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.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
New-York Journal (August 8, 1776).
“DRUMS … equal to any that have been imported, for sound or beauty.”
The frequency that advertisements for drums appeared in American newspapers increased significantly after fighting commenced at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. Drums, after all, were essential military equipment. Advertisers who made or sold drums often did not consider it necessary to say much in their newspaper notices. One brief advertisement, for instance, proclaimed, “AMERICAN MADE DRUMS, Sold by PHILIP PELTON, At the Foot of Cowfoot-hill, in NEW-YORK.” Pelton made sure that prospective customers knew that his drums were made in America, but he did not make other appeals in that notice.
In a subsequent advertisement, however, he decided to go into more detail in hopes of convincing readers in the market for drums to choose the ones that he “MADE and sold” and provided to an associate, Daniel Pelton, likely a relation, to sell. In case it was not enough that they were made in America, Pelton asserted that his drums were “equal to any that have been imported, for sound or beauty.” His customers did not have to sacrifice quality when they purchased his drums. They looked as good as imported alternatives and they sounded as good. In addition, the Peltons had a “great variety on hand,” so “any gentlemen may be served at the shortest notice.” Customers did not need to place orders and wait for Pelton to make their drums. Instead, they could select from a wide inventory, making choices according to size and appearance and price. No matter which drums customers chose, the Peltons sold them “on the most reasonable terms” or, in other words, for fair prices. As an ancillary service, the Peltons pledged that “purchasers may depend upon having their Drums tun’d to sound well.” That was yet another marketing appeal intended to resonate with prospective customers. As Pelton had done when mentioning the sound and beauty of his drums earlier in the advertisement, he invited readers to engage their senses by imagining the sounds of drums “tun’d to sound well.” This more elaborate advertisement gave prospective customers more reasons to purchase the drums that Pelton made and sold.
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.
Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Maryland Gazette (July 4, 1776).
“RUN AWAY … [a] negro fellow named WILL.”
On July 4, 1776, the delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted to approve a revised version of a declaration of independence written by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and others appointed for that task. In the 250 years that have passed since that momentous event, the document they approved has become known as the Declaration of Independence and July 4 has been celebrated as the day the colonies, now states, declared their independence from Great Britain. Celebrations and commemorations of that event often overlook other declarations of independence made on July 4, 1776. On that day, American newspapers published more than half a dozen advertisements concerning enslaved people who declared their independence by running away from their enslavers.
Maryland Gazette (July 4, 1776).
The Maryland Gazette, published in Annapolis, carried two such notices. In one, Alexander Ogg of Calvert County offered a reward for the capture and return of Will, a “negro fellow” who liberated himself three weeks earlier on June 10. Ogg described what Will wore when he departed, but he also reported that “‘tis probable he may alter his dress” to avoid detection. In so doing, Ogg acknowledged that Will was clever as well as courageous. In the other advertisement, Anne Gaither of Annapolis sought the return of “a negro fellow named FLANDERS.” She mentioned that he “has been used to go by water,” indicating that he had experience working on boats or ships just like many other enslaved men who lived on or near the Chesapeake Bay. Gaither also reported that Flanders “has no toes,” though she did not elaborate on that detail. Flanders, no doubt, would have told a much more robust story about who he was and what he had experienced if given the opportunity.
New-York Journal (July 4, 1776).
