AMERICA: OF THEE WE SING
Adapted from a historical cantata by Ruth Roberts and William Katz
US:
Our country tis of thee we sing, loud and proud. Land of New England meadows and southern
cotton fields. Of county fairs and ticker tape parades. Barefoot boys with fishing rods and
Ladies’ Day at the baseball park.
US2:
A land of steel and industry and invention…with a heart as big as Texas and dreams as tall as the
redwoods in the great Northwest.
ALL:
(plant in audience) But when did it all begin? Who made it possible?
US2:
Dreamers, schemers, dedicated men and women driven by the insatiable appetites for adventure,
glory, wealth, and freedom. Freedom, yes, that was the greatest dream of all!
US:
Men like John Smith
ALL:
Founding Jamestown—the first permanent English settlement.
US2:
Roger Williams
ALL:
Settled Rhode Island where he sought religious freedom.
US:
Daniel Boone.
ALL:
Explored Kentucky as a trapper, a tall tale teller, and courageous frontiersman.
US2:
Sam Houston
ALL:
President of the New Republic of Texas.
US:
Brigham Young
ALL:
Colonizer of Utah.
US2:
Brave men and women. Visionaries. Dynamic individuals who built a foundation upon which a
new nation would flourish.
US:
(under this choral group chants “freedom” over and over) Where they went they carried their
dream with them. Across three thousand miles of lonely ocean came the dream of freedom. Its
seeds were planted in Jamestown, took root at Plymouth Rock, and as colonies spread up and
down the eastern seaboard, the dream traveled by…
SOLO 1:
Horseback! Giddi-up. Ya-hoo. (slaps horse)
SOLO 2:
Stagecoach. Get along there mule! (whip)
SOLO 3:
By foot. (hold up worn out boot) Just ten more miles, darling. We’re almost there!
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SOLO 4:
By flatboats going up river. (mimes working the pole on a flatboat)
SOLO 5:
SOLO 6:
It traveled to quilting parties. (hold up quilt piece)
Town meetings.
SOLO 7:
And one room school houses. (ring bell)
US:
And it traveled to Boston where they had an outrageous tea party.
S.ADAMS:
(small group gather round table) Gentlemen, the new taxes are insufferable. Can we stand by
and allow ourselves to be mere handmaidens? No, I believe we must have a say in our own
destiny!
SOLO 8:
What should be done Mr. Adams?
S. ADAMS:
Show our displeasure, sir!
SOLO 9:
How, Mr. Adams?
S.ADAMS:
Dump the tea they are taxing so dearly.
US2:
And they did. Samuel Adams and a small group of men dressed as Indians struck a match for
freedom. That small flame grew and was fed by such as Thomas Paine, James Madison, and
John Adams.
US:
It spread from Maine to Massachusetts. From Pennsylvania to Virginia where Patrick Henry
whipped it into a frenzy when he declared…
P.HENRY:
I know not what others may say, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.
ALL:
Liberty, yes!
US2:
And finally, in July of 1776, the dream reached a hot, crowded Philadelphia courthouse.
ALL:
(Begin muted arguments among themselves while players move to table)
J.HANCOCK: Order, gentlemen, please!
SHERMAN: (above crowd noises) Mister Chairman!
J.HANCOCK: (crowd quiets) The Chair recognizes Roger Sherman, delegate from Connecticut.
SHERMAN: I move that the resolution called the Declaration of Independence be put to an immediate vote.
ALL:
Yea! Hear! Hear!
US2:
The thirteen colonies are going to take a vote. Listen, the roll call begins.
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J.HANCOCK: Connecticut, are you for independence? Are you for the pursuit of happiness? For life, liberty,
and freedom?
RI:
Rhode Island votes yes!
J.HANCOCK: Massachusetts, how about you?
MASS:
Upon due reflection, sir, we do!
J.HANCOCK: Delaware and Pennsylvania?
DEL/PENN: Delaware and Pennsylvania vote yes!
J.HANCOCK: New York, New Hampshire, and New Jersey?
