Timothy Claimright | Maine Not to Be Coupled with the Missouri Question, 1820

If the South will not yield, to the West be it known,

That Maine will declare for a King of her own;

And three hundred thousand of freemen demand

The justice bestow'd on each State in the land.

Free whites of the East are not blacks of the West,

And Republican souls on this principle rest,

That if no respect to their rights can be shown,

They know how to vindicate what are their own….

They are founded on freedom, humanity's right,

Ordained by God against slavery to fight.

And Heaven born liberty sooner than yield,

The whites of Missouri shall dress their own field.

We are hardy and healthy, can till our own soil,

In labour delight; make a pleasure of toil….

They too lazy to work, drive slaves, whom they fear;

We school our own children, and brew our own beer.

We do a day's work and go fearless to bed;

Tho' lock'd up, they dream of slaves, whom they dread….

They may boast of their blacks; we boast of our plenty,

And swear to be free, eighteen hundred and twenty….

A Sister in Union admit her, as free;

To be coupled with slaves, she will never agree.

Source: Timothy Claimright, Maine Not to Be Coupled with the Missouri Question (Brunswick, ME, 1820), Library of Congress Ephemera Collection.