Revolution
Propagand
a
This 1767 engraving, published in Great Britain and attributed to Benjamin Franklin,
warned of the consequences of alienating the colonies through enforcement of the
Stamp Act. The act was a 1765 attempt by Parliament to increase revenue from the
colonies to pay for troops and colonial administration, and it required colonists to
purchase stamps for many documents and printed items, such as land titles,
contracts, playing cards, books, newspapers, and advertisements. Because it
affected almost everyone, the act provoked widespread hostility. The cartoon
depicts Britannia, surrounded by her amputated limbs—marked Virginia,
Pennsylvania, New York, and New England—as she contemplates the decline of
her empire. Franklin, who was in England representing the colonists’ claims,
arranged to have the image printed on cards that he distributed to members of
Parliament.
The
Colonies
Reduced
Join or
Die
Join, or Die was a political cartoon and woodcut created by Benjamin Franklin in
1754. It was designed to unite the American colonies against the French and
their Native allies at the start of the French and Indian War. It is thought to be the
first political cartoon that advocated unification of the colonies. It is believed that
Franklin did not actually create the image of the snake cut into pieces, but the
actual artist is unknown. The symbolism of a snake may have represented
regeneration or renewal, since snakes shed their skins, or, may have drawn
upon a legend of the time, which suggested that a snake that was cut into pieces
could come back to life if its parts were assembled before sunset.
The
Bostonians
playing the
excise-man,
or tarring and
feathering
A 1774 British print depicted the tarring and feathering of Boston Commissioner of Customs
John Malcolm. Tarring and feathering was a ritual of humiliation and public warning that
stopped just short of serious injury. Victims included British officials such as Malcolm and
American merchants who violated non-importation by importing British goods. Other forms of
public humiliation included daubing victims’ homes with the contents of cesspits, or actual
violence against property, such as the burning of stately homes and carriages. This antiPatriot print showed Customs Commissioner Malcolm being attacked under the Liberty Tree
by several Patriots, including a leather-aproned artisan, while the Boston Tea Party occurred
in the background. In fact, the Tea Party had taken place four weeks earlier.
print shows a re-drawn and reversed image of the
famous British political cartoon where Bostonians
held captive in a cage are suspended from the
"Liberty Tree." Three British sailors standing in a
boat feed them fish from a basket labeled "To -from the Committee of --" in return for a bundle of
papers labeled "Promises"; around the tree and in
the background are cannons and British troops.
The paper in the hand of one jailed Bostonian
says "They tried with the Lord in their Trouble & he
saved them out of their Distress.
The
Bostonian
s in
Distress
The Savages Let Loose or The cruel fate of the Loyalists.
During the War for Independence more than 60,000 Americans
who remained loyal to the Crown fled the country. In this British
etching from 1783, three Indians, representing the United
States, murder Americans who remained loyal to the Crown.
“The cruel
fate of the
Loyalists” or
“The
Savages
Let Loose”
Translation:
"Monsieur be pleas'd to accept the
frogs
I just have killed them in the Bogs."
Monsieur answers, holding out his
right hand,
"I give you thanks my good Ally,
Some will make Soup the rest a
Fry."
Beneath the design is engraved:
"O Britons be wise
And part these Allies,
Or drive them both into the Bogs;
I think it is fit
They both should submit
To Old England, or live upon
Frogs."
A large snake representing America, its head erect, addresses France (right),
a man standing in profile to the left, dressed as French petit-maître with high
toupet-wig, black bag and solitaire, laced suit, sword and chapeau-bras.
Between the two stands a circular basket full of frogs; behind the snake (left)
is a small pond in which frogs are swimming, inscribed, "A Fish pond for
Frenchmen". The snake is saying,
The American
Rattle Snake
Presenting
Monsieur his
ally a dish of
frogs
England as an old man with wooden leg and crutch
tugging on strings hooked onto the noses of five
American men across a divide labeled "The Atlantic
Ocean"; the men resist, shoot pellets at, and taunt old
England. Includes a quote attributed to Shakespeare,
"And therefore is England maimed & forced to go with a
staff".
Poor Old
England
endeavoring
to reclaim his
wicked
American
Children
“Fox’s
Martyrs” or
the patriots
in limbo
Charles James Fox's martyrs during the American Revolution. On the right,
Frederick, Lord North, hangs from a devil's pitchfork and wears a large stone
labeled "American War" from his neck. In the center, Charles Fox apologizes for
his actions, in the aftermath of the 1784 general election. The 1784
Parliamentary election was the first national election. The Fox-North coalition
came under attack by George III and William Pitt the Younger. Pitt remained
Prime Minister and those members of Parliament who continued to support Fox
and North became known as "Fox's Martyrs" in reference to John Foxe's Book of
Martyrs (1563). This satire lays the blame for the Whig's loss on the American
Revolution.
The
American
Rattle
Snake
Cartoon shows "American" snake, the emblem used by Americans as a device
on their flag before the adoption of the stars and stripes, with two of three coils
around units of British soldiers, commanded by Burgoyne and Cornwallis at time
of their surrender. Gillray is lampooning the British war effort. The verse printed
below the image reflects the widespread sympathy in England for the American
cause.
Print shows a skull and crossbones representation of the official stamp required by
the Stamp Act of 1765. Entitled: This is the place to affix the stamp. The Stamp Act
of 1765 was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament on the colonies of British
America. The first direct tax to be levied on the American colonies, it required that
all newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents, commercial bills, advertisements, and
other papers issued in the colonies bear a stamp. The American colonies were
furious and refused to pay for the tax that the British put on them. The Americans in
all 13 colonies protested strongly and the British retreated part way, but insisted on
the right of Parliament to tax the colonies. The Americans rejected that as
unconstitutional, declaring "No Taxation without Representation", and it was a
major grievance that led to the American Revolution. The Act was repealed on
March 18, 1766 as a matter of expedience, but Parliament affirmed its power to
legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever" by also passing the Declaratory
Act. There followed a series of new taxes and regulations, likewise opposed by the
colonists.
This is
the Place
to Affix
the
Stamp