NY/NH/NJ:
The three of us vote yes!
J.HANCOCK: Virginia?
VIRGINIA:
(solo) Virginia, home of Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison,
and James Monroe votes yes!
J.HANCOCK: Maryland and Georgia, what say you?
MD/GA:
We agree sir.
J.HANCOCK: North and South Carolina?
NC/SC:
(everybody up now) So do we, Mr. Chairman!
US:
The voice of the people had spoken. Liberty. Freedom. The words thundered in a revolutionary
sky. And Yankee Doodle Dandy was ready to fight for them.
SONG:
YANKEE DOODLE DANDY
US2:
The agonizing war for independence finally ended in 1781. A brand new nation had been born
in revolution. And now, slowly, painfully we had to establish law and order, settle our
differences, find a common ground, and in so doing frame a representative government.
J.MADISON: We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution of the United States of America.
G.MASON:
Hey Mister, we sure do have a might fine Constitution.
US:
Nothing like it in the whole world.
G.MASON:
But I was wondering, could we add a little something about freedom?
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US:
Can we? This is America. You bet we can. We’ll put it all down on paper…the first ten
amendments to the Constitution…we’ll call it the Bill of Rights.
ALL:
You can say anything that you want to say whoever you may be. You can meet with your
neighbor across the way.
SOLO 10:
That’s what it means to be free.
ALL:
You can write anything that you want to write and dare to disagree. You can sleep without
feeling afraid at night.
SOLO 11:
That’s what it means to be free.
ALL:
You can’t be imprisoned or taken away until you’ve been justly tried. You can choose the
church where you want to pray with your family by your side.
US:
You can dream any dreamy that you want to dream…
ALL:
…and make it all come true cause you live in the land where the star of liberty is shining over
you.
US2:
It took a lot of great men and women to keep those stars of liberty shining. Men like George
Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and Benjamin Rush.
US:
Great folks, But no story of American could be told without the Common Man—Mister Nobody
in Particular whose restless eye and itching foot lead him West to change the nation’s history.
ALL:
Step by step, mile by mile he coaxed his creaking wagon through the ruts and rocks and mud of
the Wilderness Road.
SOLO 12:
Through raging rivers
SOLO 13:
Battling cholera epidemics.
SOLO 14:
And finding dried up water holes.
US2:
Abandoning his favorite possessions along the way, and burying their dead in simple graves that
marked their passing.
GIRLS:
With nothing but prayer and iron determination to keep them going.
ALL:
Going west in a covered wagon…
SOLO 15:
Git along, mule, giddiyap, giddiyap.
ALL:
In spite of the danger round every turn, we’re going to cross the Cumberland Gamp. Yes, we’re
going to cross the Cumberland Gap.
SONG:
SWEET BETSY FROM PIKE
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US:
America was on its way—linked to the vast unexplored West by the Cumberland Gap, doubled
in size by the Louisiana Purchase. We had little idea where we were going, but we were dogone
determined to get there.
ALL:
This was the pioneer America—confident, daring, tough as an old hickory tree, cutting through
unbroken forests, marking new trails across mountains, walking miles to the nearest
schoolhouse.
US2:
Working, singing, whooping, and hollering his way across an entire continent.
BOYS:
(rhythm) Clearing land, cutting timber, storing sorghum, molasses and rye. Putting down stakes,
raisin’ up fences, digging new wells when the water runs dry.
GIRLS:
Ploughing, planting, raking, and hoeing, working all day on the homestead site. Churning and
weaving, spinning and sewing until Saturday night.
ALL:
With an empty jug and a musical saw we square danced to “Turkey in the Straw”. That’s the
way Pa got Ma.
BOYS:
Wagons ho, cross the Mississippi. Here comes the stagecoach bringing us mail.
GIRLS:
We’re growing up fast, got a mill and an inn and a church…
SOLO 16:
And a jail.
ALL:
Over the plains through buffalo country—Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, too. Fighting off Indians—
Pawnee, Shawnee, Comanche, Apache, Chippewa, Sioux.
