The Pennsylvania Evening Post was the first daily newspaper published in the United States, and was produced by Benjamin Towne from 1775 to 1783. It was also the first newspaper to report on the Lee Resolution [1] and to publish the United States Declaration of Independence. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Benjamin Towne published the first issue of the Post on January 24, 1775, [6] using paper borrowed from James Humphreys without expectation of payment. [7] The paper was supportive of the cause of the American Revolution, [6] and was the first to publish the United States Declaration of Independence, with it taking up the front page of the July 6, 1776 issue. [8] [9] [10]
Towne initially published his newspaper three times per week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings "on half a sheet of crownpaper, in quarto." The cost to readers was "two pennies each paper, or three Shillings the quarter." His printing business was located on Front Street near the London Coffee House in Philadelphia. [11] [12]
During the British occupation of Philadelphia in 1778, the paper's ideology shifted towards loyalism. Other loyalist papers in the city, such as Humphrey's Pennsylvania Ledger, ceased publication as the British were losing control of Philadelphia; Towne stayed. As a result of his loyalist publication, the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania placed him on a list of traitors. Towne's Post was selected to publish this list of traitors, possibly because other printers had not returned to the city. [6]
In 1779, the Post published a series of articles written by Whitehead Humphreys, under the pseudonym "Cato." Humphreys's articles attacked the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 and accused Thomas Paine of being a loyalist. On July 24, supporters of the Constitutional Society, led by Charles Wilson Peale, dragged Towne to a meeting and demanded the identity of Cato. Towne named Humphreys, and the mob attacked Humphreys's house. [6]
These controversies lead to a decrease in revenue. In 1780, Towne began advertising for hawkers. The paper started daily publication in spring of 1783, the first in the country to do so. The paper would continue publication in this format until 1784; reportedly, near the end of its run, Towne personally hawked the paper. [6]
In June 2013, David Rubenstein, the chief executive officer of The Carlyle Group purchased a copy of the first newspaper printing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence for $632,500 during an auction at the Robert A. Siegel Galleries in New York. At the time, it was the highest price ever paid at auction for a historic newspaper, according to Reuters. [13] Rubenstein subsequently loaned his copy of the newspaper to the Newseum in Washington, D.C. for its exhibit, "1776—Breaking News: Independence," which opened on July 1, 2016. [14] [15]
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was an ideological and political movement in the Thirteen Colonies which peaked when colonists initiated the ultimately successful war for independence against the Kingdom of Great Britain. Leaders of the American Revolution were colonial separatist leaders who originally sought more autonomy as British subjects, but later assembled to support the Revolutionary War, which ended British colonial rule over the colonies, establishing their independence as the United States of America in July 1776.
The Declaration of Independence, formally titled The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America in the engrossed version and original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress, who convened at Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in the colonial era capital of Philadelphia. These delegates became known as the nation's Founding Fathers. The Declaration explains why the Thirteen Colonies regarded themselves as independent sovereign states no longer subject to British colonial rule, and has become one of the most circulated, reprinted, and influential documents in history.
Common Sense is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation.
Caesar Rodney was an American Founding Father, lawyer, and politician from St. Jones Neck in Dover Hundred, Kent County, Delaware. He was an officer of the Delaware militia during the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War, a Continental Congressman from Delaware, a signer of the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence, and president of Delaware during most of the American Revolution.
The Second Continental Congress (1775–1781) was the meetings of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolution and the Revolutionary War, which established American independence from the British Empire. The Congress constituted a new federation that it first named the United Colonies of North America, and in 1776, renamed the United States of America. The Congress began convening in Philadelphia, on May 10, 1775, with representatives from 12 of the 13 colonies, after the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
Joseph Galloway was an American attorney and a leading political figure in the events immediately preceding the founding of the United States in the late 18th-century. As a staunch opponent of American independence, he would become one of the most prominent Loyalists in North America during the early part of the Revolutionary War.
John Morton was an American farmer, surveyor, and jurist from the Province of Pennsylvania and a Founding Father of the United States. As a delegate to the Continental Congress during the American Revolution, he was a signatory to the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. Morton provided the swing vote that allowed Pennsylvania to vote in favor of the Declaration. Morton chaired the committee that wrote the Articles of Confederation, though he died before signing.
