The Times They Are A’Changin’The Times They Are A’Changin’

Colonial newspapers and the Revolutionary War

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Colonial newspapers didn’t Colonial newspapers didn’t look much like newspapers look much like newspapers today.today.

Printers had worn out, old Printers had worn out, old presses from England.presses from England.

Characteristics of Colonial Characteristics of Colonial newspapers:newspapers:1. They had four pages

2. The page size was about half the size of modern newspapers

3. There were no big headlines. Headlines only extended across one column

4. Only 200 newspapers could be printed in an hour

5. Editorial comment and news were included in the same story

6. There were few advertisements, and these were mainly on the front page

7. Newspapers were only bought by 5 percent of the population and then passed around

In 1765, the Stamp Act was In 1765, the Stamp Act was passed by the British passed by the British government.government.

The Stamp Act placed a tax on all legal documents, official papers, books and newspapers.

Most printers could not afford to stay in business.

Colonial printers were cunning.Colonial printers were cunning.

Most of the printers “went around” the new Stamp Act.

They called their newspapers “handbills,” which were one-page handouts, and went ahead and published.

After a year, and much work by Benjamin Franklin who had traveled to London, the Stamp Act was lifted by the British government.

But the damage had been But the damage had been done. More and more done. More and more Colonists wanted to break Colonists wanted to break away from England and away from England and form a separate country.form a separate country.

By 1775, there were 37 newspapers being published in the Colonies. Most of these were patriot papers that backed the Colonist cause.

Some historians say there Some historians say there could not have been a could not have been a Revolutionary War without Revolutionary War without the press.the press.

These newspapers during the Revolutionary War told of the people’s struggle against taxes, Revolutionary War news, storms, crimes, and had larger headlines.

Most stories were a paragraph of opinion, followed by the news.

A lot of what the papers A lot of what the papers printed was propaganda, printed was propaganda, false information used to false information used to sway the reader’s opinion.sway the reader’s opinion.

News of the battles was scarce. It took some newspapers six weeks or more to publish information on what was happening in the war.

There were no war correspondents. News was sent in private letters and then shared with local newspapers. Stories from other papers were also published.

It was hard for printers to get paper to print on during the Revolutionary War.

Gen. Washington asked all Colonial women to save their scraps of fabric so it could be made into paper. Paper at that time was not made from wood, it was made from fabric.

The Revolutionary War went on for eight years. At the end of the war, the surrender of British troops was reported in every paper in America.

The story of the end of the The story of the end of the war was very short. It was war was very short. It was authentic in every detail authentic in every detail because it was written by because it was written by Gen. Washington himself Gen. Washington himself and sent to every and sent to every newspaper.newspaper.

The story reached most The story reached most newspapers up to six newspapers up to six weeks after the war weeks after the war ended.ended.