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

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cultural customs and behavior. Franklin admitted to taking his literary style from
Addison. In his efforts at self-improvement, Franklin took his motto from
Addison, and the fictitious characters such as “Silence Dogood,” and “Poor
Richard” reflected Steele’s innovations. Franklin’s style, in turn, influenced many
colonial writers, printers, and newspapers. 38 Chesapeake printer Parks improved on
the Addison style with essays by “The Plain Dealer” published in the Maryland
Gazette, and “The Monitor” published in the Virginia Gazette. 39 Both of these
regular columns monitored and commented on both society and the government.
These radical whig writers also influenced the development of a colonial
American free press theory, especially as a counterbalance to misuse of
governmental power. 40 As newspapers throughout colonial British America printed
Cato’s Letters, the influence was seen not only in the writing style and content of
local contributors but also in the political philosophy behind the words. 41 Trenchard
and Gordon took a more directly political approach than Addison, and tied the
right to a free press with that of speech and religion. “Cato’s” entire theory of
freedom and liberty was dependent on freedom of expression, with printing
considered an extension of expression by speech. According to David Paul Nord,
“Central to Cato’s philosophy was the principle that governmental authority must
38 Calhoun Winton, “Richard Steele, Journalist—and Journalism,” 21-29 and Milic, “Tone
in Steele’s Tatler,” in Bond and McLeod, Newsletters to Newspapers, 33-45. Autobiography of
Benjamin Franklin [Originally published as Memoires De La Vie Privee …] (Paris: Benjamin
Franklin, 1791; reprint, Fairbanks, AK: Project Gutenberg, 1994).
39 Elizabeth Christine Cook, Literary Influences in Colonial Newspapers, 1704-1750 (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1912. Reprint, Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1966),
154-159, and 179-229. Maryland Gazette (Parks, Dec. 10, 1728), 1 and Virginia Gazette (Dec. 31,
1763), 1.
40 Martin, Free and Open Press, 8-26.
41 Cook, Colonial Newspapers, 81 and 150-230. Jeff Broadwater, George Mason: Forgotten
Founder (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 42. While the original Cato’s
Letters would predate most Chesapeake newspapers, the pseudonym was commonly used, and
collected books sold, see for example ads in Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon, Feb. 25, 1768), 4,
Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon, Nov. 29, 1770), 2.