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

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285 and the Native Americans, allowing for less dependence on British military might. Americans were no longer simply struggling to survive as they had just a century before. A newly active commercial marketplace linked diverse colonists together and undermined the classical deference. Amid these many changes is another important factor little-recognized by historians accustomed to looking for evidence within documents. The very influence of the medium of the document itself is difficult to perceive across the centuries. After 1730, print evolved from an object of-and-for the elites to a more broadly-based cultural medium. Writing and reading became more common far down the social scale. Newspapers were read aloud in taverns and coffeehouses, spurring civic discourse. Men and even women not of an elite status could read and contribute their thoughts on governmental affairs to newspapers. Almanacs spread even to the small farmers, allowing reading and even writing on the blank spaces to touch those far down the social scale. Such reading and writing spurred independent thought and social heterodoxy, allowing for the growth of new ideas of freedom of thought, speech, and press. The very existence of print media was essential to the spread of such revolutionary thought. The American Revolution would not have happened had it remained simply the idea of a highly-educated elite. Common men and women joined in the life- and-death struggle for liberty. The Revolution could not have happened if they failed to understand the importance of the concepts for which they were fighting. An expanded print culture that spread far and deep within the society enabled that to happen. People chose to use a new technology, without necessarily realizing that such use helped to change the way that they thought and interacted. Print did not cause the Revolution, of course. It did, however, function as a crucial agent of change, setting the stage for the possibility. Print became an important engine of a new and broader public discourse, helping to tie diverse colonists and colonies together in radical new ways of thinking. The colonists—through the changes encouraged by a broadening print culture—could now imagine themselves as
286 Americans instead of British. 12 A broad print culture was indeed a necessary prerequisite for the changes that made the American Revolution possible. This study has relevance beyond helping to understand such changes in early America. Applying theories of media ecology to historical studies demonstrates the influence of changes in media, helping to reach a better understanding of broader historical changes. As historians in recent decades added to knowledge by incorporating archeology, sociology, and popular culture, for example, so can we better understand the past by looking closely at media such as print, which have more pervasive influences than are currently acknowledged. Understanding the importance of the changes in dominant media as one aspect of evolving cultures can help us to better comprehend critical historic transitions. If development of a print culture can influence a society of some 250 years past in such a fashion, it also behooves us to pay attention to more recent changes. The rise and fall of radio and of television has been of particular interest to media scholars, and historians should also be able to learn much from that. More importantly, the current trend toward computer-based electronic communication is influencing the way that we converse and the ways that we think. While modern media influence is well beyond the scope of this study, this work might suggest to historians and other scholars how we might research and better understand more recent and even current cultural transitions. As Devereux Jarratt looked back at the changes in his lifetime, he was not totally pleased with the changes that had occurred. As he wrote in 1794, Jarratt regretted the loss of deference to men of “quality.” The universal distinction “between gentle and simple” had now eroded, and the opposite prevailed. Such “want of a proper distinction, between the various orders of the people,” he wrote, was having a negative influence on the new nation and its government. For Jarratt, 12 Anderson, Imagined Communities, tied print literacy to the ability to envision such a new nation.
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Dedication To my late father, Curti
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Chapter 7 Reactions in the Chesapea
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Foreword by David Waldstreicher Rog
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Acknowledgements This work could no
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2 typical of Colonial Virginians of
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4 political leaders, even the King,
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6 related, the relationship of prin
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8 the press, a declared freedom tha
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10 colony, and demonstrates how pri
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12 print and popular use of the pri
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14 expand, grow in importance, and
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16 in overcrowded conditions. Once
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18 in England that the colony had a
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20 sheets of those printed laws, Go
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22 to control dissent by the opposi
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24 was about 144,000 people, with a
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26 of the “simple folk.” 37 Thi
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28 and aristocracy, as they came mo
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30 journals made public. This appea
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32 A printing house was a major inv
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34 after the mid-eighteenth century
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36 percent and women’s about 30 p
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38 Whatever the original intent, pr
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40 Printing the laws, Eisenstein su
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42 Governor William Gooch was the a
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44 monopoly of power. 91 An increas
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46 Resolved, That it is the undoubt
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48 alienating anyone in power. 103
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50 approved by the Governor’s Cou
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52 that of a press that should cont
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54 ideas about the role of print wi
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56 and popular prints, more driven
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58 tells much about both the way th
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60 The earliest Chesapeake printers
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62 Printer William Parks noted that
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64 to found The Spectator with Jose
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66 public discourse. This appears t
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68 arrived in the Chesapeake via Lo
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70 Postal service was an extremely
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72 “Enter’d in the Upper Distri
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74 using an additional six pages of
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76 and relatives) made up the major
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78 more than two full pages of adve
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80 eventually gained in power, and
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82 issues. 63 The institution of th
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84 Hunter “be the Moderator of ou
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86 allow for a free exchange of a s
