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Boston Gazette

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The Boston Gazette[a] (1719–1798) was a newspaper published in Boston, in the British North American colonies. It was a weekly newspaper established by William Brooker, who was just appointed Postmaster of Boston, with its first issue released on December 21, 1719.[1] The Boston Gazette is widely considered the most influential newspaper in early American history, especially in the years leading up to and into the American Revolution.[2][3] In 1741 the Boston Gazette incorporated the New-England Weekly Journal, founded by Samuel Kneeland, and became the Boston-Gazette, or New-England Weekly Journal. Contributors included: Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, Phyllis Wheatley.

The Boston Gazette
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Boston Gazette LLC
Founded1719; 305 years ago (1719)
LanguageEnglish
Ceased publication1798; 226 years ago (1798)
HeadquartersBoston, Massachusetts  United States
Further information:  Early American publishers and printers

Publishing

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Woodcut used in the heading on the first issues of the Boston Gazette

Publishers, and men acting on their behalf, included: (dates are approximate)[4]

  • William Brooker (1719)
  • Benjamin Edes, Ben Franklin, James Franklin (1719)
  • Philip Musgrave (1720)
  • Thomas Lewis (1725–26)
  • Henry Marshall (1726–27)
  • Bartholomew Green Jr. (1727–32)
  • John Boydell (died December 11, 1739) (1732–36)
  • Timothy Green (1736–41)
  • Samuel Kneeland (1720–53)
  • John Gill (1755–75) DAR Patriot # A044675
  • Benjamin Edes (1755–94)
  • Benjamin Edes, Jr. (1779–94)
  • Peter Edes (1779 – c. 1784)
 
Obituary of Patrick Carr, Boston Massacre victim. Boston Gazette, 19 March 1770. Engraving by Paul Revere.

The paper's masthead vignette, produced by Paul Revere shows a seated Britannia with Liberty cap on staff, freeing a bird from a cage. Motto: "Containing the freshest Advices, Foreign and Domestic" This issue is often reprinted.[5]

"After the Revolution [the paper] lost its great contributors and its tone and policy were changed. It bitterly opposed the adoption of the constitution of the United States and the administration of Washington. The paper declined in power, interest and popular favor, till, after a long struggle, in 1798, it was discontinued for want of support."[6] It was noted for its many spirited and often controversial political essays. Like most newspapers of its era it often published ads for the sale of slaves and notices of runaway slaves[7][8] and runaway indentured servants.

Hutchinson letters leak

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Main article: Hutchinson letters affair

Benjamin Franklin acquired a packet of about twenty letters that had been written to Thomas Whately, an assistant to Prime Minister George Grenville.[9] Upon reading them, Franklin concluded that Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson and his colonial secretary (plus brother-in-law) Andrew Oliver, had mischaracterized the situation in the colonies, and thus misled Parliament. He felt that wider knowledge of these letters would then focus colonial anger away from Parliament and at those who had written the misleading letters.[10][11] Franklin sent the letters to Thomas Cushing, the speaker of the Massachusetts assembly, in December 1772.[10] He specifically wrote to Cushing that the letters should be seen only by a few people, and that he was not "at liberty to make the letters public."[12]

The letters arrived in Massachusetts in March 1773, and came into the hands of Samuel Adams, then serving as the clerk of the Massachusetts assembly.[13] By Franklin's instructions, only a select few people, including the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence, were to see the letters.[14] Alarmed at what they read, Cushing wrote Franklin, asking if the restrictions on their circulation could be eased. In a response received by Cushing in early June, Franklin reiterated that they were not to be copied or published, but could be shown to anyone

A longtime opponent of Hutchinson's, Samuel Adams informed the assembly of the existence of the letters, after which it designated a committee to analyze them. Strategic leaks suggestive of their content made their way into the press and political discussions, causing Hutchinson much discomfort. The assembly eventually concluded, according to John Hancock, that in the letters Hutchinson sought to "overthrow the Constitution of this Government, and to introduce arbitrary Power into the Province", and called for the removal of Hutchinson and Oliver.[15] Hutchinson complained that Adams and the opposition were misrepresenting what he had written, and that nothing he had written in them on the subject of Parliamentary supremacy went beyond other statements he had made.[16] The letters were finally published in the Boston Gazette in mid-June 1773,[17] causing a political firestorm in Massachusetts and raising significant questions in England.[18]

American Revolution

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Boston Gazette, June 26, 1776, Revolutionary War issue

