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

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little afford to offend powerful individuals or groups with anything he printed. As a
small business, profits were first and foremost rather than political propaganda. As
a craftsman running a small business, colonial printers typically shunned controversy
to avoid alienating any possible source of income. 12
Few issues of the newspaper published by Hunter’s successor, Joseph Royle,
still exist, but those that remain are filled more with literary essays, news from
Europe, and debates over social practices than they are with local politics. For
example, a recently recovered rare issue from 1764 begins with a letter declaring
that oaths are sworn all too often without considering the responsibility of making
such a promise. Two essays take a large portion of column space; one describes a
conversation between a master and his dog, the other a farmer’s dream that leads
him to riches: “I know no better moral to apply … but that an honest industrious
man may always find a pot of gold.” Such stories are obvious attempts to instill
strong moral values in the readers. Several short items talk about new crops being
raised in South Carolina, reported clashes with the Indians and the French in other
colonies, and scientific advances to measure longitude. Finally, future president
George Washington ran an advertisement in an attempt to find the owner of two
runaway horses found on his plantation. 13 Very little in this or other extant issues
demonstrates a willingness by the printer to tackle controversial issues.
Accusation of control by the burgesses, rather than the governor, also
surfaced in the dispute over ministers’ pay discussed earlier here. Reverend John
Camm charged the Virginia printer with allowing the burgesses to censor his press.
Camm turned to the Maryland press to print a pamphlet in answer to comments by
Proclamations, and other publick Advertisements.” The printer also received additional contracts
for printing other things, such as paper money, compilations of the laws, etc.
12 Botein, “Meer Mechanics,” 127-225.
13 Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg: Royle, July 6, 1764), 1-4.