Primary Source: The Liberty Bell

      Freedom and liberty continued to echo throughout history even after the days like the Boston massacre. With it's shouts getting louder, the complexity of freedom grew amongst many groups that had long kept their screams inside. The liberty has long since been known to symbolize freedom and has remained a linkage to the origins of reform of the United States. It's symbolism became extremely powerful for the abolitionists during the reformation period against slavery as it was printed on this banner to exude the powerful message of freedom for all, despite their color or race.

"The liberty Bell, later one of the nation's most venerated emblems of freedom, did not acheive that status until abolitionist adopted it as a symbol and gave it its name, as party of an effort to identify their principles with those of the founders." Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty

      Again, we see another simple use of an image to create a loud and powerful message sent across the nation. Although the original means of the liberty bell may have not been created to support the movement of anti-slavery, it played a major role in the hearts of many screaming for equality and freedom. The bell was printed on the banner (as seen above) and abolitionist adopted this form of speech in order to campaign the extension of freedom not just for the white men in America, but to the black Americans who had been there for as long as they have. At the beginning of the antislavery movement, visuals of freedom were being adopted in order to make an impact and sway those that hadn't been involved yet with the efforts.

 "In retrospect, it is a remarkably apt metaphor for a country literally cracked and freedom fissured for its black inhabitants." Independence Hall Association, The Liberty Bell

        Just as the Boston Massacre picture I talked about in the first blog post, the depiction of the bell on the banner was enabled a messaged to be carried across the nation. Furthermore, the liberty is an actual object that is located in Liberty Hall in Pennsylvania, and rumored to have rang while the first reading of the Declaration of Independence happened. This enabled what was once known as the "Old State House Bell", to have more meaning to every person living in America. It's significance has created a permanent mark in history and to this day, not one American has missed the introduction to the liberty bell. It being a national symbol, there have been many more prints that include the historical bell.
      American independence was a continuous battle that has been fought for decades in many different shapes and forms. From the liberation and separation of England, the fight had only just began. After America had won it's independence, the battle cries for freedom grew even more as citizens realized their human right to be a part of the country just as the next man that he had fought along side with. As the quest for independence grew, the idea of freedom became even more engraved in the country's underlying purpose.
      Today, the liberty bell can been seen in the baseball park located in the Philly's stadium. Although not used the same way as it had been in the past, the outline bell will light up every time a home run is hit by it's hometown player representing a great achievement or representation of liberation from the other team's defeat.  Even more significant, the liberty bell has made it's way onto the United State's silver dollar. Freedom and equality still remains the heart of the United States and the reason it was built. It also continues the strive to keep these qualities, which makes it stand apart from the rest of the world.



Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History. New York: Norton & Company Inc., 2009. Print.

Hartnett, Kevin. "The Liberty Bell." American History 45.5 (2010): 70. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. 

Independence Hall Association. "The Liberty Bell." Independence Hall Association. Web. 26 Oct. 2010.

<http://www.ushistory.org/libertybell>

"Liberty Bell". Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 26 Oct. 2010.

 

 

 

 

      

Primary Source: The Boston Massacre

    On the night of March 15, 1770, a group of Boston colonists were readily armed with snowballs and threw them at British soldiers. What appeared to be a minor altercation ended with death of five colonists, but more importantly leaving a permanent mark on the road towards the American Revolution. A time of liberation was soon to come for colonies, freedom came as one stepping stone at a time.

    The Boston Massacre is one of the most early riots recognized in early United States' history. Prior to the event, the British had just defeated the Indians in the Seven year's War and debts from the war began to pile up. What was a victory, now sent Great Britain into a great worry on ways to pay for the war. Eric Foner, of Give Me Liberty states, "To fight the Seven year's War, Britain had borrowed from banks and individual investors over £150 million (the equivalent of tens of trillions of dollars in today's money)", there was definitely a lot at stake for the British empire as far as its strength and prosperity. This debt lead to the Townshed Acts, which were passed by Parliament in order to raise revenue through the colonies in America. However, these unfair taxes targeted only in America, only lead to the turmoil between colonies and Great Britain. 

"The emerging rift between Britain and America eventually superimposed its on conflicts within the colonies". Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty

     As continuous animosity steadily grew stronger, colonists' boycotts and rebellions against the British were their way of being heard. This is ultimately what led to the Boston Massacre. Now today, not only is the name widely recognized, but so is the picture depicted of the massacre.The engraving of the picture was done by Paul Revere, which was created in less than a month after the massacre happened. Although the picture depicts the British army standing in a straight line, while blatantly firing at what appears to be innocent helpless colonists, further research of the actual event turns out to be the complete opposite. Further research found online states, "Notice how the British Grenadiers are shown standing in a straight line shooting their rifles in a regular volley, whereas when the disturbance actually erupted both sides were belligerent and riotous.

Notice also that Revere's engraving shows a blue sky. Only a wisp of a moon suggests that the riot occurred after nine o'clock on a cold winter night. Notice too the absence of snow and ice on the street, while Crispus Attucks— a black man lying on the ground closest to the British soldiers — is shown to be white."

    Even with the success of a single picture pertaining to the portrayal of the Boston Massacre, the question of why it was depicted in such a way instead of holding true to what actually happened was more than just a simple answer.  

"...deliberately transforming what was in fact a chaotic free-for-all into a means of inflaming public opinion against British tyranny." Casper Scott, The Boston Massacre

   The picture was purposely made this way because Paul Revere had wanted it to make turn colonists against British soldiers in order to break away from the crown's ruling. After the release and circulation of the engraving, colonists without a doubt had been influenced by the picture's powerful message of the the British rule asserting their power over the colonies. A further analysis of the photo states,"Revere had accomplished his goal of widely circulating an effective piece of anti-British propaganda." This helped keep the hopes of many intact of one day being able to self-govern apart from the British rule and become a separate entity from Great Britain. With stirred up feelings of anger and frustration, the animosity had only become stronger after the picture was developed.

   Although the confrontation was and equal amount of fault on both parties, it only took an engraved, over-exaggerated picture to have colonists choose a side. Events leading up to the Boston Massacre, particularly the Townsend Acts that were put in motion by Parliament to make money off of the colonies to pay for debts, only lead to more uprisings after the "massacre". This was just the beginning to a road of freedom and uniting the colonies to become one. Liberation and freedom was a far cry, but they were beginning realize that injustice was being served to them and there needed to be change.

 Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History. New York: Norton & Company Inc., 2009. Print.

 "Archiving Early America". Boston Massacre. Early America Online, 2010. Web. 23 Sept. 2010.<http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/winter96/massacre.html>

 Casper, Scott. "The Boston Massacre". American History August 2008. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Sept. 2010.

"Boston Massacre". Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 23 Sept. 2010.