If you lived in the British colonies of North America around 1776, you would have gotten your information through newspapers, assuming you could read, and through any number of other means, like express riders and town criers. As primitive as the means for communications were at that time, certainly by today’s standards, it’s amazing that word traveled as fast as it did.
When the Continental Congress voted on July 2, 1776, to create a nation independent of British rule and then when it approved the text of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, the spread of that information was rapid by any standard.
Keep in mind that, at that time, there was no national newspaper, and this was before the telegraph. Still, in six weeks, almost every person in the American colonies had received word that the colonies had declared themselves independent states.
What made this possible was a mosaic of express riders, who would ride from town to town to relay important news, printers, newspapers, church ministers, military officers, and certain community rituals that had evolved over many years prior.
Printers didn’t just print newspapers. They also printed flyers and posters that conveyed important information on public display. Town criers would stand in a town square and read the news.
While this system for communication was well-oiled, the nature of some announcements spread faster than others. News of the declaration of independence from the British was unprecedented, to say the least, which also helps explain the speed of communication.
How Big Was the Audience?
At the time of the Revolution, the American colonies counted a total population of roughly 2.5 million people. More than 50 newspapers spread throughout the colonies brought them the news of the day.
A typical newspaper might print between 500 and 1,500 copies in a press run. The largest newspapers in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York may have printed as many as 2,000 in a run. Unlike today’s newspaper readership, you couldn’t assume that only one person read one newspaper. Two dynamics amplified their impact.
First was the pass-along rate. In other words, once one person read the newspaper, instead of disposing of it, they would pass it along to someone else. Or, the newspaper would be kept in a public place, like a tavern, where people from the community would read it and then leave it. Ten people might read one newspaper, so when you count the pass-along rate, a newspaper edition that printed 1,000 papers might actually be read by 10,000 people.
The other was word-of-mouth. It wouldn’t take long for some to read something particularly interesting in a newspaper and tell others the news. Then, of course, there were those public readings in the town square.
Literacy rates in the colonies might surprise you. In New England, in Puritan tradition, reading and writing were emphasized, particularly among men. Roughly 85% of people in that part of the country could read. In New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, the literacy rates were 65% to 75%. In the southern colonies, the literacy rate was 50% to 60%. In general, because women were not as commonly schooled as men, their literacy rates were lower, but not by a lot.
The main reason for the lower literacy rates in the South had mostly to do with the fact that the Northeast was already more densely populated and had begun to build up educational systems like town-funded schools. Churches played a major role in this as well. You had to be able to read to best understand the Bible and your faith. So, churches worked hard to teach the flock to read and write.
Those who spread the word lived within an ever-expanding network of roads from town to town. Without these roads, express riders couldn’t get the word out as fast.
The most important of these routes was the King’s Highway. It went from Boston, through New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, to Williamsburg, and Charleston. Other major roads went inland into Connecticut, New Hampshire, down through the Shenandoah Valley, and to the region of what is now North and South Carolina. An express rider might cover 75-100 miles of this on multiple horses in a day.
Prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, times when this ecosystem for communication pulled out all of the stops included the spread of news about the Stamp Act crisis of 1765, the Boston Massacre of 1770, and the Coercive Acts of 1774.
Each event generated pamphlets, essays, speeches, sermons, and newspaper reports that were shared throughout the colonies. In 1770, colonists formed “Committees of Correspondence,” which established a more permanent infrastructure for sharing political news across colony lines.
Delivering the Declaration to the People
When the Declaration of Independence was signed, Congress made sure to produce an official broadside printing of the document. So on the evening of July 4, 1776, Philadelphia printer John Dunlap set his type and printed what historians contend were roughly 200 copies of the Declaration. These “Dunlap broadsides” were printed on large sheets suitable for posting or reading aloud.
Once printed, the broadsides were given to riders who were dispatched to every colony and every military commander throughout the colonies.
John Hancock was the president of Congress on that day. He wrote the “cover letter” that accompanied each copy. An express rider might switch horses every 15 miles to get news like this out.
The first person outside of Philadelphia to receive the news was Gen. George Washington, who was based in New York. On July 6, he got the news and then ordered the document to be read to his Continental Army. On July 9, the troops gathered to hear the words of the Declaration.
News traveled north and east along the coastal post road. Copies of the Declaration reached Connecticut within a week. By July 14, the Connecticut Courant had printed the full text. By July 18, the Declaration was read publicly from the balcony of the Old State House in Boston.
To the south, riders carried the Declaration to Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. This didn’t just happen. The expediency of communication was due in large part to the colonists’ honed experience during the previous ten years of agitation.
Newspapers usually printed one new edition per week. The Pennsylvania Evening Post printed the Declaration on July 6 in Philadelphia. This was the first printing of the document. Next came the Pennsylvania Gazette, which printed the Declaration on July 10. After that, newspapers throughout the colonies did the same.
When The Town Square was The Town Square
Local governments arranged public readings, and sometimes militia parades, the ringing of church bells, or the firing of cannons accompanied them. They turned the Declaration from a political document into a community event.
Most notably, this happened in Philadelphia on July 8. A throng gathered in what is now Independence Square to hear the Declaration read aloud. Throughout the city, bells rang and a celebration lasted into the evening. This happened in New York, Boston, Williamsburg, Charleston, and other towns.
Public readings served two crucial functions. First, they disseminated information to those who could not read or who did not have access to a newspaper. Second, they provided a moment of communal affirmation. Without this very public and very strong signal of affirmation, the Revolution itself may not have convinced the people that the country was indeed behind it. People needed a sense of strength in unity for a just cause. These public readings helped give that to them.
In 1776, the American colonies demonstrated that a determined people could move information quickly and effectively. As a result, this process for communication brought the 13 colonies together to create a feeling of one nation. Express riders galloped, newspapers pushed out editions, ministers delivered fiery sermons, crowds energized, and people wrote their own letters to one another, sharing their nervous excitement. The Declaration of Independence was not just a signed document in some building in Philadelphia. It took hold of and transformed the culture of the 13 colonies and gave them a sense of a singular national identity. It was a shared experience across towns, farms, and wilderness.
After July 4, 1776, 2.5 million people were now able to see themselves as one. Gen. Washington’s troops fought with muskets and cannons, but in those 13 colonies, the power of the pen, of paper, of ink, of horses, and of the spoken word was something the British could not match.