Enslaved people in southern colonies were not the only ones who liberated themselves by running away at the same time that the Continental Congress voted to declare independence. The New-York Journal carried Jacob Wilkins’s advertisement regarding “a negro man named JACK” who liberated himself from his enslaver on June 20. Jack “carried off with him his master’s gun, fitted for, but without a bayonet, and a grenadiers broad sword, brass mounted.” Wilkins suspected that Jack made his way out of the city and was “sculking in the country, or among the troops, where several of his colour have been observed to be very fond of his company.” The many disruptions caused by the war presented opportunities for enslaved people to free themselves by fleeing from their enslavers. To help readers recognize Jack, Wilkins gave his age, “about 35 years,” and mentioned some distinguishing physical characteristics. Having been “born in Guinea,” Jack had “his country’s marks” or ritual scarring “across the middle of his forehead, [and] towards his nose.” At some point, he “lost one of his under fore teeth.” During his enslavement, Jack learned to speak “broken English.” He also developed valuable skills: he “understands something of the brass founders business, [and] can handle the file very well.” Many enslaved people were skilled artisans. Wilkins lamented that Jack “will endeavour to pass for a freeman.” Jack made himself a free man with his decision to escape from Wilkins.
New-York Packet (July 4, 1776).
The New York Packet carried another advertisement, this one regarding “a Negro Man, named BEN,” placed by John Taylor of “New Germantown, Hunterdon county, West Jersey.” Ben liberated himself on June 5 and had evaded capture for a month. Taylor focused primarily on describing Ben and his clothing, noting the young man’s height, age (“twenty-two years old”), and a left leg “considerably larger than the other, with a large scar on the small of said leg.” Ben wore a blue coat, red jacket, black breeches, and “calf skin shoes, [with] a pair of carved silver buckles,” though he also took another coat and jacket, “a fine shirt with ruffles at the bosom, a pair of woollen trowsers, [and] a half worn wool hat” in a bag “marked I.T. near the mouth.” Given a chance to write about himself, Ben certainly would have chosen to a tell a different story than the one that Taylor relayed. If readers detected a young black man carrying a bag with his former enslaver’s initials, Taylor offered a reward for securing him in any jail until he could retrieve him.
Continental Journal (July 4, 1776).
The Continental Journal, published in Boston after the siege of that city ended, carried two advertisements about enslaved people who liberated themselves. Silas Atkins described Cloe, “a Negro Woman” who was “likely gone in the Country, as she took her best Cloaths and left her old.” Atkins gave Cloe’s age (“37 Years’), provided a physical description, and noted that she “speaks good English,” all characteristics that would aid readers in identifying her. Cloe had been gone since the middle of June. Atkins promised that anyone who “will take up said Negro, or give information where she may be found, shall have Four Dollars for their Trouble” as well as any expenses they incurred. In a nota bene, he added a standard warning that appeared in many such advertisements: “All Persons are hereby cautioned not to conceal, harbour or carry off said Negro, as they would avoid all trouble.” The “trouble” would not come from Cloe but rather from legal action undertaken by Atkins.
Continental Journal (July 4, 1776).
The other advertisement in the Continental Journal concerned “a Negro Man named CATO, about twenty-five Years of Age,” who liberated himself from Andrew Mitchel of “Balstown [Ballston], in the County of Albany, about 5 Weeks ago.” Mitchel described Cato’s features and clothing, but he did not provide other details. He devoted nearly as much space to the network of associates who agreed to aid him by holding Cato until he could retrieve him if a reader managed to capture him. Those seeking the reward could deliver Cato “to Capt. Daniel Hubbard of Pittsfield, [Massachusetts], or Mr. Thomas Luttridge at Albany Ferry, or J. GILL, Printer in Queen Street, BOSTON, or secure him in any Goal [Jail]” and notify Mitchel. In a nota bene, the enslaver reported that Cato “was seen one day last Week at Lanesborough [in western Massachusetts], and is a sly Rogue, and whoever takes him, is desired to be careful of him.” Mitchel meant “sly Rogue” as an insult, not intending to compliment Cato on the ingenuity and perseverance he expected the young Black man to demonstrate in attempting to escape if captured.
New-England Chronicle (July 4, 1776).
