Acts and Laws of New Hampshire

August 31

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-Hampshire Gazette (August 31, 1776).

“THE following new ACTS and LAWS, past at the last Session of the General-Court of this State.”

On August 10, 1776, the Freeman’s Journal, printed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, carried an advertisement that announced that the “Acts and Laws OF this State, passed since the new Form of Government took Place, are now in the Press, and in a few Weeks will be published at the Printing Office in Exeter.”  That town served as New Hampshire’s capital during the Revolutionary War.  Provincial congresses met there before the war during its first year.  The assembly continued meeting there after the Continental Congress declared independence.  Three weeks after the first advertisement, a new advertisement appeared in the Freeman’s Journal.  It informed readers that the “following new ACTS and LAWS, past at the last Session of the General-Court of this State” was “Just Published at the Printing Office in EXETER.”  Robert L. Fowle, the printer in Exeter, offered for sale “A few Copies exclusive of what the Assembly take off.”

Most of the advertisement consisted of a list of the various acts, including “An Act for establishing Courts of Law for the Administration of Justice within this Colony,” “An Act to establish an equitable Method of making Rates and Taxes, and determining who shall be legal Voters in town and Parish Affairs,” “An Act to prevent the Forgeing & altering Bills of pubic Credit, and for preventing the Depreciation thereof; and for making the Bills of Credit of the United Colonies, and the Bills of this Colony a Tender in all payments.”  Even though Fowle stated that the acts had been passed by the “General-Court of this State,” many of them referred to New Hampshire as a colony.  The provincial congress adopted a new constitution in January 1776, removing the colony from British authority, yet the colonies had not yet declared independence.  Those last colonial laws soon became the first laws of the new state.

When Fowle listed the acts in a newspaper advertisement in hopes of selling surplus copies that the assembly did not “take off,” he also reported the news.  Readers did not have to purchase the acts to learn what kind of work the assembly had undertaken in Exeter, though the list might have prompted some to learn more about those acts that interested or affected them.  The advertisement supplemented the coverage of state government that appeared in newspapers.

August 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Freeman’s Journal (August 10, 1776).

“The Acts and Laws Of this State, passed since the new Form of Government took Place.”

A month after the Continental Congress voted to declare independence, Robert L. Fowle set about publishing “The Acts and Laws” of New Hampshire “passed since the new Form of Government took Place.”  He placed an advertisement, dated August 3, 1776, in three consecutive issues of the Freeman’s Journal, printed by Benjamin Dearborn in Portsmouth.  He likely also ran advertisements in his own newspaper, the New Hampshire Gazette, or, Exeter Morning Chronicle.  (That newspaper has not been digitized for greater accessibility.)

Fowle’s advertisement made its first appearance in the Freeman’s Journal on August 10.  He announced, “The Acts and Laws Of this State,” no longer a colony, “are now in the Press, and in a few Weeks will be published, at the Printing Office in Exeter.”  When Fowle referred to statutes passed “since the new Form of Government took Place,” he did not mean the actions taken by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in early July.  Instead, he invoked the Constitution of New Hampshire devised by a provincial congress that met at Exeter on December 21, 1775.  Two weeks later, delegates to that convention “VOTED, That this Congress take up CIVIL GOVERNMENT for this colony,” displacing British authority, and outlined the “manner and form” in a framework now known as the Constitution of New Hampshire.  In so doing, they implemented the first state constitution … six months before the Continental Congress declared independence.  Accordingly, the “Acts and Laws Of this State, passed since the new Form of Government took Place” advertised by Fowle in August 1776 did not consist of legislation passed solely in the past month but instead during the seven months since the Constitution of New Hampshire written at Exeter went into effect.  Publishing the “Acts and Laws Of this State” buttressed the legitimacy of the new government, while purchasing or perusing the statutes kept citizen-consumers better informed about current events.  The legislature, the printer, and readers each played a role in disseminating the new acts and laws in their state, weaving together the fabric of a new nation from many threads.  Establishing and maintaining a “new Form of Government” required more than the Declaration of Independence.