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Colonial Newspapers
How the American Colonies received their news
Material property of the AR Dept. of Education Distance Learning Center. It may be used for non-profit, educational use only after contacting the ADE DLC at http://dlc.k12.ar.us ER
As people came to the Colonies, beginning in 1620, they mainly got news by word of mouth.
When a ship would arrive from England, not only did it bring more supplies and more people, but also letters from England and English newspapers. These newspapers were considered valuable and passed around from person to person. The news from England was about two months old when it got to the Colonies.
Occasionally, someone would have a broadside, which was a large piece of paper with news handwritten on it. The reader would add additional news and pass it on to the next reader.
This was the way the colonists got news until the first American newspaper was published.
The newspaper was Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick.
It was published in 1690.
Publick Occurrences was a 4-page paper, printed on three sides.
The fourth page was blank so the reader could write down more news
before passing on the newspaper.
1. It printed the truth2. It was not licensed
by the British government
The government banned the newspaper after one issue for two reasons:
All newspapers in England and the Colonies had government licenses.
The government kept control of the newspapers in this way.
After Publick Occurrences, no other newspaper appeared in the Colonies for 14 years.
The Boston News-letter, published weekly, was the first continuing newspaper. It began in 1704.
It was licensed by the government and was the only newspaper in the Colonies until 1719.
As you might guess, this newspaper ran mainly old news from London and was bland and boring.
All of the type was set by hand, letter by letter. A page full of type might weigh over 50 pounds.
It was printed on a damp piece of paper and hand-cranked. The ink on each copy would be of a different thickness.
If the type dented the paper evenly, the printer had a good copy. That's how the phrase "making a good impression" came into our language!
