America — my country

Samuel Francis Smith wrote “My country, ’tis of thee” circa 1831. Smith was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 21, 1808. He died November 16, 1895 at age 87 years, and is buried at the Newton Cemetery in the city of Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

In The Psalmist: a New Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Baptist Churches, the hymn appears as No. 1000 on pages 524-25 under the title “National Hymn.” Smith wrote that he wrote this patriotic hymn in the same measure (meter 6s. & 4s.) as “God Save the King” and gave it, along with other pieces, to Lowell Mason. Mason paired it with Thesaurus Musicus / Harmonia Anglicana – which we know here as America – and it was first sung in public on July 4, 1831 or 1832 (sources differ) at a children’s Independence Day celebration at the Park Street Church in Boston (where Mason served as choirmaster and organist).

Smith authored numerous hymns, including “Down to the sacred wave” and “The morning light is breaking.” In addition to The Psalmist (with Baron Stowe), he also published Lyric Gems: a Collection of Original and Select Sacred Poetry (1844), Rock of Ages: Original and Selected Poems (1866/1870), Missionary Sketches: a Concise History of the Work of the American Baptist Missionary Union (1879), and many others. Smith was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

S. F. Smith

1. My country, ’tis of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing; 
Land, where my fathers died.
Land of the pilgrim’s pride,
From every mountainside,
Let freedom ring.

2. My native country, thee—
Land of the noble free—
Thy name — I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills; 
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
 
3. Let music swell the breeze, 
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song: 
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake; 
Let rocks their silence break,—
The sound prolong.
 
4. Our fathers’ God, to thee,
Author of liberty,
To thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom’s holy light; 
Protect us by thy might,
Great God, our King!

Samuel Francis Smith attended Harvard University 1825-1829, and was a classmate of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Afterward Smith enrolled in and studied at Andover Theological Seminary 1829/30-1832. Smith was ordained to the Baptist ministry at Waterville, Maine in 1834. He pastored churches in Massachusetts and taught at Waterville College. He served as secretary of the Baptist Missionary Union fifteen years.

In Oliver Wendell Holmes (New York, NY: Twayne Publishers, 1963, p. 75, United States authors series; Vol. 29), Miriam Rossiter Small reported that in 1893 Harvard classmate Holmes recommended Samuel Francis Smith as a candidate for a Doctor of Letters degree from Harvard University. Harvard declined. Holmes retorted, “His song will be sung centuries from now, when most of us and our pipings are forgotten.”

Lowell Mason