What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“He hopes to meet with due encouragement, especially as it is the first of its kind attempted in America.”
John Melchior Naff, a “MANUFACTORER of WIRE,” used an advertisement in the July 21, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post to inform “the public in general, and his friends in particular,” about the business he planned to establish in Philadelphia. He declared that he “proposes to manufacture and sell all kinds of WIRE, BRASS and IRON, and draw it to any size, fit for any use whatsoever.” He also stated that he “can make all kinds of COMMON PINS, HAIR PINS, COTTON CARDS, and HOOKS and EYES, as good and as cheap as can be imported from Europe.”
Although Naff did not invoke the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement in protest of the Coercive Acts that had been in effect since the previous December, he almost certainly expected that readers would take it into consideration when they perused his advertisement. In addition to boycotting goods imported from Britain, the Continental Association called for consumers and producers alike to encourage “domestic manufactures.” Naff answered that call with pins and other items of the same quality and low prices as imported ones. He made an investment in the enterprise, reporting that he “hath, at his own expence, already furnished himself with the proper tools and implements to carry on the said business.” The entrepreneur felt he deserved “due encouragement” from consumers, “especially as it is the first of its kind attempted in America.” That claim echoed the one that Richard Lightfoot recently made about his “PIN MANUFACTORY” in New York, asserting that “he is the first that ever attempted” to produce several kinds of wirework “on this continent.” Similarly, Ryves and Fletcher, paper stainers in Philadelphia, advertised that “they are the first who have ever attempted” to make paper hangings (or wallpaper) “on this continent.”
A few months before Naff, Lightfoot, and Ryes and Fletcher ran their advertisements, the imperial crisis boiled over. Word about the battles at Lexington and Concord and the siege of Boston spread quickly. More recently, colonizers learned about the Battle of Bunker Hill. As they prepared for the possibility of more military encounters, perhaps even in or near their own towns, they also continued to use the marketplace as a venue to engage in resistance. When Naff requested “due encouragement” for establishing a new industry in America, he reminded prospective customers of their duty to fight against Parliament in the decisions they made about the goods they purchased.