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

The Land of Heroes

Tune—“Vive La”

AMERICA! thou lovely nation,

Offspring of eternal day,

Why should not the whole creation

Homage to thy virtue pay?

That in the field and heat of battle,

On the deep where cannon roar;

First, triumphant and undaunted,

Banish’d tyrants from your shore.

Long had Liberty lain sleeping,

Wrapt in darkness, bound in chains;

The nation independence seeking,

Roused to arms, her right regains—

High exalted rose the eagle,

Glorious as the morning star;

Nature smiled and seem’d delighted,

Freedom’s voice was heard afar.

Liberty, thou here shalt flourish,

On the soil that gave thee birth;

All your sons your rights will nourish,

Blest with festive joy and mirth;

Whilst the nations of the world,

Tortured, shivering in despair,

Mourn their agonizing victims,

Cries of death ascend the air,

With gallant Gates at Saratoga—

With brave Montgomery at Quebec,

The foe you there most nobly foil’d him,

And sustain’d the fierce attack—

Hail, Columbia, land of heroes,

Boundless may thy influence run;

Universal as the day,

And everlasting as the sun.