Humanities Information |
Propaganda and American Journalism, Born Joined at Birth
Passion was the main stuff of journalism long before the Civil War, the birthplace of modern American journalism. The Press of the American Revolution during the War and before it, was borne of it. Newspapers then were not as we know them today. Weekly advertising mediums they were, but they were primarily opinion pieces designed to protect interests or to provoke the readership. They were propaganda organs in the truest sense. They were virtual flagpoles of ideology from which the editor could wave his political flag. As tools of political activism they often published articles of principles treating of various freedoms or governmental responsibilities, as the editors saw them to be, mostly by pseudonymous authors sometimes using names taken from the Greek or Roman classics like Cato or Ovid. What news did exist was usually a local crime graphically treated, a poem perhaps, or a reference to a literary work or some happening from Europe that occurred months previously and brought to the editor's notice by people arriving in town. Newspapers shared news too, for as fever rose in the colonies and happenings became more frequent the need to know took place and the sharing of news from paper to paper became more commonplace. But news gathering during the war coverage was not organized, newspapers relied almost wholly on the chance arrival of private letters and of official and semi-official documents. News sources were scarce, but opinion was abundant and it covered both sides. Tory and patriot presses would fire verbal broadsides at each other's interests and any newspaper hoping to maintain a dispassionate objectivity examining both sides of the issues, found themselves in a "no-man's land" and was considered "on the other side." Often the news was engineered, perhaps none so well as the 'reportage' of the Boston Massacre by the Boston Gazette. What led up to the shootings, deemed a " Boston massacre", was the business of quartering British troops in the public houses and private homes of residents in America when barracks space was not available. The additional insult to the public was that the colonial legislative body was to provide financing. This was going on for four years after the British Parliament enacted a piece of legislation called the Quartering Act in 1765 and expanded it in 1766, ostensibly to economize on troop expense. When the soldiers first appeared in Boston in 1766 resplendent in redcoats and brandishing gleaming muskets and bayonets, they were held in awe but when it was learned that they were ordered never to use force and that in order to fire a musket they would first have to seek an order from a magistrate, bellicose crowds of youth began to taunt them. A mutual dislike developed between soldier and citizen, taunts epithets and curses the main discourse. Tempers began to flare as Boston tolerance dipped to increasingly low levels. One citizen's distaste for things British turned extreme resulting in the shooting of his neighbor's son, Christopher Seider, an eleven year old Boston youngster Tension between soldier and citizen was stretched thin and snapped on March 2 after rumors were circulated through Boston that the soldiers were planning a massacre of Boston citizens following an incident in which one soldier with a broadsword, slightly injured one young man, who with three companions wished to pass in an alleyway. Later a brawl between some troops and some rope makers erupted, the latter besting the former leaving emotions in a tattered state, then on March 5th, a group of youths taunted a British sentry who took exception by beating one of them with his musket. Fire alarms sounded bringing a crowd of about four hundred to the scene, surrounding the sentry and throwing snowballs, ice and sticks at him. Seven soldiers led by Captain Thomas Preston came to the sentry's support but suffered the crowd's taunts and physical assault with clubs. Daring the soldiers to fire on them, one soldier did after being hit with a club and the others followed suit. Three citizens died on the spot, another the next day and another one a few days later, five were dangerously wounded and a few slightly. One can imagine the reaction of the citizens in the tavern as they heard, through sips of ale , the report in the Boston Gazette informing its readers that the man with a broadsword,who was described as having grown "to uncommon size" and who was now accompanied by " a person of a mean countenance armed