Politics

October 24

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Boston Evening-Post (October 24, 1774).

“This much esteemed Almanack will contain … the FIRST CHARTER granted to the Province of Massachusetts-Bay.”

On October 24, 1774, Nathaniel Mills and John Hicks, the printers of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, took to the pages of their own newspaper as well as the Boston Evening-Post to announce that they would publish “Bickerstaff’s Boston ALMANACK, For the Year of our Redemption 1775” later in the week.  A few weeks earlier, “Isaac Bickerstaff” ran a notice promoting the almanac and requesting that proprietors of “new Houses of Entertainment” submit their names to the printing office “immediately” for inclusion in the list of taverns in the forthcoming almanac.  Although the imaginary Bickerstaff was the purported author, Benjamin West provided the astronomical calculations and the printers compiled the rest of the contents.

Once Mills and Hicks were tavernkeepers a few weeks to submit updates before they moved forward with printing the almanac.  As they prepared for publication, they promoted the images that accompanied the pamphlet.  Three woodcuts “Embellished” it: “A fine Representation of a New-Zealand WARRIOR: Two Natives of New Holland advancing to Combat: [and] The Anatomy of Man’s Body, as governed by the Twelve Constellations.”  The anatomy was a standard image incorporated into many almanacs, while the depictions of indigenous warriors from Australia (known at the time as New Holland) and New Zealand reflected the fascination with James Cook’s voyage aboard the Endeavour from 1768 through 1771.  Accounts of that mission to the Pacific Ocean to observe the transit of Venus across the sun in 1769 had been advertised widely in American newspapers in recent years.  Whether or not they purchased books that documented Cook’s endeavor, readers were likely familiar with it from newspaper accounts and conversation.

Yet Mills and Hicks did not focus solely on images depicting people in faraway places to market their almanac.  They also referenced current events and local politics.  “This much esteemed Almanack,” the printers declared, “will contain … a Variety of useful, entertaining historical Matter, and the Substance of the FIRST CHARTER granted to the Province of Massachusetts-Bay.”  That charter, granted by Charles I in 1669, had particular importance in the fall of 1774 because Parliament recently revoked the more recent charter, granted by William and Mary in 1691, via the Massachusetts Government Act, one of the Coercive Acts passed in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party.  That legislation gave more authority to a governor appointed by the king, significantly reducing the role that colonizers formerly played in governing themselves under both charters.  In publishing the “FIRST CHARTER” and disseminating it widely in a pamphlet that readers would consult throughout the coming year, Mills and Hicks gave colonizers ready access to an important historical document and provided a ready reminder of the ideals of government that had been long practiced in the colony and recently overturned by a spiteful Parliament.  The printers practiced politics in choosing to include the charter among the contents of the almanac.

October 23

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

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

Supplement to the New-York Journal (October 20, 1774).

“This being the safest and most efficacious method of convincing the Ministry of Great-Britain of their errour.”

John Keating frequently advertised the “FIRST Paper Manufactory Established in the city of New-York” in the late 1760s and early 1770s.  He often updated his advertisement, yet he incorporated familiar themes about patriotism and supporting the local economy.  He also encouraged readers to save linen rags to make into paper, underscoring that they could play an important role in the production of paper made in the colonies as well as its consumption.

