A Prophet’s Letter to America

Nocturne in Black and Gold — The Falling Rocket (1875) James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Not long after the conclusion of the American Civil war Baháʼu’lláh addressed a short letter to the “Rulers of America and the Presidents of the Republics therein” announcing his station as the promised one and advising the nation to “Adorn ye the temple of dominion with the ornament of justice”. Ulysses S. Grant was President at the time and the country was still struggling with the enormous aftermath of the Civil war. The vanquished southern white supremacist under leadership of former Confederate brigadier general George Gordonhad and Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest had by 1871 organized the Klan into a paramilitary designed to subjugate the black population and reassert white control. However the occupying Union army was one of the remaining obstacles in their path.

Against this backdrop Baha’u’llah addressed America saying:

“Bind ye the broken with the hands of justice, and crush the oppressor who flourisheth with the rod of the commandments of your Lord, the Ordainer, the All-Wise.”