BOYS:
Cowhands, cattle meant heading for Texas, pushing their way through the tall grassland.
Fording the rivers-Arkansas, Cimarron, Brazos, Pecos, Rio Grande.
GIRLS:
Hiyup to Oregon, across the Rockies, there where the pine trees grow so fine. Got traders,
trappers, room to breathe, a respectable hotel and a railroad line.
ALL:
There’s gold in the hills, silver in the canyons. Gotta move on through drought and dust. Cow
town, mining town, boom town, ghost town…
SOLO 17:
Yipee-i-o!
ALL:
California or bust!
ALL:
Through many a mile and many a moment, many a pioneer has left their mark: Fremont,
Hickok, Buffalo Bill, Kit Carson, Crockett, Lewis and Clark.
SOLO 18:
Hey there, mister, what’s all the commotion?
US2:
Haven’t you heard? Abe Lincoln was elected President of these United States!
US:
Abraham Lincoln, America’s sixteenth president was a Kentucky born, country lawyer who
thirty years before had split rails on the Sagamon River, and whose neighbors called him
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“Honest Abe”. His election in 1860. set of an explosion that had been building up for half a
century.
SOLO 19:
This system of slavery is immoral. It must not be extended to the new territories.
SOLO 20:
Cotton is king! We need slave labor to grow cotton.
SOLO 21:
The federal government must act.
2VOICES:
The states have a right to decide for themselves.
6VOICES:
The states are part of the union.
VOICES:
Secession.
VOICES:
The Union
VOICES:
Secession.
VOICES:
The Union
ALL:
Secession. Secession. Secession. (facing audience) Secession!
SOLO 22:
(TAPS) There’s a battlefield in Gettysburg where swords and sabers rust; and brothers who were
flesh and blood are scattered in the dust. But every night at Gettysburg when everything is still,
they say a golden bugle blows on Cemetery Hill. Who is that unknown bugle boy who so
mournfully does play? And is he wearing Yankee blue or wearing Southern gray?
SOLO 23:
But why this terrible battle? Why all this destruction?
ALL:
That government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.
SONG:
BATTLE HYMN
US:
We are gathered here at Promontory Point, Utah on this historic day of May, 1869, to witness the
joining of two great railroads…the Union Pacific from the East (train whistle)
ALL:
Hurray!
US:
And the Central Pacific from the West. (train whistle)
ALL:
Hurray!
US2:
The last rail was laid, the last spike was driven, and American had its first transcontinental
railroad. And what a big job it had been. Men from all over the world came to lay all those
thousands of miles of rail. Blasting through mountains, spanning deep gorges, working to bring
America together.
SONG:
DRILL YE’ TERRIERS, DRILL
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US:
This nation was indeed a nation of immigrants. They packed steamships ploughing through the
swells of two great oceans. They came from China, Russia, Sweden, Italy, Ireland, and a
hundred other different places. There were the poor, the oppressed, the stout hearted, the defiant,
the dream weavers seeking the promise of the Constitution. Freedom. And America called out
to them.
ALL:
“Give me your tired, your poor; your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched
refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp
beside the golden door.” (E. Lazarus)
US2:
Those immigrants gave America new drive, enthusiasm, unbounded energy, a roll-up-your
sleeves can do attitude. An itch for invention.
SOLOR24:
A four-wheel carriage run by an engine? (laughter) Get yourself a horse.
SOLO25:
A contraption that flies through the air like a bird? (laughter) It’ll never get off the ground.
US:
But there was not stopping a nation of tinkers and whittlers, long accustomed to making,
repairing, improving, and changing. And with characteristic ingenuity and git-up-and-go,
America invented its way into the Industrial Age.
ALL:
It took Bell to make the telephone ring and it took Edison to light our way…it took Robert
Fulton in a steamboat to go chug, chugging down the bay.
ALL:
Howe knew how to make the sewing machine…the Wrights learned the right way to fly. So
when you’re spelling the word America, don’t forget to dot the “i” for inventors, don’t forget to
dot the “i”.
