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Context for This Communication Technology Era
Printing presses were common in the colonies, but controlled by the British colonial authorities and used for publishing laws, certain religious works, and other jobs for the government. "Printed goods were scarce and expensive commodities, almost always intended to serve the needs of magistrates, merchants, and the learned professions, as well as pleasures of the gentry" (Chandler, 2000, p. 40). -
Publick Occurrences, Both Forreign and Domestick, the first newspaper published in America
Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick, the first newspaper published in America, was printed by Richard Pierce and edited by Benjamin Harris in Boston. It filled only 3 of 4 pages but contained "real news." The journalist stated in his first (and only) issue that he would issue the newspaper "once a month, or, if any Glut of Occurrences happen, oftener."
Source: http://www.historybuff.com/library/reffirstten.html -
Outraged authorities shut down Publick Occurrences
Publick Occurrences was brought to an end after only one issue by outraged British colonial authorities claiming that it contained "reflections of a very high order." It was printed without authority. An aroused bureaucracy issued a broadside warning against future publications of any kind without "licence [sic] first obtained from those appointed by the Government to grant the same." Source: HistoryBuff.com -
Expiration of the Licensing Act; Free Speech and Religious Toleration
This put an end to British censorship of the press in colonial America. "After generations of deadly conflict, Britain's acceptance of religious toleration and parliamentary competition gave free speech a vitality and prominence in everyday affairs (Chandler, 2000, p.43).Although Britain was no longer censoring the press, the press was nascent in content and limited in geographical distribution. -
Second newspaper: Boston News-Letter
Newspapers, whose continuous publication began in Boston in 1704, would continue to require government approval until 1720 (Chandler and Cortada, 2000, p. 40). Primary readership were members of the merchant class who could afford it and depended on commercial news it contained. Here is The Boston News-Letter, the first issue was dated Monday, April 17 to Monday April 24, 1704.
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Boston News-Letter Publishes Account of Blackbeard's Death
In early years the News-Letter was filled mostly with news from London journals detailing the intrigues of English politics, and a variety of events concerning the European wars. The rest was filled with items listing ship arrivals, deaths, sermons, political appointments, fires, accidents and the like.One of the most sensational stories published was the account of how Blackbeard the pirate was killed in hand-to-hand combat on the deck of a sloop that had engaged his ship in battle. Source -
Boston Gazette makes first appearance
Boston Gazette made its first appearance on December 21, 1719, under the direction of William Brooker, Postmaster. A rival of the Boston News-Letter, edited by then-Postmaster John Campbell, Brooker's Gazette was printed by James Franklin.
Source: http://www.historybuff.com/library/reffirstten.html -
James Franklin launches The New England Courant, the fourth newspaper in America
James Franklin, printer of the Gazette, was replaced and wanted to start his own newspaper despite friends and family telling him that Boston already had enough newspapers (2) and a third could not survive. Franklin went and published his own newspaper, the New England Courant. When Franklin published an editorial criticizing the government, he was jailed and his 13-year-old brother and apprentice,Ben Franklin took over the work of laying type, printing, delivery and later editor and publisher. -
Benjamin Franklin's Journalist Style Sets Precedence for Today
Journalist Walter Isaacson believes that Franklin's success with the Pennsylvania Gazette can be attributed in great part to Franklin's desire to examine more than one side of an issue and to publish different points of view. Isaacson states, "Franklin is one of the first American publishers to understand that freedom of the press and tolerance are part of what it is to be a newspaper editor, and what it is to be a printer. And part of the genius of America is that we're open in our discourse." -
Benjamin Franklin launches The Pennsylvania Gazette
Benjamin Franklin and Hugh Meredith bought and renamed this newspaper. Franklin printed the paper but also often contributed pieces under aliases. His newspaper soon became the most successful in the colonies. It was the first paper in America to print a political cartoon ("Join or Die"). Primarily a publication for classified ads, merchants and individuals listed notices of employment, lost and found goods and items for sale. (photo courtesy of Mitchell Archives) -
