Jefferson and Liberty

DESCRIPTION: Campaign song for Thomas Jefferson, to the tune of a reel: "The gloomy night before us flies, The reign of terror now is o'er; Its gags, inquisitors and spies, Its hordes of harpies are no more. Rejoice, Columbia's sons... For Jefferson and liberty"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1802 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1801-1809 - Presidency of Thomas Jefferson
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Flanders/Ballard/Brown/Barry-NewGreenMountainSongster, pp. 207-209, "Jefferson and Liberty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Grimes-StoriesFromTheAnneGrimesCollection, p. 117, "Jefferson and Liberty" (1 text)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 100-101, "Jefferson and Liberty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 165, "Jefferson and LIberty" (1 text)
Salt-BuckeyeHeritage-OhiosHistory, pp. 38-39, "Jefferson and Liberty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, p. 340, "Jefferson and Liberty" (1 text)
Arnett-IHearAmericaSinging, pp. 42-43, "Jefferson and Liberty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 292, "Jefferson And Liberty" (1 text)
DT, JEFFLIB*
Roud #4668
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Jefferson and Liberty" (on PeteSeeger05)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Adams and Liberty" (concept)
cf. "Lincoln and Liberty" (concept)
SAME TUNE:
Song Sung on the Fourth of July ("Fair Independence wakes the song, Ye sons of Freedom join the lay") (Foner, pp. 9-10)
Harrison and Liberty ("From Mississippi's utmost shore") (Harrison campaign song) (A. B. Norton, _Songs of the People in the Log Cabin Days of Old Tippecanoe_, A. B. Norton & Co., 1888 (available on Google Books), p. 90)
NOTES [220 words]: The Jeffersonian ideal was a nation of small, independent farmers; this is alluded to in one of the verses. The "reign of terror" refers to the Alien and Sedition Acts, two pieces of Federalist policy designed to control dissent. Both passed in 1798; the former gave the President the power to arbitrarily expel foreigners while the latter made it illegal to speak against the federal government (!). Jefferson made good on his promises after the election; all victims of the Acts were freed.
Having finally sat down to read all dozen verses of this wordy piece, I must admit that listeners would probably have wanted liberty in the form of forcing the singer to just shut *up.*
Although most versions of this that I've heard list it as being to a Virginia Reel (perhaps "The Gobby-O"), the sheet music described on p. 1 of Harry Dichter and Elliott Shapiro, Early American Sheet Music: Its Lure and Its Lore, 1768-1889, R. R. Bowker, 1941 describes the first known printing as by N. G[orien] Dufief of Philadelphia. Printed in 1802, it is described as "A new song. To the air of Jefferson's March. The words by Michael Fortune."
Also, Lawrence, in addition to a fairly normal "Jefferson and Liberty" text on p. 165, on p. 163, has a song entitled "Jefferson and Liberty" which does not appear to be the same song. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.3
File: SBoA100

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