What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Freeman’s Journal (July 20, 1776).
“The Printing-Business, in it’s different branches carried on with care and fidelity.”
Like many other American printers, Benjamin Dearborn, the printer of the Freeman’s Journal, or New-Hampshire Gazette, used the colophon as an advertisement for the various services he provided. The colophon for the Freeman’s Journal ran across all three columns at the bottom of the last page, separated from other content by two lines. It stated: “PORTSMOUTH: Printed by BENJAMIN DEARBORN, near the Parade, where this Paper may be had at Eight Shillings L[awful]. M[oney]. per year, one half at entrance. The Printing- Business, in it’s different branches carried on with care and fidelity.” Whatever the other content, each issue concluded with an advertisement from the printer.
Usually that meant that news and paid notices appeared above the colophon, but only one other item ran on the final page of the July 20, 1776, edition of the Freeman’s Journal. Dearborn printed the entire “DECLARATION, By the Representatives of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, In General Congress assembled,” approved on July 4. The Freeman’s Journal was one of the last American newspapers to print the Declaration of Independence, yet Dearborn delivered it in an especially attractive format for his subscribers. As the only item (except for the colophon) on the final page, it could be removed from the newspaper and displayed. John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, was the only other printer to present the Declaration of Independence as a broadside within a newspaper. He underscored that “a number of our Customers, … intend to separate it from the rest of the paper, and fix it up, in open view, in their Houses, as a mark of their approbation of the INDEPENDENT SPIRIT of their Representatives.” In making that observation, Holt delivered instructions to other subscribers that they should similarly display the broadside integrated into that issue in their homes, shops, or offices. Both Dearborn and Holt included a colophon or imprint at the bottom of the broadside Declaration of Independence in their newspapers. Subscribers could trim them before displaying the broadsides, but those who did not displayed advertisements for the printers as well as the founding document of the new nation.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Connecticut Journal (July 17, 1776).
“For Sale at his Shop Next Door to the White-Haven Meeting House …”
Either Thomas Green and Samuel Green did not acquire a copy of the Declaration of Independence in time to include it in the July 10, 1776, edition of the Connecticut Journal or they prioritized other news and advertisements with type already set. Due to a paper shortage, they scaled back their newspaper from four pages to two pages each week, so that also constrained how much space they had for the Declaration of Independence and other content. Even though the new nation’s founding document did not appear in the Connecticut Journal in the first issue after the printers acquired a copy, the Greens did disseminate it to readers in New Haven and nearby towns via other means. A notice from the printers appeared above the other advertisements: “To morrow, will be ready for sale, The Resolves of the Congress, declaring the United Colonies, FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES.” That broadside edition circulated for nearly a week before the Declaration of Independence appeared in the July 17 edition of the Connecticut Journal.
When it did appear, as Emily Sneff explains, the Greens “reused the typesetting for their weekly newspaper. … To create their broadsides, they formatted the Declaration in two columns separated by a line of ornamental type. In the next issue of their Journal on July 17, the Greens squeezed the same two columns of type onto the back page and used a border of or ornamental type to separate the Declaration from other pieces of news and advertisements.”[1] To fit the remaining space, the Greens rotated the text to run perpendicular to the two (wider) columns of the Declaration of Independence at the top of the page and the three (narrower) columns of news and advertisements at the bottom of the page. The content set at an awkward angle included a correction concerning “the Time of the visible Eclipse of the Moon to happen the 30th of this Month” that was “inserted wrong in some of Stafford’s Almanacs” printed by the Greens. An advertisement about goods that Major Line sold at his shop ran as two short columns of five or six lines each. The savvy printers made those short columns the same width as standard columns throughout the rest of their newspaper. When the advertisement ran in the next issue, they did not have to reset all the type but instead combined the two columns into a single notice. They repeatedly showed ingenuity in the choices they made about how to print the Declaration of Independence and other items in the Connecticut Journal.
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In addition to briefly recounting this story in When the Declaration of Independence was News, Emily Sneff offers more analysis of the broadside and the newspaper (with images of both) as Research Highlight for the Declaration Resources Project.
[1] Emily Sneff, When the Declaration of Independence Was News (Oxford University Press, 2026), 69.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Newport Mercury (July 15, 1776).