For years before the first shots were fired at Lexington, Green, Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, Josiah Quincy, James Otis, Edes and Gill were writing article after article in the Boston Gazette, rebelling against royal authority. Adams wrote so many articles, under so many pen names (at least 25), historians don't even know exactly how many he wrote. It was the Boston Gazette that hired Paul Revere to create his famous engraving of the Boston Massacre.[19][20]

The British officials resented the Boston Gazette as they feared it undermined their authority. British officers placed the paper's name on a list of enemy institutions to be captured, and if possible, laid waste. Those "trumpeters of sedition", Edes and Gill, were to be put out of business once and for all.[21] [22][23]

The Sons of Liberty met at the Boston Gazette. It was there that they darkened their faces, disguising themselves as Mohawk Indians before setting out to dump British tea into Boston Harbor (The Boston Tea Party). Samuel Adams practically lived at the Boston Gazette.[24][25][26]

Varying titles

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  • Boston Gazette (Dec. 21, 1719-Oct. 19, 1741).
  • Boston Gazette or New England weekly journal (Oct. 20, 1741).
  • Boston Gazette or Weekly journal (Oct. 27, 1741-Dec. 26, 1752).
  • Boston Gazette or Weekly advertiser (Jan. 3, 1753-Apr. 1, 1755).
  • Boston Gazette or Country journal (Apr. 7, 1755-Apr. 5, 1756).
  • Boston Gazette or The Country journal (Apr. 12, 1756-Dec. 30, 1793).[27][28][29]
  • Boston gazette, and Weekly republican journal (Jan. 6, 1794-Sept. 17, 1798).

In recent years, the Boston Gazette print shop of Edes & Gill has been recreated and is open to the public as a museum in Boston.

Notes

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  1. ^ It should not be confused with the Boston-Gazette, (spelled with a hyphen), published 1803–1816.

Citations

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  1. ^ Buckingham, 1850, p. 44
  2. ^ Burns, 2006, pp. 136–137, 220–221.
  3. ^ Copeland, 2000, pp. 3, 10
  4. ^ "Massachusetts - Eighteenth-Century American Newspapers in the Library of Congress (Serial and Government Publications Division)". Loc.gov. 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  5. ^ "HistoryBuff.com". HistoryBuff.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-16. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  6. ^ Isaiah Thomas. The History of Printing in America: With a Biography of Printers, and an Account of Newspapers. From the press of Isaiah Thomas, 1874; p.lx.
  7. ^ Thomas, 1874, Vol. I, p. 136
  8. ^ "Slave Advertisements". Retrieved 2021-06-14.
  9. ^ Penegar, p. 27. Penegar notes that there are varying interpretations on how many letters constitute the set at issue.
  10. ^ a b Morgan, p. 187
  11. ^ Bailyn, p. 236
  12. ^ Wright, p. 225
  13. ^ Alexander, p. 150
  14. ^ Bailyn, p. 239
  15. ^ Alexander, p. 151
  16. ^ Alexander, p. 152
  17. ^ Bailyn, p. 240
  18. ^ Penegar, p. 29
  19. ^ Burns, 2006, pp. 141, 144-145, 148, 152, 166-167
  20. ^ Fischer, David Hackett. Paul Revere's Ride, pp 20-25, Oxford University Press, New York, New York and Oxford, England, 1994. ISBN 0-19-508847-6.
  21. ^ Burns, 2006, pp. 136-137
  22. ^ Fischer, David Hackett. Paul Revere's Ride, pp 271-3, Oxford University Press, New York, New York and Oxford, England, 1994. ISBN 0-19-508847-6.
  23. ^ Drake, Samuel Adams (1886). Old Boston taverns and tavern clubs. The Library of Congress. Boston, Cupples, Upham & company.
  24. ^ Burns, 2006, pp. 159-160
  25. ^ Fischer, David Hackett. Paul Revere's Ride, pp 20-25, 302, Oxford University Press, New York, New York and Oxford, England, 1994. ISBN 0-19-508847-6.
  26. ^ Copeland, 2000, pp. 216-217
  27. ^ Bowen, Abel; Smith, Jerome Van Crowninsfield (1826). The Boston News-letter: And City Record. Vol. 2.
  28. ^ Stuart, Nancy Rubin (1 July 2008). The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation. Beacon Press. p. 148. ISBN 9780807097366.
  29. ^ Moore, Frank. Diary of the American Revolution. From Newspapers and Original Documents (PDF). Vol. II. Sampson Low, Son & Company. p. 279 – via Forgotten Books.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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