Current Events

August 29

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

New-York Journal (August 29, 1776).

“American Independence, THE INTEREST and GLORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.”

After the Continental Congress voted to declare independence, American printers and booksellers continued advertising and selling books and pamphlets that argued in favor of that course of action.  After all, disseminating the Declaration of Independence with its combination of political philosophy and grievances against George III served, in part, as a public relations tool that justified breaking away from Great Britain.  An array of books and pamphlets also made the case, convincing readers and helping them articulate their own views on the matter.

In the August 29, 1776, edition of the New-York Journal, for instance, William Green, a “Bookseller in Maiden Lane,” advertised American Independence, The Interest and Glory of Great Britain, “Just Re-printed from the London Copy.”  He most likely stocked an American edition printed by Robert Bell in Philadelphia.  John Cartwright’s work took the form of “a series of Letters to the Legislature,” demonstrating that a robust debate took place on the other side of the Atlantic and that Patriots had supporters in London.  Green did not need to generate copy to give an overview of the volume.  Instead, he used the book’s lengthy subtitle to inform readers that it included “Arguments which prove that not only in taxation but in trade, manufactures and government, the Colonies are entitled to an intire independency on the British Legislature; and that it can only be by a formal declaration of these rights, and forming thereupon a friendly league with that that the true and lasting welfare of both countries can be promoted.”  Cartwright did not call for a complete separation but rather a transatlantic alliance between two nations of equal stature, an alliance that would produce more benefits than the imperial system.

In addition to American Independence, Green stocked “All the new Pamphlets,” though he did not indicate whether that included any that advanced Loyalist perspectives.  In previous advertisements, he hawked Common Sense and political cartoons that supported the American cause.  He also sold “Sim’s Military Guide for officers, 2 vols. and the Political Disquisitions, 3 vols.”  No doubt he had many other books on hand, but Green highlighted those related to current events – political debates and the war – when he took to the public prints to entice customers to visit his shop.

May 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

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

Virginia Gazette [Purdie] (May 17, 1776).

“COMMON SENSE … to be sold at the CONSTITUTIONAL POST OFFICE.”

In an advertisement in the May 17, 1776, edition of the Virginia Gazette, Alexander Purdie, the printer, listed a trio of books and “WRITING PAPER, in small quantities, to be sold at the CONSTITUTIONAL POST OFFICE” in Williamsburg.  Those books included two military manuals, “Simes’s MILITARY GUIDE” and “Stevenson’s MILITARY INSTRUCTIONS,” as well as Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, a popular political pamphlet that boldly advocated for declaring independence rather than seeking redress of grievances within the imperial system.  All three works, each of them related to the war, had been published in Philadelphia and transported to Williamsburg.  This was a rare instance of Common Sense being advertised along with other books rather than featured exclusively.

Common Sense appeared first in the advertisement, a fitting placement considering other content in that issue of the Virginia Gazette.  A report from the provincial convention informed readers of a resolution, approved unanimously on May 15, that “the delegates appointed to represent this colony in General Congress be instructed to propose to that respectable body “TO DECLARE THE UNITED COLONIES FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the crown or parliament of Great Britain.”  The following day, the Committee of Safety, members of the General Convention, and residents of Williamsburg gathered for a ceremony at which the resolution was “read aloud to the army,” followed by a series of toasts to “The American independent states,” “The Grand Congress of the United States, and their respective legislatures,” and “General Washington, and victory to the American arms.”  A “discharge of the artillery and small-arms, and the acclamations of all present” followed each toast.  In addition, the “UNION FLAG of the American states waved upon the Capitol during the whole of this ceremony.”  Those present embraced Paine’s arguments for independence that had seemed too radical to many only a few months earlier.

Virginia Gazette [Purdie] (May 17, 1776)

That Purdie sold the pamphlet and the military manuals “at the CONSTITUTIONAL POST OFFICE” also resonated with readers.  They knew that the Second Continental Congress established the Constitutional Post Office as an alternative to the imperial post, appointing Patriots as postmasters.  In addition, Purdie introduced a new masthead for the May 17 edition of the Virginia Gazette.  The previous one featured an image depicting the arms of the monarch and the motto, “En Dat Virginia Quartam” or “Behold, Virginia gives the fourth.”  That referred to the colony as a dominion of the crown along with Great Britain (England and Scotland) and claims to Ireland and France.  The new masthead, however, did not include an image.  Instead, a border of decorative type enclosed, “THIRTEEN UNITED COLONIES” and “United, we stand—Divided, we fall,” a message that echoed the one represented by the severed snake that other printers previously incorporated into the mastheads of the Massachusetts Spy, the New-York Journal, and the Pennsylvania Journal.  As Purdie advertised Common Sense, several elements of his newspaper revealed his endorsement of arguments presented in the political pamphlet.

