Browse Items (116 total)

Timothy Paine (1730 – 93) was a wealthy and influential loyalist from Worcester, Massachusetts, connected by marriage to the Chandlers, another wealthy loyalist family. Paine graduated from Harvard and studied law after he was appointed clerk…

So-called “rebels” or “patriots” were not the only ones to use print media to their advantage during the pre-Revolution crisis. In the spring of 1774, loyalists in the shire town of Worcester, Massachusetts, felt that they…

Daniel Leonard (1740-1829) was a lawyer and devoted loyalist. He lived in Taunton, Massachusetts, and was a member of one of the leading and wealthiest families in the commonwealth. In 1774, he was forced to flee his home by his Whig neighbors. He…

In 1774 and 1775, lawyer and devoted loyalist Daniel Leonard (1740-1829) wrote a series of seventeen articles, published in the Boston Tory newspaper Massachusetts Gazette; and the Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser, under the pseudonym…

This broadside announcing the Treaty of Paris was published by Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831) in Worcester, Massachusetts. The subtitle—”Sure and Certain”—immediately tries to dispel any worries about the treaty being a rumor. But…

As with many other reform movements of the day, abolitionists used all available forms of mass communication to disseminate their message, including almanacs. Antebellum reform organizations published almanacs that included—among their charts…

As with many other reform movements of the day, temperance activists made use of a variety of print media to further their cause, including the long-popular genre of almanacs. It became common for antebellum reform organizations to publish almanacs…

The Cherokee Phoenix was the first newspaper published by Native Americans. In 1825 the Cherokee Council pledged $1,500 for the purchase of a printing press and type; the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions also pledged assistance.…

This paper is an example of a presidential campaign newspaper, a form that became very popular during the 1840s and 1850s. This one supports the election of William Henry Harrison (1773-1841). The hotly contested presidential election of 1840…

As the number of newspapers grew throughout the United States, so did the frequency of publication. The first daily newspaper in America appeared in Philadelphia in 1783, and by 1800 Philadelphia had six dailies, New York had five, Baltimore three,…