“COME muster, my lads, your mechanical tools”

In the Second Continental Congress, Francis Hopkinson (1737–1791, shown here in a painting by Robert Edge Pine) of Pennsylvania was the artistic one.

He designed the stars-and-stripes flag for the new U.S. of A. He also designed some Continental currency, the Board of Admiralty seal, and a proposal for the Great Seal of the U.S., though that final image was ultimately sketched by Charles Thomson.

Hopkinson played and composed music, including what he said was the first secular song issued by a person born in the American colonies, “My Days Have Been so Wondrous Free” (1759). He wrote satirical verse, such as “The Battle of the Kegs” (1778).

It’s no surprise, then, that Hopkinson contributed to the debate over whether to ratify the U.S. Constitution with a song.

Pennsylvania ratified the Constitution on 10 Dec 1787, so Hopkinson didn’t need to win over his fellow citizens to the document. Rather, he aimed to convince the people of other states.

On 29 December, Hopkinson published an essay in the Pennsylvania Packet using the extended metaphor of the roof of “a certain mansion house” with thirteen rafters that “skillful architects” had determined needed a new roof lest the whole thing fall down.

He followed that up in the Pennsylvania Gazette with the words for a song originally titled “The Raising: A New Song for Federal Mechanics”:

COME muster, my lads, your mechanical tools,
Your saws and your axes, your hammers and rules;
Bring your mallets and planes, your level and line,
And plenty of pins of American pine:
  For our roof we will raise, and our song still shall be,
  Our government firm, and our citizens free.

COME, up with the plates, lay them firm on the wall,
Like the people at large, they’re the ground work of all;
Examine them well, and see that they’re sound,
Let no rotten parts in our building be found:
  For our roof we will raise, and our song still shall be,
  A government firm, and our citizens free.

NOW hand up the girders; lay each in his place,
Between them the joists, must divide all the space;
Like assemblymen, these should lie level along,
Like girders, our senate prove loyal and strong:
  For our roof we will raise, and our song still shall be,
  A government firm, over citizens free.

THE rafters now frame—your king-posts and braces,
And drive your pins home, to keep all in their places;
Let wisdom and strength in the fabric combine,
And your pins be all made of American pine:
  For our roof we will raise, and our song still shall be,
  A government firm, over citizens free.

“King-posts”! Doesn’t that smack of monarchism? But no.

OUR king-posts are judges—how upright they stand,
Supporting the braces, the laws of the land;
The laws of the land, which divide right from wrong,
And strengthen the weak, by weak’ning the strong:
  For our roof we will raise, and our song still shall be,
  Laws equal and just, for a people that’s free.

UP! Up with the rafters—each frame is a state;
How nobly they rise! their span, too, how great!
From the north to the south, o’er the whole they extend,
And rest on the walls, whilst the walls they defend:
  For our roof we will raise, and our song still shall be
  Combined in strength, yet as citizens free.

And so on until verse nine:

HUZZA! my brave boys, our work is complete,
The world shall admire Columbia’s fair seat;
Its strength against tempest and time shall be proof,
And thousands shall come to dwell under our ROOF.
  Whilst we drain the deep bowl, our toast still shall be
  Our government firm, and our citizens free.

This song was performed in Philadelphia’s parade on 4 July 1788, as reported in detail in both the Pennsylvania Gazette and Pennsylvania Packet. The author of that report was none other than Francis Hopkinson.