One more advertisement in a newspaper published in Boston, the New-England Chronicle, identified an enslaved man who liberated himself by running away from his enslaver. This one concerned Sam, “a Negro man” who escaped from John Hunter of Londonderry, New Hampshire, in late June. Hunter did not know Sam’s age, estimating that he was “30 or 40 years old,” but he did know that Sam “has been 19 years from Africa” and in that time learned to speak “good English.” Readers might recognize Same from his “upper fore teeth” that stuck out or by the “light crimson-coloured coat” that he wore. Hunter inserted a nota bene with a warning like the one that appeared in Atkins’s advertisement about Cloe: “All masters of vessels are hereby desired not to harbour, conceal or carry off said Negro, so as to avoid the Penalty of the Law.” Hunter included an evocative phrase when he said that Sam “has been 19 years from Africa.” What kind of stories would Sam have told about his own life and his decision to liberate himself after so many years of bondage?
The men who gathered in the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) to declare independence from Great Britain are often called the founders of the nation, yet they were not the only ones who envisioned freedom from oppression. They were members of a founding generation that included soldiers and farmers, women and youth, and many others from diverse backgrounds who contributed to the American cause. Will, Flanders, Jack, Ben, Cloe, Cato, and Sam were all founders as well. They made their own declarations of independence during the era of the American Revolution and their former enslavers published those declarations of independence on July 4, 1776. Will, Flanders, Jack, Ben, Cloe, Cato, and Sam joined countless other enslaved men and women who seized their liberty during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Those courageous and resilient men and women sought freedom long before the American Revolution and continued seeking freedom long after the American Revolution. Their stories matter and must be told alongside the stories of other founders as we celebrate and commemorate 250 years of independence.
For other stories of enslaved people liberating themselves originally published on July 4 during the era of the American Revolution, see:
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
New-York Journal (May 23, 1776).
“AN ORATION, Delivered … on the Re-Interment of the Remains of … JOSEPH WARREN.”
Joseph Warren was an American hero, not just a hero in Massachusetts. That was part of the point of the proliferation of local editions of the oration that Perez Morton delivered “on the Re-Interment of the Remains of the late Most Worshipful GRAND MASTER, … President of the late CONGRESS of this Colony, AND MAJOR-GENERAL of the Massachusetts Forces; Who was slain in the battle of BUNKER’s HILL, [on] June 17, 1775.” When the siege of Boston ended with the departure of British forces on March 17, 1776, Warren’s brothers searched for his body. After identifying it by an artificial tooth, they arranged for a Masonic funeral and burial in the Granary Burial Ground. A few weeks later, John Gill advertised Morton’s oration from the occasion. It met with such demand that he issued a second edition.
Yet Gill was not the only printer to publish, advertise, and distribute the oration in memory of Warren. John Dunlap, the printer of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet, produced an edition in Philadelphia. Simultaneously, John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, published yet another edition. Advertisements for the various local editions featured nearly identical copy drawn from the extensive title of the oration. Not only did that relieve the printers of composing their own advertisements, but it also provided readers in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania with a succinct overview of Warren’s most significant achievements, his commitment as a Patriot, and the sacrifice he made for the American cause. As the war entered its second year and more colonizers advocating for declaring independence rather than seeking redress of grievances within the imperial system, newspapers throughout the colonies regularly carried letters, resolutions, and other items that made John Hancock, the president of the Second Continental Congress, and George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army, known far and wide. Yet the movement benefited from having even more heroes for Patriots to venerate. The local editions of Morton’s oration in memory of Warren and the advertisements for in newspapers that circulated far beyond Boston, New York, and Philadelphia played a part in constructing a pantheon of American heroes.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
New-York Journal (May 16, 1776).
“STOP A TORY!”