Virginia Gazette [Purdie] (May 10, 1776).

May 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (May 14, 1776).

“Teapots, Cups and Saucers – Regimental Buttons, &c. &c.”

In the spring of 1776, Alexander Bartram “inform[ed] the public, that he has on hand a genteel Assortment of Merchandize.”  In an advertisement in the May 14 edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, he stated that he would sell his wares “for a small profit,” signaling to prospective customers that he would not take advantage of the disruptions to trade caused by the war to jack up prices.  Like any other shopkeeper, he needed to earn his livelihood, so a slight markup seemed reasonable under the circumstances.

Bartram devoted most of his advertisement to a list of some of his inventory, including “Broad Cloths and Trimmings, such as brown, buff, green, blue, and light colours, … a good Assortment of Glass Ware, … most sizes of China and Delph Bowls fit for taverns, blue and white and enamelled Dishes and Plates, [and] Teapots, Cups and Saucers.”  At what seemed to be the end of the list, he added “&c.” (the abbreviation for et cetera commonly used in the eighteenth century) to indicate that he had even more goods on hand at his shop.  Then he continued with shorter list that resonated with current events.  He declared that he also stocked “An Assortment of Queen’s Ware, Teapots, Cups and Saucers – Regimental Buttons, &c. &c.”  A month earlier, the Second Continental Congress relaxed the prohibition on buying and selling tea, so Bartram may have seen an opportunity to promote “Teapots, Cups and Saucers” more than once in his advertisement.  His reference to “Regimental Buttons” suggested that he sold other accessories for military uniforms.  Some men who refrained from other forms of conspicuous consumption during the imperial crisis welcomed the opportunity to outfit themselves in attire made fashionable by military service when the war began.  Bartram likely hoped that would work to his advantage.  By including “&c.” so many times, Bartram underscored that he carried so many more items than appeared in his short advertisement.  His extensive catalog of merchandise, after all, extended an entire column in an advertisement that appeared in Story and Humphreys’s Pennsylvania Mercury the previous fall.  While not nearly as long, his new advertisement spoke volumes to readers who perused it in the Pennsylvania Evening Post.

March 23

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (March 23, 1776).

“No advantage is meant to be taken.”

As spring approached in 1776, James Green took to the pages of the Providence Gazette to advertise “GARDEN-SEEDS” that he sold “At his little Shop.”  He had done so in recent years, though the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement devised by the Second Continental Congress that went into effect on December 1, 1774, and the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, seemingly had an impact on his business.  He previously promoted a “Fresh Assortment of Garden Seed, just imported in the last Ships from London,” in the spring of 1773 and a “Fresh Assortment of Garden Seeds, imported from London …, warranted to be all of the last Year’s Produce,” in the spring of 1774.  In 1776, on the other hand, he stocked some seeds that he described as “English, the Growth of the Season before last,” meaning that they arrived before the Continental Association went into effect.  This time around he also had seeds for a variety of “American Produce,” adapting his business to the changing times.

As was often the case, Green took the opportunity to hawk other merchandise, including “a few articles of English goods,” presumably imported more than a year earlier, “a small assortment of glass, stone and earthen ware,” and “loaf and brown sugar, coffee, chocolate, indico, rice, [and] flour.”  Tea was conspicuously missing from the list of groceries that Green stocked.  The shopkeeper did not merely list his wares.  He also assured prospective customers his merchandise “will be sold at as cheap a rate as the times will afford.”  In other words, he set reasonable prices, yet he acknowledged that the nonimportation agreement and the war resulted in higher prices.  Still, he sought to avoid suspicion that he engaged in price gouging: “No advantage is meant to be taken.”  In making that statement, he echoed the ninth article of the Continental Association.  It dictated that “such as are Venders of Goods or Merchandise will not take Advantage of the Scarcity of Goods that may be occasioned” by this agreement.  Green wanted the entire community to know that he dealt fairly with his customers.

November 7

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (November 7, 1775).

“MAPS … Montreal with all its fortifications.  The city of Quebec.”

