Freeman’s Journal

October 6

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Freeman’s Journal (October 5, 1776).

“Return or pay for it … or expect a visit from some one more inquisitive than polite.”

During the era of the American Revolution, newspapers frequently carried advertisements about thefts and burglaries, usually describing the items taken and offering rewards for bringing the culprits to justice.  If possible, the victims also wanted the stolen goods returned, asking readers to “stop” or confiscate them if they encountered them in the marketplace.  In some instances, the advertisements identified who had taken the items, but in most cases they relied on describing the goods as a means of identifying the burglars and thieves.  Such instances gave some people, both those who stole the goods and those who purchased them via what Serena Zabin has termed an “informal economy,” opportunities to participate in the transatlantic consumer revolution.

The victim of a theft in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the fall of 1776 seemed to know who had taken “a Piece of back Taffety Ribbon off the counter, in a shop in Queen Street.”  The unfortunate shopkeeper placed an advertisement in the October 5 edition of the Freeman’s Journal, informing the woman who absconded with the ribbon that “the proper owner is not at all disposed to give it to her.”  The shopkeeper advised the shoplifter “to return or pay for” the ribbon “without further notice” or else “expect a visit from some one more inquisitive than polite.”  Whether that person was the shopkeeper, someone with standing to arrest or prosecute the shoplifter, or someone with a more unsavory character, the advertisement did not specify, leaving it to the imagination of the woman who stole the ribbon.  The shopkeeper also noted that the shoplifter took the ribbon “between 12 and 1 o’clock at noon, on Friday the 20th” of September, giving such precise details to imply that the shopkeeper did indeed know the identity of the shoplifter and could dispatch “some one more inquisitive than polite” to visit her to remedy the matter.  Most advertisements about thefts and burglaries called on the public for assistance, but this advertisement about a shoplifter addressed a single reader, the shoplifter herself, as the shopkeeper took a different approach to using the power of the press to recover the stolen goods.

September 29

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Freeman’s Journal (September 28, 1776).

“Cash for RAGS … will be given by the Publisher of this Paper.”

Printers frequently offered “Cash for RAGS” in advertisements they placed in their own newspapers during the era of the American Revolution.  They collected linen and other kinds of rags to recycle into paper that they could then use to print a variety of items, including more newspapers.

Benjamin Dearborn, the printer of the Freeman’s Journal in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, ran such an advertisement on September 28, 1776.  He offered two pence per pound for “white Cotton, Linnen, or Cotton & Linnen” rags, “One Penny, for white Canvas” rags, and “One Copper for mix’d colours.”  Some printers simply issued a call for rags, but Dearborn elaborated on his offer in a postscript that explained to readers why they should collect rags and turn them over to him.  “It is requested of those who take any Satisfaction in exhibiting Saving Examples, encouraging Manufacotries, serving the Interest of their Country, or being served themselves with the News-Paper,” the printer proclaimed, “that they would comply with the trifling, tho’ necessary article of saving their RAGS.”  Throughout the imperial crisis, many colonizers advocated boycotting British goods and replacing them with “domestic manufactures” or goods produced in the colonies.  Dearborn echoed those sentiments when he addressed readers who believed in “encouraging Manufactories.”  For many years, doing so had been a means of defending the rights they believed they possessed within the British Empire, but “serving the Interest of their Country” had a new meaning since the Continental Congress declared independence the previous summer.  Even if such arguments did not resonate with some readers, Dearborn hoped that they were interested enough in reading the news that they would collect their rags solely to continue “being served themselves with the News-Paper.”

The printer tried to increase the chances that readers would take note of his advertisement.  He made it the first item in the first column on the first page … and he enclosed it within a border comprised of printing ornaments.  No other item – whether news, editorial, advertisement, or the weekly entry in the “POET’s CORNER” on the final page – featured decorative type.  Not even advertisements for books and pamphlets that Dearborn sold at his printing office had a similar format.  The format underscored just how much he needed readers to comply with his request for rags of all sorts.

September 28

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Freeman’s Journal (September 28, 1776).

“A TAVERN … at the sign of General Washington.”

