Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Pop a gander at This! Volume I, in which Nick becomes Frustrated with the Internet

The internet is full of historic propaganda images. However, we are not studying the modern World Wars, so it matters not that THIS IS OUR ENEMY or that LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS. So after an hour of searching through communist and Nazi propaganda even though I specifically told Google "American", I most times only ended up with JOIN OR DIE or something along the lines of OBAMA IS HITLER, SHEEPLE.
Irrationally comparing someone to a mass murderer is one thing, but when you call me a sheep, you, sir, have gone too far.
Anyways, here's what I was able to find. It's not as great as I hoped it would be.

The Bostonians in Distress, 1774 by Philip Dawe
This one is pretty straight forward. "Help!" the people of Boston cry, as they have been caged by the British troops. Mom found out about all that tea partying, and she is not happy. Thus, Boston has been grounded. No public document burnings for a week. And just wait until your father gets home.
Benjamin Franklin and the rattlesnake were not the only celebrities of the time. As you may have noticed, the Liberty Tree of Boston and her noose, as made famous in the depiction of the tar and feathering of a Loyalist, makes her comeback, with the cage hanging from said tree and noose.

"The Bloody Massacre", 1770 by Paul Revere and Henry Pelham
There's actually a debate over who shot first? It seems to be made pretty clear, here! And Americans wouldn't lie. Washington forbid it through his wooden teeth.
The innocently portrayed colonists stand in awe that they could have done anything to instigate such violence. Meanwhile, the heartless British drown the town in gun smoke and bullets. Probably far more effective than the first image, as it shows Americans as innocent yet not as foolish, this cartoon and accompanying poem deliver a blow straight to the heart.

Thomas "Here Comes the" Paine, with pamphlets so patriot you'll pray for pardon

Thomas Paine, the famous pamphleteer. His publishing of The Crisis and Common Sense influenced the Loyalist James Chalmers to publish a competing pamphlet Plain Truth. Eventually. this turned into a "pamphlet war", the likes of which have never been seen sense. In fact, thousands lost their lives in the war, which is commonly known as the American Revolution. Contrary to popular belief, the war was over pamphlets, and American independence was just a bizarre side-effect.
Benjamin Franklin actually brought Paine to America, thus making his life meaningful for the first time he had ever experienced. America allowed Paine to become more than a writer; he also served in Washington's army. He continued to write after the war on many different subjects.

America: Birth of an Ego

Here's our friend the rattlesnake. Now that's he's in one piece, he's developed some sass and swagger. Considering all the necessary foreign aid America received, it was probably a bit obnoxious to everyone else when this cartoonist bragged America could take on even more British troops.

Federal Superstructure
This is really not saying a whole lot. God's hand is lifting Massachusetts into place along with the other states that had already ratified the Constitution. So, Massachusetts ratified the Constitution. That's about it. This is a bit after the Revolutionary War, of course.

"News for America, or the Patriots in the Dumps" 1776

While Lord North proclaims a British victory, America sits below weeping, and, well, in the dumps. This was a hard time for America, having just declared their independence but not yet receiving significant foreign aid. The British had every right to boast, as this was a bleak time for Patriots.

"The Horse America, Throwing His Master" 1779
Now this one is pretty complicated. The horse, believe it or not, represents America. Crazy, right? It was sneaky tactics like transforming from colonies to a crying naked lady in Britain to a bucking horse that won the war for America.
Silliness and sass aside, sir, America had been bucking for years. Now, however, is when foreign aid came, and things started to look up for that crazy horse of ours. Oh, and the fat guy is George III.
Sources: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/british/brit-2.html
http://www.mccsc.edu/~jcmslib/silver/amrev/paineweb/index.htm (from pages around site)
http://www.1776mag.com/in-the-eyes-of-the-enemy-the-american-revolution-in-british-political-cartoons/
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/firsts/cartoon/columns.html











WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PRESIDENT NOW, SHEEPLE?!

14 comments:

  1. Haha, loved the last picture. I thought that the second picture was aboot the Boston Massacre and not Lexington. Other than that, I enjoyed reading your story of the early war.

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  2. Somehow it's only appropriate that you should do the post about comics and cartoons...anyway, I always enjoy old style comics because it offers a humorous glimpse into the ideas that circulated during the era. I laughed about the Americans not lying...that's true to a certain extent...but I won't name names...awesome post!

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  3. Propaganda says so much about what was really going on. It is the most interesting and entertaining form of primary documents. Love It!

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  4. Super-great, I appreciate the sass. You did a stellar job of weeding through all the internet-junk and found some good sources. You're right, this propaganda isn't quite what one might find from the World Wars, but it was still interesting and effective.

    sheeple hahaha it took me like 10 mins to get that.

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  5. Nick, this post is creative and original. And has a humorous introduction.

    Good work.

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  6. Nick, I sympathize entirely with your struggle to find Revolutionary propaganda! As you pointed out quite effectively with all these stirring pictures, propaganda did not, in fact, come into existance in the World Wars!

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  7. whitehawk says good job. chief very proud from heart. whitehawk like funny comments. whitehawk like first picture

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  8. Nick, this was hilarious! I laughed through the whole thing! I especially liked the part about the pamphlet wars :) I am actually really impressed that you could find so much propaganda from this time period! Nice job ;)

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  9. This is an awesome post. The info is great and the title in absolutely hilarious....not to mention the picture at the end.

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  10. Great, very thoughtful post! I am sure Mrs. Lawson would comment on all of these old cartoons as "primary sources."

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  11. Nicely wrought post. Please sir may I have another? If there were a king of comedy, he should be proud of your work for its stellar quantity of humorous hymns to the laughing lord. Ha, whatever that means... :) good job

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  12. First one was great! "No document burnings for a week..."
    And also the title, America the beginnings of the ego.
    Good work

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  13. I would be tempted to burn my computer had I had the same problems with finding the documents. Good Job.

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  14. That was hilarious Nick! Those posts rocked! and were actually entertaining!

    Phantastisch!

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