Chapter 1 focuses on the beginnings of the first newspapers in America and takes place during the pre stages of the American Revolution. It is about how a small movement sprouted into a countrywide campaign. The endpoint of the chapter focuses on Thomas Paine’s brilliant pamphlet denouncing the British monarchy. John Adams’s Journal of Occurrence’ and the Boston Massacre are also discussed.
In 1763 the British defeat the French, expelling them from the American Colonies. The British wanted the French out of the American Colonies so that they could have sole control of the fur trade. The cost of the war over ten years had left the British treasury with a major shortage of cash so it was decided that the Colonies would shoulder the rising debt. “Dissension Takes Root” is the name of this section and it is exactly what was about to occur. A few rebellious colonists believed that the people should create laws and govern themselves, things that were being done by a distant government.
Sam Adams, cousin of John Adams, who would later organize the Boston Tea Party said, “Where there is a spark of patriotick fire, we will enkindle it.” Adams worked at the Boston Gazette where he published article after article and essay after essay full of radical notions speaking out against the British Government. He had early thoughts about taxation without representation, saying basically that taxation by the British could very easily spiral out of control. He was also a firm believer in the idea of the colonies governing themselves while the crown would retain the power to veto if they saw fit. Adams understood that in order to stand up to the crown he is going to need more help than just a few well-educated rebels. He would need to get the country to its feet as a whole.
The Journal of Occurrence’ is born. The arrival of British troops in Boston to quell the rising unrest of the colonists was met, in the same month, with the advent of the Journal of Occurrence’. Adams is owed the honor of creating the first systematic gathering and distributing of news in America. With the Journal of Occurrence’ now up and running Adams could spread his anti-British rhetoric throughout the colonies very quickly. He would write up a story then send it to john Holt, editor of the NY Journal. Holt would then distribute it to newspapers throughout the colonies for them to reprint. The sole purpose of the Journal of Occurrence’ was to tell the colonists about the malicious deeds carried out by the British troops. Story after story was published about law-abiding citizens being attacked and usually robbed by lewd, drunken British soldiers. Several attempted rapes were reported, but passersby coming to the aid of the victim prevented most. There was one serious problem with what was being reported in the journal, man of the stories were not true. Dates were always off, saying that something occurred but it happened months before. It seems bizarre that the journal would withhold such information from the colonists, making it difficult for them to prepare for something like that to happen to them. The British finally realized that keeping the men in Boston was only making things worse so they decided to withdraw in August 1769. That same month the Journal of Occurrence’ would ease it’s operation. Though much of what was reported was false the journal had the desired impact of angering the people.
The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5th, 1770 and was the result of colonists pelting the few remaining British soldiers with snowballs. By the end of the commotion five colonists were dead. The guilty soldiers were all given light punishments for their acts, which disturbed Sam Adams. He wrote angrily in the Boston Gazette against the British troops. In the years to come one-page fliers were distributed throughout the colonies. So many of them circulated that it kept the fight alive in the people.
Thomas Paine enters the picture following the skirmishes in Lexington and Concord in 1775. Paine came to America purely by luck after failing in the corset business and being fired from his position of tax collector for liquor. He was in the Europe at the time and happened to cross paths with Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was so impressed with Paine that he got him a job as the editor of Pennsylvania Magazine. It was there that the people saw how well he wrote regarding current issues in the colonies.
January 1776 Pain wrote Common Sense, an essay on the future of the American colonies. Paine skipped several levels in becoming a revolutionary thinker. He was even cautioned by several other radical thinkers against using the word “independence” in his essays. He wrote with a new style of political rhetoric that could be understood by all the classes of people in America. In Common Sense he starts off by assaulting hereditary rule and denouncing the British monarchy and constitution. He then goes on to talk about the separation of America from British rule altogether. “We have it in our power to begin the world all over again. The birthday of a new world is at hand.” Over 150,000 copies of Common Sense were sold in the first three months. People read it and felt the idea of being an independent nation surge through their bodies. Though it is not directly attributed to it, six months later the Declaration of Independence was crafted and signed.
Paine also contributed the Crisis Essays during times of struggle. They were meant to uplift the spirits of the people whenever there was a need. George Washington read the essays too his men during cold, difficult winters when the rebels were feeling the might of the British Army. Paine’s most famous line and the beginning of one of the Crisis Essays, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
The early workings of the press directly lead to the American Revolution. This all began with Adams and his Journal of Occurrence’ and lead to Paine’s astute essays regarding independence and revolution. The press played a pivotal role in spreading the word to the colonists and, a little known fact among most people nowadays.
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| Thomas Paine |
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| Depiction of the Boston Massacre |
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| Adams published drawings of caskets after several colonists were killed during the Boston Massacre |
A Small Biography of Sam Adams
Some Information About the Boston Massacre Trials
A Summary of Paine's Common Sense
I chose to write about this chapter because I've got an interest in history and I believe the workings of Adams and Paine laid the groundwork for the modern day press.
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