with a large cudgel," attacked two of the youths wounding them with sword punctures then reenforced by two more soldiers armed with tongs and shovel, they continued beating the boys who valiantly defended themselves. "The noise bro't people together, and John Hicks, a young lad, coming up, knock'd the soldier down, but let him get up again; and more lads gathering drove them back to the barrack, where the boys stood some time as it were to keep them in. In less than a minute 10 or 12 of them came out with drawn cutlasses, clubs and bayonets, and set upon the unarmed boys and young folks, who stood them a little while, but finding the inequality of their equipment dispersed,- In hearing the noise, one Samuel Atwood, came up to see what was the matter, and entering the alley from Dock-square, heard the latter part of the combat, and when the boys had dispersed he met the 10 or 12 soldiers aforesaid rushing down the alley towards the square, and asked them if they intended to murder people? They answered 'Yes by G-d, root and branch! With that one of them struck Mr, Atwood with a club, which was repeated by another, and being unarmed he turned to go off, and received a wound on the left shoulder which reached the bone and gave him much pain. Retreating a few steps, Mr. Atwood met two officers and said, 'Gentlemen, what is the matter?' They answered, 'you'll see by and by.' Immediately after those heroes appeared in the square, asking 'where were the boogers? Where the cowards?'...Thirty or forty persons, mostly lads...gathered in Kingstreet, Capt. Preston, with a party of men with charged bayonets, came from the main guard to the Commissioners house, the soldiers pushing their bayonets, crying, 'Make way!' They took place by the custom-house, and continuing to push to drive the people off, pricked some in several places; on which they were clamorous, and ,it is said, threw snow-balls. On this, the Captain commanded them to fire, and more snowballs coming, he again said, 'Damn you, Fire, be the consequence what it will.! One soldier then fired, and a townsman with a cudgel struck him over the hands with such force that he dropt his firelock; and rushing forward aimed a blow at the Captain's head, which graz'd his hat and fell pretty heavy upon his arm; however, the soldiers continued the fire, successively, til 7 or 8, or as some say 11 guns were discharged. By this fatal maneuvre, three men were laid dead on the spot, and two more struggling for life; but what shewed a degree of cruelty unknown to British troops, at least since the house of Hanover has directed their operation, was an attempt to fire upon or push with bayonets the persons who undertook to remove the slain or wounded." Following the imputation of unusual cruelty for this final bit of brutality the Gazette went on to describe the slain and to comment on the outrage felt by the Boston citizenry, the outrage, undoubtedly, now shared by the gentry in their drawing rooms and the lads in the taverns. The flames of passions that were kindled by the outrageous Stamp Act of 1765 and the infuriating Quartering Act of the same year, had been flickering but now found new fuel and burst into the blaze of revolution. A "massacre ' had now been committed. A "massacre!" Blood had been drawn. The following week, the grand jury indicted the British soldiers for wilful murder but the court thought fit to hold trial when tempers had cooled in the following term. On October 24th, trial was held for Captain Preston and on November 12th, for the soldiers. John Adams, second U.S. President-to-be, was one of four defense lawyer for all. The captain was acquitted as were six of the eight soldiers. Two were found guilty not of murder but manslaughter. The jury was drawn from residents of towns surrounding Boston. In the courtroom, reality replaced fiction, but the impression of a massacre had not been erased. The words of the Gazette in its best fictional form were truly the words of revolution. John Adams in 1815, summarized: "What do we mean by Revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The Revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected, from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen years before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington." Journalism had moved the minds of the people. Don Bracken is the author of 'Times of the Civil War', a study of the American Civil War and the coverage of it by the New York Times and the Charleston Mercury. He is Senior Editor of History Publishing Conmpany,LLC.
