Another verse was first recorded in Harriet Beecher Stowe 's immensely influential 1852 anti-slavery novel '' Uncle Tom 's Cabin '' . Three verses were emblematically sung by Tom in his hour of deepest crisis . He sings the sixth and fifth verses in that order , and Stowe included another verse , not written by Newton , that had been passed down orally in African-American communities for at least 50 years . It was one of between 50 and 70 verses of a song titled " Jerusalem , My Happy Home " , which was first published in a 1790 book called '' A Collection of Sacred Ballads '' : " Amazing Grace " came to be an emblem of a Christian movement and a symbol of the US itself as the country was involved in a great political experiment , attempting to employ democracy as a means of government . Shape-note singing communities , with all the members sitting around an open center , each song employing a different song leader , illustrated this in practice . Simultaneously , the US began to expand westward into previously unexplored territory that was often wilderness . The " dangers , toils , and snares " of Newton 's lyrics had both literal and figurative meanings for Americans . This became poignantly true during the most serious test of American cohesion in the U.S. Civil War ( 1861 – 1865 ) . " Amazing Grace " , set to " New Britain " , was included in two hymnals distributed to soldiers . With death so real and imminent , religious services in the military became commonplace . The hymn was translated into other languages as well : while on the Trail of Tears , the Cherokee sang Christian hymns as a way of coping with the ongoing tragedy , and a version of the song by Samuel Worcester that had been translated into the Cherokee language became very popular
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Amazing Grace