The Boston Massacre was a pivotal event in the radicalization of American colonists that led to the Revolution. Barely three months after the ‘massacre’ took place, the American Company advertised a performance of Julius Caesar that evoked the republican discourse surrounding the event. Indeed, the play would appear to present a perfect opportunity to foster the rhetoric of republican revolutionary fervour, and in fact Julius Caesar and its adaptations were often cited by revolutionary leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Yet, after this initial performance, the play was not produced very often during the revolutionary period. This essay explores the ideological conflicts within the Patriot movement that led to the relative scarcity of these productions, despite the drama’s centrality to the rhetoric of the revolution.

Abstract: Cultivating custodians of democracy requires a deep understanding of the environmental and cultural forces that impel change, as well as the skills to respond to unexpected events in ways that promote inclusive participation. While civics, history, and social studies have traditionally been assigned the task of citizenship education, I will argue that if democracy is to flourish, the education of the new patriot will require the reconstruction of the STEM and expressive (aesthetic) curricula as well. The aim is to create a body of citizens who are committed to maintaining a democratic culture, who are open to change, and can reassess their individual and collective responses to it. Thus, Educating for Democracy holds that today democracy requires a new form of patriotism, one where loyalty and commitment are informed by disciplined inquiry and broad participation. The book shows how different subject areas can contribute to this aim.

As resistance to British legislation grows in the American colonies, song intensifies as a political force. Amidst continued white perplexity over the meanings of African music, Occramer Marycoo – also known as Newport Gardner – inaugurates Black American formal composition with his “Promise Anthem” of 1764, a resounding condemnation of slavery. Meanwhile, the Stamp Act, Tea Act, and other British “Intolerable Acts” produce more than riots and organizations like the Sons of Liberty: they produce a store of protest song fronted by the likes of John Dickinson, Benjamin Franklin, and the balladeers of the “Boston Massacre.” Loyalist songwriters fight their own losing battles through balladry, and the defeated British troops depart with the strains of “Yankee Doodle” ringing in their ears. The War of Independence may be over; but the songs of class war, women's rights, abolition, and Indigenous lament continue to infiltrate the soundscape of the newborn USA.

The last two chapters of the book focus on the growing recognition that public opinion was not necessarily a political problem, but could be cultivated and harnessed by governments themselves, sometimes for mutual benefit. During the forty years before the outbreak of revolution in France, a remarkable range of major publications pushed public debate and political controversy in several different directions. Historians no longer assume the Enlightenment was anything like a cohesive programme. That conclusion is confirmed by the huge diversity of new publications on a number of key issues including censorship itself, political representation, reform of the judiciary and of taxation, economic improvement, poor relief and many other issues affecting civic society. The American Revolution created greater political awareness in Europe and pitted both the French and the British governments against critics from within. Newspapers, pamphlets, detailed reform proposals and even publication of state-sponsored information ensured that the depth and analytical power of many new texts greatly enhanced the levels of public debate in parts of Europe.