The headline almost certainly grabbed the attention of readers of the New-York Journal. Other advertisements had headlines that announced, “WRITING PAPER,” “SCRIVENER’S OFFICE,” or “GEORGE WEBSTER, GROCER,” but this one proclaimed, “STOP A TORY!” It delivered news that Moses Kirkland “MADE his escape from the gaol” in Philadelphia on the evening of May 7, 1776. Colonel Kirkland, a Loyalist planter from South Carolina, had been confined in the jail “by order of the Honourable Congress, for practices inimical to this Colony.” An account that first appeared in the January 17, 1776, edition of the Pennsylvania Journal and subsequently in many other newspapers reported that Kirkland had been “at the head of the tories in the back parts of South Carolina” before making his way to Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia who offered freedom to enslaved people who fled from Patriot enslavers and joined the king’s forces. Dunmore dispatched Kirkland “to general Howe at Boston,” but he was captured along the way, imprisoned in Cambridge, and then transported to Philadelphia.
The advertisement provided a physical description of Kirkland and documented the clothes he had been wearing when he made his escape, though he “may possibly have taken other clothes with him” and donned them to elude capture. The advertisement also gave an account of Kirkland’s likely movements, noting that he crossed the Delaware River into New Jersey at Cooper’s Ferry and “it is supposed [he] will either endeavour to get on board one of the men of war in the river, or at Sandy Hook.” According to Michael Adelberg, Sandy Hook became a haven for Loyalists as the Revolutionary War entered its second year. The British Navy took possession of Sandy Hook in April 1776, making it an appealing destination for Loyalists seeking refuge and a good place for Kirkland to make his escape.
The notice further advised that the “public are earnestly desired to endeavour to apprehend this dangerous enemy to the American cause.” To that end, “a reward of One Hundred Dollars is hereby offered to any person, or persons that shall take and bring him back” to the jail in Philadelphia. A nota bene called on the “Printers of the several news papers in the Colonies” to aid in the search for Kirkland by running the advertisement. Several newspapers from New York to Virginia, Adelberg states, did publish the notice, though not all of them gave it a vivid headline that called on readers to “STOP A TORY!” Despite the reward and the widespread dissemination of the advertisement, Kirkland managed to elude capture and went on to serve as a Loyalist officer in southern campaigns during the Revolutionary War.[1]
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[1] See, for instance, Randall M. Miller, “A Loyalist Plan to Retake Georgia and the Carolina, 1778,” South Carolina Historical Magazine 75, no. 4 (October 1974): 207-214.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
New-York Journal (April 18, 1776).
“The Sign of the THREE SUGAR LOAVES.”
George Webster, a grocer, kept shop “At the Sign of the THREE SUGAR LOAVES, in Leary-street,” in New York during the era of the American Revolution. In an advertisement in the April 18, 1776, edition of the New-York Journal, he listed a variety of items, including “Best green citron, West-India sweet meats and pickles, a quantity of cloves, Ground ginger and Cayanne pepper, French and Italian olives and capers, [and] anchovies of a peculiar quality.” He also stocked some housewares, such as “China bowls of different sizes, Chinas cups and saucers of various colours and sizes, with or without handles, [and] A few sets of tea table china complete, which he will sell lower than any in town by ten shillings on the set.” That was a bargain for a tea seat, though colonizers were supposedly abstaining from drinking tea in protest of the Intolerable Acts.
The “Sign of the THREE SUGAR LOAVES” must have been a familiar sight for many residents of New York. It had marked Webster’s location on Leary Street for several years. In addition, the grocer commissioned a woodcut that depicted his sign to adorn some of his newspaper advertisements. It featured a taller sugar loaf in the center, flanked by two shorter sugar loaves, all enclosed in a thin border with scalloped corners. It may have replicated the sign that marked Webster’s location, creating a visual identity or brand through the consistency. Webster used the woodcut in his advertisements in the fall of 1772 and then discontinued it for a few years before using it again in his advertisements in the spring of 1776. Perhaps he retrieved it from the printing office and tucked it away at his shop, though he could have left it in the care of the printer during that time. After all, the image was so tied to his business that it would not have been of much use to other advertisers. Unlike some entrepreneurs who commissioned woodcuts and advertised in multiple newspapers, Webster did not collect his woodcut from one printing office and deliver it to another. His advertisements in Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer in the fall of 1773 featured a decorative border and gave his location as “the THREE SUGAR LOAVES, In LEARY-STREET,” but did not include the woodcut. When he revived the image, it helped distinguish his advertisement from others in the New-York Journal. In the April 18 edition for instance, only one other advertisement included a woodcut. A stock image of a horse, a fraction of the size of Webster’s woodcut, appeared in an advertisement offering the stud services of True Briton. The “Sign of the THREE SUGAR LOAVES” at the top of Webster’s advertisement no doubt helped draw attention to it.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
New-York Journal (March 21, 1776).
