Journalism is writing, editing, and publishing of newspapers and other periodicals. Journalism in America arrived with the Puritans. It thrived during the enlightenment and greatly contributed to the Revolution. Newspapers have faced many challenges, but they have persevered and grown into a powerful institution.
The first newspaper appeared in Boston on September 25, 1690. It was written by a man named Thomas Harris. It consisted of the news of the time; smallpox, self-destruction, torture, and bloodshed. It was titled Public Occurrences, There was only one edition of this paper because the Governor of Massacheutes found “the ‘pages’ of the ‘paper’ certain reflections of a very high nature printed without the required official license” (Weisberger 1).
This put an end to journalism for a period of 14 years until John Cambell had the Boston Newsletter published in April of 1704. His paper was safer, less gruesome, and was printed “by authority” (Weisberger 3). In order to help Cambell, Samuel Sewall sent a copy to the President of Harvard. Since this newsletter helped to co-ordinate colonial activity, the Postal Department helped to fund it. It had approximately two to three hundred subscribers and continued for fifteen years without competition (Weisberger 3).
In 1719 William Booker got John Franklin to publish the Boston Gazette. In 1721 Booker was relieved of his duties as Postmaster and turned his paper over to Philip Musgrave. Musgrave in turn relieved Franklin of his printing duties and gave them to someone else.
Franklin was not to happy about this, so he wrote and published his own paper called the New-England Courant. It was different from the Gazette and offered literary humor. Franklin brought a new element to journalism. He gave us community disputes published in his paper (Weisberger 6). Some of his writings were disrespectful of civil and secular authorities. After spending time in jail, he was publicly forbid from publishing anything again (Weisberger 13).
Another paper arising at the same time as Bookers was American Weekly Mercury by Andrew Bradford. He was punished for publishing Ben Franklins, “Busy Body,” which described the morals and virtues of the Romans and more than hinted that the rulers of Pennsylvania should learn from them ( Weisberger 13). Andrews’s father, William Bradford, had more success than his son. He arrived on the Mayflower and was shortly thereafter named governor of Plymouth. His duties involved: “chief judge and jury, superintended agriculture and trade and made allotments of land” (Franklin, W. 156). He wrote the history of Plymouth titled Of Plymouth Plantation (Franklin, W 157). He was a printer in Philadelphia from 1685 to 1693 and was appointed as the official printer to the governor’s council. His duties included giving printed circulations to royal and provincial decrees. This gave him the idea to publish the New York Gazette in 1725 (Weisberger 7).
During the age of Enlightenment peoples thirst for knowledge was vastly spreading. One major character in aiding the publishing this enlightened way of thinking was Benjamin Franklin. As a teenage boy in 1722 he published a series of articles signed as anonymous author signed “Silence Dogwood”. “[…] I had the exquisite Pleasure, of finding it met with their Approbation, of some Character among us for Learning and Ingenuity” (Franklin 549). During John Franklin’s term in jail, Benjamin took over his brother’s paper. “I had the Management of the paper and I made bold to give our Rulers some Rubs in it, which my brother took very kindly, while others began to consider me in an unfavorable Light, as a young Genius that had a Turn for Libeling the Satire (Franklin 550).
In 1728 Samuel Kilmer had the idea to publish the Pennsylvania Gazette and Universal Instructor in All the Arts and Sciences. He was very inexperienced in this field, so in 1729 Benjamin Franklin took it off his hands determined to make a profit, and he did (Weisberger 7). In 1733 he began selling Poor Richard’s Almanac. The almanac was the first of its kind and sold many copies. It was filled with cute self help quotes such as “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship” (Franklin 520).
Franklin also had a more serious tone in his writings and was an enlightened and a revolutionary thinker. He wrote Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One. This letter was a sarcastic way to outline the faults a government could have, and in many cases did have. Franklin not only wrote for the cause of revolution he played an active part in the planning of it. In 1775 he was a representative to the Second Continental Congress. He was also on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence (Franklin, W. 516). In 1777 he was named first postmaster general of the United States. (Weisberger 29), He died in 1990 as a man crucially responsible for the freedom of this nation (Franklin, W. 516).
Another man who wrote for the cause of the revolution was radical Thomas Paine. Him most infamous writing was Common Sense. It was pamphlet that gave reasons for the colonies to rebel against England. “We have boasted the protections of Great Britain without considering that her motive was interest not attachment; and that she did not protect us from our enemies on our account; but from her enemies on her own account” (Paine 708). It was less than six months after this pamphlet was published that the Continental Congress met and declared their independence from Britain. After the start of the Revolutionary war he wrote The American Crisis, as a sort of recruitment essay to get troops for the cause. “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 it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman” (Paine 712). Thomas Paine played a major role in inspiring the American Revolution and was instrumental in maintaining the morale of George Washington’s troops (Franklin, W. 705).
“The 18th Century was the time of growing maturity, complexity, sophistication-of more everything; more trade, more money, more migrants, more schools, more churches, more roads, more books”( Weisberger 3). This age could support a vast network of newspapers. The number of publications grew to 37 by April 1775, and the revolution dropped that number by only two by the time Cornwallis surrendered (Weisberger 31). Journalism has faces and overcome many obstacles as censorship or prosecution for speaking out against the government. Over time and with determination the newspaper has survived. “The general spirits of the people have spoken in favor of the unregulated newspaper. Yet while this gave the American newspaperman both freedom and opportunity, it offered no sure clue to how these opportunities should be used” (Weisberger 63). As journalism was born with our nation, it grows and changes with the times of our nation.
Works Cited
Franklin, Ben. Franklin 515-610.
Franklin, Wayne,et al.The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vol. A.
6th ed. Ed.Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2003
Paine, Thomas. Franklin 704-724
Weisberger, Bernard. The American Newspaperman. Chicago: Chicago UP 1961.
Heather copryright 2005
