Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/112

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
84
HISTORY OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM

thirteen original colonies a single newspaper which appeared on stamped paper. The stamp, however, was used by two or three papers elsewhere. A copy of The Halifax Gazette for February 13, 1766, for example, has on the upper left-hand corner of the fourth page the red halfpenny stamp with the word "America" also in red above it. The Boston News-Letter, in its issue for December 26, 1765, printed an item from Philadelphia in which a mention was made of the arrival in that city from Barbados of a "Stamped News-Paper of 2d. of November," and an announcement was given that the newspaper was "exposed to Public View at the Coffee-House." The paper was later suspended from an iron chain and burned.


REPEAL OF STAMP ACT

When the news reached Boston on Friday, May 16, 1766, that the British Parliament had repealed the Stamp Act on March 18, the papers of that city united and published an "extra" of the fact with the head, "Glorious News." To quote its conclusion: "Printed for the Benefit of the PUBLIC by Drapers, Edes & Gill, Green & Russell, and Fleets. The Customers to the Boston Papers may have the above gratis at the respective Offices." In the same spirit at least, the newspapers in other colonies published the "Glorious News."


SNAKE CARTOON AGAIN

At the time the British Stamp Act was attracting so much attention in the press, there appeared on September 21, 1765, The Constitutional Courant. The name of its editor was not given and the place of its publication was not mentioned. While there was only one issue, there were at least three different editions, which seems to indicate that there was simultaneous or nearly so publication in different cities. The paper was devoted principally to an attack on the Stamp Act, and two of the editions reprinted the snake cartoon which Franklin had inserted in The Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754. The sale of The Constitutional Courant was unusually large. It was hawked on the streets of New York by newsboys and was distributed along all the postroads by colonial riders. The Boston Evening Post, in