Long before a single shot was fired at Lexington or Concord, a revolution was already underway. It was waged with ink rather than arms. As America prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of its independence, it is worth honoring the force that made that independence imaginable: the colonial press.
Long before the Declaration of Independence was signed, the concept of American independence had to be imagined, argued, circulated, and defended. That did not occur in hushed conversations. It took place in newspapers and pamphlets, broadsides and printed sermons that transported ideas from town to town and colony to colony. The colonial press prepared the ground for self-government, educating citizens, questioning authority, and allowing for a shared language of liberty that shaped the American people.