ALL:
George Pullman made the sleeping car for railroad trips at night. Lew Waterman made the
fountain pen so everyone could write. Richard Hoe made the rotary press so we could get the
news. Charles Goodyear made the rubber for the heels upon our shoes.
ALL:
Morse made the telegraphy hum, Colt made the Forty-five. Ford made the automobile so folks
could Sunday drive.
ALL:
Yes, Otis made the elevator go up, McCormick’s reaper reaped the rye. So when you’re spelling
the word America, don’t forget to dot the “i” for inventors—don’t forget to dot the “i”.
US:
Progress! That was the word that made the century turn. Teddy Roosevelt setting a new style in
politics…
SOLO 26:
Talk softly and carry a big stick.
US:
Women changing from hoop skirts to bloomers…skyscrapers….ferris wheels…the moviola…a
bright new twentieth century of progress.
SOLO 27:
Hold on, Mister. What about us human beings? We could use a little bit of that progress, too!
SOLO 28:
He’s right. This is the nineteen hundreds and children are still working in factories.
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ALL:
We need progress! We need progress!
SOLO 29:
We got tenement houses and city slums.
SOLO 30:
A laboring man needs a living wage!
SOLO 31:
Constitution doesn’t say that women can vote!
SOLO 32:
Me and my people, we want equality!
ALL:
We need progress, progress, progress!
US 2:
It was the beginning of a new interest in human rights, in new freedoms, and liberty at home and
in faraway places.
SOLO33:
(group mimes typing and makes typing sound) Dateline, Austria, 1914-GERMAN TROOPS
HAVE CROSSED THE RHINE (group-ding with typewriter carriage movement)
SOLO 34:
Dateline, Poland, 1915-WARSAW SURRENDERS.
SOLO 35:
Dateline, France, 1916-FRENCH ARMIES ARE WEAKENING.
SOLO 36:
Dateline, America, 1917-
ALL:
WE MUST HELP MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY. (Ding)
US:
We had to come to a decision. The world was our world, and we were responsible for what went
on in it. We joined the battle against oppression in World War I.
ALL:
I live in a street in my home town, far away from the far off lands. Still, the whole wide world is
my home town when freedom needs a helping hand.
ALL:
There’s a peaceful setting in my home town, far away from fear and doubt. But the whole wide
world is my home town and I’ve got to help my neighbors out.
US 2:
Armistice Day, November 11, 1918. The war was over. We paraded and cheered, threw
confetti, and welcomed Johnny Doughboy home.
SONG:
WHEN JOHNY COMES MARCHING HOME
US:
Such a celebration! The nation was young and brash, tempered by war and ready now to enter
the new age, roaring. 1919.
BOYS:
Jazz, baby, where’ve you been? (snap fingers)
US:
1920
GIRLS:
Charleston, Charleston. Let’s begin.
US2:
1921
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ALL:
Stocks are going up!
US:
1922
BOYS:
I’m a flagpole sitter, how about you? (point to audience)
US2:
1923
GIRLS:
I’m a dapper, flapper, a boop-boop-a-doo.
US:
1924
BOYS:
I’ll be down to get you in my new car, my new Tin Lizzie. (mime horn)
US2:
1925
ALL:
Stocks are going up!
US:
1926
BOYS:
Babe Ruth hit another home run this week. (bat sound-group follows ball)
US2:
1927
ALL:
Stocks are going up!
US:
1928
GIRLS:
Well, I never would have bet on a crystal radio set…why you can even get Pittsburgh. (Hand to
face in disbelief)
ALL:
Stocks are going up, going up, going up, up, up, up, up, up, up,…OH!! (Crash to sitting position)
US2:
The stock market crashed…October, 1929. We had mortgaged our homes, borrowed money,
danced to the tune of “get-rich-quick”…and now we had to pay the piper.
SOLO 37:
If you mean the grocer, Mister, you’re right. We have no money to buy food.
