Revolution and Revolt
Introduction
Thomas Jefferson once said "Let them take arms … What signifies a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots [and] tyrants. It is its natural manure." Jefferson, a member of the political establishment, firmly believed in regular, radical change in government. He wrote the above lines (quoted in Nathan Schachner's book Thomas Jefferson, A Biography) in 1787 in response to Shay's Rebellion, a small revolt that had occurred in Massachusetts the year before. The same year he wrote in another letter (quoted in Schachner), "I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, [and] as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical…. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."
Revolution has long been a way of changing society by forcing governments to change policy, by resisting the rule of foreign powers, or by wholly overthrowing and replacing governments. And revolts are almost always accompanied by literature. Literature can inspire revolution. The written word can be the spark that starts a revolutionary fire. Literature has always emerged from dissent and thrived on conflict, and both war and revolution have forever been cauldrons for the creation of literature.
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