How did print media influence the Revolutionary War?

Pamphlets and newspaper articles had an enormous influence on the American Revolution. Colonists were better informed on the activities of Parliament than the English were. Many of the patriots wrote under pseudonyms in the years leading to the Revolution. John Dickinson wrote his "Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer." When many of the common people were hesitant to support Independence from Great Britain, Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" not only persuaded them but became a sensation.

The tradition continued after the Revolution. The Constitution was debated in the same manner in what is now known as the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers.

a more rapid spread of new ideas over a larger geographic area, due to increased literacy.