Rallying Americans to the Cause of Freedom

JOHN DICKINSON, The Liberty Song (1768)

Many British colonists were reluctant revolutionaries. Good subjects of the king had to be persuaded to see what the Patriot minority saw: a threat to their liberties in the shape of king and Parliament. Though John Dickinson (1732–1808) refused to sign the Declaration of Independence, hoping for a nonviolent reconciliation, he was an early defender of American rights against Parliament’s encroachments. His 1768 “The Liberty Song” became a popular cry for colonial unity, pulling fence sitters into the struggle for freedom and unwittingly crafting a national identity along democratic ideals.

COME join Hand in Hand, brave AMERICANS all,

And rouse your bold Hearts at fair LIBERTY’S Call;

No tyrannous Acts shall suppress your just Claim,

Or stain with Dishonor AMERICA’S name —

In FREEDOM we’re BORN, and in FREEDOM we’ll LIVE,

Our purses are ready,

Steady, Friends, Steady,

Not as SLAVES, but as FREEMEN our Money we’ll give.

Our worthy Forefathers — let’s give them a Cheer —

To Climates unknown did courageously steer;

Thro’ Oceans to Deserts for Freedom they came,

And dying, bequeath’d us their Freedom and Fame. —

In FREEDOM we’re BORN, etc.

Their generous Bosoms all Dangers despis’d

So highly, so wisely, their BIRTH-RIGHTS they priz’d,

We’ll keep what they gave, we will piously keep,

Nor frustrate their Toils on the Land and the Deep.

In FREEDOM we’re BORN, etc.

The TREE their own Hands had to LIBERTY rear’d,

They liv’d to behold growing strong and rever’d;

With Transport they cry’d, “Now our Wishes we gain,

For our Children shall gather the Fruits of our Pain.”

In Freedom we’re BORN, etc.

How sweet are the labors that Freemen endure,

That they shall enjoy all the Profit, secure —

No more such sweet Labors AMERICANS know

If Britons shall reap what Americans sow.

Swarms of PLACEMEN and PENSIONERS soon will appear

Like Locusts deforming the Charms of the Year;

Suns vainly will rise, Showers vainly descend,

If we are to drudge for what others shall spend.

In FREEDOM we’re BORN, etc.

Then join Hand in Hand brave AMERICANS all,

By uniting We stand, by dividing We fall;

IN SO RIGHTEOUS A CAUSE let us hope to succeed,

For Heaven approves of each generous Deed —

In FREEDOM we’re BORN, etc.

All Ages shall speak with Amaze and Applause,

Of the Courage we’ll show IN SUPPORT OF OUR LAWS;

To DIE we can bear, — but, to SERVE we distain —

For SHAME is to Freemen more dreadful than PAIN —

In FREEDOM we’re BORN, etc.

This Bumper I crown for our SOVEREIGN’s Health.

And this for BRITTANNIA’s Glory and Wealth;

That Wealth and that Glory immortal may be,

If She is but just — and if We are but Free —

In FREEDOM we’re BORN, etc.

The Writings of John Dickinson, vol. I, Political Writings 1764–1774, ed. Paul Leicester Ford (Philadelphia: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1895), 431–432.

READING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS