2. WERE IT LEFT TO ME TO DECIDE
WHETHER WE SHOULD HAVE A
GOVERNMENT WITHOUT
NEWSPAPERS, OR NEWSPAPERS
WITHOUT A GOVERNMENT, I SHOULD
NOT HESITATE A MOMENT TO PREFER
THE LATTER.
-THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1787.
16. Seditious Language
Language that authorities
believe could incite rebellion
against the government.
False statement that
damages a person’s
reputation by exposing them
to public ridicule.
Libelous Statement
26. Allowed the president to imprison or
deport aliens who were considered
“dangerous to the peace and safety of
the United States.”
Anyone who shall write, print, or
publish…false and malicious writing
against the government or its members
could be fined and jailed.
Alien and Sedition Acts
Editor's Notes
To talk about the first Newspapers in America, we have to go back to beginning of the United States. The early colonies.
Newspapers would come to play a significant role in America’s fight for independence and in the building and maintaining of our government. To talk about Newspapers in the United States, we go back to the beginning of the United States. The Early Colonies.
Here Newspapers acted as a mouthpiece for the British Government.
Many colonial newspapers were subsidized by the British Government, “Published by their Authority” demonstrating that the news contained within had been “Government Approved.”
The very first American newspaper was Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and DomestickPublished in Boston in 1690 by Benjamin Harris. In it, Harris wrote about the French King’s affair with his own son’s wife. Harris’s controversial content angered local officials so much that the newspaper issued only one edition.
The next challenge to British control came when James Franklin, Benjamin Franklin’s older brother, began his own newspaper in Boston in 1721. The New-England Courant became the first newspaper to appear without the “Published by Authority” tag and thus not approved by the British Government, beginning the tradition of Independent press in America.
Later, Benjamin Franklin bought the Pennsylvania Gazette, and turned it into the most influential and most financially successful newspaper in the colonies.
Showing that publishers could make money even without support from the crown.
In New York, in 1733, a man named John Peter Zenger started the New York Weekly Journal.
This publication was responsible for numerous printed attacks on the governor for incompetence.
That governor’s name was William Cosby. That’s right…Bill Cosby.
Zenger was arrested and thrown in jail.
He was charged with printing Seditious Language…and Libelous Statements. [Define]His attorney argued that truth was a defense against Libel. And if Zenger’s words were true than he could not be guilty. The trial set a landmark precedent for freedom of press in America.
As the colonies became more and more dissatisfied with British rule, newspapers would become political tools used to feed and fuel the debate that would ultimately lead to America’s independence.
One such catalyst in further dividing the colonies and the crown was Great Britain’s attempt to directly tax the people, completely bypassing their colonial representatives. It did not go so well.
In 1765 Parliament imposed the Stamp Act which forced colonists to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. The new law required them to purchase one of these stamps from a local authority.
There was great opposition. Even from publishers who were loyal to the crown.
And the tax drove a powerful wedge between the already fragile relationship of the colonies and Great Britain. Many newspapers threatened to stop publication while others mocked the tax.
On October 31st, 1765, William Bradford III published the famous “Tombstone Edition” of the Pennsylvania Journal in protest. Showing a skull and crossbones where the official stamp should have been.
Giving birth to the now famous slogan “No taxation without representation” the stamp act united the colonies against the British and facing opposition from all the colonial publishers Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766.
Throughout the country’s history, journalists have always used the newspaper to oppose or criticize the government. And gaining our independence from Britain didn’t change that.
The Alien and Sedition Acts passed in 1798 which [allowed the president to imprison or deport aliens who were considered dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States.] It also stated that [anyone who shall write, print, or publish false and malicious writing against the government or its members could be fined and jailed. Many journalists, publishers, and editors were fined and imprisoned, but by the 1800s the anger and criticism had died down and the Alien and Sedition Acts were allowed to expire.
However, just as it had in the beginning, the tradition of independent press would continue to challenge the Government’s wish to restrain criticism, having now proved it’s importance and influence in politics. But Newspapers as a business was just getting started.