“A DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE … is now to be sold by S. Southwick, printed on one side of a large sheet.”
On July 15, 1776, three newspapers printed the Declaration of Independence for subscribers and other readers. Although word of mouth carried the news faster than print, the Connecticut Courant and Hartford Weekly Intelligencer, the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, and the Norwich Packet and Connecticut, Massachusetts, New-Hampshire and Rhode-Island Weekly Advertiser gave readers the opportunity to examine the grievances against the king and the political philosophy that supported the Continental Congress’s decision to declare independence.
The Declaration of Independence did not appear in the Newport Mercury even though Solomon Southwick, the printer, had received a copy. The layout and content of the July 15 edition suggest that he did not acquire it before type had been set and printing commenced for that issue. He did have space, however, to insert his own advertisement about the founding document immediately after the news and before other advertisements. “A DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE was published, by the Honorable CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, the 4th instant,” the printer informed the public, “and is now to be sold by S. Southwick, printed on one side of large sheet.” He likely envisioned consumers purchasing copies to display in their homes, shops, or offices, just as John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, suggested that Patriots should do with the copy he printed as the third page of his newspaper four days earlier.
Southwick also planned to disseminate the Declaration of Independence via the Newport Mercury. “Those of our readers who don’t chuse to buy it in this form,” the broadside already on sale, “may see it in the Newport Mercury next Monday, at the furthest.” That last phrase suggested the possibility that Southwick would publish a supplement, postscript, or extraordinary issue sometime before the next regular issue of the weekly newspaper came out. He did just that with a Newport Mercury Extraordinary “Containing the FRESHEST ADVICES” on July 18. It featured the entire text of the Declaration of Independence. Southwick gave it a few days for customers to purchase the broadside, but he then opted to provide subscribers with the momentous document without growing frustrated with the delay as they waited an entire week. He was the only American printer to publish a supplement or extraordinary that deviated from his newspaper’s usual publication schedule upon receiving a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
Unlike Holt, who fit the entire document on a single page of the New-York Journal so readers could display it, Southwick did not manage to fit the Declaration of Independence on just one page. It filled the entire second page and a few lines and John Hancock’s signature spilled over onto the third page. Subscribers could read the Declaration of Independence for themselves, but if they wanted a copy to display then they needed to purchase the broadside available at Southwick’s printing office.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?
Providence Gazette (July 13, 1776).
“[Advertisements omitted will be in our next.]”
The July 13, 1776, edition of the Providence Gazette included a note from the printer, John Carter, that “[Advertisements omitted will be in our next.]” Even though some advertisements received in the printing office “at Shakespear’s Head, in Meeting-Street,” did not make it into print in that issue, it still carried a significant number of paid notices. Carter devoted the entire fourth page to advertising as well as the final column of the third page. That meant that advertising accounted for four out of twelve columns or one-third of the content of that issue.
What prevented Carter from inserting certain advertisements? Acquiring a copy of the Declaration of Independence and printing it for his subscribers and other readers likely played a part. Consider where the Declaration of Independence and the note from the printer appeared within the July 13 issue. Both ran on the third page, the last page for which the compositor set type. Like other newspapers published during the era of the American Revolution, the Providence Gazetteconsisted of four pages created by printing two pages on each side of a broadsheet and folding it in half. Printers produced both pages on one side, let the broadsheets dry, and then printed the other two pages on the other side. In most printing offices, that meant taking the first and fourth pages to press first and later printing the second and third pages.
Carter wedged the note that advertisements that did not appear in the July 13 edition would appear in the next issue into the last column on the third page, placing it at the very bottom after squeezing in as many advertisements as possible. The Declaration of Independence started near the top of the first column and filled most of the second column as well. It did not, however, start at the top of the column. Carter concluded a news update from New York. He also included a short introduction: “The following Declaration of the General Congress was Yesterday received from Philadelphia.” That further suggests that he set type for the momentous document as soon as he received it and inserted it into the July 13 edition where it would fit. Doing so displaced some of the advertisements he intended to print before a copy of the Declaration of Independence came to hand.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Pennsylvania Ledger (July 13, 1776).
“The True Interest of America Impartially Stated.”
A week after the Pennsylvania Evening Post became the first newspaper to publish the Declaration of Independence, the Pennsylvania Ledger became the last newspaper printed in Philadelphia to carry that momentous document. The news had certainly reached readers by word of mouth long before July 13. Some may have attended the public reading of the Declaration of Independence at the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) on July 8. They could have also read the document in the Pennsylvania Ledger (July 6), Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet (July 8), Henrich Millers Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote (in German, July 9), the Pennsylvania Gazette (July 10), or the Pennsylvania Journal (July 10). The text may not have been readily available to James Humphreys, Jr., in time for the July 6 edition of the Pennsylvania Ledger, though he may not have invested the same effort in acquiring it as did Benjamin Towne, the printer of the Pennsylvania Evening Post. Like the printers of the other newspapers published in Philadelphia, Humphreys did not move forward his weekly publication schedule to disseminate the Declaration of Independence, nor did he print a supplement or extraordinary issue.
Still, Humphreys may have published the Declaration of Independence with less enthusiasm than his fellow printers in Philadelphia. Humphreys was widely suspected of being a Loyalist, though Isaiah Thomas, a printer who did not shy away from condemning other printers who did not support the American cause, had a more nuanced view of Humphreys and “his intention to conduct his paper with political impartiality.” Thomas noted “perhaps, in times more tranquil than those in which it appeared, he might have succeeded in his plan.” Humphreys stood by his “oath of allegiance to the king of England … and refused to bear arms against the British government; in consequence of which, he was deemed a tory, and his paper denounced as being under corrupt influence.”[1] In the end, the “impartiality of the Ledger did not comport with the temper of the times” and Humphreys left Philadelphia for his safety by the end of 1776. He eventually returned during the British occupation of the city, accompanied the army to New York, and, following the war, established a newspaper, the Nova Scotia Packet, in Shelburne, a town founded by Loyalists who went into exile.[2]
That “impartiality” described by Thomas found expression in other items that came off Humphreys’s press and appeared in advertisements in the Pennsylvania Ledger. Without comment on the contents of the pamphlet, Thomas reported that Humphreys printed “Strictures on Paine’s Common Sense. Two editions …, consisting of several thousand copies each, were sold in a few months.”[3]The True Interest of America Impartially Stated, as the pamphlet was also known, offered a response to Common Sense. Humphreys placed an advertisement for the second edition of The True Interest of America Impartially Stated on the first page of the issue of the Pennsylvania Ledger that carried the Declaration of Independence. That document appeared on the second page, though probably not the result of Humphreys inserting news only when it arrived. He almost certainly had access to a copy of the Declaration of Independence with sufficient time to place it on the front page of the Pennsylvania Ledger if he wished. After all, the printers of the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal made room for the Declaration of Independence on the front page of their newspapers three days earlier.
The advertisement for The True Interest of America Impartially Stated even carried a quotation from the Continental Congress’s “Address to the People of Great-Britain” in October 1774 that contradicted the action they took in declaring independence less than two years later: “You have been told that we are seditious, impatient of government, and desirous of Independency. Be assured that these are not Facts, but Calumnies – Permit us to be as free as yourselves, and we shall ever esteem a union with you to be our greatest glory and our greatest happiness. – Place us in the same situation we were at the close of the last war, and our former harmony will be restored.” Even as Humphreys published the Declaration of Independence in the Pennsylvania Ledger, not all readers celebrated or agreed with the action taken by the Continental Congress. The Revolutionary War became a civil war among colonizers as much as a contest between a nation seeking independence and Great Britain.
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[1] Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America: With a Biography of Printers and an Account of Newspapers (1810; New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), 439-440.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Connecticut Gazette (July 12, 1776).
“We have been obliged to issue only a Half Sheet paper this Week; in which, however, is digested every material Occurrence that is come to Hand.”
Newspapers published during the era of the American Revolution usually consisted of four pages created by printing two pages on each side of a broadsheet and then folding it in half. Due to paper shortages, some issues occasionally had only two pages, one on each side of a half sheet. The July 12, 1776, edition of the Connecticut Gazette had only two pages, but apparently factors other than disruptions in the paper supply led Timothy Green, the printer, to make that decision. In a note to readers at the top of the first column on the first page, he advised, “[In order to expedite some necessary Business for the Government, we have been obliged to issue only a Half Sheet Paper this Week; in which, however, is digested every material Occurrence that is come to Hand.]” Green did not mention the impact that had on advertisements, unlike John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, who inserted a notice in his newspaper the following day that “[Advertisements omitted will be in our next.]” Green found space to publish four advertisements, whereas he filled an entire page with advertising in the previous issue.
The printer undersold the contents of that issue of the Connecticut Gazette when he claimed that he “digested every material Occurrence that is come to Hand.” It carried updates from Charleston, South Carolina; the provincial congress in North Carolina; Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia; Philadelphia; New York; Boston and nearby Watertown in Massachusetts; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Gibraltar by way of London. That issue also carried a few brief items of local news from New London. Yet none of that was the most significant news that the Connecticut Gazette carried. Near the top of the second column on the second page, Green printed the Declaration of Independence, making the Connecticut Gazette the first newspaper in New England to disseminate that momentous document to its readers. Unlike other news, the Declaration of Independence had not been “digested” to fit in the limited space available on the half sheet that Green resorted to publishing that week. Instead, he printed the Declaration of Independence in its entirety. The nation’s founding document was a “material Occurrence” indeed! Its placement in the middle of the second page does not necessarily indicate that Green did not consider the Declaration of Independence significant. Instead, he likely set the type and integrated the document into his newspaper as soon as he acquired a copy. The first page may have already been printed by that time. For eighteenth-century printers and readers, where an item appeared on the page of a newspaper did not necessarily signal the importance associated with it but rather the realities of the printing technology of the period.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
New-York Journal (July 11, 1776).
“The Declaration of the United States of America, is inserted in this paper.”
A day after the Constitutional Gazette became the first newspaper in New York to print the Declaration of Independence, the New-York Journal and the New York Packet both published it on July 11, 1776. The printers may have had access to the complete text sooner than that, but, like their counterparts in Philadelphia, they did not adjust their weekly publication schedule nor print a supplement or extraordinary issue to disseminate the Declaration of Independence. Readers almost certainly heard that the Continental Congress had declared independence before they had an opportunity to read the document approved on July 4.
The New York Packet, printed by Samuel Loudon, carried the Declaration of Independence on the second page, under a heading for news from Philadelphia. It started halfway down the third column and concluded at the bottom of the fourth (and final) column on that page. While that placement may seem unusual to modern readers who would expect the Declaration of Independence to be front-page news, it did not indicate any less importance or urgency to eighteenth-century readers who were accustomed to a different layout for newspapers than what evolved in the nineteenth century. The New York Packet, like other newspapers published during the era of the American Revolution, consisted of four pages created by printing two pages on each side of a broadsheet and then folding it in half. Printers often printed the side with the first and fourth pages first, frequently placing older news on the first page and advertisements on the fourth page. As a result, news that arrived closest to publication appeared on the second or even third page. Readers knew to look for it there. Such was the case when Loudon printed the Declaration of Independence in the New York Packet.
John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, devoted the entire third page of the July 11 edition to the Declaration of Independence. Like Loudon, he apparently had type set and printed the first and fourth pages before he acquired a copy of the Declaration of Independence. He opted, however, to make it the only item on the third page. He enclosed the text of the document within a border composed of printing ornaments and devised a headline in font larger than that of the title of the newspaper in the masthead. Holt wanted readers to take note of the Declaration of Independence … and he wanted them to do more than just read it the first time they saw it in his newspaper. In a note that appeared above other advertisements on the second page, Holt stated, “The Declaration of the United States of America, is inserted in this paper, in the present form to oblige a number of our Customers, who intend to separate from the rest of the paper, and fix it up, in open view, in their Houses, as a mark of their approbation of the INDEPENDENT SPIRIT of their Representatives.” Holt provided his subscribers with a piece of patriotic memorabilia. Newspapers were ephemeral, usually discarded once they had been read, but this was a document to save and to display to demonstrate support for the American cause and, especially, the Continental Congress’s bold action of declaring independence.
