What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“CONSIDERATIONS on the Measures carrying on by GREAT BRITAIN, against the Colonies in North-America.”
As the number of American editions of Considerations on the Measures Carrying On with Respect to the British Colonies in North-America increased in 1774, so did the number of newspapers that carried advertisements for the political tract. John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, advertised his edition. Benjamin Edes and John Gill, the printers of the Boston-Gazette, did so as well for their edition. Ebenezer Watson, printer of the Connecticut Courant, ran his own advertisement when he published a Hartford edition. Yet it was not solely the printers of the various American editions who advertised or sold the popular pamphlet. Watson listed local agents in eight towns and two post riders who sold his edition. David Atwater advertised the New York edition for sale in New Haven in the Connecticut Journal.
Timothy Green, printer of the Connecticut Gazette, joined their ranks with an advertisement in the September 9, 1774, edition of his newspaper. That made the pamphlet available for purchase in New London in addition to other towns in New England and New York. Compared to the other advertisements, however, Green’s notice was quite brief, just three lines that completed the column following “THOMAS ALLEN’S Marine List,” a regular feature, on the third page. “TO BE SOLD by T. GREEN, CONSIDERATIONS on the Measures carrying on by GREAT BRITAIN, against the Colonies in North-America.” Green did not provide any of the elaborate description about how well the pamphlet had been received in London and how it had influenced residents there to support the American colonies against the abuses perpetrated by Parliament, nor did he encourage readers to review it for themselves so they could be better informed. Perhaps he expected that the news he printed throughout the rest of his newspaper and the conversations about current events taking place everywhere anyone went those days provided enough reason for colonizers to acquire the pamphlet. He also did not state which edition he sold, though the variant title in his advertisement suggests that he carried Watson’s Hartford edition. In stocking and promoting the pamphlet, Green joined printers, post riders, and others in disseminating a political tract intended to influence colonizers and help them in articulating their grievances against Parliament.