MORE RESOURCES:
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Old Russian Symbolics on a White and Blue Porcelain Russian porcelain is widely known and is often used as a traditional gift.The art of decorative painting on porcelain is handed down by craftsmen from generation to generation. Accurate Psychic Advice Psychic readings can be an invaluable tool for obtaining answers to your most confusing questions. A psychic reading can help you gain insight regarding your love life, family, career, finances and more!We invite you to select a psychic and begin your personal and confidential psychic reading today!Quality Psychic AdvisorsUnlike most other "live psychic advice" web sites, all psychic readers obtained by Accurate Psychic Advice have been hand selected based on their area of psychic reading expertise!Accurate Psychic Advice also provides you with personal profiles of each psychic reader. Nelsons Last Words: Kiss Me, Hardy or Kismet, Hardy? "Kiss me, Hardy" or "Kismet, Hardy"? Both versions are commonly used, the former being clearly more universal . The easy answer is that, whatever variation, these were not his final words (that is a trick question!). Murder Solved From The Grave I am very interested in reading about ghostly stories and spirits etc. A couple of years ago I heard about a story which is apparently true, about a murder which was solved from the grave. Spain´s Flag - A Red And Yellow Beauty Spain´s flag (the national one) is as colorful as the country itself with its red and yellow horizontal triband.The yellow stripe is in the middle and is twice as tall as each red band, and the height of the flag is two-thirds the width. When Does Man Become God? Some scientists argue over creation and evolution and they argue did man create god or did god create man. And without that ongoing and predictable out of debate, lets discuss our scientific advancements. Crazy Horse My ancestry includes Colonel Miles (or Myles) Keough (or Keogh) through a relationship that apparently was not formalized with a lady who attended his grave, in a story made famous by many books on the matter. But it can only be true if this lady and her mother named Martin of the New York Governor's family, whose name is on the wedding certificate of my grandfather as a witness, kept the child a secret all her life. Precious Stones The Big Five - Part 4 The Diamond The diamond is generally regarded as the premier gem in the world of precious stones.Of all the precious stones the diamond has the simplest composition; it is merely crystallized carbon. King Tuts Tomb was No Better - Found in America Between 603 and 702 AD. a truly marvelous temple was built by the Mayan people to honour a non-Mayan, non-Indian man. Ancient Indian Civilizations - Where Did They All Go? In 1350 AD we were still quite a few centuries from settling at Plymouth. I have been luckily in that I have found adequate records back to 1200s in my family tree. On Being Human Are we human because of unique traits and attributes not shared with either animal or machine? The definition of "human" is circular: we are human by virtue of the properties that make us human (i.e. Her Last Day in Court "Ron, I can't take much more of his sleazy behavior! I really don't think you are going to win this case for me anyway. I've lost everything; at least I can have the pleasure of making sure the jury knows their judge is another sexual power tripper, going in to his chambers to satisfy himself with the bailiff while he screws me over under the law! I don't. What is Y Ddraig Goch - the Welsh Red Dragon? The red Dragon was introduced to Britain during Roman times. It is possible that the Romans learned of the dragon from the Persians. Egyptian Handmade Perfume Bottles Blown glass, a very ancient technique, is the oldest among the handicrafts. It is said by some, that ancient Egyptians were the original inventors of glass making techniques. A Short Biography on Some of Europes Most Loved and Hated Monarchs - Pt 4 Queen Mary I Queen Mary I of England was born in 1516 to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon and was the first British monarch to rule in her own right. Mary was pronounced queen in 1553 and ruled for five years after the death of Edward VI. Human Genome Project and Mayan Calendar HUMAN GENOME PROJECT: - In 1991 Michael Coe wrote Breaking the Mayan Code in which he said knowing how this language was 'both phonetic as well as pictographic was as important as the Human Genome Project and space colonization'. Personally I think it is very important to see the Mayans had a language understandable in many contexts across numerous tribes and people. 10 Feng Shui Tips for a Better Life Ever walked into a house that felt like home? Ever reminisced about the best year of your life, and wondered why everything came together for you? It could be Feng Shui.Simply put, Feng Shui is about creating a harmonious environment. Learn How To Draw Faces Realistically Drawing a face isn't as hard as it looks. To draw a realistic human face, it takes mapping out the face correctly before you fill in the finer detail. Astrology : A Science or Superstition? Human beings have always been curious to know their future. Whenever someone is in difficulty and cannot easily come out of it, he wants to know whether the days of his misery will come to an end at all. The Birth Of Eskimo Inuit Art Prints Unlike Inuit sculpture, art prints from the Canadian Arctic are a twentieth century innovation in Inuit Eskimo art. One of the most significant events that happened during the development of contemporary Inuit art was when Canadian James Houston taught the Inuit to make art prints by incising designs into linoleum tiles, stone blocks and stencils from sealskins. |
home | site map | contact us |