We are the troop that ne'er will stoop To wretched slavery, Nor shall our seed, by our base deed Despisèd vassals be; Freedom we will bequeathe to them, Or we will bravely die; Our greatest foe, ere long shall know, How much did Sandwich lie. And all the world shall know, Americans are free; Nor slaves nor cowards we will prove, Great Britain soon shall see. We'll not give up our birthright, Our foes shall find us men; As good as they, in any shape, The British troops shall ken. Huzza ! brave boys, we'll beat them On any hostile plain; For freedom, wives, and children dear, The battle we'll maintain. And all the world shall know, Americans are free; Nor slaves nor cowards we will prove, Great Britain soon shall see. What ! can those British tyrants think, Our fathers cross'd the main, And savage foes, and dangers met, To be enslav'd by them? If so, they are mistaken, For we will rather die; And since they have become our foes, Their forces we defy. And all the world shall know, Americans are free, Nor slaves nor cowards we will prove, Great Britain soon shall see.

PennsylvaniaSong

Published in 1775, this song by an anonymous Pennsylvanian reflects the widespread belief among the rebellious colonists that submission to the “tyrannical” dictates of the ministry of Lord North (and his First Lord of the Admiralty, the Earl of Sandwich mentioned in the song) would amount to giving up Americans’ freedom, and therefore entering a state of “slavery.”

PENNSYLVANIA MARCH