Timothy Matlack was an American politician, military officer and businessman who was chosen in 1776 to inscribe the original United States Declaration of Independence on vellum. A brewer and beer bottler who emerged as a popular and powerful leader in the American Revolutionary War, Matlack served as Secretary of Pennsylvania during the conflict and a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1780. Matlack was known for his excellent penmanship, and his handwritten copy of the Declaration is on public display in the Rotunda of the Charters of Freedom at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.
John Dunlap was an early American printer who emigrated from Ulster, Ireland and who printed the first copies of the United States Declaration of Independence and was one of the most successful Irish/American printers of his era. He served in the Continental Army under George Washington during the American Revolutionary War.
Pennsylvania was the site of many key events associated with the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War. The city of Philadelphia, then capital of the Thirteen Colonies and the largest city in the colonies, was a gathering place for the Founding Fathers who discussed, debated, developed, and ultimately implemented many of the acts, including signing the Declaration of Independence, that inspired and launched the revolution and the quest for independence from the British Empire.
The physical history of the United States Declaration of Independence spans from its original drafting in 1776 into the discovery of historical documents in the 21st century. This includes a number of drafts, handwritten copies, and published broadsides. The Declaration of Independence states that the Thirteen Colonies were now the "United Colonies" which "are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States"; and were no longer a part of the British Empire.
William Goddard was an early American patriot, publisher, printer and postal inspector. Born in New London, Connecticut, Goddard lived through the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, during which he opposed British rule of the colonies through his actions and publications. He was a major figure in the development of the colonial postal system, which became the U.S. Post Office after the American Revolution.
The Pennsylvania Chronicle and Universal Advertiser was an American colonial newspaper founded in 1767 that was published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, prior to the American Revolution. It was founded by William Goddard and his silent business partners Joseph Galloway and Thomas Wharton. Benjamin Franklin, an associate of Galloway, was also a partner with the Chronicle.
The Museum of the American Revolution, formerly The American Revolution Center, is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania dedicated to telling the story of the American Revolution. The museum was opened to the public on April 19, 2017, the 242nd anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, some of the battles of the American Revolutionary War, on April 19, 1775.
The following bibliography includes notable books concerning the American Revolutionary War. These books are listed in the bibliographies of books by prominent historians as shown in the footnotes.
The South-Carolina and American General Gazette was an 18th-century newspaper published in colonial Charleston, South Carolina.
Early American publishers and printers played a central role in the social, religious, political and commercial development of the Thirteen Colonies in British America prior to and during the American Revolution and the ensuing American Revolutionary War that established American independence.
Robert Bell (1732–1784) was a Scottish immigrant to the British colonies in America and became one of many early American printers and publishers active during the years leading up to and through the American Revolution. Bell became widely noted for printing Thomas Paine's celebrated work, Common Sense, a highly influential work during the revolution that openly criticized the British Parliament and their management and taxation of the British-American colonies. Bell and Paine later had a falling out over profits and publication issues. As a dedicated patriot, Bell printed many pamphlets and books before and during the revolution, many of which "glowingly" expressed his patriotic views. He also reprinted a number of popular English works, presenting them to the colonies for the first time. He ran an auction house which sold rare books in Lancaster, and in later life he toured the colonies selling off his massive book collection. After Bell's death, his printing press and other items were sold at a Philadelphia auction house to another prominent printer at an unusually high price.
Samuel Loudon (1727–1813) was a colonial American printer, publisher and merchant who emigrated from Ireland some time prior to 1753. Loudon founded The New-York Packet and The American Advertiser and became the postmaster at New York State's first post office in Fishkill, New York. During the American Revolution he became the official printer of New York State and printed its first Constitution, laws, acts and other official documents, while also taking on some private commissions. Before and during the Revolution Loudon became active through the use of his newspapers promoting the cause for American independence, and for freedom of the press. After the war Loudon printed the Laws of the City of New York, and later promoted ratification of the proposed Constitution by publishing selected essays of The Federalist Papers in his newspaper.