On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — September 18, 1773

On this day (or actually yesterday, since I am writing this well after midnight), 250 years ago, the Providence Gazette published the last of its weekly advertisements for subscribers for a new edition of English Liberties, or, The free-born Subject’s Inheritance. This book had been written in the previous century by a Scottish journalist, but had been edited five times since to include more recent citations for legal arguments in support of liberty under English law. Many of the arguments that American lawyers used to oppose the Tea Act and other British infringements on the liberties of Americans were derived directly from this book. John Carter, the publisher of the Providence Gazette, used his paper to argue vociferously for American freedoms, and he had edited and published the sixth edition of English Liberties specifically to add the most recent precedents to support American arguments against Parliament.

Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1892182  (This 1952 historical journal includes an article that discusses the advertisement. I have been looking, but have not yet found a copy of the September 18, 1773 issue of the Providence Gazette online.)


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