Editing Francis Hopkinson (section)

==Cultural contributions==

Hopkinson wrote popular airs and political satires (''jeux d'esprit'') in the form of poems and pamphlets. Some were widely circulated and powerfully assisted in arousing and fostering the spirit of political independence that issued in the [[American Revolution]]. His principal writings are ''A Pretty Story . . .'' (1774), a satire about [[George III|King George]]; ''The Prophecy'' (1776); and ''The Political Catechism'' (1777).<ref name="Moulton">{{cite book|title=The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors: 1785–1824|editor=Charles Wells Moulton|editor-link=Charles Wells Moulton|publisher=The Moulton Publishing Company|location=Buffalo, NY|year=1902|pages=[https://archive.org/details/libraryliterary00unkngoog/page/n138 131]|url=https://archive.org/details/libraryliterary00unkngoog}}</ref> Other notable essays are "Typographical Method of conducting a Quarrel", "Essay on White Washing", and "Modern Learning".

Hopkinson began to play the [[harpsichord]] at age seventeen and, during the 1750s, hand-copied arias, songs, and instrumental pieces by many European composers. He is credited as being the first American-born composer to commit a composition to paper with his 1759 composition "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free". By the 1760s, was playing with professional musicians in concerts.

Some of his more notable songs include "The Treaty", "[[The Battle of the Kegs]]", and "The New Roof, a song for Federal Mechanics". He also played organ at Philadelphia's [[Christ Church, Philadelphia|Christ Church]] and composed or edited a number of hymns and psalms including: "A Collection of Psalm Tunes with a few Anthems and Hymns Some of them Entirely New, for the Use of the United Churches of Christ Church and St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia" (1763), "A psalm of thanksgiving, Adapted to the Solemnity of Easter: To be performed on Sunday, the 30th of March, 1766, at Christ Church, Philadelphia" (1766), and "The Psalms of David, with the Ten Commandments, Creed, Lord's Prayer, &c. in Metre" (1767). In the 1780s, Hopkinson modified a [[glass harmonica]] to be played with a keyboard and invented the '''Bellarmonic''', an instrument that utilized the tones of metal balls.<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200035713/default.html Francis Hopkinson biography at the Library of Congress Performing Arts Digital Library]; accessed September 30, 2015.</ref>

At his alma mater, University of Pennsylvania, one of the buildings in the Fisher-Hassenfeld College House is named after him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://fh.house.upenn.edu/hopkinson|title=Hopkinson {{!}} Fisher College House|website=fh.house.upenn.edu|access-date=June 2, 2016}}</ref>