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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The New-Hampshire Gazette and General Advertiser (Portsmouth [N.H.]) 1787-1793 New Hampshire gazette and the general advertiser

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About The New-Hampshire Gazette and General Advertiser (Portsmouth [N.H.]) 1787-1793

At its inception on October 7, 1756, the New Hampshire Gazette was the first newspaper printed in the British colony of New Hampshire, and it served as the colony’s only paper throughout the Revolutionary period. Printed weekly, the Gazette was established by Daniel Fowle (ca. 1715-1787), a Massachusetts-born entrepreneur. Fowle had built a publishing career in Boston, but he moved north to New Hampshire after he was briefly imprisoned for selling pamphlets critical of the Massachusetts provincial government. Setting up shop in Portsmouth, a mercantile city along New Hampshire’s seacoast, Fowle promised in his first issue “to furnish my Readers with the most material News which can be collected from every part of the World.” From 1756 until the early 1790s, Fowle was aided in his efforts by Primus, an enslaved Black man and skilled press operator. Primus was vital to Fowle’s business success, leaving his mark on thousands of newspapers, books, broadsides, and other materials. Upon his death in 1791, the Gazette’s May 26 issue eulogized Primus as “a hearty friend, and did possess a grateful mind, though oft borne down with pain.”

The paper’s title changed in 1763 to the New-Hampshire Gazette and Historical Chronicle, and it played an increasingly essential role in the political discourse of the Revolutionary Era. It was the first colonial newspaper to print the words of Samuel Adams, and in 1765, it protested the Stamp Act by publishing the October 31, 1765 issue surrounded by black borders. Though often focused on news from abroad, the paper also published provincial laws and local advertisements. The back pages from 1756 through the early 1800s frequently included notices on the upcoming sale of enslaved people, reflecting Portsmouth’s role as a major port of entry for slave ships through the early nineteenth century. In 1775, the paper presaged the American Revolution by printing the first reports of violent skirmishes in Lexington and Concord, MA, under the headline “Bloody News.”

A strongly loyalist publication, the Gazette was published sporadically in the lead-up to independence. After issuing a screed urging the provincial congress not to break away from the British crown, the paper went on hiatus for several months, and it resumed as the Freeman’s Journal, or, New-Hampshire Gazette in 1776 under editor Benjamin Dearborn, an apprentice to Daniel Fowle. Fowle resumed as publisher in 1778, with the paper title changing once again to the New-Hampshire Gazette, or, State Journal and General Advertiser. In the final years of Fowle’s life, the Gazette’s title changed twice more, first to the New-Hampshire Gazette and General Advertiser in 1781, and then to Fowle’s New-Hampshire Gazette and General Advertiser in December 1784. Fowle’s two apprentices, John Melcher (1759-1850) and George Jerry Osbourne (1761-1800), took over as publishers at that time. While Osbourne quickly moved on to start a competing paper (the New-Hampshire Spy), Melcher, the official printer to the state, remained the publisher of the Gazette for another eighteen years through 1802. Under Melcher, the Gazette’s title changed again in 1787 to the New-Hampshire Gazette and General Advertiser and in 1793 to the New Hampshire Gazette.

The 1800s saw numerous changes to the New Hampshire Gazette. No longer published for long runs by a single owner, the Gazette passed through 15 hands in the 50 years between 1802 and 1852. Originally strongly loyalist, then aligned with the Federalists until 1802, the paper was a Democratic-Republican publication throughout this period, with publishers taking a stronger editorial hand. With the rise of Jacksonianism in the 1820s, the paper backed Democratic causes. In 1847, William P. Hill (1819-1901) of Concord, NH, son of publisher politician Isaac Hill, bought the paper, and combined it with an opposition publication to form the New Hampshire Gazette and Republican Union. This venture was ultimately unsuccessful, and the title reverted to the New Hampshire Gazette in 1852. The paper switched affiliation to Republican in 1861, continuing its successful run well into the twentieth century.

Provided By: Dartmouth College

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The New-Hampshire Gazette and General Advertiser (Portsmouth [N.H.]) 1787-1793

Other Title

  • New Hampshire gazette and the general advertiser

Dates of Publication

  • 1787-1793

Created / Published

  • Portsmouth [N.H.] : J. Melcher, 1787-1793.

Headings

  • -  Portsmouth (N.H.)--Newspapers
  • -  Rockingham County (N.H.)--Newspapers
  • -  New Hampshire--Portsmouth
  • -  New Hampshire--Rockingham County
  • -  United States--New Hampshire--Rockingham--Portsmouth

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 31, no. 1604 (June 9, 1787)-v. 35, no. 1891 (Apr. 9, 1793).
  • -  Title varies slightly.
  • -  Brigham, C.S. Amer. newspapers p. 471
  • -  Available on microopaque from Readex Microprint Corp.
  • -  New Hampshire gazette (Portsmouth, N.H. : 1793) 2637-9201 (DLC)sn 83025588 (OCoLC)9710978

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83025587

OCLC Number

  • 9698164

ISSN Number

  • 2637-9198

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The New-Hampshire Gazette and General Advertiser Portsmouth N.H. -1793. (Portsmouth, NH), Jan. 1 1787. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83025587/.

APA citation style:

(1787, January 1) The New-Hampshire Gazette and General Advertiser Portsmouth N.H. -1793. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83025587/.

MLA citation style:

The New-Hampshire Gazette and General Advertiser Portsmouth N.H. -1793. (Portsmouth, NH) 1 Jan. 1787. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83025587/.