SOLO 38:
No place to live. Can’t pay the rent.
SOLO 39:
No place to work. There aren’t any jobs.
US:
The depression was the worst in the nation’s history. Ten million unemployed, bank failure,
bread lines, soup kitchens. The jazz age had lost its glitter.
SOLO 40:
Brother, can you spare a dime? (Pull out pocket linings and shrug)
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US2:
The 30’s offered little but despair until President Franklin Roosevelt rolled up his sleeves and got
to work. The Roosevelt smile, his jaunty public style, his fireside chats, served to remind us that
the only thing we had to fear was fear itself.
US:
Sadly, another war beat against our shores and we were bound to help defend the cause of
freedom once more.
US2:
The depression was forgotten. Men went to battle. (Marching?) Women went to work.
Industry began to meet the demands of arming a nation dedicated to wiping out tyranny and the
memories piled up.
SOLO 41:
(Drum beat. Group stands.) Pearl Harbor. (Some sit, heads bent)
SOLO 42:
Bataan (More sit)
SOLO 43:
Guadalcanal. (More sit)
SOLO 44:
Toburk. (More sit)
SOLO 45:
SOLO 46:
Guam. . (More sit)
And Normandy. (All seated)
US:
In 1945 the war ended with a might blast that hurled us all into the Atomic Age.
US2:
But it was victory and celebration and then a return to living out the dimensions of the
Constitution.
BOYS:
Give it to ‘em Harry!
GIRLS:
President Harry S. Truman. A strong willed President who didn’t pass the buck. And the
fabulous fifties flourished.
BOYS:
We like IKE!
GIRLS:
President Dwight D. Eisenhower. World War II hero. His steady hand lead the nation.
BOYS:
All the way with JFK!
GIRLS:
President John F. Kennedy. A young President of vigor and vision.
SOLO 47:
Countdown.
ALL:
Five, four, three, two, won…derful.
US:
A wonderful new world of space, new frontiers, new and invigorating challenges captivated the
nation. Our walk on the moon—
SOLO 48:
That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
US:
Was one more inspiring chapter in the history of the American adventure.
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US2:
And suddenly a new sorrow in the land as America mourns its 4th assassinated President. Tears
and muffled drums marked our memories. The riderless horse. The eternal flame. A son’s
salute goodbye.
US:
But America goes on.
SOLO 49:
I, Lyndon B. Johnson do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of
the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States.
SOLO 50:
What about that freedom and respect guaranteed by the Constitution?
SOLO 51:
Yes, what about it?
SOLO 52:
Is there freedom in the country for blacks as well as whites?
SOLO 53:
And for Hispanics?
SOLO 54:
And the poor?
SOLO 55:
And what about freedom on campuses? Do we or don’t we have a voice in what goes on in our
classrooms?
US2:
The cries and protests of impoverished and neglected people, of angry and determined
minorities, of prophets and visionaries rose to a great crescendo across the land.
US:
If one of us not free, then none of us are free.
US2:
The voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others rallied long columns of freedom marchers
everywhere.
US:
The country took notice. Important Civil Rights Legislation was passed.
ALL:
Freedom, yes!
SONG:
WE SHALL OVERCOME
US:
(humming by group-We Shall Overcome) A bullet silenced the voice of Martin Luther King Jr.,
but the march for freedom, once begun, could not be stopped.
SOLO 56:
I, Richard Nixon.
SOLO 57:
I, Gerald Ford.
SOLO 58:
I, Jimmy Carter.
SOLO 59:
I, Ronald Reagan.
SOLO 60:
I, George H. Bush.
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SOLO 61:
I, William Clinton
SOLO 62:
I, George W. Bush
ALL SOLOS: Do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President.
ALL:
So the quest for freedom goes on and on.
US:
(group humming America with increasing volume) And let the word go forth, from this time and
place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans,
born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by hard and bitter peace. Proud of our ancient
heritage…and singing—
SONG:
America, America, God shed his grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea
to shining sea.
LIGHTS.
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