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On Liberty
This poem was excerpted from a larger piece by Joseph Addison, "Liberty and Slavery Contrasted." Interestingly, the selection here focuses solely on the happy prospect of liberty, a choice that anticipates the emphasis of many free blacks in the North on local civil rights rather than on abolition.
Student: Nicholas Bartom
Date: 1820
Collection: Copies of Literary Work
Page: 12
Transcript
Oh Liberty Thou Pow’r
Supremely bright,
Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight
Perpetual pleasures in thy presence reign;
And smiling plenty leads thy wanton train.
Eas’d of her load, subjection grows more light;
AND POVERTY LOOKS CHEERFUL
In thy sight
Though make’s the gloomy face of nture gay;
Givs’t beauty to the sun, and pleasure to the day