William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
Invitation to AmericaH
To taste the comforts of a kinder doom!
Ye, whose high souls, with gallant warmth, disdain
To flatter and betray for sordid gain:
To slaver, like a dog, a tyrant’s hand,
And crouch obedient to his vile command;
To practise arts, disgraceful to the brave,
Fit for a faithless, fawning, cringing slave,
And here, in fields as eminently bless’d,
As those which erst the chosen race possess’d,
From bondage led to the delightful land,
By their meek ruler, and Jehovah’s hand,
And here devote to Freedom’s sacred name,
With curious skill, a temple we will frame,
Which upon Doric pillars shall be borne,
And a severe simplicity adorn;
Such as nor Athens e’er, nor Sparta plann’d,
Nor Rome, the dread and wonder of each land:
Which, heaven-protected, ever shall defy
The traitor’s arts and rage of tyranny—
Or, if it should be spoil’d, yet not before
Its martyr’s blood around its site we pour.