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

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himself—through the aid of print—from one who was deferential to one who
expected deference from others.
Jarratt’s life and his transformation from near the bottom of the society to a
high position is the epitome of the cultural changes we have seen in Virginia. It is
no coincidence that books and reading were part of the reason for his rise. A
cultural transformation had taken place in mid-eighteenth-century Colonial
Virginia, and the spread of the printed word was a major driver of that change. (Of
course, there were many other factors behind such a transition. Quite closely tied to
the influence of print was the symbiotic relationship of education and literacy.)
From a society that was largely oral, with limited print circulation, Virginia had
developed an extensive and broadly based print culture. 4 The mid-eighteenth
century was a time when these expanding possibilities, not only through print but
also through an increasing commercial economy, allowed the “lesser sort” to aspire
towards higher status.
Print was an essential part of a growing consumer marketplace. The
advertisements in the newspapers were an important part of the increasing influence
of commerce, marketing, and consumption. Printed materials were themselves
important consumer articles. Newspapers, with their exchanges with the larger
Atlantic world—and increasingly the inter-colonial British-American world—
helped to create a sense of unity among colonists. Printing had become an
important part of this new economic freedom, but government control threatened
this emerging new liberty.
Along with these changes of economic mobility came changes in thought,
attitude, and social relations. The traditional deferential culture had been
undermined by both political and social dissent. From the new post-revolutionary
3 Middleton, “Colonial Virginia Parson,” 429.
4 While the dominant medium became printed texts, of course residual orality remained, and
continues to remain even in today’s society.