Campaign songs as a factor in American politics
type: CreativeWork
description: In the days when the United States of America was struggling to establish itself as a nation, the prevailing type of popular song was naturally patriotic. Walt Whitman in his article “Slang in America” observes that folk songs, like language, are not an abstract construction of the learned, bu something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generations of humanity, and has their bases broad and low, close to the ground; because the final decisions of folk songs, like those of language, are made by the masses, people nearest the concrete, having most to do with actual land and sea.
abstract: In the days when the United States of America was struggling to establish itself as a nation, the prevailing type of popular song was naturally patriotic. Walt Whitman in his article “Slang in America” observes that folk songs, like language, are not an abstract construction of the learned, bu something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generations of humanity, and has their bases broad and low, close to the ground; because the final decisions of folk songs, like those of language, are made by the masses, people nearest the concrete, having most to do with actual land and sea.
author: Anthony, A. Eugene
keywords: Political ballads and songs United States, Campaign songs, History, Political History, Social History, United States History
license: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/
date published: 1951-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:37:06Z
provider: University of the Pacific
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of the Pacific