The Origins of a Free Press in Prerevolutionary ... - Web Publishing

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specifically from the former president to Thomas. This research shows that both of
these assertions are apparently erroneous and attempts to reach a better
understanding of why these claims were originally made, how they were constantly
repeated, and the larger significance of the motivations behind and relevance of
such change.
Print competition came later to Virginia than it did to the northern and
mid-Atlantic colonies. This chapter explores the impact of the transformation that
occurred when a second printer arrived in the colony and ended the existing
monopoly on locally printed news. Print competition in Virginia altered the
relationship between the printer, the government, and the readers. Furthermore,
this research finds as the role of print expanded and evolved, that medium had
substantial long-term influence on civic discourse, culture, and the radicalization of
politics. Both of the two printers responded to market pressure and the realities of
new competition. They each became less an official mouthpiece and more a voice
of dissent, enabling the transition from a deferential society to one that allowed for
open questioning of the government. The importance of an open and critical press
became more evident to residents and the practice of civic discourse became visible
in the public prints. This chapter attempts to bring us a better understanding of
these changes and how they influenced the press in this important colony on the
verge of Revolution.
A Government Press
From the very beginning, the government in colonial Virginia tightly
controlled the press and there was no real freedom of expression. From Governor
William Berkeley’s warning to his superiors about a troublesome press in 1671; to
Governor Thomas Culpeper’s expulsion of a printing press for being unlicensed in
1682; to the eventual welcoming by the Royal Government of a press in 1730,