“The Patriot” is a movie that Roland Emmerich directed, based on the American Revolution. This film follows Benjamin Martin, who is from South Carolina and lives on a plantation with his family of seven children. Benjamin is a known anti-revolutionist but is later turned into a patriot, due to the loss of his son. He became known for burning bridges and ambushing British supply caravans. He later became renowned for his tactical fighting strategy. General Cornwallis becomes outraged by Martin’s actions and allows Tavington to fight unrestricted, causing him to commit heinous attacks with no accountability. Tavington’s brutality draws out Martin, leading him to become careless. Martin struggles with his desire to keep fighting for the American Revolution. Tavington then kills Gabriel …show more content…
In the end, Martin avenged his son's death while weakening the British. This led to the American Patriots having an upper hand while fighting for independence. The main connection between “The Patriot” and the class is the reading “Speech of Tecumseh to Governor Harrison”. Within this reading we can understand “... you have killed some of the Shawnees, Winnebagoes, Delawares, and Miamis, and you have taken our land from us.” “The Patriot” relates to the want of doing something but doing it wrong. Within “The Patriot” we can sense that Tavington wants to recreate Martin’s battle strategy, much like Tecumseh says to Gov. Harrison, showing that the two are related in more ways than one. The killings on the lands correlate to the killing of Gabriel, creating a sense of hatred between the two parties. We can relate them to betrayal and the need for satisfaction to get what they want. Within this film, we can see that it is about the American Revolution, although not historically accurate to what happened. “The Patriot” is wrong about many things, but the first one being the character
These divisive effects of the pre-Revolutionary War time period first become evident when Daniel West witnesses certain events go by and starts to question his own loyalty to the British King. Daniel is a young, fourteen year-old, colonist with a father who happens to be a doctor, a sister and a brother, and best friend, Beckett Foote. He has to deal with many worrying events and the conflict between the Tories and the Whigs. They were two groups that caused Salem and its people to split under the escalating violence. The Whigs stood for the American side, however, the Tories were the patriots loyal to the King. Though Daniel and his family were loyal Tories, but he did not take part in any events that occurred where violence was involved. At that time, 1774, Salem was home to a sickness and it caused additional unrest with the current situation between the two groups. It was only a year before the great Revolutionary War would begin. Daniel watches as events that lead to the war take place and starts to question his place with the loyalists. The mischief of The Liberty Boys harassing Tories, adults avoiding their neighbors, the danger of fire in a town, the tricks that Sam Adams plays to work around the British governor and the redcoats, and more force Daniel to make his decisions. The Liberty Boys are a young, rowdy group of trouble makers. Throughout the story, a message is conveyed, simply a touch of danger can change one’s life. Salem was in a time of turmoil; the conflicting groups made it worse.
The American Revolution started in the year 1765, when the Colonists rejected the Parliament of Great Britain to tax them without representation and ended in 1783 with the peace treaty with Britain; Treaty of Paris. But a lot of major events occurred in the colonies before the American Revolution could be over and these events would result in series of social, political, and intellectual transformation in American history. In his book, The Minutemen and Their World, Robert Gross’s describes the lives of people in Concord, Massachusetts before, during and, after the American Revolution, where much of these events took place and changed the way of life people lived in Concord. He goes through a very brief detailed aspects of colonial life in
Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers to the United States, was not a patriot but a mere loyalist to England before the dissolution between England and the colonies occurred. Sheila L. Skemp's The Making of a Patriot explores how Benjamin Franklin tried to stay loyal to the crown while taking interest in the colonies perception and their own representation in Parliament. While Ms. Skemp alludes to Franklin's loyalty, her main illustration is how the attack by Alexander Wedderburn during the Privy Council led to Franklin's disillusionment with the British crown and the greater interest in making the Thirteen Colonies their own nation. Her analysis of Franklin's history in Parliament and what occurred on the night that the council convened proves the change behind Franklin's beliefs and what lead to his involvement in the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution.
Lucia Raatma’s “The Battles of Lexington and Concord” is important because it describes why the battles were fought and their effects. The American Revolution as a whole was fought to “give colonies freedom from British rule” (Raatma 4) due to unfair taxation from King III of England (Raatma 8). This shows that the driving force of the revolution was the dissatisfaction of the colonists concerning the treatment they received from the king. As a result, the colonists had had enough of the unfairness and tyranny and decided to take matters into their own hands. Several acts of protests, such as the Boston Tea Party, made the British king “furious” (Raatma 10). As a response to these protests, the king sent more soldiers and made stricter laws, which only made colonists even more upset. The back and forth tension between the colonists and the British government was the reason why the Battle of Lexington and Concord occurred, and in turn, why the American Revolution began. The American Revolution caught attention from the entire world, giving the nickname to the first shot fired the “shot heard ‘round the world” (Raatma 5). The 13 colonies who were weak economically and militarily, were taking on Great Britain, a world power with a strong military, a situation which naturally other countries wanted to see. The firing of the first shot at Lexington marked the beginning of a revolution that other countries, such as France and Haiti, would soon attempt to mimic. There were several factors that contributed to the beginning of the revolution, which are significant around the world.
