Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Philip Freneau: Thomas Jefferson’s mouthpiece

The Poet of the American Revolution

For July the Fourth, 1799

  • Once more, our annual debt to pay,
  • We meet on this auspicious day
  • That will, through every coming age,
  • Columbia’s patriot sons engage.
  • From this fair day we date the birth,
  • Of freedom’s reign, restored to earth,
  • And millions learn, too long depraved,
  • How to be govern’d, not enslaved.
  • Thou source of every true delight
  • Fair peace, extend thy sway,
  • While to thy temple we invite
  • All nations on this day.
  • O dire effects of tyrant power!
  • How have ye darken’d every hour,
  • And made those hours embitter’d flow
  • That nature meant for joys below.
  • With sceptred pride, and brow of awe
  • Oppression gave the world her law,
  • And man, who should such law disdain,
  • Resign’d to her malignant reign.
  • Here on our quiet native coast
  • No more we dread the warring host
  • That once alarm’d, when Britain rose,
  • And made Columbia’s sons her foes.
  • Parent of every cruel art
  • That stains the soul, that steels the heart,
  • Fierce war, with all thy bleeding band,
  • Molest no more this rising land.
  • May thy loud din be changed for peace,
  • All human woe and warfare cease,
  • And nations sheath the sword again
  • To find a long, pacific reign.
  • Soon may all tyrants disappear
  • And man to man be less severe;
  • The ties of love more firmly bind,
  • Not fetters, that enchain mankind.
  • But virtue must her strength maintain,
  • Or short, too short, is freedom’s reign,
  • And, if her precepts we despise,
  • Tyrants and kings again will rise.
  • No more an angry, plundering race,
  • May man in every clime embrace,
  • And we on this remoter shore,
  • Exult in bloody wars no more.
  • On this returning annual day
  • May we to heaven our homage pay,
  • Happy, that here the time’s began
  • That made mankind the friend of man!—

Philip Freneau (1752-1832) was an American poet and political writer raised in Monmouth County, NJ. Because of his long poem “The British Prison Ship,” which related his experiences as a POW, Freneau has been called “The Poet of the American Revolution.” After the war, Freneau became Thomas Jefferson’s mouthpiece in the bitter political feuds against Alexander Hamilton. Ironically, since these feuds spilled over into attacks on Hamilton’s peers and friends, including George Washington, the Poet of the American Revolution also earned the undying animosity of the father of our country. While Freneau’s poetic output was uneven, his work provides a literary witness to America’s founding.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Ramona musicians seek solution for outdoor playing at wineries

Ambient artists aren’t trying to put AC/DC in anyone’s backyard

For July the Fourth, 1799

  • Once more, our annual debt to pay,
  • We meet on this auspicious day
  • That will, through every coming age,
  • Columbia’s patriot sons engage.
  • From this fair day we date the birth,
  • Of freedom’s reign, restored to earth,
  • And millions learn, too long depraved,
  • How to be govern’d, not enslaved.
  • Thou source of every true delight
  • Fair peace, extend thy sway,
  • While to thy temple we invite
  • All nations on this day.
  • O dire effects of tyrant power!
  • How have ye darken’d every hour,
  • And made those hours embitter’d flow
  • That nature meant for joys below.
  • With sceptred pride, and brow of awe
  • Oppression gave the world her law,
  • And man, who should such law disdain,
  • Resign’d to her malignant reign.
  • Here on our quiet native coast
  • No more we dread the warring host
  • That once alarm’d, when Britain rose,
  • And made Columbia’s sons her foes.
  • Parent of every cruel art
  • That stains the soul, that steels the heart,
  • Fierce war, with all thy bleeding band,
  • Molest no more this rising land.
  • May thy loud din be changed for peace,
  • All human woe and warfare cease,
  • And nations sheath the sword again
  • To find a long, pacific reign.
  • Soon may all tyrants disappear
  • And man to man be less severe;
  • The ties of love more firmly bind,
  • Not fetters, that enchain mankind.
  • But virtue must her strength maintain,
  • Or short, too short, is freedom’s reign,
  • And, if her precepts we despise,
  • Tyrants and kings again will rise.
  • No more an angry, plundering race,
  • May man in every clime embrace,
  • And we on this remoter shore,
  • Exult in bloody wars no more.
  • On this returning annual day
  • May we to heaven our homage pay,
  • Happy, that here the time’s began
  • That made mankind the friend of man!—

Philip Freneau (1752-1832) was an American poet and political writer raised in Monmouth County, NJ. Because of his long poem “The British Prison Ship,” which related his experiences as a POW, Freneau has been called “The Poet of the American Revolution.” After the war, Freneau became Thomas Jefferson’s mouthpiece in the bitter political feuds against Alexander Hamilton. Ironically, since these feuds spilled over into attacks on Hamilton’s peers and friends, including George Washington, the Poet of the American Revolution also earned the undying animosity of the father of our country. While Freneau’s poetic output was uneven, his work provides a literary witness to America’s founding.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pie pleasure at Queenstown Public House

A taste of New Zealand brings back happy memories
Next Article

Trump names local supporter new Border Czar

Another Brick (Suit) in the Wall
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader