Rag Linen | Online Museum of Historic Newspapers » 1776

Rhode Island’s Independence Day

RagLinen — Sat, 05 May 2012 04:49:18 +0000

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 On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first colony to break allegiance to Great Britain when its legislature repealed the law titled “An Act for the more effectual securing to his Majesty the allegiance of his subjects in this his colony and dominion of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations.”

According to Bell, “the repeal bill was rather legalistic and far less stirring than the Congress’s July Declaration of Independence, but it contained the same basic argument.”

Below is an early news report of Rhode Island’s independence as it appears on page two of the May 20, 1776, issue of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury. The transcript of the repeal can be found on Bell’s post. Click the image below to enlarge and click here to view the entire second page of the New-York Gazette issue.

BREAKING 1776 NEWS: First British Report of America’s Declaration of Independence

RagLinen — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:58:21 +0000

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 the August 17 issue of the Chronicle, the August 13 issue features on page three a brief, but hugely significant and historically important breaking news announcement:

Advice is received that the Congress resolved upon independence the 4th of July; and, it is said, have declared war against Great Britain in form.

With this, the people of England learned for the first time that America had officially declared itself independent. According to history.com, news of the Declaration arrived in London on Saturday, August 10, 1776, and, at approximately 1300 words, took some time to typeset. The London Gazette also published an August 10 to 13, 1776, issue, but it lacked any mention of the Declaration. As the official court organ, and perhaps to avoid royal embarrassment, the Gazette also refrained from printing the entire text of the Declaration while other “Mother Country” newspapers jumped at it, including the London Chronicle (Aug 17 – first in Europe), Edinburgh Advertiser (Aug 20), Edinburgh Evening Courant (Aug 21), Belfast News-Letter (Aug 27), etc. Click the article image to enlarge and read the first British news of America’s July 4th independence, as reported in the London Chronicle, August 13, 1776.

John Dunlap’s Proposal for Launching a Colonial Newspaper

RagLinen — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 07:10:43 +0000

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 Declaration of Independence although his Packet was second to print the full text of the Declaration (July 8, 1776) after The Pennsylvania Evening Post (July 6, 1776). The Pennsylvania Packet eventually became the first daily newspaper in America with its September 21, 1784 issue.

Below is the full text of Dunlap’s colonial newspaper launch announcement, as published in the October 21, 1771 issue of The Massachusetts Spy. Click to enlarge.

The Charters of Freedom: No Photos Allowed

RagLinen — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:43:46 +0000

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 historic documents, check out NOVA’s “Saving the National Treasures“.

While photos and video will soon be prohibited, you can still download high resolution images of the Charters of Freedom at archives.gov or check out the our poor-quality photos we took while visiting Washington DC in 2009 (below). The documents are stored in $5 million state-of-the-art cases, which are housed in the dimly lit Rotunda of the National Archives.