May 13, 1776

In mid-May 1776, in the wake of news of foreign mercenaries coming from Europe and British ships coming up the Delaware River, the rhetoric around independence was building in the Philadelphia press. This ten-stanza poem was written for the Pennsylvania Packet by “A VIRGINIAN.” It is a call to arms, but also a defense of the legitimacy of the fight for freedom. The second stanza states: “They call you rebels, cowards, knaves, / And doom your unborn babes for slaves.” The “royal ear” of King George III was “deaf” to Americans’ cries. 

Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet or, the General Advertiser
Printed by John Dunlap

For the PENNSYLVANIA PACKET.

1.
AMERICANS! awake, awake!
Your Liberty, your all’s at stake:
Behold your foes, huge angry swarms,
Proclaim loud war, to arms! to arms!

2.
Raging Britannia’s haughty Lairds
Have charg’d their arms and drawn their swords,
They call you rebels, cowards, knaves,
And doom your unborn babes for slaves.

3.
Deaf to your cries, the royal ear
Quite stopt, will no remonstrance hear;
Their Counsellors in blood rejoice,
And make destruction wide, their choice.

4.
Then bend your bows, your arrows bright
Shall pierce like rays of morning light.
Prepare for war, it is no crime,
It’s virtue, and it is high time.

5.
The great Almighty Lord of Hosts
With watchful eyes defends our coasts,
Tho’ fleets and bands of warlike pride
Appear; in Him we will confide.

6.
Rude Britain’s haughty, angry frown
Freedom’s strong wall would batter down;
But the foundation stands secure,
GOD laid it, and it must endure.

7.
Swift to the field ye heroes fly,
Nor fear to sweat, to bleed or die,
The glorious cause demands your breath.
Freedom is cheap, tho’ bought with death.

8.
Union, aloft Urania sings,
And beats the air with golden wings:
Great Washington prepares the way,
Nor can he doubt to win the day.

9.
With life and toil his armies march,
Tho’ Winters freeze, and Summers parch;
Not hunger, thirst, nor cold nor heat,
Shall ever make them to retreat.

10.
Let the inglorious coward quake,
And up the yoke of slav’ry take:
Liberty’s sons shall gain the prize,
And unto the same immortal rise.

A VIRGINIAN.