Such was the case in an advertisement in the supplement that accompanied the October 20, 1774, edition of the New-York Journal.  Keating opened with an announcement that his enterprise “is in great want of a large quantity of fine and coarse LINEN RAGS.”  He encouraged “the public in general, to be careful in saving every species of materials that are requisite to support such a useful and necessary branch of business.”  In previous advertisements, he offered instructions for collecting and saving rags as part of the rituals of household management, entrusting women in particular with supplying the resources necessary for the operation of the local paper mill and, in the process, lauding the patriotic spirit of those who heeded his call.  In this instance, he did not distinguish men and women, instead stating that when it came to choosing which paper to consume “that most of his fellow citizens will give the preference to a mill in the province … when it is considered that such a conduct will be a certain means of preventing large sums of money going out of the province.”  In addition to supporting the local economy, Keating asserted that the “present alarming situation of the colonies renders it entirely needless to point out the utility of establishing this and every other kind of manufactory among us, as soon as possible.”  Such a plan, he declared, was “the safest and most efficacious method of convincing the Ministry of Great-Britain of their error, and securing opulence to ourselves.”  Keating effortlessly connected politics, commerce, and the livelihoods and good fortune of colonizers who benefited from domestic manufactures as alternatives to imported goods.  He did so once again with a plea “that more attention will be paid to this affair in the future, both from a principle of patriotism, and frugality.”  In so doing, Keating presented a multitude of reasons for readers to support American industry and buy American products as the imperial crisis intensified.

October 20

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

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

Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer (October 20, 1774).

“We [were] suddenly and unwarily drawn in to sign a certain paper published in Mr. Rivington’s Gazetteer.”

Abraham Miller, William Crooker, James Jameson, and a dozen other men from the town of Rye had second thoughts about signing their names to an open letter that appeared as the first item on the first page of the October 13, 1774, edition of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.  That letter, initially endorsed by more than eighty men, stated, “WE … being much concerned with the unhappy situation of public affairs think it our duty to our King and country to declare, that we have not been concerned in any resolutions entered into, or measures taken, with regard to the disputes at present at present subsisting with the mother country.”  As other colonizers had participated in protests or proposed responses to the Coercive Acts, these men claimed that they had remained neutral, not taking any action or expressing any views on the matter.  Furthermore, they did not appreciate what they had observed happening in their communities and in the public prints.  “[W]e also testify,” the letter continued, “our dislike to many hot and furious proceedings, in consequence of said disputes, which we think are more likely to ruin this once happy country, than remove grievances, if any there are.”  In conclusion, they declared “our great desire and full resolution to live and die peaceable subjects to our gracious sovereign King George the third, and his laws.”

That letter apparently elicited responses that at least some of the men who affixed their signatures did not expect … and they experienced those unhappy responses very quickly.  Just four days after the letter appeared in print, Miller, Crooker, Jameson, and others signed another letter, that one backpedaling on the sentiments expressed in the first one.  The new letter ran as an advertisement, not a letter to the editor, in the October 20 edition of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.  The men who signed it moved quickly to submit it in time to appear in the first issue published after the one that carried the initial letter.  In addition, they paid to make sure that it found a place in the newspaper.  They claimed that they had been “suddenly and unwarily drawn in to sign a certain paper published in Mr. Rivington’s Gazetteer.”  When he published an advertisement in the Boston-Gazette to apologize for signing an address to Governor Hutchinson a few months earlier, Thomas Kidder claimed that he had sone so “suddenly and inadvertently.”  Colonizers who regretted expressing Tory sympathies suggested that they did not hold those views but had only signed their names in haste without taking the time to read and contemplate what they were signing.  After “mature deliberation,” Miller, Crooker, Jameson, and others realized “that we acted preposterously, and without adverting properly to the matter in dispute, between the mother country and her colonies.”  They apologized, asserting that they “are therefore sorry that we ever had any concern in said paper,” the original letter, “and we do by these presents utterly disclaim every part thereof, except our expressions of loyalty to the Kind, and obedience to the constitutional laws of the realm.”  They calculated that disavowal would be sufficient to satisfy most patriots who had made their lives difficult.  After all, few clamored for declaring independence in the fall of 1774.  Most colonizers still wanted a redress of their grievances with Parliament and looked to the king to intervene on their behalf.  They believed that the “constitutional laws of the realm” supported their cause, if applied appropriately.  Miller, Crooker, Jameson, and others did not go as far as endorsing “any resolutions entered into, or measures taken” in protest, but they did run an advertisement to advise the public that they did not discourage or disdain such actions.