Robert Bell, one of the most prominent American booksellers of the eighteenth century, also sold “PLANS, MAPS, and CHARTS” at his shop in Philadelphia.  In an advertisement in the November 7, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, he promoted maps depicting “Montreal with all its fortifications.  The city of Quebec.  The river St. Laurence, with the operations of the siege of Quebec, under Admiral Saunders and the brave General Wolfe.  The Harbour of Halifax.  Nova Scotia.  Canada.  New Orleans, the capital of Louisiana, with the course of the river Mississippi.  [And] The West-Indies.”

Bell moved from north to south, generally, in listing the places depicted on the maps and charts that he stocked and sold, though he seemingly made a deliberate decision to list Montreal and Quebec before Halifax.  Current events likely influenced that choice.  For its first major military initiative, the Continental Army launched an invasion of Quebec in hopes of capturing the province and convincing its inhabitants to join the American cause.  That territory had been claimed by the French Empire for centuries, but only recently became part of the British Empire as part of the settlement that brought the Seven Years War to an end in 1763.  The Americans suspected that French speakers in Quebec had little loyalty to the British.

Two expeditions conducted a dual-pronged attack on the province.  In late August, an expedition authorized by the Second Continental Congress and commanded by General Richard Montgomery departed Fort Ticonderoga in New York, headed to Montreal.  Colonel Benedict Arnold, disappointed at being passed over to lead that expedition, convinced General George Washington to send another expedition to Quebec City.  Under Arnold’s command, that expedition departed Newburyport, Massachusetts, and made a harrowing journey up the Kennebec River.

At the time that Bell ran his advertisement, Montgomery’s expedition approached Montreal and Arnold’s expedition approached Quebec, though it would take some time for news to arrive in Philadelphia for readers of the Pennsylvania Evening Post.  Yet those readers did know that those expeditions were underway and that Montgomery began a siege of the town and fort of Saint-Jean in September.  Bell believed that some prospective customers were already interested in maps and plans of Montral and Quebec City and that he could incite demand among others by informing them of the items available at his shop.  The maps he sold supplement the news that colonizers read in the public prints.

October 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Journal (October 18, 1775).

“An Elegy to the memory of the American Volunteers who fell … April 19, 1775.”

During the era of the American Revolution, advertisements for almanacs frequently appeared in newspapers from New England to Georgia each fall.  Such was the case in the Pennsylvania Journal in 1775.  James Adams, a printer in Delaware, inserted a notice that announced that he “JUST PUBLISHED … The WILMINGTON and PENNSYLVANIA ALMANACKS, For the year of our LORD, 1776.”

Adams followed a familiar format for advertising almanacs.  He indicated that both editions included “the usual astronomical calculations” that readers would find in any almanac as well as a variety of other enticing contents.  The Pennsylvania edition included “Pithy Sayings” for entertainment and “Tables of Interest at six and seven per cent” for reference as well as the “Continuation of William Penn’s Advice to his Children” and the “Conclusion of Wisdom’s Call to the young of both sexes.”  Adams published a portion of those pieces in the almanac for the previous year, anticipating that readers would purchase the subsequent edition for access to the essays in their entirety.  The almanac for 1776 also suggested “Substitutes for Tea,” certainly timely considering that the Continental Association remained in effect. Colonizers sought alternatives while they boycotted imported tea.

Current events played an even more prominent role in the Wilmington Almanack.  It featured an “Elegy to the memory of the American Volunteers, who fell in the engagement between the Massachusetts-Bay Militia and the British Troops, April 19, 1775.”  Six months after the battles at Lexington and Concord, Adams memorialized the minutemen who had died for the American cause during the first battles of the Revolutionary War.  In addition, the almanac featured “The Irishman’s Epistle to the Officers and troops at Boston,” “Liberty-Tree,” and “A droll Dialogue between a fisherman of Poole, in England, and a countryman, relative to the trade of America, and proposed victory over the Americans.”  Adams did not elaborate on those items, perhaps intentionally.  Presenting the titles of the pieces without further elaboration was standard practice in advertisements for almanacs, but in this case the printer may have intended to stoke curiosity that would lead to more sales.  For both almanacs, a concern for current events and a burst of patriotism influenced the contents and their marketing.

October 5

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer (October 5, 1775).

“THE Speeches of EDMUND BURKE, Esq; on American Taxation.”

