1. My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing: Land where my father's died, Land of the pilgrims' pride, From ev'ry 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!
Lyrics: Verses 1, 2: Samuel Francis Smith; Verses 3, 4: Henry Jackson van Dyke
Music: 18th century
Tune: AMERICA
Meter: 6.6.4.6.6.6.4.
Samuel Francis Smith, 1808–1895
Moved deeply by the desire to create a national hymn that would allow the American people to offer praise to God for our wonderful land, a twenty-four year-old theological student penned these lines on a scrap of paper in less than thirty minutes in 1832. Yet even today many consider “My Country, ’Tis of Thee” their favorite patriotic hymn and call it our “unofficial national anthem.”
The easily singable words of the song are matched with a popular international melody used by many nations, including England, where it accompanies “God Save the King/Queen.” The emotionally powerful ideas that Smith expressed had an immediate response. The hymn soon became a national favorite. The stirring tributes to our fatherland in the first three stanzas lead to a worshipful climax of gratefulness to God and a prayer for His continued guidance.
Following his graduation from Harvard and the Andover Theological Seminary, Samuel Smith became an outstanding minister in several Baptist churches in the East. He composed 150 hymns during his eighty-seven years and helped compile the leading Baptist hymnal of his day. He was also editor of a missionary magazine through which he exerted a strong influence in promoting the cause of missions. Later he became the secretary of the Baptist Missionary Union and spent considerable time visiting various foreign fields.