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

to establish authority, or to make the reasons for their rebellion appear more formal
and legitimate by having them printed. A document published in such a way was
more difficult to reproduce than a simple handwritten proclamation, thus showing
more sophistication. A printed document embodied the concept of political
legitimacy. 47 After Maryland became a royal colony, Nuthead once again
discovered that freedom of the press was elusive. In 1693, he was charged with
printing a blank land warrant in the name of the dispossessed Lord Baltimore and
was directed in the future to only print what the governor ordered. 48 Nuthead’s wife
Dinah took over the press for a short time after William’s death, relocating to
Annapolis when the state capital moved there. For a short time, there was one other
printer, and then John Peter Zenger, better known later for his landmark court case
in New York, printed in Maryland briefly in 1720. 49
Several developments in the 1720s opened up print media in the colony of
Maryland to greater political discourse. Both Chesapeake colonies were without a
printer for a time until William Parks moved from England in 1726 to become the
official printer of Maryland. The reintroduction of printing began to open the
government to greater public scrutiny. It increased the potential for civic discourse,
but also brought new complications. The new printer had a problem with the
government right away. The Lower House of Assembly of Maryland wanted their
journals printed, but the upper house, or Governor’s Council, did not want the
47 Hall, Cultures of Print, 104, and 124-5.
48 Calvert, Lord Baltimore, lost the proprietorship in 1691 when Protestants William and
Mary took the English thrown. The fourth Lord Baltimore became a Protestant and had the
colony of Maryland restored to him in 1715. These power struggles appear to have weakened
executive control and strengthened the power of the assembly. This order to not print public
discourse is consistent with Michael Warner, “The Res Publica of Letters,” boundary 2 17, no. 1,
New Americanists: Revisionist Interventions into the Canon. (Spring, 1990): 40, where he wrote that
political publications were rare in the colonies prior to 1720, and that published debate was a sign
of failure of the normal state of public affairs, which included adherence to station of privacy and
subjection [deference].
49 McMurtrie, Printing United States, 100-104.
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