James Rivington did not know it when he published the October 5, 1775, edition, nor did readers and the rest of the community, but he would soon discontinue printing Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.  With hindsight, we know that less than two months later, on November 27, the Sons of Liberty would attack his printing office and destroy his press and type “because of his pronounced Tory sentiments.”[1]  It was not the first time.  His home and printing office had been attacked the previous May.  For a few weeks, he had sought refuge on a British ship in the harbor.  He had been hung in effigy.  After all that, the November 23, 1775, edition would be the last issue of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer that he would print before departing for London.  The printer returned to New York in 1777, during the British occupation, and established Rivington’s New-York Loyal Gazette.  Today, historians consider it possible that Rivington spied on behalf of the American cause, but that would not have been public knowledge in the 1770s.

What was public knowledge was that the masthead of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer featured the seal of Great Britain at a time when the mastheads for other newspapers did not have an image or chose some other device.  The “UNITE OR DIE” political cartoon depicting a severed snake, each segment representing a colony, even appeared in the masthead of the Pennsylvania Journal.  A few other newspapers did continue to include the seal of Great Britain in their masthead, but the printers did not have the same history of expressing positions that supported the officials considered enemies of American liberties.  Even with the seal of Great Britain in the masthead, the October 5, 1775, edition of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer included an advertisement for “THE Speeches of EDMUND BURKE, Esq; on American Taxation, delivered April 19, 1774” and “His Speech on Moving his Resolutions of Conciliation with the Colonies, March 22d, 1775.”  Rivington printed and sold both speeches by a member of Parliament considered a friend to America.  The printer had a history of marketing “pamphlets on the Whig and Tory side” of “The American Controversy” and arguing for freedom of the press when it came to the contents of his newspaper and other items he printed and sold.  After the battles at Lexington and Concord, however, he discontinued advertising pamphlets that expressed the Tory perspective.  The advertisement for Burke’s speeches, pamphlets that he printed as well as promoted, starkly presented only one side of “THE AMERICAN CONTEST.”  Rivington seemingly changed his advertising strategy as the political situation in the colonies intensified once hostilities commenced in Massachusetts.

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[1] Clarence S. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1947), 686.

September 28

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , , , ,

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

New-York Journal (September 28, 1775).

“The Words of Command used in the Manual Exercise, and an accurate Plan of Boston.”

Almost simultaneously with Hugh Gaine announcing in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury that he had “Just PUBLISHED … HUTCHIN’s Improv’d; BEING AN ALMANACK … For the Year of our LORD 1776,” Frederick Shober and Samuel Loudon inserted an advertisement in the New-York Journal to alert the public that they had “Just published … The NEW-YORK and COUNTRY ALMANACK, For the Year of our Lord 1776.”  It included “all the necessary Articles usual in an Almanac, with the Addition of many curious Anecdotes, Receipts [or Recipes], [and] poetical Pieces.”  Unlike Gaine, Shober and Loudon did not provide an extensive list of the contents.  As printer of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, Gaine had access to as much space as he wished to devote to promoting an almanac he published.  Shober and Loudon, on the other hand, paid to run their advertisement in the New-York Journal.

The partners did, however, specify two items that they wanted prospective customers to know they would find in the New-York and Country Almanack: “the Words of Command used in the Manual Exercise, and an accurate Plan of Boston with the different Situations of the Provincials, and the Ministerial Armies.”  Both reflected current events.  The “REFERENCES TO THE PLAN” (or legend for the map of Boston) in the almanac highlighted the “Battle of Lexington, 19th of April,” and the “Battle of Bunker’s-Hill, 17th of June.”  For readers beyond Massachusetts who did not directly experience those battles, that helped solidify in their minds the dates that they occurred.  By the time that Shober and Loudon took their almanac to press, maps of Boston had circulated widely in the July issue of the Pennsylvania Magazine (and Loudon had been among the booksellers to advertise them).  Nicholas Brooks and Bernard Romans also collaborated on a map that they likely distributed by the end of summer.  Those may have served as models for the “Plan of Boston” that Sober and Loudon commissioned for their almanac.  Gaine also directed attention to the “beautiful Plan of Boston, and the Provincial Camp” in his almanac.  The “whole Process of making SALT PETRE, recommended by the Hon. the Continental Congress” and a “Method of making Gun-Powder” accompanied their map.  In Shober and Loudon’s almanac, the “Words of Command,” taken from the widely published Manual Exercise, supplemented the map.  In both cases, the events of the Revolutionary War inspired the contents of the almanacs and became selling points in marketing them.

“Plan of Boston” [left] and “References to the Plan” [right], in The New-York and Country Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1776 (New York: Shober and Loudon, 1775). Courtesy American Antiquarian Society.