He reviewed American Insurgents, American Patriots. In his review, Dierks saw the emotion of rage as the theme throughout the book (scholarworks.iu.edu). In the second paragraph of the review, he states, “only rage can explain the inexorable march toward war,” following this he makes a reference to another scholarly piece by T.H. Breen, The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence (2004). In that book, Dr. Breen explains the joining of the American Colonies because of the boycotts against England. Dierks sees American Insurgents, American Patriots as a follow up to Breen’s 2004 novel which, instead of focusing on the unification of the colonies, focuses on the unification of the people to rise up and fight The British Crown (scholarworks.iu.edu). Dierks does not mention how the idea of the colonies coming together because of the economic factor and the boycotts against England were discussed throughout American Insurgents, American Patriots and makes it appear as if the book solely focuses on the rage and violence of the colonists. He does point out that most scholars credit The Founding Fathers and their “genius” for the cause and success of The American Revolution (scholarworks.iu.edu). He agrees that this book gives credit for the revolution to the rural colonists and the average people, stating that their violence was more effective than political savvy of the colonial elite. He ends his review with saying Breen’s final thoughts are optimistic and pleasant saying the revolution was a “political triumph—independence first declared by force of words and then defended by force of arms”
During this entire period the British were starting to make attempts to intimidate the colonists in hopes to end the rebellions. It seemed that the more and more England tried to scare the people, the angrier they got. The tactics obviously didn't work, but instead pushed the colonists even further into standing up against Britain. The British soldiers in America were told not to entice violence, and especially not to kill anybody.
As far the Patriots are concerned, they were most citizens who wanted the revolution and freedom from the British. The Patriots were sick and tired of the British rule and their unfair treatment towards them. The Patriots
The American Revolution was a lot like the French revolution. The revolutionaries from America were fighting for freedom against their reigning Monarchs from Britain. The Americans (Like the French Revolutionaries and Enlightened Thinkers) were fighting for freedom against their oppressors, and like the French they didn’t use very good reason or tolerance in their fight. The French burned down an expensive building to fight wasteful spending, and the Americans poured tea into the harbor because tea was becoming too expensive. Like the french, Americans had no tolerance for people who might be
From elementary to high school, the American Revolutionary War, is a topic that is repeated in the classroom, but to my surprise there were a lot of details that I was never taught. John Shy explored the many different angles of the Revolution in his essay, “The American Revolution: The Military Conflict Considered as a Revolutionary War.” He provides analysis on the American Revolutionary War and breaks it down into three categories, military, social, political, as well as where they overlap. This essay caught my attention because of Shy’s explanation on the Revolution and its effects. He tried to explain questions that have been around for many years such as how did one of the greatest military powers in the world could have been defeated
The Revolutionary war, sparked by the colonist’s anger towards taxation without representation, was a conflict between the United States and its mother country Great Britain. This event had been considered the most significant event in the American history. It separated the thirteen colonies from the tyrannical ruling of King George. The revolutionary war was not a big war, “The military conflict was, by the standards of later wars, a relatively modest one. Battle deaths on the American side totaled fewer than 5,000”1. However, the war proved that the thirteen colonies were capable of defeating the powerful Great Britain. Over the years there were many Hollywood films made based on the revolutionary war, 1776, Revolution, Johnny Tremain, and The Patriot. But, no movie has stirred up as much controversy as the Mel Gibbson movie The Patriot. The patriot is very entertaining but it is historically inaccurate. Too much Hollywood “spices” was added to the movie for viewing pleasures.
...n, was in sight and dividing themselves into a battlefield formation as they came upon Lexington Green. What happened next is still debated. A shot was fired, and neither side would claim responsibility for this first act of war. But when it was over, two massive British volleys had been fired, answered by only one, weak volley of American musket fire and eight militiamen were dead and ten wounded, including Captain Parker. But this was only the start of the Revolutionary War. In the years to come, many Americans and British soldiers would die in their battle to stand up for a country and a future that they believed in. As for Paul Revere, his role in calling the patriots, the minutemen, the militia of the countryside together and up in arms will remain as imperative to the study of American history as any battle or shot that took place in the Revolution of America.
“The shot heard around the world” (Gross 126), is the event that begins the American Revolution in Concord. Tension between England and the Colonies were mounting, due to taxes imposed by England. Although there was already strains within the colonies because of lack of land and resources. The implementation of taxes from England was the final issue that drove colonist to revolt against England. While some scholars of history only focus on the literal facts of history, other scholars such as, Robert A. Gross, who wrote The Minutemen and Their World focus on the sociology. Gross reconstructs the history of the revolution through the lives of the residents of Concord and the surrounding areas. He does a great job at showing the stress of life
They were the people who actively participated and sacrificed their lives. Therefore the side they chose to fight on was heavily influenced by their “local interests, grudges, and unfulfilled yearnings [Page 87].”In summary, poor farmers, wanted political rights and land. For slaves they yearned for freedom. Women wanted to have the same rights as men. Native Americans wanted the colonists to stop encroaching on their land. Many of these desires coincided while other clashed. Therein lay the chaos that drove the American Revolution. While many of the people did not succeed the ideas they fought for became deeply embedded into
The American Revolution was sparked by a myriad of causes. These causes in themselves could not have sparked such a massive rebellion in the nation, but as the problems of the colonies cumulated, their collective impact spilt over and the American Revolution ensued. Many say that this war could have been easily avoided and was poorly handled by both sides, British and American; but as one will see, the frame of thought of the colonists was poorly suited to accept British measures which sought to “overstep” it’s power in the Americas. Because of this mindset, colonists developed a deep resentment of British rule and policies; and as events culminated, there was no means to avoid revolution and no way to turn back.
In contrast, the Americans were largely farmers and constantly desired to acquire more land. They didn’t understand why they couldn’t use and move onto the land if it was used by people less superior to themselves. Americans didn’t think of the American Revolution as a civil war, but as a war to gain freedom. All the classes in America were united against the British except the loyalists. This was mainly because they were all fighting for the same cause: freedom, equality, and no taxation without representation.