Adams and Liberty

Ye sons of Columbia, who bravely have fought, For those rights, which unstain'd from your sires had descended, May you long taste the blessings your va or has bought, And your sons reap the soil, which their fathers defended. Mid the reign of mild peace, May your nation increase, With the glory of Rome, and the wisdom of Greece; And ne'er may the sons of Columbia be stoves, While the earth hears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

In a clime, whose rich vales seed the marts of the world Whose shores are unshaken by Europe's commotion, The Trident of Commerce should never be hurl'd, To incense the legitimate powers of the ocean. But should pirates invade, Though in thunder array'd, Let your cannon declare the free charter of trade.

The fame of our arms, of our laws the mild sway, Had justly ennobled our nation in story, 'Till the dark cloud of faction obscur'd our young day, And envelop'd the sun of American glory. But let traitors be told, Who their country have fold, And barter'd their God, for his image in gold—

While France her huge limbs bathes recumbent in blood, And society's base threats with wide dissolution; May Peace, like the Dove, who return'd from the flood, Find an Ark of abode in our mild Constitution! But though Peace is our aim, Yet the boon we disclaim, If bought by our Sovereignty, Justice or Fame.

Tis the fire of the slint, each American warms; Let Rome's haughty victors beware of collision! Let them bring all the vassals of Europe in arms, We're a world by ourselves, and disdain a division! While, with patriot pride, To our laws we're allied, No foe can subdue us—no faction divide.

Our mountains are crown'd with imperial Oak, Whose roots, like our liberties, ages have nourish'd. But long ere our nation submits to the yoke, Not a tree shall be left on the field where it flourish'd. Should invasion impend, Every grove would descend From the hill-tops they shaded, our shores to defend.

Let our Patriots destroy Anarch's pestilent worm, Lest our liberty's growth should be check'd by corrosion; Then let clouds thicken round us, we heed not the storm; Our realm sears no shock, but the earth's own explosion. Foes assail us in vain, Though their fleets bridge the main, For our altars and laws with our lives we'll maintain!

Should the tempest of war overshadow our land, Its bolts could ne'er rend Freedom's temple asunder; For, unmov'd, at its portals would Washington stand, And repulse, with his breast, the assault of the thunder! His sword from the sleep Of its scabbard, would leap, And conduct, with its point, every flash to the deep.

Let Fame to the would found America's voice; No intrigue can her sons from their Govermnent sever; Her pride is her Adams—his laws are her choice, And shall flourish till liberty slumber forever! Then unite heart and hand, Like Leonidas' band, And swear to the God of the ocean and land,

That ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.