O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929) American writer and poet
“America,” The Congregationalist (4 Jul 1895)

Bates wrote the lyrics as a poem, published as cited above (her original title was "Pikes Peak"). It was combined in 1910 with the 1882 tune "Materna" by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward (originally for the 17th Century hymn "O Mother dear, Jerusalem"), under the title "America the Beautiful."