February, 1832
America is sung to the tune of the British song “God Save the King.” It was written by Reverend Samuel Smith in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1832. It was performed publicly for the first time during an Independence Day Celebration in Boston the same year, and went on to become one of the nation’s most beloved ballads. Most Americans, young and old alike, can recite its first verse. But the song is most significant in its entirety, as specially the last verse.
Sweet land of liberty:
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died
Land of the pilgrims’ pride
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring.
My native country – thee
Land of the noble free
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills
Thy woods and templed hills
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song
Let all that breathe partake
Let mortal tongues awake
Let rocks their silence break
The sound prolong.
Our fathers’ God to thee
Author of liberty
To thee we sing
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light
Protect us by thy might
Great God, our King.
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