Revolutionary War Propaganda Analysis

Words: 524
Pages: 3

Q: What role did propaganda (from both sides) play in driving the 13 colonies to fight for independence? Support your answer.
A: Propaganda can change a person’s views of a situation they’ve never experienced. For example, in Paul Revere’s drawing of the Boston Massacre (The bloody massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th, 1770, by a party of the 29th Regt.), it is shown that the British have domination over the colonists. By looking at the source, the artist is trying to make the reader pity the colonists, which is a way to influence somebody about their “side.” Some ways that this source conveys this is by how Paul Revere draws it. The British are shown lined up, and with the captain telling them to fire. The Americans are
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Since these words are all positive it makes an “expectation” for those who join. It makes propaganda all the more appealing for someone who wants to redeem themselves or impress somebody. By showing confident stances of army-men, men will be influenced by it and want to …show more content…
The people tarring and feathering the loyalist have on faces of enjoyment and glee. They also seem to be forcefully grabbing him to hold him still, not to mention they look like people with high status. By using these things in an illustration, people can see this as an extreme act of violence and want to stop the persons harming them.

Propaganda uses facial expressions, clothing, and inaccurate actions to get the point across, which means they want you to join their side. Paul Revere’s drawing was very famous, being put on many newspapers and articles, and because of this people decided to take his side. Since there were fewer loyalists, there was less loyalist propaganda, thus making many people join the patriots exponentially. Therefore, propaganda played a large part in their decisions.