Ch1 Printing

This chapter gives an overview of the invention of printing and some of the social and political impacts that followed it, from the 1450s to the early 1800s. One selection from this chapter is found in this web site’s Features section:  Life in the old print shop.

Chapter 1 is  available here as an 8.8 mb pdf download to help students get started at the beginning of the semester.

Discussion questions

1. Monk power:  How many monks and scribes were replaced by Gutenberg’s printing press?  What was the “monk power” of an early printing press? How much “monk power” is under the hood of your laptop?
2. Participation:   How have people contributed to and participated in various kinds of mass media?  In Chapter 1 we see that  mapmakers and scientific publishers were asking readers for corrections and contributions to future editions (p. 26) The first US newspaper, published by Benjamin Harris (p. 32), had 3 pages of news, had a fourth blank page for people to add their own notes as the newspaper was passed around.  These are examples of participatory media.  How do people participate in media today?  Check the book’s index for hints about other participatory media in history.
3. Defending Zenger: Suppose you had to represent someone accused of seditious libel. How would you defend someone like John Peter Zenger today? How would you describe the idea of “natural rights” today?
4. First Amendment: Why is religious freedom the first item in the First Amendment?  How does that relate to the historical issues from this time?
5. Whigs and Tories:  How would early British political factions correspond to modern political parties in the US and the UK?

People and events

Major figures: Gutenberg, John Milton, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin

Printing revolution:  Gutenberg, Jan Hus, Martin Luther, “Bloody” Mary, Sebastian Castellio,   Martin Waldseemuller, William Caxton, Geoffrey Chaucer, Georges Agricola, Tycho Brahe,

The Enlightenment: John Milton,  Thomas Jefferson, John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Baron de Montesquieu, Francois Voltaire, Diderot

Early newspapers: Johann Carolus, Benjamin Harris, John Peter Zenger, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine,  Cato (John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon), Camille Desmoulins, Hezekiah Niles, John Walter, William Cobbett,

DOCUMENTARY VIDEOS

Ben Franklin story (Web documentary)

Benjamin Franklin, Citizen of the World  / Perpetual Motion Films

POdcasts

Ben Franklin and the World of the Enlightenment,   Stanford Continuing Studies Program. See esp. Podcast 2: Printer, Journalist, Citizen

FURTHER READING

The invention of printing

1. Who was Johannas Gutenberg?
2. The Gutenberg Bible – 1455, (British museum)
3. “Hark the Herald Angels ” –  The familiar Christmas carol was originally a celebration of of the life of Johannas Gutenberg.
4. The Atlas of Early Printing – The University Of Iowa Libraries 
5. Williamsburg print shop recreation

Religious impacts of printing

1. European wars of religion 1520s – 1640s  (Wikipedia)
2. Elizabeth Eisenstein

The Enlightenment

1. The Founders Constitution: University of Chicago web publication of major documents from the Enlightenment.
2. John Milton’s Aeropagitica with reading notes. 1644.
3. Maryland Toleration Act, 1649
4. John Locke – A letter concerning toleration, 1689
5. John Locke – Essay Concerning … Civil Government, 1690
6. Cato Letters No. 15 On Freedom of Speech
7. Cato Letters No. 59 Liberty an Inalienable Right of All Mankind Cato was the pen name of Trenchard and Gordon, two English essayists who were well known in the early to mid 18th century.
8. Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, 1782

Political  impacts of printing

1. Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London, 1674 to 1834.  Searchable database. Suggestion: Search the proceedings for the crime of “libel.”

English colonies

1. Raleigh’s First Roanoke Colony.Sir Ralph Lane, 1585
2. A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia by Theodorus de Bry, 1590.
3. Instructions for the Virginia Colony, 1606
4. Reporting on Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia, 1676
5. A Journey to the Land of Eden, by William Byrd, 1728 – 1736.
6. The Poor Unhappy Transported Felon’s Sorrowful Account of His Fourteen Years Transportation, at Virginia, in America. By James Revel. (Undated, around 1700).
7. The trial of New York printer John Peter Zenger in 1735 had a lasting influence on the development of free speech in America.
8. Colonial newspapers, by subject, North Carolina archives & history.
9. French and Indian Wars
10. Constitution of the Iriquois Nation
11. Ben Franklin’s  Silence Dogood Also:  context of the  Silence Dogood and Polly Baker hoaxes
12. Ben Franklin’s autobiography.
13. Boston News-Letter May 14, 1761. This is really an ordinary issue of the newsletter, mostly full of European news, that gives you an idea of the conditions and priorities of the era. American revolution
14. Declaration of Rights of the Stamp Congress, Oct. 1765, colonial reaction to the Stamp Act passed by Parliament seven months beforehand.
15. Pennsylvania Gazette on the Stamp Act.
16. Boston Massacre, 1770.
17. Samuel Adams on the Rights of the Colonists. 1772 Yes, this is the Sam Adams better known today through a brand of beer. Note his religious intolerance.
18. Documents of the American Revolution including John Dickenson, Samuel Adams, etc.
19. Thomas Paine: Common Sense 1776 Considered the best articulation of the revolutionary position. Also see: The American Crisis. “These are the times that try men’s souls… “
20. Virginia Declaration of Rights June 1776 This revolutionary document was the foundation for the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen Aug. 26, 1789 and the US Bill of Rights (passed in 1791). The Virginia Declaration is still the basis of the Virginia state Constitution.
21. James Rivington, Tory printer in New York during the American Revolution; more on Rivington
22. From the diary of Ebenezer Denny, 1781 describing the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown
23. Partisan press and the Newspaper Wars of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists.
24. Presidential Disrespect – a web site exploring what the media and other critics had to say about presidents when they were in office.

French revolution

1. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity — Exploring the French Revolution
2. Multimedia essay on the French revolution
   

Printing culture

1. Tramp printers – Nice collection of stories and background about printers in the American West.