America's Prophet (39 page)

uplifting the downtrodden, 300–301

as voodoo figure, 246–47

Moses and the Exodus from Egypt
(film), 213

Mount Sinai, 16–17, 27, 60, 94, 96, 97, 185–86, 191, 196, 267, 300

Muir, Rev. James, 101

NAACP, 256

Napoléon Bonaparte, 104

Napoléon III, emperor of France, 180

National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, 269

Ndungane, Archbishop

Njongonkulu, 71–72

New Israel, America as, 24, 89
New Republic,
235

New York City:

Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in, 241,
242
, 243, 245, 251

Federal Hall in, 77,
78
, 81–82

as nation’s capital, 77

population of, 77

September 11 attacks on, 73, 81–82, 85, 192

and Washington’s inauguration, 73, 76, 78, 82–83

New York Harbor, 176–77

Ninety-five Theses (Luther), 22

Noerdlinger, Henry, 216, 219, 239

Noll, Mark, 38

The Civil War as a Theological Crisis,
153, 154, 157

Norris, Isaac, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45

North Star, navigation by, 134

Novak, Michael, 79

Obama, Barack, 5–6, 282

Oberlin College, Ohio, 133, 153

Ohio River, 106–9,
108
, 114,
117
, 119

Old Colony Club, 7, 9, 18–19, 24–25, 29

“Onward, Christian Soldiers,” 236–37

Oregon Trail, 119

Orrison, Katherine, 226, 231–33

Owens, Jesse, 255

Paine, Thomas, 47, 173

Common Sense,
4, 35, 60, 63

Palmer, Rev. Benjamin, 158–59

Paramount Pictures, 214, 227, 235

Parker, John, 131–32

Parks, Rosa, 243, 269

Pass, John, 44–45

Passover, 2, 41, 98, 139, 200–201, 231–33, 275, 292–93, 295–96, 303–4

Pathé Films, 213

Penn, William, 39

Pennsylvania:

Charter of Privileges in, 39, 42, 43

jubilee year in, 42, 43

State-house (now Independence Hall) in, 39–40, 44, 45, 48

Pentateuch, 13, 70, 91, 93, 173, 266, 269–70, 282, 301, 306

Philadelphia:

British capture of, 40, 58

Christ Church in, 53–59,
55
, 71

see also
Independence Hall

Pilgrims, 8–10, 11

and the Bible, 27, 29, 30–31, 62

and covenant, 28

and first Thanksgiving, 12–13, 19

and Mayflower Compact,
11
, 28

and Moses, 12, 22, 29–33, 151, 296, 299

perpetuating the memory of, 25, 34, 146, 203, 251

in Plymouth, 9–10, 19, 26

punishments inflicted by, 28

Pilgrim Society, 29, 34

Plato, 88, 298

Pledge of Allegiance, 236, 285

Plimouth Plantation, Massachusetts, 26, 28

Plutarch, 92

Plymouth, Massachusetts, tourism in, 3, 7, 19

Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, 168–69, 172, 203, 241

Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts:

peace with Indians, 32

Pilgrims in, 9–10, 19, 26

Polk, James K., 149

Poor People’s Campaign, 260

Powell, Colin, 269

pragmatism, 62

Presley, Cecilia, 210, 211, 233–34, 236, 237, 239

Presley, Elvis, 260

Presley, Lisa Marie, 260

Presley, Priscilla, 260

Prince of Egyp
t (film), 289

Promised Land, 17–18

America as, 51, 148, 197,
198

blessings of, 93

Middle Class as, 130, 252

Moses’ failure to reach, 31, 33, 266, 268, 274

quest for, 298–99, 300

redefining, 289

Promise Keepers, 289

Protestants:

and biblical time, 23–24

evangelical, 144, 145, 146, 162, 166

and Great Awakening, 4, 37–38, 56, 144–45, 146, 165, 203

importance of Moses to, 22, 195, 200

and language of dissent, 38

and rebirth, 37, 144, 162

and Scripture, 22

Prothero, Stephen,
American Jesus,
297

Provoyeur, Pierre, 186

Puck,
198, 199

Pulitzer, Joseph, 181

Puritans, 31, 37, 61, 194

America as Promised Land to, 148

and Exodus, 24, 27, 30, 129

and Jews, 202
see also
Pilgrims

Putin, Vladimir, 280

Quakers, as abolitionists, 111

Rabin, Yitzhak, 269

Randall, Roger, 10, 12

Rankin, Rev. John, 110, 112–16,
113
, 118

Rankin family,
113

Rankin House, 111–16, 126

rationalism, 62, 63

Reagan, Ronald, 26, 194–95, 204, 278, 282, 296

Revere, Paul, 88

Rice, Nathaniel, 155–57

Ripley, Ohio, 106–9,
108
, 112–16

Riverside Church, New York City, 245

Robben Island, South Africa, 71

Robinson, John, 203

Rockefeller, John D., 213

Roman Catholic Church:

in Middle Ages, 21

and Reformation, 22, 24

Roosevelt, Franklin D., 4, 220

Rosemary Miller
(Coast Guard vessel), 177

Ross, Betsy, 55

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 61, 97

Ruegemer, E. J., 235

Rush, Benjamin, 144

Rustin, Bayard, 264

Saboteur
(film), 193

Sacks, Jonathan, 22, 292, 306

Safford, Tim, 54, 56–59, 61–62, 71

Saint Catherine’s Island, Georgia, 124

Saperstein, Rabbi David, 284–87

Sapp, William, 230, 231

Sarna, Jonathan, 196, 199–202, 302

Sarna, Nahum, 196

Savini, Tom, 86–90

Sekulow, Jay, 284–87

September 11 attacks:

and Bell of Hope, 85

and Statue of Liberty, 192

and Trinity Church, 73, 81, 85

and Washington Bible, 81–82

Shaw, Chancey, 118

Sheinson, Yosef Dov,
A Survivors’ Haggadah, 294

Sherwood, Samuel, 35

The Church’s Flight into the Wilderness,
60

Shuster, Joe, 221, 223

Siegel, Jerry, 221, 223, 225

Simitière, Pierre Eugène du, 66

slavery, 68, 110

abolitionists vs., 48–49, 114, 115, 141, 150–51, 153–57, 169

African traditions of, 122, 124

and the Bible, 122, 153–57

and black nationalism, 127, 128–29

and Civil War, 142, 153–57, 162

and Emancipation Proclamation, 161, 162, 169, 251

and freedom, 97, 129

Fugitive Slave Law, 137, 150

and Moses, 126, 296

slave pen, 127

and spirituals, 106–7, 123–27, 130, 136, 247

stories of, 122, 245, 246–48

and Underground Railroad,
see
Underground Railroad

and voodoo, 246–47

Smith, Joseph, 220, 221

Solon of Athens, 283

Sousa, John Philip, 51

Southgate, Joan, 132–34, 137–38, 139

Soviet Jews, 295

Speedwell,
10, 203

spirituals, 252, 255

first use of term, 124

and Moses, 107, 124–26, 136, 151, 251, 295

and slavery, 106–7, 123–27, 130, 136, 247

and Underground Railroad, 107, 120–21, 123, 130, 136

Standard Oil of New Jersey, 213

Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor, 177, 178–95,
182
, 205, 239

centennial celebration, 26, 81, 194–95

chains at feet of, 183

creation of, 180–81, 183

crown of, 183–84

dedication of, 193

and
Miss Liberty
(Berlin), 193

and Moses, 4, 134, 185–87, 188, 191–92, 195, 296

and “New Colossus” (Lazarus), 189–91, 192, 193–94, 199

pedestal of, 187–88

staircase of, 188

as symbol of immigration, 188–92, 193–95

tablet of, 184–87, 194

tension-flex system of, 188

and Uncle Sam, 198

Whittier’s poem to, 193

Steffens, Lincoln, 213

Stewart, Fran, 133

Stewart, James, 215

Stiles, Ezra, 59

Stockton, Rev. Thomas, 163

Stow, Charles, 44–45

Stowe, Calvin, 118, 143–44, 149

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 125, 134,
142
, 143–44, 149–52, 203

