Unit 3: Expansion and Reform
"Uncle Sam's Farm"
by Lois Medevic
Song:
1848
Music: Judson J. Hutchinson/ Lyrics: Jesse Hutchinson Jr., (Boston: Geo. P. Reed, 1850).
Original Tune: "Walk in De Parlor and Hear De Banjo Play"
Song Background:
This song was inspired by the western expansion in the mid 1800’s. Many songs were written at that time that told of the settler’s experiences on the Oregon Trail and the opportunities that were waiting for the settlers.
In 1850 the forerunner of the Homestead Act was the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850. This land act was to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory (presently the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho). Thousands of new settlers swarmed into the territory, a total of 7,437 patents were issued between 1800-1855.
The act allowed an unmarried male aged 18 or older to have 160 acres, a married couple could get 320 acres. This was one of the first that allowed married women to hold property in the United States under their own name. Half-blood Native Americans could also get a homestead. If you arrived after the December 1,1850 but before 1854 you were granted half the amount.
After the 1854 cutoff date, settlers could purchase the land for $1.25 an acre, with a limit of 320 acres. In subsequent years the price was raised and the size of the claims were lowered. Congress passed the Homestead Act in 1862 that was designed to encourage settlement on the Great Plains but applied to Oregon also.
“Uncle Sam’s Farm" was written by Jesse Hutchinson Jr. He was a member of a famous group of the time called the Hutchinson Family Singers. The group was composed of siblings from 1 family. The four brothers and one sister campaigned for suffrage and against slavery and liquor with full conviction. They often were able to encourage others to take up their causes. It is known that Jesse was writing antislavery songs as early as 1843 and perhaps was even singing these at antislavery conventions earlier than that. He also wrote and published the song “Get Off the Track”.
More stanzas/Parodies:
For Lincoln's 1860 campaign John published Hutchinson's Republican Songster, in which "Uncle Sam's Farm" carried an additional topical stanza:
We've a glorious Declaration
To protect us in our rights,
An instrument of Freedom,
For the blacks as well as whites,
And the day is swiftly coming
When Liberty's bright sun
Shall shine with noonday splendor
In the land of Washington.
Jesse’s brothers John and Asa remained active in political reform after the war. In 1876 Asa campaigned for the Greenback party and made still another version of the old favorite:
O ye tiller of the soil,
In the East and in the West,
Come join the Greenback banner,
'Tis the wisest and the best;
It floats from the St. Lawrence
And down to the Rio Grande,
Inviting you to organize
In one great union band.
A PARODY ON "UNCLE SAM'S FARM."
Written by PROFESSOR FIELD.
Of all the reformations, in the east or in the west,
Oh the temperance reformation is the greatest and the best,
We invite the whole creation our pledge to come and sign,
And leave off drinking brandy, rum, cider. beer and wine.
CHORUS.
Then come along, come along, make no delay,
Come sign the temperance pledge, sign it right away,
For if you do but keep it, you need not fear alarm
But you will soon be rich enough to buy a handsome farm.
The temperance cause is spreading o'er this our native land,
And Alchy with his subjects know not where to make a stand.
His army is decreasing, and soon there'll be but few,
Who to oppose the temperance cause on Alchy's smiles get blue
The drunkard is so foolish that he will money waste,
On liquor, when there's water more pleasant to the taste;
The water is much cheaper, and much more healthy too,
And never makes a man a fool--which liquors often do.
It never yet caused people to quarrel and to fight,
Or come home intoxicated at twelve o'clock at night.
Cold water never caused man in the gutter to be found,
And never, as I know of, to feel upward for the ground.
Now if you only hasten our pledge to come and sign,
To leave off drinking brandy, rum, cider, gin and wine,
You cannot help but prosper in your business through life,
Provided you have with you a nice teetotal wife.
Andrews, Printer, 38 Chatham St, N. Y., Dealer in Songs, Game Books, Motto Verses, &c., Wholesale and Retail.
Recordings & Scores
- The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music
- lyrics and midi
- Homespun America by the Eastman Wind Ensemble and Chorale(2 CDs, Vox Music Group CDX-5088, 1993