July 12

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Gazette (July 12, 1775).

“All Sorts of Military Articles.”

It was a sign of the times.  The headline for Wolere Ming’s advertisement in the July 12, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette proclaimed, “All Sorts of Military Articles.”  The brief notice listed some of the items the merchant stocked, such as “Cartouch-boxes [for carrying cartridges], Morocco and other Sword-belts, Scabbards, Pistol Holsters, [and] Rangers Pouches.”  Hostilities had commenced with the battles of Lexington and Concord less than three months earlier, followed by the siege of Boston and the Battle of Bunker Hill.  The Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, appointed George Washington of Virginia as commander of the Continent Army, and dispatched him to Massachusetts.  Colonizers in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere mobilized as they followed the news, some of them heading to Massachusetts to lend their support and others preparing to defend their communities.

Responding to current events meant new opportunities for colonial entrepreneurs.  For instance, Charles Oliver Bruff, a goldsmith and jeweler in New York, advised “gentlemen who are forming themselves into companies in defence of their liberties” that they could purchase swords of various sorts at this shop in May 1775.  In Philadelphia, those seeking to outfit themselves for military service could do so very well at Ming’s shop “nearly opposite the Harp and Crown Tavern” where they selected among items “made on the best Construction” available “on the shortest Notice.”  Ming addressed a particular kind of consumer, the “Military Gentlemen, from Town or Country,” as he sought to leverage current events to establish revenue streams.  The headline for his advertisement played an important role in attracting the attention of prospective customers, especially considering that most newspaper advertisements did not have headlines of any sort.  Only one other in the issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette that carried Ming’s advertisement featured a headline that mentioned goods offered for sale, Thomas McGlathry’s notice for “IRISH LINENS, of various Prices.”  Merchants and shopkeepers who had been restrained by the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement, since December 1774 now faced new circumstances that they could make work to their benefit if they shifted their marketing strategies accordingly.

July 8

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (July 8, 1775).

“A SELF DEFENSIVE WAR lawful, Proved in a SERMON … before Captain Ross’s company of militia.”

An advertisement in the July 8, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post promoted a forthcoming pamphlet that would certainly be of interest to readers in Philadelphia and beyond.  John Dean, a bookbinder who ran a shop in Laetitia Court, aimed to encourage anticipation for “A SELF DEFENSIVE WAR lawful, Proved in a SERMON … By the Rev. JOHN CARMICHAEL.”  The pamphlet would soon be available for purchase since it was “in the press, and will be published in a few days.”  The advertisement suggested that Dean collaborated with Carmichael on the project.

Dean gave more details about both the origins and the physical attributes of the pamphlet.  Carmichael gave the sermon “at Lancaster, before Captain Ross’s company of militia, in the Presbyterian church on Sabbath morning, June 4th, 1775.”  By then, word of the battles at Lexington and Concord and the siege of Boston had reached the town of Lancaster.  One local militia company apparently appreciated the sermon so much that they wanted copies distributed more widely.  Perhaps some thought that they would purchase their own copies to review at their leisure or even consult it as a means of better rehearsing Carmichael’s arguments and evidence when they needed to explain why they believed a “self defensive war” was indeed lawful.  Francis Bailey, a printer in Lancaster, printed Carmichael’s sermon “for Captain Ross’s Company of Militia,” according to the imprint, and “at the request of said Company,” according to the subtitle.  The new edition, printed in Philadelphia, was “published at the request of the Author, and corrected by himself from the copy printed at Lancaster.”  In addition to being a more accurate rendering of the sermon, the Philadelphia edition would be “Printed on a good paper and type, octavo size.”

Dean and Carmichael envisioned a more extensive audience for the sermon than the Lancaster edition reached.  The advertisement stated that it was “Humbly offered to the perusal of the MILITARY ASSOCIATORS of the city, liberties and county of Philadelphia.”  The bookbinder-publisher and the author hoped to leverage patriotism and current events to sell more copies of the sermon, though they likely also wished to contribute to public discourse about whether military action was justified as the imperial crisis escalated and became a war.  Carmichael’s dedication in the Lancaster edition highlighted another purpose: “TO all the brave SONS of LIBERTY in North-America, but in particular, to the Company of MILITIA in the Borough of Lancaster, known by the name of ROSS’S COMPANY.”  The same dedication appeared in the Philadelphia edition, honoring all the “Officer and Soldiers” who defended American liberties throughout the colonies, especially the local men who did so.