October 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Essex Gazette (October 18, 1774).

“In Consequence of the Boston Port-Bill … he has opened a Store in Salem.”

In October 1774, Nathan Frazier did what he could to continue selling “an Assortment of Goods, suitable for the Season,” when the Boston Port Act closed the harbor in retaliation for colonizers destroying shipments of tea the previous December.  He opted to open a second location, renting a shop in Salem.  In the October 18 edition of the Essex Gazette, published in that town, he informed readers that “in Consequence of the Boston Port-Bill, and with a View of accommodating those of his Customers to whom it may be most convenient to have their Supplies conveyed by Water,” he now did business in Salem as well as in Boston.  The circumstances had not caused him to close his original store; he “still continues his Business at his Store in Boston as usual.”  Accordingly, his customers “may be supplied at either of said Stores,” though Frazier, “for the present, give[s] his personal Attendance at his Salem Store.”

In addition to inserting this notice in the Essex Gazette, the merchant also placed it in the Boston Evening-Post and the Boston-Gazette on October 17, increasing the chances that readers in Boston, Salem, and other towns would see it.  In the Boston Evening-Post, Frazier’s advertisement happened to appear immediately below William Blair Townsend’s notice that he sold goods “imported before the oppressive Acts on this Town and Province were laid” and, accordingly, could be bought and sold “without any Breach on the solemn League and Covenant” that called for ceasing trade with Britain until Parliament repealed the Coercive Acts.  In the Essex Gazette, Samuel Flagg asserted that “he is determined not to import any more Goods at present,” alluding to current events without naming them as plainly as Frazier and Townsend.  All three advertisements testified to the challenges that merchants and shopkeepers faced as well as their efforts to meet them.  As much as Frazier wished to encourage consumers to visit either of his shops, it was not business “as usual” in Boston and other towns in Massachusetts.  Advertisements, as well as news articles and editorials, made that clear.

October 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Boston Evening-Post (October 17, 1774).

“May therefore be … sold … without any Breach on the solemn League and Covenant.”

Politics took center stage in William Blair Townsend’s advertisements for “Shop Goods … consisting chiefly of Woollens, well suited for the approaching Season” in the October 17, 1774, edition of the Boston Evening-Post.  He looked to sell his entire inventory “by Wholesale and Retail” and close his shop, a casualty of the blockade of Boston that went into effect with the Boston Port Act that Parliament passed to punish the town for tossing tea into the harbor the previous December.  To that end, he assured prospective customers that “they may depend [the goods] were imported before the oppressive Acts on this Town and Province were laid.”  In addition to the Boston Port Act, Townsend invoked the Massachusetts Government Act and the other Coercive Acts.

Furthermore, he asserted that his wares “may therefore be safely transported, by Land, and sold in any Town of said Province, without any Breach on the solemn League and Covenant our worthy Friends in the Country have justly entered into, in Defence of themselves and their Posterity.”  Townsend referred to a plan outlined in a letter that the Boston Committee of Correspondence circulated on June 8.  After outlining the abuses perpetrated by Parliament, the letter encouraged resistance in the form of “affecting the trade and interest of Great Britain, so deeply as shall induce her to withdraw her oppressive hand.”  The Committee of Correspondence sought to revive nonimportation agreements enacted twice in the past decade, first in response to the Stamp Act and, later, the Townshend duties.  The letter proposed that colonizers “come into a solemn league, not to import goods from Great Britain, and not to buy any goods that shall hereafter be imported from thence, until our grievances shall be redressed.”  Some merchants advocated waiting for more comprehensive measures that enlisted cooperation of other colonies, like the Continental Association that the First Continental Congress was in the process of drawing up in Philadelphia at the time Townsend published his advertisement, yet colonizers in towns throughout Massachusetts supported the Solemn League and Covenant.

