Thomas Paine was born into a poor family in England, with a Quaker father and an Anglican mother. He went to school until he was 13, leaving to help his father with work. He befriended Benjamin Franklin in London, and came to the colonies with him in 1774, right around the time of the revolution. He started editing the Pennsylvania Magazine.
After the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord, he helped spread the idea of fighting for full independence instead of just against taxation. He first spread his ideas in Common Sense, a fifty-page pamphlet he published in 1776. They sold very well, with potentially 500,000 copies sold overall, and persuaded people to fight for Independence. He then published The American Crisis, a sixteen-page pamphlet posted later that year. He wrote many more things, including the “Liberty Tree” in 1775, which is what this document is. After a long life of influencing and sharing his ideas, he died in New York City in 1802.
This song is about the Liberty Tree, planted in America by none other than the Goddess of Liberty. Paine uses a lot of personification and metaphors in this, saying the tree went deep into the ground and drew nations to look at its “peaceable shore”. This is about America finally getting liberty, and other nations wanting to be like them, and wanting to see what liberty looks like. Paine continues to mention the peace and happiness the Liberty Tree brings, saying it’s a meeting place for friends and agreeing freeman. He mentions those who fought for the Liberty Tree, basically meaning those who fought for liberty, and how they live happily under the tree’s “fair branch”. He closes it off saying we need to keep protecting the Liberty Tree by staying united and strong.
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Thomas Paine wrote this song to show the importance of liberty and how we as Americans need to keep it and stay united. The Liberty Tree at the time it was written was as popular as Paine’s other work. It, like him, influenced the idea of having independence and liberty, and breaking free from the harsh control of Britain. Paine gave the lasting impression of protecting what you have earned and fought hard for and shows America as a free place that people want to be like. This document currently impacts our nation by showing what we need to do.
With our current president pushing for less immigrants and getting more benefits for the already privileged rich, he is destroying the concept of liberty and independence that we fought so hard for in the Revolution. Metaphorically, he and many other leaders are destroying the Liberty Tree that was planted so long ago. This document shows what we should be keeping in the current age; freedom, liberty, and a union.
