Abstract

American drama was not totally American until the second half of the 18th century. Europeans and other ethnic and racial groups presented plays in their various languages, and the main motif of the plays was religion. After the Declaration of Independencein 1776, drama started to flourish in Americaunder the European (especially British) influence in style, and American myth and manners in subject matter. Yet, in the plays, such as John Leacock’s The Fall of British Tyranny and John Burk’s The Battle of Banker’s Hill, performed before 1830, a new American character and American subjects began to appear. Early American dramatists in this respect have a significant role in the creation of American identity. The development of American drama beginning with the playwrights such as Royall Taylor and William Dunlap continues in the late 19th century with the playwrights who try to demonstrate the existence of American identity. The aim of this study is to analyze The Patriots (1777) by Colonel Robert Munford and The Contrast (1787) by Royall Taylor in order to explain the emergence of American identity in the plays of early American drama.