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William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.

Independence

Tune—“Rural Felicity”

WHAT heart but throbs high with sincerest devotion,

What tongue but gives utterance to accents of joy,

What bosom but swells with the proudest emotion,

At this happy era, the Fourth of July!

Then haste at our call

To Liberty Hall,

With brows free from wrinkles and minds void of care,

Come, taste what mirth and festivity

Citizen-soldiers together can share.

The birth of an idiot, or knave’s elevation,

Let villains and fools hail with senseless acclaim,

The day which we greet gave the globe a new nation,

And raised a whole empire to freedom and fame.

Jackals and jackasses

May empty their glasses,

To honour their image on some tottering throne;

But freemen will toast

INDEPENDENCE—their boast,

And own for their king their Creator alone.