On this day 250 years ago Isaiah Thomas published the first issue of The Royal American Magazine in Boston. Notwithstanding the name of his new publication, Thomas was not a Loyalist, and the magazine supported the Patriot cause. He also published the Massachusetts Spy which was the preferred publication for letters and editorials by Patriots in Massachusetts, both before and during the Revolution. Thomas’s publications were constantly threatened with shutdown by British authorities, and just before the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Thomas smuggled his printing presses out of Boston and he then fought with the Patriots at Concord.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Thomas_(publisher); https://www.teachushistory.org/files/u2/IsaiahThomas/it_timeline.pdf