This song first appears in the Boston Gazette, in July of 1768, written by none other than John Dickinson, author of the "Pennsylvania Farmer" letters. Dickinson writes the words (with two verses supplied by Arthur Lee of Virginia) shortly after learning that the Massachusetts Legislature had refused to rescind the Circular Letter telling his Massachusetts friend James Otis, "I enclose you a song for American freedom. I have long since renounced poetry, but as indifferent songs are very powerful on certain occasions, I venture to invoke the deserted muses." Dickinson sets the words to the anthem of the British Royal Navy, "Heart of Oak," composed in 1759 by Dr. William Boyce.