Chapter 1

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Chapter 1- Sowing The Seeds Of A Revolution 

     The year is 1776 and as Rodger Streitmatter puts it "A Band Of Political Rebels Turned The World upside down." The American colonists were up in arms and ready for war. What they needed was some sort of propaganda material that could help further the movement. In comes Thomas Paine who wrote Common Sense which would help to set of the events that have changed history. Chapter one helps to explain Common Sense a little better. Rodger Streitmatter says "Common Sense argued that those men and women not only deserved, but were obligated as citizens of the human race, to demand more." Of course in this instance he is arguing about citizens rights something that you still see going on today in 2011 with various different movements that have recently been put into action by citizens. The movements that I am talking about today is Occupy Wall Street which is being set into place all around the globe. While a revolution is not occurring there are some certain similarities that are taking place which makes it easier to talk about when describing chapter one "Sowing the seeds of a revolution by Rodger Streitmatter. 

           

               Common Sense By Thomas Paine

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       Chapter one helped to show you how journalism is a catalyst for starting a war and before I started taking this journalism class I don't think I really comprehended of how much journalism did help us in getting our independence. When Thomas Paine published "Common Sense" it really helped to give the colonists  a source of inspiration in a way. A good comparison with this and Occupy Wall Street which is going on now is that people may not have had a way to express themselves. They could have had an idea or how to start the revolution or what they needed to get out but didn't know how to. When Common Sense was published people immediately saw it as a call for action on why thing needed to be changed. When looking at Occupy Wall Street people may have had ideas the needed to express but didn't know how to. Once these movements started they could join them and voice their opinion in a much better way. It is interesting to look at connections over time because like the say history repeats itself which we are seeing in different wars or movements.  

Short Picture To Help Illustrate the Movements Taking Place Today
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     When thinking of what the American Revolution really accomplished you have to step back and look at history from an overall standpoint. The colonists didn't play by the old rules in war. They did everything they could to win. They would kill generals in battle. In high school we learned about how they would hide in trees and fight unconventionally to win battles. I guess when you forward to the present this is a common sight but back then battles were mostly fought conventionally. The weapons being fought in the war heavily favored the British troops but in the end that didn't matter. The British troops had fought in many wars and had won nearly every battle they fought so for them to lose the war is unheard of. Journalism did help to propel ideas to the American colonists, which you could then say helped to win the war. Journalism can really make a huge difference and that's why some people are very upset with how things are being handled that are going on today.

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        The last thing that I will be talking about in chapter one is the Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre is used in the book as another huge event that helped to propel the American Revolution. The Boston Massacre took place after colonists gathered the streets protesting. The story is told that somebody threw snowballs or objects at the British officers which caused them to fire back and the unarmed colonists and the first person killed was Crispus Attucks. Attucks will forever live as one of the martyr's for the American Revolution. This like many other events contributed to the revolution which makes sense considering chapter one of "Mightier than the Sword" By Rodger Streitmatter is called Sowing The Seeds of a Revolution. I think the biggest thing that you should take out of chapter one, is how much journalism helps to spread different causes. Whether it be today with Occupy Wall Street or in the past with Common Sense if given the opportunity journalism will help to shape your future.

Portrait of Crispus Attucks
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