''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' was one of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

' most prominent newspapers from 1728 until 1800. In the years leading up to the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, the newspaper served as a voice for colonial opposition to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

colonial rule, especially to the Stamp Act and the

Townshend Acts The Townshend Acts () or Townshend Duties were a series of British acts of Parliament enacted in 1766 and 1767 introducing a series of taxes and regulations to enable administration of the British colonies in America. They are named after Char ...

. The newspaper was headquartered in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

History

18th century

The newspaper was first published in 1728 by

Samuel Keimer Samuel Keimer (1689–1742) was originally an English printer and emigrant who came to America and became an Early American printer. He was the original founder of '' The Pennsylvania Gazette.'' On October 2, 1729, Benjamin Franklin bought th ...

and was the second newspaper to be published in the colonial

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from ...

under the name ''The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette'', a reference to Keimer's intention to print out a page of

Ephraim Chambers Ephraim Chambers ( – 15 May 1740) was an English writer and encyclopaedist, who is primarily known for producing the '' Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences''. Chambers' ''Cyclopædia'' is known as the original source ...

' '' Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences'' in each edition. On October 2, 1729,

, the owner of ''The Gazette'', fell into debt and before fleeing to

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

sold the newspaper to

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

and his partner

Hugh Meredith Hugh Meredith (c. 1697 - c. 1749) was a farmer and printer in the American colonies, who briefly had a partnership with Benjamin Franklin as publishers of the ''Pennsylvania Gazette''. Meredith was of Welsh descent and born outside Philadelphia, w ...

,Benjamin Franklin Historical Society, Essay
/ref> who shortened its name, as well as dropping Keimer's grandiose plan to print out the ''Cyclopaedia''. Franklin not only printed the paper but also often contributed pieces to the paper under

aliases A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's ow ...

. His newspaper soon became the most successful in the colonies. On December 28, 1732, Franklin announced in ''The Gazette'' that he had just printed and published the first edition of ''The Poor Richard'', also known as ''Poor Richard's Almanack'', by Richard Saunders, Philomath. On August 6, 1741, Franklin published an editorial following the death of Andrew Hamilton, a lawyer and public figure in Philadelphia and friend of Franklin. The editorial praised the man highly and showed Franklin had held the man in high esteem. On October 19, 1752, Franklin published a third-person account of his pioneering

kite experiment The kite experiment is a scientific experiment in which a kite with a pointed conductive wire attached to its apex is flown near thunder clouds to collect static electricity from the air and conduct it down the wet kite string to the ground. Th ...

in ''The Pennsylvania Gazette'', without mentioning that he himself had performed it. While the purpose of the publication was primarily for classified ads, merchants and individuals listed notices of employment, lost and found goods and items for sale, it also reprinted foreign news. Most entries involved stories of travel. The gazette also published advertisements for

runaway slaves In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th centuries to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called fre ...

and

indentured servants Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract called an "indenture", may be entered voluntarily for a prepaid lump sum, as payment for some good or ser ...

. Among other firsts by ''The Pennsylvania Gazette'', the newspaper was the first to publish the

political cartoon A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically co ...

Join, or Die ''Join, or Die.'' is a political cartoon showing the disunity in the American colonies, originally in the context of the French and Indian War in 1754. Attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the original publication by ''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' ...

'', authored by Franklin. The cartoon resurfaced later in the 18th century as a symbol in support of the

19th century

The paper ceased publication in 1800, ten years after Franklin's death. It is claimed that the publication later reemerged as the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'' in 1821.About the ''Saturday Evening Post''
There are three known copies of the original issue, which are held by the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historic research facility headquartered on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chron ...

and the

Library Company of Philadelphia The Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) is a non-profit organization based on Locust Street in Center City, Philadelphia, Center City Philadelphia. Founded as a library in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, the Library Company of Philadelphia has a ...

, both in Philadelphia, and the Wisconsin State Historical Society at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

Other uses

''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' moniker is used by an unrelated bi-monthly alumni magazine of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, an

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

university that Franklin founded and served at as one of its first trustees.

References

Sources