In the fall of 1776, William Brewster opened a new tavern “a few rods back of the state-house in Portsmouth,” New Hampshire.  When he marketed this new enterprise in an advertisement in the September 28 edition of the Freeman’s Journal, he reminded prospective customers that he “has for many years kept a house of Entertainment for the members of the Hon. General Court, and other Gentlemen of distinction.”  Patrons of his new establishment could expect to be “accommodated with genteel Lodgings, a good table, [and] the best Liquors the times afford” as well as “good stabling for horses.”  Brewster would devote “constant attendance” to the endeavor.  He hoped that his efforts in offering hospitality would “merit the approbation of all good customers.”

Although Brewster relied on his prior experience when he opened this tavern, he did incorporate something new.  He informed the public that “the sign of General Washington,” the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, marked the tavern’s location.  It was an act of veneration for one of the heroes of the American Revolution, like William Adock selling handkerchiefs with likenesses of Washington and John Hancock, the president of the Continental Congress, in Philadelphia.  It was also part of a trend of reshaping the landscape with new images that embraced an American identity.  In Boston, John Newell offered “ENTERTAINMENT for Gentlemen and keeping for Horses, at the sign of the YANKEE HERO,” placing an advertisement in the New-England Chronicle not long after the siege of the city ended when British forces evacuated to Halifax.  At about the same time, Daniel Jones ran advertisements for the “AMERICAN COFFEE HOUSE, at the sign of the Golden Eagle,” in Boston.  Prior to the outbreak of the war, many cities and towns had a London Coffee House where residents gathered to socialize, discuss politics, and conduct business.  An “AMERICAN COFFEE HOUSE” in Boston signified pride in the new nation as former colonizers abandoned the British identity they had formerly embraced in favor creating an American identity.  Brewster’s decision to name his new tavern after General Washington was part of that process.

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.

July 28

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Freeman’s Journal (July 27, 1776).

“All persons coming from places infected with the Small Pox will stop to be properly smoaked.”

It was important news, but it appeared among the advertisements in the July 27, 1776, edition of the Freeman’s Journal, or New Hampshire Gazette.  The selectmen for the town of Portsmouth placed the advertisement to “notify the public that a Smoak-house is erected at the Great Swamp, where it is expected all persons coming from places infected with the Small Pox,” such as Boston, “will stop to be properly smoaked and cleaned from infection.”  In addition, the selectmen demanded “that no traveller coming from any infected place will presume to enter this town by any other way.”

The notice could have appeared with the local news from Portsmouth that Benjamin Dearborn, the printer of the Freeman’s Journal, selected for that issue.  Instead, it ran as an advertisement in another column, to the right of the header for news from “PORTSMOUTH,” below an advertisement that offered a “LARGE commodious BRICK HOUSE in York” for rent, and above an advertisement about a horse left at the Globe Tavern.  The notation at the end of the notice, “10—12,” indicated that it was indeed an advertisement.  It first appeared in issue “No. 10” on July 27 and would run in each issue through “No. 12” on August 10 before being discontinued.  The notation was meant for the compositor who set the type rather than for readers.  Dearborn presumably generated revenue from the advertisement.  Treating it as an advertisement had the benefit of disseminating such an important announcement multiple times and increasing the chances that travelers learned about the policy for entering Portsmouth before approaching the town.  Still, Dearborn could have chosen to insert the notice among the news in several consecutive issues of the Freeman’s Journal rather than consigning it to the space reserved for advertisements.  Instead, he followed the same practice as other early American printers who published newspapers.  Within the past week, a notice concerning voting for delegates to attend a convention “for the express purpose of forming a New Government” in Maryland appeared as an advertisement in Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette and a notice instructing Committees of Safety in Worcester County to “transmit … the Names of such Persons … who are deemed to be notoriously inimical to the rights of America” ran as an advertisement in the Massachusetts Spy.  Subscribers and other readers knew that important news updates sometimes took the form of advertisements.  They perused notices placed for all sorts of purposes to keep informed about local news.

July 20

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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.

Freeman’s Journal (July 20, 1776).

July 7

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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.

Dearborn and the readers of the Freeman’s Journal did not yet know that the Continental Congress voted to declare independence on July 2 and then voted to approve a declaration of independence drafted by a committee that included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin on July 4.  The most recent updates from Philadelphia in that issue of the Freeman’s Journal were dated June 19 and June 25.  For the moment, Dearborn continued hawking a pamphlet that made a convincing case for declaring independence, unaware that the Continental Congress had already done so.

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.

June 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Freeman’s Journal (June 22, 1776).

“The Book so much admired, entitled COMMON SENSE.”

“CASH given for RAGS.”