and abolition, 150–51, 154

family background of, 141–42

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 117
, 118–19, 141, 150–52

Street, Rev. Nicholas, 92

Suffragettes, 51

Sunset Boulevard
(film), 208–9

Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, 208–9

Superman, 221–26, 224, 296

Supreme Court, U.S., 243, 245, 252, 283–87,
284

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” 107

Taylor, Zachary, 81

Ten Commandments, 70

and covenant, 27, 97, 300

modern depictions of, 234–35

and Moses, 17, 22, 27, 87, 96, 155, 185, 300

and rule of law, 28, 235

and U.S. Supreme Court, 283–85

Ten Commandments, The
(1923 film), 209, 212, 214–15, 220

Ten Commandments, The
(1956 film), 6, 209, 216–19,
218
, 226–31, 234–40

final scene of, 238–39,
238

robe worn in,
218
, 219

Thanksgiving:

celebrations of, 1, 3, 7, 12, 19, 79, 159, 199, 200–201, 285, 303

Old Colony Club as Keepers of, 7

and Pilgrims, 12–13, 19

Thoreau, Henry David, 18

Thornton, Brother, 129

Thornwell, James, 154

Time,
233

Titanic,
241

Tocqueville, Alexis de, 145

Torah, 13, 98, 196, 203–4

Trachtenberg, Marvin, 186

Transcontinental Railroad, 119

Trinity Church, New York City, 73–74, 75, 76, 85

Tubman, Harriet, 4, 134, 135, 136–38

biography of, 137

“Moses” as alias of, 135, 137

Tubman, John, 134

Twain, Mark, 159

Uncle Sam, 197–99, 198

Underground Railroad, 4, 31, 115–16, 132–34, 138, 139

and Exodus, 124, 128, 134, 136, 151–52

Moses as metaphor for, 107

and North Star as navigation aid, 134

and Ohio River, 106–9, 119

and spirituals, 107, 120–21, 123, 130, 136

Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 127

United States:

and discipline of freedom, 97

and exceptionalism, 33, 301

Great Seal of, 4, 36, 63–69,
64
, 85, 202, 213, 239, 296

and manifest destiny, 148

pluralism in, 203

presidency of, 277–78, 281–83

religion in, 79, 144–46, 153, 160–62, 164–65, 167–68, 237, 276–77, 285–86

Supreme Court cases in, 243, 245, 284–87

Vesey, Denmark, 125

Villanova University, 46

Virginia:

Jamestown colony in, 8

slavery in, 110

Vitagraph Company, 213

Voltaire, 61

Voting Rights Act (1965), 256

Wallace, George, 249

Walzer, Michael, 95–98, 134, 300, 307

Exodus and Revolution,
96

War of Independence,
see
American Revolution

Warwick, Charles, 51

Washington, George, 4, 19, 49

and American Revolution, 52, 58, 75

and biblical quotations, 82–84, 160

death of, 99,
100,
101–5, 172

inauguration of, 73, 76–80,
78,
82–83, 85, 199, 241, 282, 293

leadership of, 75, 76

as Mason, 76, 86, 90, 101

memorials to, 101–5, 171, 173, 266, 274

as Moses, 33, 58, 59, 74, 76, 85, 102–4, 199, 266, 282, 296

portraits of, 279, 282

as president, 63, 69, 75–76, 84

and religion, 79

retirement of, 98

slaves held by, 99

Washington, Martha, 99

Washington Bible, 80–85

Washington Monument, 81

Washington’s Birthday, 46

water, 205–7

Watson, John, 18

Wayne, John, 208

Weinstein, Rabbi Simcha, 222–23, 224–26

West, Rev. Samuel, 61

Westmoreland, Carl, 127–28, 130–32, 139

White, Theodore,
The Making of the President,
277

Whitechapel Bell Foundry, 44, 45, 85

Whitefield, George, 4, 38, 39, 54, 62, 134, 165

Whittier, John Greenleaf, 193

Wilcoxon, Henry, 226

Wildavsky, Aaron,
Moses as Political Leader,
282