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

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and aristocracy, as they came mostly from merchant or farmer classes. Without the
clear distinctions of social class as there were back in Europe, the lower sorts
sometimes refused to defer to those who thought they were their “betters.” After
the rebellion collapsed, the elites adopted more symbolic trappings of wealth and
power, eventually including a printing press. With new wealth, education, and dress
to mark the distinction, the differentiation became clearer. Combined with a more
partnership-like style, this led to a more successful, consensual, elite-led hierarchy,
and the leaders turned to print to help maintain their leadership. 45
Print Culture Broadens
The histories of printing in the two Chesapeake colonies are closely
intertwined, and considering developments in Maryland helps to better understand
what happened in Virginia. The government to the north proved somewhat more
receptive to the printing press and to the printer who was kicked out by its southern
neighbor. As historian of print Douglas McMurtrie noted, “Maryland was, as
always, the haven for the distressed Virginian.” 46 With a governor who reported to
the Proprietor, instead of directly to royal autorities, and with religious dissenters
more welcome than in the colony to the south, Maryland may be considered to
have been more open to a freer press. The colonial government in St. Mary’s City
employed William Nuthead in 1685, after the Virginia government would not
allow him to print in Jamestown. Four years later, as the Stuart King James II fled
England, rebels overthrew the proprietary government of Lord Baltimore in
Maryland. Many of the majority Protestants in the colony looked upon the
Catholic proprietors with suspicion. The rebels had printer Nuthead publish two
statements in defense of their actions. The rebels’ use of the printing press for their
declarations reveals much about the significance of the printing press. It was utilized
45 Taylor, American Colonies, 139-140. See also Bridenbaugh, Jamestown, 89-103.
46 McMurtrie, Printing United States, 100.