The Full Story

     John Campbell
Seventy-Six years before America became an independent country, a Scottish immigrant by the name of John Campbell arrived in the new world. He was appointed postmaster of the New England colonies and bore the job of writing news letters to governors about the colonists needs. In 1704, Campbell decided to make these letters public and issued The Boston News-Letter, America’s first newspaper, on April, 24th. The birth of this first paper began a long history of American journalism, which continues to build on the lessons from the first ever paper that they were able to control.

     Campbell, the family of booksellers, became a bookseller himself when he arrived in the American colonies around 1700. Soon after, he was appointed Post Master and began a job of correspondence to the governors. For the first four years of this newsletter, Campbell was handwriting everything, but as demand grew, he asked his brother, Duncan to help.

      The Handwritten Newspapers Project reports, “There was such a demand for his news letter that Campbell began to look around for some way of relieving the pressure upon his time and energy. He got his brother, Duncan, to help, but even together they could not supply the demand for news. The just couldn’t write longhand fast enough.
    The Paper
 As the paper grew, Campbell began to use a printing press and brought his paper to readers all over the colonies. The important news of the day was mostly English politics, and London news, but it began to expand to other topics as readership grew.

     According to Roy Atwood of the Handwritten Newspapers Project, “Most of the information sent out by Campbell was concerned with commercial and governmental matters.” European wars of the time also became a popular issue and gave the colonists a connection to what was happening back in their home countries. The newspaper covered speeches by the King, and accounts from Westminster and London.

     The News-Letter also ran sensational stories such as “the account of how Blackbeard the pirate was killed in hand-to-hand combat on the deck of a sloop that had engaged his ship in battle, according to VarsityTutors. These sensational stories attracted readers to the paper and helped the circulation grow.

     At the top of every issue were the words “Published by Authority” which meant that Campbell had the right to publish and continue to publish by the authority of British America. This clarification was necessary because 10 years before, Benjamin Harris published the true first newspaper, Publick Occurrences, and was shut down after only one issue for not being authorized. According to Encyclopedia.com, the paper was "Published by authority of the government and reporting foreign news, it copied the British press, which was licensed and forbidden to criticize the government."

     Competition
     The paper survived with no competition until 1719, when the Boston Gazette appeared. The Gazette’s publisher, William Booker, had taken over as postmaster when John Campbell left and was adamant about helping to continue the publishing of the News-Letter as well. Campbell did not want his paper in another man’s hands and refused Booker’s offer.

  Determined to make his own paper, Booker started the Gazette in 1719, much to the chagrin of Campbell. Less than a year later, the paper’s printer, James Franklin left to start his own paper, the New England Courant, which became the fourth newspaper in America and further competition for Campbell’s News-Letter.

     Franklin, the brother to Benjamin Franklin, was imprisoned for criticizing the governor, and the paper went to a young Benjamin at the age of 17.

     By 1740, there were 12 total papers circulating, five of which were in Boston. Competition became even harder when Philadelphia became a second center of information in the middle of the century. Papers followed the growth and urbanization of America and slowly moved their way south with the population.

In the End    
In 1722, Campbell relinquished title of editor to the printer Bartholomew Green. Green devoted his space to more domestic news, and focused on life in the colonies rather than what was happening overseas. When Green died a mere ten years later, his son-in-law, John Draper, inherited the paper and brought a new light to the paper.

     "He enlarged the paper to four good-sized pages, filling it with news from Boston, other towns throughout the colonies, and from abroad," Varsity Tutors said of Draper.

     Newspapers continued to pop up around the colonies for the next 50 years, but according to the Massachusetts Historical Society, "The Boston News-Letter was the only newspaper to continue publication in Boston during the opening phase of the Revolution. The last issue appeared in February of 1776."

     When Margaret Draper inherited the paper in 1774, her extensive knowledge of the paper and a sincerity for it to continue ensured the paper's success. Margaret's paper wrote about the Boston Tea Party, the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill according to the NewEngland Historical Society.

     A widower and a British loyalist, Margaret Draper left for Halifax, UK, when the British left Boston in March of 1776. As the last heir of the paper, the Boston News-Letter saw its last issue with Ms. Draper in February 1776. Draper received a life pension from the British Government for her loyalty.

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