Musical Offerings ⦁ 2025 ⦁ Volume 16 ⦁ Number 1 27 Musical Offerings 16, no. 1 (2025): 27–44 ISSN 2330-8206 (print); ISSN 2167-3799 (online) © 2025, Allison Renner, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) The Unifying, Comforting, and Organizational Power of Music in the American and French Revolutions Allison Renner Cedarville University hen hearing “Yankee Doodle” or the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise,” one might find them familiar, but most do not understand the impact tunes such as these had on the American and French Revolutions. Music has the power to unify a group of people, comfort those who are hurting, organize a military, and even express one’s beliefs. All these actions were evident within both the American and French Revolutions. Music was influential from the organization of drum calls in the Continental Army all the way to the French singing “Ça ira” on the streets of Paris. Music played an important role in both the military and the lives of the civilians in the American and French Revolutions. The first thoughts of revolution in America began in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years’ War, known in America as the French and Indian War. This war was fought between Britain and France who both wanted possession of Canada. Even though Britain won the War, they obtained a considerable amount of debt. To pay off all the debt, King George III decided to tax the Americans. The American Colonists refused to pay the tax believing it to be unfair because they did not have any “representatives in Parliament. They called it illegal ‘taxation without representation.’”1 This complaint was just one of the twenty-seven grievances eventually 1 Murray, 6. W
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