“This balsam is sold in bottles … seal’d with my own seal.”
Richard Speaight hawked a variety of patent medicines in an advertisement in the March 21, 1776, edition of the New-York Journal. He listed Turlington’s Balsam, Anderson’s Pills, Lockyer’s Pills, Hooper’s Pills, James’s Powders, Story’s Worm Cakes, and Stoughton’s Bitters. All these remedies were so familiar to consumers that Speaight did not consider it necessary to indicate which of them relieved which maladies. Prospective customers knew them as well as modern consumers know the over-the-counter medications available at local pharmacies. He sold all of them, along with “an assortment of [other] Drugs and Medicines,” for reasonable prices.
On the other hand, Speaight did devote a significant portion of his advertisement to describing a “CHYMICAL Balsam approved of by some of the best Physicians in London.” Those practitioners, he reported, considered the balsam “an excellent medicine for coughs, asthmas, those in a consumptive decay, pains in the breast and all rheumatic disorders.” It supposedly worked to “great effect,” a welcome promise to readers who had tried other treatments without success.
In addition to customers who purchased the balsam for their own use, Speaight also hoped to attract the attention of retails who would stock it in their own shops. He set the price at one dollar per bottle and four shillings for a half bottle while also making “allowances to those who buy to sell again.” In other words, he offered discounts for buying in volume. To avoid counterfeits, he informed the public that bottles of the balsam were “seal’d with my own seal.” Furthermore, he provided “directions signed with my own name.” Retailers and consumers alike could refer to those instructions when selling or using the balsam. For a medicine not nearly as familiar as Anderson’s Pills and Stoughton’s Bitters, a seal and printed directions likely enhanced confidence in the efficacy of the product.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?
New-York Journal (February 15, 1776).
“A NEW and CORRECT EDITION … of that justly esteemed PAMPHLET, called COMMON SENSE.”
A month after Robert Bell published the first edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense in Philadelphia on January 9, 1776, readers of the New-York Journal certainly knew about the pamphlet, even if they had not read it or heard much about its contents. Just reading the newspaper would have been enough to get a sense of the pamphlet’s popularity. After all, the February 15 edition of the New-York Journal carried four advertisements for Common Sense!
Some of them would have looked familiar to regular readers of that newspaper. William Green, a bookbinder in Maiden Lane and Bell’s agent in New York, once again advertised the unauthorized “Second Edition of COMMON SENSE” that Bell published in Philadelphia. It was the third consecutive week his notice ran in the New-York Journal. Also appearing for the third time, another advertisement informed readers that William Bradford and Thomas Bradford would soon publish a “NEW EDITION, (with LARGE and INTERESTING ADDITIONS …) OF COMMON SENSE,” an edition undertaken “by appointment of the Author.” After a falling out with Bell, Paine approached the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal to publish a new edition. The Bradfords set about advertising that expanded edition in both Philadelphia and New York.
