"Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it," (Declaration of Independence) The Declaration of Independence's main cause was to declare that the United States of America was separate from Great Britain, but there is also a more subtle cause. The former quote is a tremendous example of that second more subtle cause which is propaganda. During the Revolutionary War time period the United States was littered with propagandist papers supporting the war, democracy, and the unity of the country. These papers were written by some of the best thinkers of the time and had a great influence on the colonialist who read them around the fireplace and in the taverns.
The propagandists used philosophy to help convince the public of their ideas. This was not an original an idea though as the English philosopher John Locke also did this in many of his writings including Two Treatises of Government where the idea of the "social contract" originated. The "social contract" stated that governments were formed by people entering into a contract with governing a body so that they can be protected, provided for, and be benefited from the government. When the government did not accomplish these deeds but instead did the opposite and harmed it's citizens it was the right of the people to rise up against the government and form a new one. The "social contract" idea was borrowed many times by the Revolutionary War writers and helped form the basis for the Declaration of Independence along with the Constitution of the United Sates of America.
1761 was the year propaganda was first used in the colonies to start influencing the public against the English monarchy, though not for the freedom of the states yet. The medium that was used for the propaganda was speech. In February of 1761 James Otis was asked to argue a case for the Superior Court of Massachusetts. He would decline this offer and instead argue "pro bono" for the accused. The statement "and as it is in opposition to a kind of power, the exercise of which, in former periods of history cost one king of England his and another his throne." (Otis 75) shows his anger against the King for the decision he had made and was used to show the public that rebellion against a king had been done before. In 1764 Otis took his argument from the court case and cultivated it before publishing it as written propaganda as a response to The Revenue Act enacted the same year.
The Stamp Act passed in 1765 took away power of the purse from the colonial governments and put it in the hands of Parliament. This deed was what sparked the idea of separation from England and lead to revolutionary activity. The title of John Adams' propaganda prose piece A Burdensome and Unconstitutional Tax tells exactly how he felt about the Stamp Act. After writing the prose piece Adams saw his position as so fixed and obvious that he said "The die was now cast; I had passed the Rubicon. Swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my country was my unalterable determination"
Propaganda material by people like John Adams influenced the people of Boston enough that riot were started over the Stamp Act. Francis Bernard (governor of Massachusetts) wrote in a letter to the Earl of Halifax of how stamp agents were tarred and feathered, Mr. Oliver's house was demolished by a mob, and how the citizens felt the mob actions were justified. The Sons of Liberty were the group who did the tarring and feathering, and they also toke it upon themselves to destroy the stamps whenever they saw one of them and sack the houses of the rich. Thanks to reaction of the colonists the Stamp Act was repealed one year after being enacted but on the same day Parliament passed a act asserting their right to make laws for the colonies.
Samuel Adams on November 2, 1772 started to write The Rights of the Colonists, on November 20 of that year Adams presented his finished paper to the Boston town meeting. In the paper were found the most irrevocable rights all men in a just world should have. Those rights included life, liberty, and property. The former rights helped form part of The Bill of Rights and were used for examples of what the King of England with held from the colonialist in The Declaration of Independence. Adams wanted every colonialist to ponder on how attainable these rights were.
In 1773 the Tea Act was made law so that Parliament could save the British East India Company from going bankrupt. The East India Company were able to sell tea to the thirteen colonies without having to pay a tax because of the Tea Act. American revolutionists used this new act to their advantage by telling the people that this act would create an illegal monopoly on tea. This lead to resolutions being written that were used for propaganda purposes, making sure everyone knew not to buy tea. Eventually the Boston division of Sons of Liberty led by Samuel Adams dressed up like native Americans and poured tea into the harbor. This act (the Boston Tea Party) was one of the greatest uses of propaganda during the pre-revolutionary war days. The direct and indirect consequences of this action helped led to the Revolutionary War.
During the year of 1774 it was not always safe for one to come out and say they were against the British Empire. Which is why the writer of a newspaper article titled On the Depravity of Kings and the Sovereignty of the People chose to remain anonymous. The author of the article uses theology to bash the idea of a king to full extent. At one point he says "God treats all of mankind as he did the Jews only giving them a king in his anger." (Annals of American History 283) The author also talks of how the American Congress did not derive it's power from rolls of old parchments but instead from the people. This last point helps the propagandist draw his readers attention sense he is a member of the group named.
1775 was a year in which many great papers were written for the purpose of propaganda along with a multitude of speeches that were given also. The list of speeches includes Patrick Henry's famous "Give Me Liberty or Give Death" speech. The speech was never actually copied down word for word but it was reconstructed by his early biographer. In the speech Henry argues the point that life is not worth having without liberty as he tries to inspire the crowd to rise up against the crown and other throw British rule.
The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. While it is one of the most famous political documents written in the history of the United States of America it is not as simple as it one would think when one goes deeper into the reasons it was written. It was not written just to declare independence it was written for much more than that. The Declaration of Independence states
"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." (Jefferson)
The usage of visual words in the Declaration was not meant to be shown to lawyers for debate but instead to be read aloud to the masses so they as a whole could feel a unity against the evil that binds them. It does not only unite though it also inspires anger, "He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good." (Jefferson) this was the first complaint from a long list that brought wraith toward the King from most colonialists, all of which is listed in The Declaration of Independence. Finally The Declaration fulfils its final motive, it tells the colonialists what to do with their anger.
"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." (Jefferson)
In this passage the Declaration of Independence was written in a way to tell the colonialist to rebel against the king and become a separate nation. The Declaration of Independence was a tremendous work of propaganda as it helped inspire the American people for the Revolutionary War.
Towards the latter part of 1776 when the battle for the Revolution was full set Tom wrote The American Crisis. The American Crisis is a series of tracts that are exceedingly patriotic. It was originally issued in a Pennsylvania newspaper but was soon released as a pamphlet. General George Washington read it to his troops during one the toughest times of his campaign, the troops had not won a battle for awhile and were in desperate need of moral boost during the cold winter months. The next battle was Trenton, New Jersey at which Washington's famous crossing of the Delaware occurred and the American army won. This major victory convinced Washington's soldiers to reenlist, which made it a decisive battle of the Revolution.
During the Revolutionary War and the build up before many people in the colonies showed their skill in influencing others. It is because of their skills in propaganda the Revolutionary War toke place and that the Americans eventually won. While propaganda may looked down on by some, here it played a very vital role as it helped usurp not just the King of England but all of the Kings of the Western World. As the Americans showed other countries that they did not have to stay under the tyranny of their kings.
