Newspaper printed from 1728 until 1800 in the United States
The Pennsylvania Gazette
|
Founder(s)
| Samuel Keimer
Benjamin Franklin
in 1729, who bought and reoriented the publication into a 'news only' newspaper
|
---|
Founded
| 1728
; 296 years ago
(
1728
)
(as
The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette
)
|
---|
Political alignment
| Non partisan
|
---|
Ceased publication
| 1800
(
1800
)
|
---|
Headquarters
| Philadelphia
,
Pennsylvania
, U.S.
|
---|
The Pennsylvania Gazette
was one of the
United States
' most prominent newspapers from 1728 until 1800. In the years leading up to the
American Revolution
, the newspaper served as a voice for colonial opposition to
British
colonial rule, especially to the
Stamp Act
and the
Townshend Acts
. The newspaper was headquartered in
Philadelphia
.
History
[
edit
]
18th century
[
edit
]
The newspaper was first published in 1728 by
Samuel Keimer
and was the second newspaper to be published in the colonial
Province of Pennsylvania
under the name
The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette
, a reference to Keimer's intention to print out a page of
Ephraim Chambers
'
Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences
in each edition.
[1]
On October 2, 1729,
Samuel Keimer
, the owner of
The Gazette
, fell into debt and before fleeing to
Barbados
sold the newspaper to
Benjamin Franklin
and his partner
Hugh Meredith
,
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
who shortened its name, as well as dropping Keimer's grandiose plan to print out the
Cyclopaedia
.
[1]
Franklin not only printed the paper but also often contributed pieces to the paper under
aliases
. His newspaper soon became the most successful in the colonies.
[3]
On December 28, 1732, Franklin announced in
The Gazette
that he had just printed and published the first edition of
The Poor Richard
, also known as
Poor Richard's Almanack
, by Richard Saunders, Philomath.
[6]
On August 6, 1741, Franklin published an editorial following the death of
Andrew Hamilton
, a lawyer and public figure in Philadelphia and friend of Franklin. The editorial praised the man highly and showed Franklin had held the man in high esteem.
[7]
On October 19, 1752,
[8]
Franklin published a third-person account of his pioneering
kite experiment
in
The Pennsylvania Gazette
, without mentioning that he himself had performed it.
[9]
While the purpose of the publication was primarily for classified ads, merchants and individuals listed notices of employment, lost and found goods and items for sale, it also reprinted foreign news. Most entries involved stories of travel.
[10]
The gazette also published advertisements for
runaway slaves
and
indentured servants
.
[11]
Among other firsts by
The Pennsylvania Gazette
, the newspaper was the first to publish the
political cartoon
Join, or Die
, authored by Franklin.
[12]
The cartoon resurfaced later in the 18th century as a symbol in support of the
American Revolution
.
19th century
[
edit
]
The paper ceased publication in 1800, ten years after Franklin's death.
[13]
It is claimed that the publication later reemerged as the
Saturday Evening Post
in 1821.
[14]
There are three known copies of the original issue, which are held by the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania
and the
Library Company of Philadelphia
, both in Philadelphia, and the
Wisconsin State Historical Society
at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison
in
Madison, Wisconsin
.
[1]
Other uses
[
edit
]
The Pennsylvania Gazette
moniker is used by an unrelated bi-monthly alumni magazine of the
University of Pennsylvania
, an
Ivy League
university that Franklin founded and served at as one of its first trustees.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"Pennsylvania Gazette, Philadelphia"
. Library of Congress. 2006
. Retrieved
December 7,
2006
.
- ^
Isaacson, 2003
, p. 64
- ^
a
b
Benjamin Franklin Historical Society, Essay
- ^
Aldridge, 1962
, p. 77
- ^
Clark & Wetherall, 1989
, p. 282
- ^
Miller, 1961
, p. 97
- ^
Konkle, Burton Alva (1932).
Benjamin Chew 1722?1810: Head of the Pennsylvania Judiciary System Under Colony and Commonwealth
. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 17?29 (28?29).
- ^
Tom Tucker,
Bolt Of Fate: Benjamin Franklin And His Fabulous Kite
(PublicAffairs, 2009) p135
- ^
Steven Johnson (2008)
The Invention of Air
, p. 39
ISBN
978-1-59448-401-8
- ^
Zach Hutchins, "Travel Writing, Travel Reading, and the Boundaries of Genre: Embracing the Banal in Franklin's 1747 Pennsylvania Gazette," Studies in Travel Writing 17.3 (2013):300-19.
- ^
Smith, Billy G., and Richard Wojtowicz.
Blacks Who Stole Themselves: Advertisements for Runaways in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1790
. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv4s7gw2. Accessed 3 Sept. 2021.
- ^
"Today in History: January 17"
. Library of Congress. 2006
. Retrieved
December 8,
2006
.
- ^
"The Pennsylvania Gazette"
.
Accessible Archives
. Archived from
the original
on December 6, 2010
. Retrieved
May 20,
2020
.
- ^
About the
Saturday Evening Post
Archived
February 22, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine
Sources
[
edit
]
- Aldridge, Alfred Owen (February 15, 1962). "Benjamin Franklin and the "Pennsylvania Gazette"
".
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
.
106
(1). American Philosophical Society: 77?81.
JSTOR
985213
.
- Clark, Charles E.; Wetherell, Charles (April 1989). "The Measure of Maturity: The Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1765".
The William and Mary Quarterly
.
46
(2). Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture: 279?303.
doi
:
10.2307/1920255
.
JSTOR
1920255
.
- Bernard Bailyn; John B. Hench, eds. (1981) [1980].
The Press & the American Revolution
. Boston : Northeastern University Press (Originally published: Worcester, Mass. : American Antiquarian Society).
ISBN
978-0-9303-50307
.
- Miller, C. William (1961). "Franklin's "Poor Richard Almanacs": Their Printing and Publication".
Studies in Bibliography
.
14
. Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia: 97?115.
JSTOR
40371300
.
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