Rhode Island’s Independence Day
As J. L. Bell points out at Boston 1775, today is Independence Day in Rhode Island. On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first colony to break allegiance to Great Britain when its legislature repealed the law titled “An Act for the more effectual securing to his Majesty the allegiance of his subjects in ...
BREAKING 1776 NEWS: First British Report of America’s Declaration of Independence
After extensive archive and internet research, including a few email exchanges with the British Library, it is my conclusion that the first official British newspaper report of the actual July 4th Declaration was published in the August 10 to 13, 1776, London Chronicle. While the full printing of the Declaration appeared four days later in ...
John Dunlap’s Proposal for Launching a Colonial Newspaper
To help launch his colonial Philadelphia newspaper, John Dunlap turned to his brethren printers in Boston to publish “proposals for printing by subscription, a weekly news-paper, entitled The Pennsylvania Packet, And General Advertiser.” The inaugural issue of Dunlap’s newspaper was printed printed on October 28. Dunlap was the printer of the first copies of the ...
The Charters of Freedom: No Photos Allowed
Thanks to the tip from @bostonhistory, we learned today that photographs and video will be banned in the Rotunda of the National Archives, home to the original Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. The ban goes into effect February 24, 2010. For an excellent history on the conservation and preservation of the ...
