"The Kentucky Volunteer" is a song published in the United States on January 6, 1794.

[1] It is noteworthy for being the first musical composition copyrighted under the new United States Constitution.

[2] It was also the first work published by Benjamin Carr, an English musician who had just immigrated to Philadelphia from England, to become the country's most prolific printer of music in that decade.

The Copyright Act of 1790 covered only "maps, charts, and books" for 14 years, renewable one time.

[4] This means that actual music was not intended to be covered, but printed sheet music counted as "a book", and in early 1794 Carr acted on this fact and got his print of "The Kentucky Volunteer" copyrighted.