Content of Zenger's New York Weekly Journal: Cato's essays
Cato was the pseudonym of Zenger's authors, who penned anti-establishment sentiment and other political treatises in letters to the New York Weekly Journal. Cato's letters were essays written by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. Their writings, widely distributed throughout the American colonies, contributed greatly to the spread in America of the concept of political liberty. Source: EarlyAmerica.com -
Peter Zenger's New York Weekly Journal Openly Criticizes Colonial Governor
John Peter Zenger, in his New York Weekly Journal, openly criticizes newly appointed colonial governor William Cosby for his politics. Cosby, upon his arrival, plunged into a
rancorous quarrel with the Council of the colony over his salary. Unable to control the state's Supreme Court he removed Chief Justice Lewis Morris, replacing him with James Delancey of the royal party.The Weekly New York Journal continue to criticize Cosby's acts in print. -
Zenger emprisonsed for "seditious libel"
Cosby issued a proclamation condemning the newspaper's "divers scandalous, virulent, false and seditious reflections." and Zenger was arrested and charged with "seditious libel." He spent 8 months in prison. Zenger went to trial defended by illustrious Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton. The case was now a cause celebre with public interest at fever-pitch. Rebuffed repeatedly by Chief Justice Delancey during the trial, Hamilton decided to plead Zenger's case directly to the jury. -
Repercussions of Zenger Trial: Freedom of the Press
In successfully defending Zenger in this landmark case, Andrew Hamilton established the precedent that a statement, even if defamatory, is not libelous if it can be proved, that the truth is an absolute defense against libel. This thus affirmed freedom of the press in America. -
First political cartoon in America: "Join or Die" by Benjamin Franklin
"Join, or Die," the first-ever published political cartoon by a British colonist in America, was created by Benjamin Franklin and first published in his Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754. The cartoon appeared with Franklin's editorial about the "disunited state" of the colonies, and helped make his point about the importance of colonial unity. The cartoon became a symbol of colonial freedom during the American Revolutionary War. -
Literacy Rate Exceeds 75%
Colonial literacy after 1760 exceeded 75%, with New England literacy estimated at 90% (Chandler,2000, p43-4). "The single potentially revolutionary element of the colonial information infrastructure was the widespread, institutionalized Protestant belief in the importance of literacy for individual piety, conversion, and salvation...This broad-based literacy supplied a human and social infrastructure of people who were technologically and psychologically prepared to move beyond the status quo." -
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Revolutionary Period: Intensified Public Opinion Making by Newspapers, Pamphlets, etc.
The mobilization of public opinion began in earnest in the late1760s through newspapers and pamphlets and then after 1772 with the formation of "committees of correspondence." A total of about 7000 to 8000 Patriots served on these committees, which became the leaders of the American resistance.The resulting democratization of information moved both the transmitters and receivers of information beyond the elite (Chandler, 2000, p. 6) -
Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer
Growing dissent about taxation without representation was the theme of a series of newspaper articles by noted attorney and gentleman farmer John Dickenson. The letters, published in 20 newspapers and reprinted seven times in pamphlets, urged united action by colonists and were most popular political treatise ever published in the colonies and possibly the English-speaking world (Chandler, 2000, p.44) -
Battles of Lexington & Concord: WAR!
In the "shot heard round the world," the American Revolutionary War breaks out. The first shot was fired during an armed standoff between British forces and local militia in Lexington, escalating into engagements at the Old North Bridge in the battles of Lexington and Concord.Source: -
Common Sense: "These are the times that try men's souls..."
"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value..." -
Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, Ignited Revolution
Thomas Paine's Common Sense, an eloquent and passionate call to throw off British rule and create a new American nation, was published. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America; it was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain. By the end of 1776, more than 100,000 copies had been sold in a nation of just 500,000 households (Chandler, 2000, p.6). Source
