any more flattering remarks regarding the United States. That's part of his point, though. He wanted to end his speech with a sappy love song to the country he cared so deeply about.

And the underlining theme of the song was that it would break his poor heart if the U.S. decided to go the imperial route. That's not the country he came to love.

Unfortunately for Bryan, the love song didn't work and the country broke his anti-imperialist heart.