Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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

The Federal Constitution

CROWN’D with auspicious light,

Columbia’s eagle, rise!

Thine emblems bless our sight,

Thine honours greet our eyes.

Nations admire thy rising dawn,

And shall salute thy day;

While generations yet unborn

Receive the genial ray.

An empire’s born!—let cannons roar;

Bid echo rend the sky;

Let every heart adore

High Heaven, our great ally.

Illustrious era, hail—

Thy stars in union grow,

Opposing mists dispel,

And with fresh splendour glow.

Thy glories burst upon the gloom,

Where darkness dragg’d her chain;

The sons of cruelty and death

Shall own thy gentle reign.
An empire’s born, &c.

Let joy our hearts engage,

Let foul contention cease;

Exchange for jealous rage

The enrapturing smile of peace.

No human genius e’er devised

A federal plan more pure;

Wisdom, and strength, and freedom guard

Columbia’s rights secure.
An empire’s born, &c.

Now, Fame, exert your powers,

Your silver trumpet raise:

Still Washington is ours;

Through earth proclaim his praise.

He once, in crimson fields of blood,

Forbade us to be slaves;

And now, with an illustrious hand,

Again his country saves.
An empire’s born, &c.

Discord aghast shall frown;

Science her temple rear;

Labour insure her crown,

And useful arts appear.

Then bend your spears to pruning-hooks,

Break up the generous soil,

While fruits of plenty round the land,

Reward the reaper’s toil.
An empire’s born, &c.

Commerce, your sails display,

While agriculture sings:

Where late the bramble lay,

The rose of beauty springs.

Union shall glad revolving years,

No partial view remain;

Justice aloft advance her scale,

And public virtue reign.
An empire’s born, &c.