In defence of The Birth of a Nation, Griffith wrote a pamphlet entitled The Rise and Fall of Free Speech in America, which said:

“The integrity of free speech and publication was not attacked seriously in this country until the arrival of the motion picture, when this new art was seized by the powers of intolerance as an excuse for an assault on our liberties –

                                                          Intolerance is the root of all censorship,
                                                          Intolerance martyred Joan of Arc,
                                                          Intolerance smashed the first printing press,
                                                          Intolerance invented Salem witchcraft.”

He was clearly leading himself toward his next major project, though changed his mind about the episodes which would illustrate his point.  The four sections in the finished film depict the conquest of Babylon by the Persians, the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of the Huguenots, the Crucifixion of Christ, and a modern story of tenement poverty.

The initial cut of the film ran to eight hours.  Exhibitors persuaded Griffith to re-cut, and he eventually reduced it to three hours and fifteen minutes.

The picture ran severely over budget and Griffith even invested his own money in the project.  Its failure at the box office caused him to spend the rest of his career paying off the debts he incurred.

The cross-cutting certainly confused many audiences, and led one critic to remark “One was fearful lest Balthazar be run over by an automobile…”  However, the current DVD release has a feature which allows each story to be viewed as a separate entity.