Knowing that was the case, Townsend acknowledged the politics of the moment in his advertisement.  He endorsed the pact while also making clear that neither he nor his prospective customers violated it.  They could buy and sell with clear consciences … and without attracting the ire of the public.  Beyond that, Townsend wished to clear out of Boston.  In a nota bene, he encouraged “Those that incline to purchase … to apply speedily” since he “is determined to remove into a clear Air in the Country, very soon.”  The situation had grown so bleak that that he did not intend to remain in Boston much longer.

October 9

Carl Robert Keyes Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (October 6, 1774).

“ALMAN[A]CK … Ornamented with a large and elegant Engraving, representing the VIRTUOUS PATRIOT.”

When it came to buying almanacs, residents of Boston had many choices during the era of the American Revolution.  That meant that printers often advertised what made the almanacs they published distinctive from others on the market.  Such was the case for John Kneeland when he advertised Nathanael Low’s Astronomical Diary: Or, Almanack for the Year of Christian Aera, 1775 in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter in the fall of 1774.  The production of the almanac and its promotion resonated with current events as the imperial crisis intensified.  The Boston Port Act closed the harbor, the Massachusetts Government Act revoked the colony’s charter, and the other Coercive Acts punished the port city for the Boston Tea Party.

Kneeland informed prospective customers that this almanac was “Ornamented with a large and elegant Engraving, representing the VIRTUOUS PATRIOT at the Hour of Death.”  In addition to the usual contents, “every Thing necessary in an Almanack,” it also included a “long and sympathetic Address to the Inhabitants of Boston, with several other Pieces of Speculation, which tends to rend it not only useful, but entertaining.”  The engraving dominated the cover of the almanac.  It depicted a man, the “VIRTUOUS PATRIOT,” on his deathbed. A woman, presumably his wife, and three children kneeled in the foreground.  On the other side of the bed, a minister prayed while another man, perhaps a relative and likely another patriot, joined the family in their vigil.  Above the bed, an angel welcomed the “VIRTUOUS PATRIOT” into heaven.  A caption below the image stated, “IF Prayers and Tear th’ PATRIOT’s Life could save, None but usurping Villains Death would have.”

According to an auction catalog prepared by PBA Galleries, the “long and sympathetic Address” filled the first four pages of the almanac.  Echoing rhetoric that circulated in newspapers and pamphlets, the address “rails against the British,” assuring residents of Boston that “[Your countrymen] are sensible the heavy hand of power under which you are now groaning is designed only as a prelude to the utter abolishment of American freedom.”  The Coercive Acts, the address warned, would enslave the colonies to Britain.  (Two advertisements on the same page as the advertisement for the almanac in the October 6, 1774, edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter concerned enslaved people, one presenting an enslaved woman for sale and the other offering a reward for the capture and return of an enslaved man who liberated himself by running away from his enslaver.)  The address proclaimed, “My dear brethren, the destiny of America seems to be suspended on the present controversy; and it is on your fidelity, firmness, and good conduct, for which you have so remarkably signalized yourself on all occasions, that a happy issue of it in a great measure depends.”  The advertisement for the almanac containing this address ran in the newspaper as the First Continental Congress continued its meetings in Philadelphia.  A month earlier, the colonial militia in Worcester County to the west of Boston had closed the courts and removed British authority in what has become known as the Worcester Revolution of 1774.  Six months after Kneeland advertised the almanac with the engraving and the address, a war for independence began with the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord.

Nathanael Low, An Astronomical Diary: Or, Almanack for the Year of Christian Aera, 1775 (Boston: John Kneeland, 1774). Courtesy PBA Galleries.

October 4

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

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

Essex Gazette (October 4, 1774).

“Forgive my Error [and] restore me to their Favour and Friendship.”

