Two Dollar Bill

This is John Trumbull's painting the Declaration of Independence.  It is housed in the Capitol rotunda and 12'x18' large.


The painting shows the drafting of the document and not the signing.  There are 47 people in the original and all are likenesses that were taken from live people.

You may have seen this version on the two dollar bill.  This version crops out seven figures, including George Washington.

Join the Revolution

This flier was created to recruit troops to the Revolutionary cause in the colonies.  I actually really like the design.  Historically, it is important because it shows the "use of reason" v. faith.  The troops' pay and living conditions are explained in the fine print at the bottom in a persuasive way.  

Psyop for the Revolution

This pamphlet was distributed at the front lines of the stand off between the Union Army at Prospect Hill and the British Army at Bunker Hill.  The British Army had enlisted a number of Hessian soldiers.  These soldiers were treated badly, exploited and degraded by the British officers.  The flier compares the living conditions of the two groups and encourages dissent and defection of the subgroup of the British Army.  It's one of the first examples of a psyop, using the divide and conquer strategy.

Thomas Paine Thinks About Revolution

Now some thoughts from Thomas Paine......


"An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot."


"These are the times that try men's souls."


"Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting
it."


"To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not."


"It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and whether we defeat the enemy in one battle, or by degrees, the consequences will be the same."


Read more:http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_paine_4.html#ixzz1eAdf9Sy2

Paul Revere Master Silversmith

Paul Revere is best known for his patriotism and his midnight ride. However, he was also a silversmith and engraver.  His silver and copper works are sophisticated and elegant.  His engravings were usually political and revolutionary.  

This famous portrait of Paul Revere was painted by John Singleton Copley in 1768.  It currently is a part of the Museum of Fine Arts Collection in Boston.  It is oil on canvas and shows him with a silver teapot in hand.

The Worcester Art Museum has some of his silver works, created between 1775 and 1810.  

Revere Silver, photo Daderot, April 28, 2010

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

This lively statue of Paul Revere was created by sculptor Dee Clements.  It is located in Heritage Park in Cerritos California.

"Arch-Manager, Chief Incendiary, Master of Puppets"

“Every dip of his pen stung like a horned snake.”                                      Governor Bernard - Top Crown Official

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." Sam Adams


The Old Man - Sam Adams was often called The Old Man. He was renowned for his self-control and serious nature.  He was considered a radical of his day.  At times he was isolated from fellow Revolutionaries for it. He avoided glamor throughout his life and lived very simply.   He made no apologies.
He was also directly responsible for laying certain groundwork for the Revolution.  He was concerned with raising popular understanding and linking Massachusetts with other movements in the colonies. He accomplished his goals through many conversations, publishing letters under different pen names on different relevant issues in others papers and printing Revolutionary papers.

 The Boston Gazette, Adams's chief newspaper, had grown to over 2,000 circulation. And in 1770 a new radical paper, the Massachusetts Spy, was founded and soon sold about 3,500 copies of each issue. These circulations were immense in colonial times. Before the crisis, the four papers in Boston had an average circulation of about 600 each.

 Sam Adams is the revolutionist without peer in American history. His command of the revolutionary art and of its associated skills of propaganda, organization and strategy has never been equaled on this continent. Like all great revolutionists, Sam Adams belongs to the people. His glory and his triumph came with the glory and triumph of the people. His fame will shine brightly once again in the admiration and affection of the people when they rule this land once more. 

Harry Frankel

 Sam Adams was most despised by his former countrymen.   In his native England, The whole revolution was often named “the Adams conspiracy.”  Sam Adams was called “the first politician in the world” without a peer in the work of “forwarding a Rebellion." in England. “The whole Continent,” said one Tory, “is ensnared by that Machiavel of Chaos.” 

The Liberty Pole

Samuel A. Drake (1879) and Duane H. Hurd (1890) in their histories of Middlesex County note:

"... the patriotic men of the village had erected a liberty-pole and had flung their ensign to the breeze" and "the minutemen and militia companies took position on the hill in front of the church, around the liberty pole on which the pine tree flag was raised".

Figure 16. Liberty Pole, New York, 1770. Pen and ink drawing of P.E. Du Simitière Papers, Acc. #396f. vol.2. Courtesy of Library Company of Philadelphia.

A Liberty Pole is a single flagstaff erected during Revolutions as an organizing tool.  During the Revolution in the eighteenth century in the United States,  Liberty Poles were put up by the Patriots and taken down by the Loyalists or British soldiers.  This process would repeat.  The most famous was located in New York and taken down countless times over a ten year period.   The ten year period was 1766 (repeal of the Stamp Act) to 1776 (the Occupation).  The Liberty Boys of New York defended this symbol. When someone wanted to call a town meeting, to discuss the occupation or British policy, an ensign, usually a red cap, or flag would be raised on the pole.  It was a gathering place for the people. 

Below is the Honorable Seth Sprague’s (grandson of Nathaniel Chandler of Duxbury) account of Duxbury’s Liberty Pole, local history rocks.

“Previous to the war, there were Liberty poles raised in every town in the State. We had a very high one in Duxbury; it stood near, where The Gershom Bradford house now stands. There was a great gathering of people at the raising of it. It was somewhat of a terror to evil doers. If any one was suspected of being a Tory, he was threatened to be histed up on the Liberty Pole.”

A barrel of tar, and bag of feathers was often kept nearby and sometimes hung from the pole.  This served as a reminder of the fate of John Malcomb, a Boston customs official who was tarred and feathered in 1774. 

Liberty Poles would also serve to hold effigies of tax collectors.  In this way the Patriots intimidated all colonists from holding this position.  In one case there was resistance from the tax collector.  He resigned. His house was burned anyway.  After that there were no more tax collectors to be found among the Colonists.