Though largely forgotten in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Samuel Woodworth--journalist, poet, song lyricist, playwright, and editor--actively participated in the literary life of the United States during the nineteenth century and helped foster an American culture separate from that of England. The author of the first hit musical in American history, the writer of one of the best-loved nineteenth-century song lyrics, and a pioneer journalist, Woodworth praised the joys of agrarian life and of republicanism.

The fourth child of Benjamin Woodworth, a farmer and soldier in the American Revolution, and Abigail Bryant Woodworth, Samuel Woodworth was born in Scituate, Massachusetts, on 13 January 1785. His father--a sailor, carpenter, and farmer--failed to provide adequately for his family, and young Woodworth suffered from poor health, poverty, and little educational opportunity. When he was fourteen, he lived for the winter with the Reverend Nehemiah Thomas, under whose supervision he learned English and Latin...