'It is asserted, on the authority of an American Newspaper, that the <br />daughter of Thomas Jefferson, late President of the United States, was <br />sold at New Orleans for $1,000.'-Morning Chronicle. <br /> <br /> <br />Can the blood that, at Lexington, poured o'er the plain, <br />When the sons warred with tyrants their rights to uphold, <br />Can the tide of Niagara wipe out the stain? <br />No! Jefferson's child has been bartered for gold! <br /> <br />Do you boast of your freedom? Peace, babblers-be still; <br />Prate not of the goddess who scarce deigns to hear; <br />Have ye power to unbind? Are ye wanting in will? <br />Must the groans of your bondman still torture the ear? <br /> <br />The daughter of Jefferson sold for a slave! <br />The child of a freeman for dollars and francs! <br />The roar of applause, when your orators rave, <br />Is lost in the sound of her chain, as it clanks. <br /> <br />Peace, then, ye blasphemers of Liberty's name! <br />Though red was the blood by your forefathers spilt, <br />Still redder your cheeks should be mantled with shame, <br />Till the spirit of freedom shall cancel the guilt. <br /> <br />But the brand of the slave is the tint of his skin, <br />Though his heart may beat loyal and true underneath; <br />While the soul of the tyrant is rotten within, <br />And his white the mere cloak to the blackness of death. <br /> <br />Are ye deaf to the plaints that each moment arise? <br />Is it thus ye forget the mild precepts of Penn,- <br />Unheeding the clamor that 'maddens the skies,' <br />As ye trample the rights of your dark fellow-men? <br /> <br />When the incense that glows before Liberty's shrine, <br />Is unmixed with the blood of the galled and oppressed, <br />O, then, and then only, the boast may be thine, <br />That the stripes and stars wave o'er a land of the blest.<br /><br />Anonymous Americas<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/jefferson-s-daughter/