Even though his name and location appeared in the colophon at the bottom of the fourth page (on the reverse side of the page that carried the Declaration of Independence), Holt added an imprint at the bottom of the third page that he intended for subscribers to “separate … from the rest of the paper” and display “in open view, in their Houses.” It stated, “NEW-YORK: PRINTED BY JOHN HOLT, IN WATER-STREET.” In so doing, Holt simultaneously demonstrated his own patriotism and crafted an advertisement for the services available at his printing office.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Constitutional Gazette (July 10, 1776).
“A Choice Collection of American Liberty Songs and Pamphlets to be sold by the Printer.”
On July 10, 1776, the Constitutional Gazette became the first newspaper published in New York to print the Declaration of Independence. John Anderson, the printer, devoted the first two pages of that issue to “A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled.” The same day, Mary Katharine Goddard printed the Declaration of Independence in the Maryland Journal and the Baltimore Advertiser. Unlike most other printers, Goddard inserted as triumphant headline: “THE THIRTEEN United STATES OF AMERICA, Have declared INDEPENDENCY.” She used decorative type to draw attention to the headline and manicules at either end of the phrase “Have declared INDEPENDENCY” for even more emphasis. The Declaration of Independence appeared in Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette, also published in Baltimore, the previous day. The Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal, both printed in Philadelphia, also published the Declaration of Independence on July 10, joining other newspapers from that city that already published it.
Maryland Journal (July 10, 1776).
News about independence spread quickly. No doubt word of mouth carried the news more quickly than printers set type for their newspapers, yet printing the Declaration of Independence in newspapers gave citizens of the new nation the opportunity to examine the complete text for themselves, engaging with the theory of government established in the first paragraphs of the document, the many grievances against the king in the middle, and, finally, the bold action taken by the Continental Congress. The copy of July 10 edition of the Constitutional Gazette that has been digitized for America’s Historical Newspapers includes a handwritten note above the masthead on the first page: “A Good thing.” One reader not only perused the Declaration of Independence but also recorded their endorsement of it.
On the final page of that issue, Anderson offered another chance for that reader and everyone else to demonstrate their patriotism. In a brief but well-timed advertisement, he announced, “A Choice Collection of American Liberty Songs and Pamphlets to be sold by the Printer.” He likely hoped that the excitement caused by the Declaration of Independence would inspire readers to become consumers of patriotic memorabilia. After all, they now had even more reason to learn “American Liberty Songs” and join in singing them with their friends and neighbors.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?
Freeman’s Journal (July 6, 1776).
“The Book so much admired, entitled COMMON SENSE, may be had at the Printing Office.”
The July 6, 1776, edition of the Freeman’s Journal concluded with an advertisement for Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the most influential political pamphlet published during the era of the American Revolution. Benjamin Dearborn, the printer of the newspaper, repeated the advertisement that first appeared a week earlier: “The Book so much admired, entitled COMMON SENSE, may be had at the Printing Office.” He apparently stocked copies produced by other printers since no records exist of a local edition published in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1776.
The same advertisement appeared in the next two issues of the Freeman’s Journal on July 13 and July 20. The type for the fourth page of the July 13 edition, the page that carried the advertisement, may have already been set by the time that Dearborn received word, via Boston, that the Continental Congress declared independence. He reprinted news from the July 11 edition of the New-England Chronicle: “We are assured that on July the 2d, the Congress voted for INDEPENDENCY, not one colony dissenting; but the delegates of New-York remaining neuter, for want of being instructed on the head.” In the next issue, Dearborn’s final advertisement for Common Sense moved from the bottom of the last page to the bottom of the first page. He devoted the entire final page to the Declaration of Independence (with the colophon running across the bottom). Dearborn offered readers one last chance to acquire the pamphlet that had played such an important role in the decision to declare independence.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Pennsylvania Evening Post (July 6, 1776).
“TO be SOLD, the brigantine TWO FRIENDS.”
