<P> Samuel Francis Smith wrote the lyrics to `` My Country ' Tis of Thee '' in 1831 , while he was a student at the Andover Theological Seminary in Andover , Massachusetts . His friend Lowell Mason had asked him to translate the lyrics in some German school songbooks or to write new lyrics . A melody in Muzio Clementi 's Symphony No. 3 ( also called ' The Great National ' and contains the melody of ' God Save the Queen ' as a tribute to Clementi 's adopted country ) caught his attention . Rather than translating the lyrics from German , Smith wrote his own American patriotic hymn to the melody , completing the lyrics in thirty minutes . </P>
<P> Samuel Francis Smith wrote the lyrics to `` My Country ' Tis of Thee '' in 1831 , while he was a student at the Andover Theological Seminary in Andover , Massachusetts . His friend Lowell Mason had asked him to translate the lyrics in some German school songbooks or to write new lyrics . A melody in Muzio Clementi 's Symphony No. 3 ( also called ' The Great National ' and contains the melody of ' God Save the Queen ' as a tribute to Clementi 's adopted country ) caught his attention . Rather than translating the lyrics from German , Smith wrote his own American patriotic hymn to the melody , completing the lyrics in thirty minutes . </P>
when did my country tis of thee written
when did my country tis of thee written
1831
1831