A variation of one of the other advertisements ran in the previous issue of the New-York Journal. In it, John Anderson, the printer of the Constitutional Gazette, announced publication of a local edition of “that justly esteemed PAMPHLET, called COMMON SENSE.” The previous version ended with the title of the pamphlet. The new one included two elements often included in other advertisements for Common Sense: the section headings that outlined the contents and an epigraph from “Liberty,” a poem by James Thomson. The addition material in Anderson’s advertisement may have helped draw attention to it …
… but the final advertisement dwarfed all the others. For the first time, Bell advertised directly in the New-York Journal rather than indirectly through Green. In doing so, he transferred to New York the feud that he and Paine had waged in advertisements in the Pennsylvania Evening Post and other newspapers published in Philadelphia. Compared to the Bradfords’ new edition “In the PRESS, and will be published as soon as possible,” Bell’s unauthorized second edition was “Out of the Press” and on sale. His notice included the section headers and epigraph by Thomson as well as an address “To the PUBLIC” that first appeared in the Pennsylvania Evening Post on January 27 and an even longer diatribe “To Mr. ANONYMOUS” that first appeared in the Pennsylvania Evening Post on February 1. While the Bradfords’ advertisement hinted at discord between Bell and Paine, this advertisement put the argument on full display for readers in New York. Perhaps that helped generate interest in the pamphlet. For readers who had not yet perused Common Sense themselves, those four advertisements may have encouraged them to acquire a copy to find out more about all the hullabaloo.
What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
New-York Journal (February 15, 1776).
“When the Association was once and upon a sudden offered to me to sign, I declined signing it.”
Joseph Lyon, a farmer “living at the White Plains in Westchester County” in New York, wanted to get back into the good graces of his community. He had offended many people when he refused to sign “the Association,” most likely the “General Association, agreed to, and subscribed by the Freeholders, Freemen, and Inhabitants” of New York. The New York Provincial Congress devised the General Association upon learning of the battles at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. Delegates then disseminated the General Association throughout the colony, expecting supporters of the American cause to sign it. In doing so, subscribers pledged to “adopt and endeavour to carry into Execution, whatever Measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress; or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention, for the Purpose of preserving our Constitution, and opposing he Execution of the several arbitrary, and oppressive Acts of the British Parliament; until a Reconciliation between Great-Britain and America, on Constitutional Principles … can be obtained.”
Lyon did not sign and apparently others in White Plains made their displeasure with that decision known to him. The situation eventually prompted the farmer to take out an advertisement in the February 15, 1776, edition of the New-York Journal. He attempted to explain what caused his error in judgment: “having spent my life in hard labour, and absence from the means of political knowledge, when the Association was once and upon a sudden offered to me to sign, I declined signing it.” In other words, he did not regularly follow politics, so he did not understand the significance of the General Association when it was first presented to him. Furthermore, he had not been allowed time to consider the document thrust at him “upon a sudden.” When colonizers in Massachusetts published advertisements apologizing for signing an address to Thomas Hutchinson when the governor returned to England, many also claimed that they had not had time to consider the implications. In both instances, those asking forgiveness claimed that events moved too quickly so they should not be faulted for making a poor decision. Lyon gave the matter “further consideration” and then “applied to the Chairman or one of the Committee for leave to sign” the General Association, but by then “the paper was gone to New-York.”
Since Lyon could not sign his name alongside others on the original document, he resorted to a newspaper advertisement. “I therefore take this method,” he proclaimed, “to declare, that in my heart I am a sincere friend to the Liberties of America, my native country.” In addition, “all the worldly comfort I expect for myself and my children, is connected with the happiness of America.” To demonstrate that point, “I have not done, nor been concerned in any thing in opposition [to] the present measures of America, in defence of its Liberties, nor ever will.” Although he could not sign the General Association, Lyon made his own pledge to “comply with the recommendations and orders of the Congress and Committees in all things, as far as my conscience will permit.” He may have hoped that others did not pay too much attention to that caveat. Lyon concluded by stating that he was “sixty six years of age, and diligently employed in farming and grinding” so he hoped “this will afford full satisfaction to my countrymen. He asked for sympathy for an old man who knew far more about working a farm and operating a mill than anything involving politics. Humbling himself in the public prints, Lyon believed, offered a means for restoring his standing in his community.