Benjamin Dearborn launched the Freeman’s Journal in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on May 25, 1776.  He quickly gained advertisers, including advertisers who offered rewards for capturing and returning enslaved people who liberated themselves by running away and advertisers who offered enslaved people for sale.  An advertisement for a “likely healthy NEGRO MAN, aged about twenty-five,” for instance, made its second appearance on the final page of the June 22 edition.  Like every other newspaper printed in the colonies, the Freeman’s Journal simultaneously perpetuated slavery (of some) and advocated for liberty (for others).

On the first page, Dearborn inserted his own advertisement for Thomas Paine’s popular political pamphlet: “The Book so much admired, entitled COMMON SENSE, may be had at the Printing Office.”  It was the first time that Dearborn offered Common Sense for sale.  Neither he nor any other printer in New Hampshire published a local edition, so he apparently acquired copies from a colleague in another town.  By the end of June, local editions published in New England had proliferated to the point that he could have received the pamphlet from printers in Boston, New Haven, Norwich, Providence, or Salem.  In Philadelphia, the Second Continental Congress tasked a committee that included Thomas Jefferson with drafting a statement of independence for the colonies on June 10.  As Jefferson worked on a draft of what would become the Declaration of Independence, Dearborn disseminated the pamphlet that made the boldest and clearest call for separation from Great Britain.

Dearborn also issued a call for rags, offering cash for them at his printing office.  Throughout the colonies, printers of other newspapers were doing the same as they all attempted to gather materials for paper mills to recycle into one of the most essential supplies necessary for publishing newspapers.  Throughout the war, paper shortages had an impact on the dissemination of the news.  Printers sometimes suspended their newspapers for short periods or published them on smaller sheets when that was the only paper available.  Dearborn inserted lines to separate most advertisements from those that appeared above and below, but he did not do so with his notices about Common Sense and rags.   That may have been especially fitting because any rags he collected might have been transformed into paper for printing more copies of Common Sense or, more likely, new issues of the Freeman’s Journal with advertisements for the pamphlet and news about the war and the Continental Congress’s decision to declare independence.  Four weeks after his first advertisement for Common Sense, Dearborn devoted an entire page of the Freeman’s Journal to printing the Declaration of Independence.

June 1

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Freeman’s Journal (June 1, 1776).

“RAN AWAY … a NEGRO MAN, named Seneca.”

Benjamin Dearborn published the first issue of the Freeman’s Journal or New-Hampshire Gazette on May 25, 1776.  In a note that followed his address to readers, he “requested that those who would have advertisements, &c. [including letters and poetry] inserted in this paper will send them” to the printing office in Portsmouth “before the Post arrives, (which is on Friday afternoon) as it’s proposed to publish the paper on Saturday mornings.”  Several advertisers heeded those instructions.  The following week the second issue of the Freeman’s Journal featured more than half a dozen advertisements, a good start for a printer seeking to establish multiple revenue streams for his new newspaper.

Samuel Hall of Portsmouth was among those advertisers.  He published a notice that described Seneca, a “NEGRO MAN” who liberated himself by running away from his enslaver, and offered a reward for his capture and return.  Such advertisements encouraged readers to engage in surveillance of Black men and women to determine whether they matched the descriptions that appeared in the public prints.  In this case, Hall included Seneca’s age and height, noting as well that he was “a stout thick sett fellow.”  Readers might also recognize him by the clothing that he wore and took with him, including “two coats, one red the other blue; one blue pea Jacket; … 2 pair leather breeches; 2 pair worsted, and 2 pair yarn stockings; [and] a mill’d cap turn’d up with fur.”  In addition, Seneca “talks good English.”  Hall intended for all those details in aid in identifying the fugitive from slavery.

Enslaved men and women liberated themselves by running away from their enslavers throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  Advertisements describing Black men and women who emancipated themselves in this way began appearing in newspapers soon after the Boston News-Letter commenced publication in 1704.  Seneca likely knew of other enslaved people who escaped from slavery by fleeing from their enslavers.  He may have taken advantage of the disruptions caused by the Revolutionary War to increase his chances of evading detection.  At the same time Seneca made his decision, Dearborn set about a new venture made possible in part by the war, establishing a newspaper called the Freeman’s Journal.  The title made a political statement about liberty on the eve of the colonies declaring independence, yet in the second issue Dearborn joined every other American newspaper printer, Patriots and Tories, who generated revenues and played a role in perpetuating slavery by publishing advertisements about enslaved people.