What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“LOTTERY … for finishing and compleating the great Wharf Bridge.”
Lotteries funded a variety of public works projects in early America. In October 1773, for instance, the “GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the Colony of CONNECTICUT” … approved a lottery “for raising the Sum … for finishing and compleating the great Wharf Bridge, at CHELSEA, in NORWICH.” The lottery managers, Joshua Lathrop, Samuel Tracy, and Rufus Lathrop, set about advertising the “SCHEME OF A LOTTERY” in November, continuing their efforts for several months into 1774. They ran two notices in the March 25 edition of the Connecticut Gazette, the original advertisement and an update that gave a deadline for purchasing tickets. In addition to that newspaper published in New London, they also placed the original notice in the Norwich Packet on March 24. Between the two newspapers, the managers reached readers in the region likely to support the project.
They competed, however, with another lottery. The managers of the “COLCHESTER LOTTERY” published their own “SCHEME” for their drawing. The advertisements for the two lotteries appeared one after the other, filling almost an entire column in the Connecticut Gazette. Immediately below them, Timothy Green, the printer and a local agent working on behalf of both lotteries, placed a notice advising that “Tickets in Colchester and Chelsea Bridge LOTTERIES are to be Sold by T. Green, in New-London, by Nathan Bushnell, jun. Aaron Bushnell, Joseph Knight, and David Belding, Post-Riders.” In hopes of convincing colonizers to purchase their tickets, the managers of the Norwich Bridge Lottery emphasized that their endeavor served “the good Purpose of finishing said Bridge, which will be so greatly exposed, unless it can soon be completed.”
Preparations for a lottery could last as long as a year, but the managers aimed to complete the Norwich Bridge Lottery in six months. In their update, they advised that they “hope to be ready to proceed to the drawing by the 20th of April next, or sooner.” To meet that goal, they needed to sell all the tickets as quickly as possible. They called on local agents like Green and the post riders to “dispose” of their tickets by April 1 or “return them in to the Managers.” Similarly, they requested that “those who intend to be Adventurers in said Lottery will soon apply for their Tickets, that there may be no delay in the Drawing.” That served the dual purpose of dispersing prizes to the winners and raising the funds necessary to complete the work on the bridge. As with other lotteries for public works projects, the managers encouraged colonizers to contemplate both their own interests and the interests of their communities, anticipating that the combination would convince them to purchase tickets.
