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

Virginia Gazette, on August 6, 1736. All of this material helped to bring print
culture and the discussions it spurred to broader segments of the population. 96
As print culture became more important in the colony, the printers
sometimes found themselves in the middle of disputes involving the governing
elites. In March 1748/49, 97 the burgesses demanded the council allow House
members to examine the Journals of the Council to determine how they had
proceeded on the division of two counties, Orange and Goochland. 98 Council
refused the request and sent back a message, “That we expected a Message from
your House to inform us that a Committee was appointed for that purpose [to
search Council’s Journals], before we permitted our Journals to be searched.” 99 The
burgesses angrily responded:
95 James Adam Bear and Mary Caperton Bear, A Checklist of Virginia Almanacs, 1732-1850
(Charlottesville: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia, 1962), and Berg,
Williamsburg Imprints, 1-26, have the most complete list of almanacs and imprints in general for
Virginia. Only one copy of John Warner’s, The Virginia and Maryland Almanack … 1732
(Williamsburg: William Parks, 1731) exists, at J. Carter Brown Library, and it lists printing offices
in Virginia and Maryland, but is thought to have been printed in Williamsburg. Park’s Almanac
for 1741 (published 1740) only exists in a fragment at the Library of Congress, Rare Books
Reading Room, and is confirmed to be Parks’ only by his ad for books at the end. It is not clear if
both Maryland and Virginia are in the title as there is no title page extant. This issue is not listed
in the above bibliographic works.
96 McMurtrie, Printing United States, 284.
97 This incident began in March 1748, according to the old, Julian calendar. Great Britain,
including the colonies, did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752. This has led to great
confusion for historians, as the Julian New Year did not begin until March 25. Specific dates in
the old system will be written thus: March 20, 1748/49, to indicate old style/new style.
98 The terms “House of Burgesses” and the “Lower House of Assembly” were used
interchangeably. The “Governor’s Council” was also referred to in contemporary legal documents
as the “King’s Council in Virginia,” and the “Council of Virginia.” This upper house shared
legislative, administrative, and judicial power with the governor, and while the governor could
nominate them, they were appointed by the King. Members of the council were often
simultaneously burgesses and council members. Richard L. Morton, Colonial Virginia (Chapel
Hill: Published for the Virginia Historical Society by the University of North Carolina Press,
1960), 2:411-413.
99 Journals of the House of Burgesses (March 14, 1748/49), 10:336.
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