In digging through some old presidential campaign songs, I ran across
"Jefferson and Liberty" which I understand was used not only in his 1800
campaign, but was the song of his party for the next 20 years or so. My
American (and Virginia) history is not what it should be, and I wonder
to what the words which continually recur are referring. For example:
"The gloomy night before us flies,
THE REIGN OF TERROR IS NO MORE,
No GAGS, INQUISITORS, or SPIES,
Its HORDES OF HARPIES are no more."
Is this a throw-back to some 25 years before at the beginning of the
Revolution, or were things really (perceived) THAT bad under John
Adams? Actually, neither this verse nor the others have much really to
say about Mr. Jefferson. He appears in the Chorus:
"Rejoice, Columbia's Sons Rejoice, To Tyrannts never bend the knee,
But join with heart and soul and voice, with Jefferson and Liberty."
Randy Cabell
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