Public Relations Tactics during the American Revolution

• Anniversaries used as news pegs for publicity
• Letters to opinion leaders from the Committees of Correspondence
• Town and county meetings
• Petitions in colonial and later in state legislatures
• Leaks to the press
• Use of all existing communication tools in what today would be called a multi-media campaign
• Serial publications, such as the 85 Federalist Papers (right)
• Booklets and pamphlets, such as Common Sense by Thomas Paine (right) that presented the argument for independence; more than 1,500 pamphlets were published in the 20 years of the independence movement
• Ghost writing, and a steady flow of articles; Samuel Adams wrote inflammatory articles under 25 different aliases; James Madison wrote 29 essays under the pseudonym "Publius"
• Newspaper essays written to stir the passions of readers
• Speeches and sermons; most of the clergymen preached, many incessantly, against the British and in favor of independence
• Personal correspondence
• Word of mouth planted by personal visits to taverns
• Meetings
• Parades
• Posting of notices

There was some pro-loyalist propaganda, such as Jonathan Sewall who wrote pamphlets against the move toward independence, and John Mein and John Fleming who used publicity and propaganda to campaign against the Non-Importation Agreements. But alas, their side lost, and they ended up exiled from the newly independent United States of America (and exiled from American history as well).

Consider the following points:

1. Despite the political rhetoric, the colonists were not an oppressed people. Because of distance from Mother England, they were already autonomous in most practical day-to-day matters.
2. Most of the colonists were not in favor of separation from England. In fact, many families and even entire communities moved through New York and across the Niagara River into Canada in order to remain part of Britain and avoid continued association with the American rebels. About 100,000 colonists fled to Canada or to England, the Bahamas and other British territories.
3. The colonies were not united. Indeed, there were serious and deep divisions among them. For example, the Boston Massacre was not reported in New York because of inter-colony rivalry.
4. The colonial experiment had not been about freedom and equality for everyone, and the American Revolution did not seek to change that. After all, slavery had been introduced by the very people who founded the colonies; Revolutionary leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington owned slaves. Most colonies excluded Jews and Catholics, either by law or by consensus. Voting and other legal privileges were denied to everyone except white male Protestant landowners.

Conclusion: Public opinion is stronger than legal right or military might

Class Activity: Identify and discuss contemporary parallels to some of these examples of the political and military significance of public relations