After the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, John Dunlap, the printer of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet, set about printing approximately two hundred broadside copies. By the next morning, they were ready to dispatch to colonial assemblies, provincial conventions, and military commanders to inform them of the reasons and rationale for declaring independence. The Dunlap Broadside was the first printing of the Declaration of Independence … but Dunlap was not the first printer to publish the Declaration of Independence in a newspaper. He did indeed print it in the next edition of his weekly newspaper on July 8, but he did not move up the publication day, nor did he issue a supplement or extraordinary issue to disseminate the Declaration of Independence to his subscribers before the usual publication day.
Benjamin Towne, the printer of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, was the first to publish the Declaration of Independence in a newspaper. His newspaper had also been the first to inform the public that the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence on July 2. Unlike other newspapers published in Philadelphia and most other newspapers published in America at the time, the Pennsylvania Evening Post was not a weekly newspaper. Instead, Towne distributed new issues on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Without deviating from its usual publication schedule, the Pennsylvania Evening Post was the first newspaper to (twice!) deliver momentous news about independence to the public.
This timeline shows when the news circulated in newspapers printed in Philadelphia and cities with their own newspapers nearest Philadelphia:
Wednesday, July 3 – The Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal both report that the Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain.
Thursday, July 4 – The Pennsylvania Evening Post makes no mention of a declaration of independence. Towne does not repeat the same-day scoop he managed two days earlier.
Friday, July 5 – Henrich Millers Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote, published in German, reports that the Continental Congress declared independence and makes first mention of the Declaration of Independence in a newspaper: “Die Declaration in Englisch ist jetzt in der Presse; sie ist datirt, den 4ten July, 1776, und wird beut order morgen im deuct erscheinen.” [The Declaration in English is now in the press; it is dated July 4, 1776, and will appear in German today or tomorrow.]
Saturday, July 6 – The Pennsylvania Evening Post publishes the Declaration of Independence. The Pennsylvania Ledger does not.
Monday, July 8 – Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet publishes the Declaration of Independence and announces a public reading: “THIS DAY, at Twelve o’clock, the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE, will be PROCLAIMED at the STATE-HOUSE.”
Tuesday, July 9 – The Pennsylvania Evening Post reports, “Yesterday, at twelve o’clock, INDEPENDANCY was declared at the State-House in this city, in the presence of many thousand spectators, who testified their approbation of it by repeated acclamations of joy.” Henrich Millers Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote publishes a translation of the Declaration of Independence in German. Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette, printed in Baltimore, publishes the Declaration of Independence. News quickly spread beyond Philadelphia. Newspapers in Philadelphia adhered to their regular publication schedules. That meant that some did not publish the Declaration of Independence until after it appeared in newspapers in other cities.
Wednesday, July 10 – The Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal publish the Declaration of Independence. The Maryland Journal, another newspaper printed in Baltimore, publishes the Declaration of Independence. The Constitutional Gazette becomes the first newspaper in New York to publish the Declaration of Independence.
Thursday, July 11 – The New-York Journal and the New York Packet publish the Declaration of Independence. The Pennsylvania Evening Post reports on the reception the “DECLARATION OF INDEPENDANCY” received in Easton, Pennsylvania. After a public reading, a “great number of spectators … gave their hearty assent with three loud huzzas.”
Saturday, July 13 – The Pennsylvania Ledger publishes the Declaration of Independence a week after it appeared in the Pennsylvania Evening Post. The Pennsylvania Ledger was the last newspaper published in Philadelphia to print the Declaration of Independence. On the same day, the Pennsylvania Evening Post carries a report of “INDEPENDANCY proclaimed under a triple volley of musketry” in Princeton, New Jersey. It met with “universal acclamation for the prosperity of the UNITED STATES.”
What was the connection to advertisements that appeared in the Pennsylvania Evening Post on July 6 when it became the first newspaper to publish the Declaration of Independence? John Parry’s advertisement for the sale of two ships, the brigantine Two Friends and the schooner Mary Ann, followed the Declaration of Independence, immediately below the signature of “JOHN HANCOCK, President.” Parry’s advertisement previously appeared right after that newspaper’s announcement on July 2, the first in print, that the “CONTINENTAL CONGRESS declared the UNITED COLONIES FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES.” That was almost certainly by coincidence rather than by design. Quite by accident, Parry’s advertisement twice followed the first publication of one of the most consequential stories ever reported in American newspapers.
