Media in Times of War

1. Media in Times of War • American Revolution • Civil War • World War I • World War II • Vietnam • Gulf War I & II

2. Causes of the American Revolution • When Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years’ War in 1763, England was deeply in debt • England wanted to tax colonists for the cost of fighting the French and Indians and for the cost to keep troops in the Colonies to maintain order • Conflict was also over Proclamation Line declared to keep Colonists from moving west of the Appalachians where conflict with Indians occurred • 1765 England levied Stamp Tax on paper—legal documents, books, playing cards and newspapers • Parliament had never before levied a tax directly • The Colonies had no representation in the House of Commons

3. Patriots, Propaganda & Prelude to War • It was during the Stamp Act crisis of 1765 that newspapers played a new role, debating and defining the terms of liberty and resistance. • An estimated 85 percent of men were literate in New England; 50-65 percent in other colonies • Both Patriot and Loyalists used pamphlets and weekly papers to pursuade neutral colonists to support their side • However, by the time the Revolution began, pro-British newspapers had been run out of the colonies through intimidation and violent attacks

4. Colonists Resist the Stamp Act • August 14, 1765, an effigy of the Massachusetts Stamp Distributor, Andrew Oliver, appeared hanging from the Liberty Tree at the center of Boston. It was the work of Benjamin Edes, who along with John Gill, published the Boston Gazette, for which Sam Adams penned his rousing call to revolution. Later, a mob attacked Oliver's home. He resigned in fear for his life.

5. Printers War Against the Stamp Act • Newspaper printers united against the Act • They had a lot to lose • Printed names of tax collectors and stories of their being handed in effigy • No tax collector dared to distribute stamped paper • Thus, none was available

6. Penalties to printers publishing on unstamped paper included high fines and tried without juries in admiralty courts. Press war on the Stamp Act began in Boston. Clergymen, colonial legislatures, town meetings all rallied against it. Other colonies followed suit Merchants boycotted British goods and shipping dropped dramatically

7. Printers War Against the Stamp Act

8. Benjamin Franklin created the divided snake cartoon in 1754, to encourage colonists to fight the French and their Indian allies. Colonial papers revived the snake cartoon to warn colonists what would happen if the colonies didn’t unite against the British. Became the most popular visual symbol during the revolutionary period.

9. Boston Gazette, the Weekly Dung Barge • It was Sam Adams who whipped up passion over “The Boston Massacre” and trial • It was the Gazette that published the photoengraving of the episode created by Paul Revere to keep the moment alive in the hearts of patriots

10. Dickinson’s “Letters from a Farmer” • Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, but through the new Townshend Act levied taxes on tea, glass, and other material unavailable in the Colonies • By then, newspapers’ success in helping repeal the Stamp Act encouraged printers to defy British by becoming an arm of the Patriot Cause. • A series of newspaper essays entitled "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" written by John Dickinson reasoned against taxation without representation. His letters were copied from one newspaper to another. • Again, Parliament gave in, repealing all the new duties except the one on tea in 1770.

11. Benjamin Edes and the Boston Tea Party The Tea Act of 1773 brought British monopoly on trade to a boil with Bostonians • Sons of Liberty, orchestrated by Boston Gazette owner Edes, dressed up as Indians and tossed 342 chests of tea into the sea

12. Influence of the Patriot Press • Contemporaries like Geo. Washington and John Adams believed the press was a major influence on the War for Independence • Historians generally agree that the press was indispensable in swaying public opinion leading up to and sustaining the Revolution • The press’s success in forcing the repeal of the Stamp Act encouraged printers to oppose British authority forcefully

13. Influence of the Patriot Press However, as the Sons of Liberty and the Patriot press helped win the Revolution, some did so by destroying presses, crushing opposition, and intimidating publishers with Loyalist views.