The American Revolution: The Arts and Entertainment

Example of boycott: The Boston Tea Party

Yankee Doodle

As the American Revolution progressed, society focused around two groups of people: the Patriots and the Loyalists. Each group had their own opinions and political views that created the tension between them, but culture during the American Revolution focused around the idea of Patriotism. Patriotism is where the citizens of a country have a immense feeling of love and willingness to sacrifice towards the land they live on. Now not only was society impacted by the idea of Patriotism, the arts and the entertainment of the era were affected as well. Plenty of songs, poems, and plays were based off of the struggle for freedom such as the song Yankee Doodle written by a British man named Richard Shuckburg that was intentionally made to make fun of the colonists but was soon the depiction of a British Gentleman. Along with another song called Granny Wales which displays the British perspective of the American Revolution economically. There was also a heavy amount of literature created during the era, one of the most respected and famous pieces of literature was a book called Common Sense by Thomas Paine. The document displayed the need for independence and how America will be able to achieve freedom, Common Sense spread the idea of Patriotism amongst the colonies bringing in more support for the American side. During the American Revolution, there were not that many known pass-times, but one of the most important parts of society were the boycotts and the bar-crawling. Many colonists took part in boycotts that raised their spirits and were meant to proudly showcase their views against or along with the British. Also many colonists took part in something that could be known as bar-crawling, colonists would often discuss and argue several opinions and ideas at bars late at night. The Arts and the Entertainment of the American Revolution focused heavily around the idea of Patriotism and it's need for a higher amount of support.

Annotated Bibliography: Common Sense

Hakim, Joy. "From Thomas Paine, Common Sense." A History of US : Sourcebook and Index. Vol. 11. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. 31-37. Print.

In this document called Common Sense, the author, Thomas Paine is discussing the reasons why the colonists should join the resistance against Great Britain. He begins a long discussion of the purpose of America, and if the colonists would continue to be "attached" to Great Britain, there would be much larger conflicts. The document supports and extends the Declaration of Independence because Thomas Paine talks about how government does not last quite long and would eventually need to be removed after several abuses by those in charge. Common Sense by Thomas Paine would allow us to see the colonist's perspective in our study of the American Revolution but we would need to see all perspectives to fully grasp the causes of the American Revolution. We as students need to see breadth to have a wide range of knowledge, not just this document as a whole.