Second Continental Congress

April 22

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

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

Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet (April 22, 1776).

“GOOD BOHEA, to be sold … agreeable to order of the Honorable Continental Congress.”

Advertisements for tea returned to Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet on April 22, 1776, after having disappeared for a while due to the prohibition on selling and consuming tea.  In a brief advertisement, Ezekiel Brown announced, “GOOD BOHEA TEA, to be sold by the subscriber, for three-fourths of a dollar per pound, agreeable to order of the Honorable Continental Congress.”  He did not elaborate on the details; instead, he expected readers knew the history of tea during the political crisis and how it became the most politicized commodity in the colonies.

Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet (April 15, 1776).

In response to the Intolerable Acts and other abuses perpetrated by Parliament, the First Continental Congress devised the Continental Association, a nonimportation, nonconsumption, and nonexportation agreement, in the fall of 1774.  The first article concerned a general boycott of imported goods, while the third article addressed consuming tea: “we will not purchase or use any Tea imported on Account of the East India Company, or any on which a Duty hath been or shall be paid; and, from and after the first day of March [1775], we will not purchase or use any East India Tea whatever.”  The Second Continental Congress reconsidered some aspects of that third article and passed a new resolution on April 13, 1776.  Two days later, Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet carried the resolution along with other news.  It came to the attention of the Second Continental Congress that some “zealous friends to the American cause” had imported “large quantities” of tea in an effort “to counteract the plan then pursued by the Ministry and India Company, to introduce and sell in these Colonies, Tea subject to duty.”  In other words, they stocked up on tea before Parliament and the East India Company could put their plan into effect, doing so as acts of resistance rather than merely “to advance their fortunes.”  Now, however, they stood to become “great suffers” because of their investment in tea, “incapable, not only of paying their debts and maintaining their families, but also of vigorously exerting themselves in the service of their Country.”  According to the new resolution, the First Continental Congress intended that “all India Tea, which had been imported agreeable to the tenor of said Association, might be sold and consumed,” but the March 1, 1775, deadline did not allow enough time for that to happen.  Accordingly, the Second Continental Congress passed a new resolution that “all India Tea imported as aforesaid, expressly excepting all Teas imported by, or on account of the East India Company, now remaining on hand in these Colonies, be sold and used.”  Even though advertisements for tea ceased for a while, colonizers never stopped consuming it in secret.  The new resolution allowed them to drink tea without subterfuge.

It also allowed for the selling of tea, yet it introduced some restrictions since “some Tea-holders may be tempted to avail themselves of the scarcity … and exact exorbitant prices.”  In another resolution, the Second Continental Congress set price controls: “Bohea Tea ought not to be sold … at a higher price in any Colony than at the rate of three fourths of a dollar per pound; and other Teas at such price as shall be regulated by the Committees of the town or county, where the tea is sold.”  That resolution also instructed “all Committees of Inspection and Observation … to be vigilant” in overseeing the sale of tea now that it was allowed once again and to discipline “enemies to the American cause” who engaged in price gouging.

For his part, Brown set the price for his “GOOD BOHEA TEA” at “three-fourths of a dollar per pound, agreeable to the order of the Honorable Continental Congress.”  He placed his advertisement as quickly as possible.  The Second Continental Congress passed the resolution on April 13.  It appeared in Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet on April 15.  Brown, who gave his location only as “New-Jersey,” likely saw it in that issue and immediately composed his advertisement, dated April 17.  It ran in the next issue of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet, published once a week, on April 22.  Brown was ready to sell tea in the open (but according to the rules) and he believed that consumers would purchase it once they knew he made it available to them.

August 13

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

“EXTRACTS from the Proceedings of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL Congress.”

Providence Gazette (August 12, 1775).

In the first advertisement that readers encountered in the August 12, 1775, edition of the Providence Gazette, John Carter announced “On Tuesday next will be Published, and Sold by the Printer hereof, EXTRACTS from the Proceedings of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL Congress, held at Philadelphia on the Tenth Day of May, 1775.”  In the next issue, he inserted an updated advertisement confirming that he had indeed published the work and had copies available for sale.  Carter also listed some of the contents to entice prospective customers: “An Address to the People of Ireland, an Address to the Assembly of Jamaica, a Letter to the Lord Mayor of London, and the Opinion of Congress on the boasted conciliatory Plan offered by Administration in Parliament, February 20, 1775.”  Once again, the printer placed his notice first among the advertisements.  That was not merely an attempt to increase sales by drawing more attention to it.  In both instances, Carter treated his advertisement for Extracts from the Proceedings of the American Continental Congress as a bridge between news and advertising.  The book he hawked provided more extensive coverage of the news that he published in his weekly newspaper.

Providence Gazette (August 19, 1775).

Carter was the first printer to advertise extracts from the meeting of the Second Continental Congress.  In the fall of 1774, printers throughout the colonies advertised local editions of a similar volume that documented the First Continental Congress’s meetings in September and October.  William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, ran an advertisement almost as soon as the meetings adjourned.  Newspaper notices radiated out from Philadelphia as printers in other towns acquired copies and produced local editions for their own customers.  The Bradfords eventually published a Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress.  Only one other printer, Hugh Gaine in New York, produced and advertised a local edition.

In this case, Carter was the first printer to publish and advertise extracts from the Second Continental Congress, doing so in faraway Providence rather than in Philadelphia where the delegates met.  He did so during the brief adjournment that lasted from August 2 through September 13, 1775.  His Extracts, a pamphlet of twenty-two pages, included only the items listed in his second advertisement.  The Bradfords did publish a complete Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress that covered May 10 through August 1, but advertisements for that 239-page volume began appearing in December.  The scope of the project meant that it took the Bradfords some time to accomplish it.  The timing of the advertisements demonstrates that Carter did not merely reprint a set of extracts selected by printers in Philadelphia and then reproduced from town to town as local printing offices received copies.  Instead, he acquired the contents of his Extracts through other means, chose which items to include, and marketed the pamphlet to readers in Rhode Island.