A Place In Our Paper
My last blog included a piece by John Clapham printed in the May 2, 1771 Maryland Gazette. In it, the son-in-law of Annapolis printer Anne Catharine Green explained his understanding […]
The Freedom And Impartiality Of Your Press
This past Monday was World Press Freedom Day, and the theme “Information as a Public Good” was just as relevant 250 years ago as it is today. Like her husband […]
Turning Tables
Two hundred fifty years ago, Joshua Johnson was about to embark on a bold commercial venture. The Annapolis merchant placed an ad in the Maryland Gazette to inform his customers […]
Rumors Of War
England and France engaged in military conflict with one another for 73 of the 126 years between 1689 and 1815, or almost 60% of the period. If they weren’t actively […]
The Propriety Of A Private Inspection
In the five months since Maryland’s official tobacco inspection system stopped functioning because of a political dispute between Governor Robert Eden and the lower house of the General Assembly, colonial […]
The Course of Human Affairs
I’ve commented before about the innate delays in 18th-century reporting. Because the latest news could travel only as fast as a horse could run or a ship could sail, it […]
A Slow News Cycle
Some news cycles are lighter than others, and that was just as true 250 years ago as it is today. Of course, some 21st-century media work to a never-ending, 24/7 […]
Just A Few Queries
I’ve written before (see my November 5, 2020, November 26, 2020, and January 14, 2021 blog entries) about Governor Robert Eden’s ham-handed approach to dealing with uncooperative legislators 250 years […]
Our Little Capital
William Eddis arrived in Annapolis in September 1769, three months after his patron, Governor Robert Eden. The Englishman quickly adjusted to his new environment and got up to speed on […]
Off To A Rough Start
It would be a wonderful world if old problems simply disappeared with the start of a new year, but that’s not the real world that we inhabit. Nor was it […]
Rising Joys
Christmas Eve 2020 is a fitting day to look back to a Christmas poem published in the Maryland Gazette 250 years ago. The verses penned by “P. K_N___DY” (perhaps a […]
Liberty is what we are all contending for…
Two months had passed since a group of Baltimore merchants called for a meeting in Annapolis to consider whether Maryland should continue enforcing a strict boycott of certain British imports […]