Samuel Flagg of Salem and Joseph Lee of Marblehead needed to do damage control and rehabilitate their reputations after signing “an Address to Governor Hutchinson, on his leaving this Province” in May 1774.  Like Thomas Kidder had done in July, they took to the public prints to confess their error and beg for the forgiveness of their friends and neighbors who believed they did not support the American cause.  The reaction they experienced became so overwhelming that they recanted a position that they claimed they never firmly held.  Lee, for instance, stated that he signed the address because at the time he “thought [Hutchinson] a Friend to America,” yet he had since reconsidered.  He expressed “great Concern” while confessing that “I am now convinced he is not that Friend to America nor the Constitution of this Government that I then thought he was.”  To that end, Lee renounced the entire address and “sincerely ask[ed] the Favour of all the good People of this Government to forgive my Error therein, and to restore me to their Favour and Friendship.”  His plea, dated October 3, first appeared in the October 4 edition of the Essex Gazette, with a notation that it would run for four weeks.  Rather than submitting a letter to the printer that might get printed once, Lee paid to run an advertisement that would present his story and his apology to readers multiple times.

Lee’s notice was brief compared to the one that Flagg inserted on the same day.  He had formerly been in good standing in the community, having the “good Will and Esteem” of his “Fellow Citizens and Countrymen,” but perceived “they behold me with a different aspect” after he signed an address in honor of the Governor Hutchinson upon his return to England.  Flagg confessed that this “has given me great Uneasiness; not simply because I am injured in my Business, but because nothing can compensate for the Loss of the good Opinion of my worthy Countrymen.”  Flagg acknowledged that his livelihood had suffered; apparently customers refused to shop at his store in Salem.  Yet participating in the marketplace was not the only or even the primary reason that Flagg wished to correct the record.  He desired the “Favour and Regard” that he had once enjoyed in relationships with other colonizers, plus he wanted to assure the public that he indeed supported the patriot cause.  He admitted his error while disavowing the address as “the Source of much Mischief to the Colonies and to this Province in particular,” but did not end there.  “I seriously declare,” he wrote, “that I have ever beheld with Pleasure the generous Exertions of my Countrymen in Defence of their Liberties.”  Furthermore, Flagg claimed that “I have note myself at any Time been an idle Spectator, but heartily joined them in their all-important Cause.”  In his advertisement for an “Assortment of ENGLISH and INDIA GOODS” on the next page, he indicated that he “is determined not to import any more Goods at Present,” signaling his support for nonimportation agreements as a means of protesting the Coercive Acts.

Beyond his confession and apology, Flagg incorporated an editorial into his advertisement seeking forgiveness from his “Fellow Citizens and Countrymen.”  He asserted, “I do not differ in Sentiment from my Countrymen; I have ever thought, and still think, those Acts of Parliament, of which they complain, to be unjust and oppressive.”  To demonstrate that point, he inserted quotations that made familiar arguments: “‘that they are intended to establish a Power of governing us by Influence and Corruption’” and “‘that it is the Duty of every wise Man, of every honest Man, and of every Englishman, by all lawful Means to oppose them.’”  Flagg thus had a duty to fulfill, prompting him to “pledge myself to my Countrymen that this I will do to the utmost of my Power.”  He reiterated that he regretted signing the “abovementioned Address,” insisting that it was “the first and only Act of mine that has the Appearance of Inconsistency with my former Conduct, and the Declarations now made.”  He apologized once again, requesting the “Candour and Generosity” of others in overlooking the entire incident.

Signing the address to Governor Hutchinson had been a lapse in judgment; at least that was how some of those who signed it depicted their actions when they repeatedly encountered hostile reactions.  Both Flagg and Lee sought to remedy the damage done to their reputations by placing advertisements in which they confessed their error.  Flagg did even more: he spilled a lot of ink in support of the American cause, hoping that doing so would convince the public of his sincerity and return him to their good graces.  News and editorials could not contain the politics of the period. Instead, advertisements became sites for participating in debates and controversies as the imperial crisis intensified in 1774.