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88 improved communication, but news
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90 The limits of public debate in V
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92 criticism of the British governm
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94 Gentlemen. It was my unhappiness
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96 the power structure. From a pres
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98 from the multidisciplinary field
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100 Indian medicine. By the mid-eig
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102 probably because they were used
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104 While designed to be useful and
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106 One Maryland almanac had advice
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108 about political pamphlets and n
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110 the United States, but did not
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112 crisis, just as the tax on pape
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114 small amounts in the Virginia a
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116 opinion leaders. Such influenti
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118 permits separation of verbal th
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120 and alienation, it can also int
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122 dependent on the very culture i
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124 the knowledge they incorporated
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126 When printed material became a
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128 with interleaved pages. He reco
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130 This section included entertain
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132 it had real economic and social
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134 discourse, and even the public
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136 print remain under-explored. 9
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138 A fairly large number of Virgin
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140 as enabling discourse by non-el
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142 sold in Williamsburg in 1756. 2
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144 Complaint” begins by pointing
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146 a woman requesting a response f
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148 Pen.)” 49 This writer may hav
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150 Women’s involvement with prin
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152 mass media available. Communica
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154 equality, “One Sex was not de
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156 women’s involvement in the ph
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158 to the 1730s, to the very origi
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160
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162 ensued. In the summer of 1764,
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164 among the printers and between
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166 than two shillings. The tax on
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168 which openly invaded the first
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170 Extracts of Letters, &c. respec
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172 assembly what action he should
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174 Williamsburg paper did not ment
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176 successors to print laws and th
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178 While Royle did still receive
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180 Sentiments of their own Rights
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182 estimates that by this period,
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184 in Charles-Town, South Carolina
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186 in the colonies has been theori
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188 many as four or five coffeehous
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190 Jürgen Habermas viewed such ci
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192 with the religious Great Awaken
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194
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196 specifically from the former pr
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198 and Richard D. Brown noted, kno
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200 little afford to offend powerfu
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202 period and was more boring afte
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204 This author claimed that Royle
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206 Historians have generally agree
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208 1935 article, where he wrote,
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210 Rind, with only minor discrepan
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212 Street that belonged to Philip
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214 has ever been Established in th
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216 authority. 54 The newspaper in
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218 Judges of the General Court, ou
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220 was now political material with
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222 Going beyond questions of memor
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224 of deference was giving way to
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226 the United States’ Bill of Ri
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228 intended to “wipe out the com
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230 interpretation as being too nar
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232 business advantages that the fr
Page 247 and 248: 234 the Virginia House of Burgesses
Page 249 and 250: 236 “great bulwark of our Constit
Page 251 and 252: 238 cultural customs and behavior.
Page 253 and 254: 240 contending writers that pay the
Page 255 and 256: 242 new burgess was not mentioned,
Page 257 and 258: 244 that seditious libel was becomi
Page 259 and 260: 246 restricting freedom of the pres
Page 261 and 262: 248 attacks on Wilkes’ newspaper.
Page 263 and 264: 250 colonial legislature in 1770, h
Page 265 and 266: 252 part of our government can main
Page 267 and 268: 254 George Mason and Rights Declare
Page 269 and 270: 256 both Richard Henry Lee’s and
Page 271 and 272: 258 paragraphs of Mason’s Declara
Page 273 and 274: 260 There is no conclusive document
Page 275 and 276: 262 Henry had arranged with printer
Page 277 and 278: 264 ministry. 112 “A free press w
Page 279 and 280: 266 Connecticut replied, “It is u
Page 281 and 282: 268 heavy duties on the printing of
Page 283 and 284: 270 means merely the absence of pri
Page 285 and 286: 272 people peaceably to assemble an
Page 287 and 288: 274 amendments, he informed the gov
Page 289 and 290: 276 Despite the evidence underminin
Page 291 and 292: 278 simply being a restriction on p
Page 293 and 294: 280 himself—through the aid of pr
Page 295 and 296: 282 While Habermas theorized about
Page 297: 284 new contextualizing of the orig
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Page 305 and 306: 292 Congress, Great Britain PRO CO
Page 307 and 308: 294 Charlottesville: published for
Page 309 and 310: 296 Hoffman, Paul P., ed. Guide to
Page 311 and 312: 298 Morton, Richard L. Colonial Vir
Page 313 and 314: 300 Barker, Hannah and Simon Burrow
Page 315 and 316: 302 Kraus, Sidney and Dennis Davis.
Page 317 and 318: 304 Articles: Anderson, David. “T
Page 319 and 320: 306 Smith, Stephen A. “The Origin
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Page 323 and 324: 310 Bill of Rights, 4, 7, 11, 226,
Page 325 and 326: 312 Dulany, Daniel, 180 Dunmore, Go
Page 327 and 328: 314 King Charles, 21 King George I,
Page 329 and 330: 316 North Briton, The, 223, 247, 24
Page 331 and 332: 318 Rawson, David, 23, 36, 125, 155
Page 333: 320 Virginia Resolves, 169 Virginia
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