Editing My Country, 'Tis of Thee (section)

==Lyrics==

{{poemquote|My country, 'tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty,
of thee I sing:
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims' pride,
from every mountainside
let freedom ring!

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.

No more shall tyrants here
With haughty steps appear,
And soldier bands;
No more shall tyrants tread
Above the patriot dead—
No more our blood be shed
By alien hands.

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.

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.}}

An [[abolitionist]] version was written, by A.{{hairsp}}G. Duncan, 1843, with lyrics mentioning white and black races.<ref>
Jarius Lincoln, [ed.] ''Antislavery Melodies: for The Friends of Freedom.'' Prepared for the Hingham Antislavery Society. Words by A. G. Duncan. (Hingham, [Mass.]: Elijah B. Gill, 1843), Hymn 17 6s & 4s (Tune – "America") pp. 28–29.<br />Some of these verses can be heard in the recording of the Arizona State University Antislavery Ensemble. {{cite AV media |date=March 1, 2006 |title="My Country 'Tis of Thee" |medium=[[Vimeo]] |url=https://vimeo.com/2557499 |access-date=May 17, 2019 | publisher=[[Arizona State University]] – Department of English}}.</ref> For [[George Washington's legacy#Centennial celebration|Washington's Centennial]] celebration, another verse was added to the original version.<ref>{{cite book
 | last =Andrews
 | first =E. Benjamin
 | author-link =Elisha Andrews
 | title =History of the United States
 | url =https://archive.org/details/historyofuniteds5andr
 | publisher =Charles Scribner's Sons
 | year =1912
 | location =New York }}</ref>