September 9

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Connecticut Gazette (September 9, 1774).

“CONSIDERATIONS on the Measures carrying on by GREAT BRITAIN, against the Colonies in North-America.”

As the number of American editions of Considerations on the Measures Carrying On with Respect to the British Colonies in North-America increased in 1774, so did the number of newspapers that carried advertisements for the political tract.  John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, advertised his edition.  Benjamin Edes and John Gill, the printers of the Boston-Gazette, did so as well for their edition.  Ebenezer Watson, printer of the Connecticut Courant, ran his own advertisement when he published a Hartford edition.  Yet it was not solely the printers of the various American editions who advertised or sold the popular pamphlet.  Watson listed local agents in eight towns and two post riders who sold his edition.  David Atwater advertised the New York edition for sale in New Haven in the Connecticut Journal.

Timothy Green, printer of the Connecticut Gazette, joined their ranks with an advertisement in the September 9, 1774, edition of his newspaper.  That made the pamphlet available for purchase in New London in addition to other towns in New England and New York.  Compared to the other advertisements, however, Green’s notice was quite brief, just three lines that completed the column following “THOMAS ALLEN’S Marine List,” a regular feature, on the third page.  “TO BE SOLD by T. GREEN, CONSIDERATIONS on the Measures carrying on by GREAT BRITAIN, against the Colonies in North-America.”  Green did not provide any of the elaborate description about how well the pamphlet had been received in London and how it had influenced residents there to support the American colonies against the abuses perpetrated by Parliament, nor did he encourage readers to review it for themselves so they could be better informed.  Perhaps he expected that the news he printed throughout the rest of his newspaper and the conversations about current events taking place everywhere anyone went those days provided enough reason for colonizers to acquire the pamphlet.  He also did not state which edition he sold, though the variant title in his advertisement suggests that he carried Watson’s Hartford edition.  In stocking and promoting the pamphlet, Green joined printers, post riders, and others in disseminating a political tract intended to influence colonizers and help them in articulating their grievances against Parliament.

September 6

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

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

Connecticut Courant (September 6, 1774).

“This celebrated Performance … had a wonderful Operation on the Minds of that People.”

A popular political pamphlet originally printed in London and reprinted in four towns in the colonies made another appearance among the advertisements in the September 6, 1774, edition of the Connecticut Courant.  In this instance, Ebenezer Watson, the printer of that newspaper, promoted his own edition of Considerations on the Measures Carrying On with Respect to the British Colonies in North-America produced at his printing office in Hartford.  By that time, John Holt, printer of the New-York Journal, and Benjamin Edes and John Gill, printers of the Boston-Gazette, had already advertised their own editions of the tract.  In New Haven, David Atwater advertised and sold Holt’s New York edition.

Those advertisers replicated the copy from one notice to another.  For his part, however Watson devised his own copy, though he had likely seen at least some of the other advertisements as he scoured other newspapers for content to reprint in the Connecticut Courant.  Watson even offered a variant title in his advertisement, “CONSIDERATIONS On the Measures carrying on by GREAT-BRITAIN, Against the Colonies in NORTH-AMERICA,” though the title on the title page of the pamphlet itself was consistent with the original London edition and the others reprinted in the colonies.  Although Watson did not directly borrow copy from the other advertisements circulating at the time, he seems to have been inspired by them enough to paraphrase from them.  “This celebrated performance” (rather than a “most masterly performance”), he proclaimed, “was first published in England, and had a wonderful Operation on the Minds of that People, in eradicating their Prejudices against the Inhabitants of America.”  In comparison, the other advertisements declared that the tract “had a wonderful effect in removing the prejudices and convincing the people of England.”  Other advertisers commented on the price of American editions compared to the London edition.  Watson did so more elaborately, stating that a “Book so highly admired, and so wonderfully calculated to open blind Eyes, ought to be in the hands” of colonizers throughout America.  That convinced him “to sell it as cheap as he can possibly afford it” without losing money on it.

To disseminate the pamphlet widely, Watson enlisted the aid of local agents in several towns, including Canaan, Farmington, Great Barrington, Litchfield, Middletown, Norfolk, Sheffield, Simsbury, and Torringford.  In addition, readers could acquire copies from two post riders, Joseph Knight and Amos Alden.  As printers in New England marketed a variety of books and pamphlets related to the imperial crisis in the mid 1770s, some of them integrated post riders into their distribution networks in new ways.  They made a point of naming post riders as agents who sold these publications, entrusting them with responsibilities beyond delivering items that buyers ordered from a local dignitary or directly from the printer.  This made post riders’ role in keeping colonizers informed about arguments critiquing Parliament even more visible as they became active proponents rather than mere messengers.

August 27

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

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

Providence Gazette (August 27, 1774).

“This Day is PUBLISHED … ENGLISH LIBERTIES.”

It took nearly two years, but John Carter finally published an American edition of English Liberties, or The Free-born Subject’s Inheritance in August 1774.  The printer of the Providence Gazette previously circulated a subscription proposal addressed to “the Friends of Liberty and useful Knowledge.”  Dated November 7, 1772, the proposal appeared in newspapers in several towns in New England.  On occasion, Carter inserted updates on the progress of the project in his own newspaper, often giving them a privileged place.  He did so once again on August 27, 1774, when he announced, “This Day is PUBLISHED … ENGLISH LIBERTIES.”  Harkening back to his original subscription proposal, the printer called on “the FRIENDS of LIBERTY and USEFUL KNOWLEDGE” to purchase the book or, if they had already subscribed, “to call or send for their Books.”

As had been his practice with the various updates, Carter gave this announcement a privileged place as the first item in the first column on the first page the first time it appeared in the Providence Gazette.  It filled nearly the entire column, followed by a short legal notice.  News filled the remainder of the page, with the remainder of the advertisements running at the end of the issue.  Carter deliberately chose where his notice appeared.  Though subscribers had reserved copies in advance, the printer apparently produced surplus copies that he hoped to sell to those who had previously missed the opportunity to acquire the book.

To that end, his extensive advertisement included a lengthy list of the contents and an extract from the “short Preface … annexed to the fifth Edition, printed in the Year 1721.”  Like modern blurbs from trusted authorities, it outlined why readers should purchase the book, invoking the “favourable Reception which all the former Impressions of this Treatise of the Liberties of the Subjects of England have met with from the Public.”  In turn, the preface recommended that “by perusing this Treatise” readers could “deeply imprint in our own Minds the Laws and Rights that from Age to Age have been delivered down to us from our renown’d Forefathers.”  At the time, few colonizers advocated for independence from Britain; instead, they wished for redress of their grievances with Parliament.  That included enjoying the same rights in the colonies as English subjects possessed in England.  Both the book and its advertisement reinforced that rhetoric.

In a nota bene, Carter also informed prospective customers that “A Number of excellent Forms for Justices of the Peace … are inserted in this Edition.”  That provided a very practical reason for some colonizers to obtain copies.  In addition, the printer supplemented what had been included in earlier editions with “some Extracts from several late celebrated Writers on the British Constitution, which serve to illustrate and enforce the very important Doctrines advanced by the ingenious Author.”  Carter hoped that bonus content would help in marketing the book.

According to the subscription proposal, Carter originally sought five hundred subscribers.  In one update, he asserted that “Very few will be printed that are not subscribed for,” yet he produced enough additional copies to merit an elaborate advertisement that deployed multiple marketing strategies rather than publishing a brief notice that called on subscribers to collect their books.  He may have intended all along to print more than just a few copies “not subscribed for,” but wanted to create a sense of scarcity to encourage prospective subscribers to commit to the project.  He then reinvigorated his marketing campaign following publication of the book.