Publick Occurrences (newspaper)
"Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick" was the first newspaper published in America, launched by printer Benjamin Harris on September 25, 1690, in Boston, Massachusetts. Intended as a monthly journal, it aimed to inform the public about various local and international events. However, just four days after its release, the publication was suppressed by Massachusetts Governor Simon Bradstreet and the colony's governing council, who cited that it was published "without authority." This suppression stemmed not only from procedural issues regarding prior approval for publications but also from the content of the newspaper, which included provocative statements and controversial reports.
The newspaper addressed various topics, including public health issues and political commentary, reflecting the tensions and uncertainties of the time, particularly following the overthrow of the royal governor in 1688. Despite its brief existence, "Publick Occurrences" is significant in American history as it highlights early challenges to press freedom and the regulation of information in colonial America. The incident also underscores the contentious relationship between the press and political authority, setting a precedent for future discussions on censorship and freedom of expression.
Publick Occurrences (newspaper)
Date: September 25, 1690
Place: Boston, Massachusetts
Significance: The first newspaper published in North America was immediately suppressed by government, ostensibly because it had not been licensed, but more likely because of its political content
Printer Benjamin Harris planned to produce a monthly journal when he launched the first newspaper in America—Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick—on Thursday, September 25, 1690. But Massachusetts governor Simon Bradstreet and the colony’s provisional governing council ordered the suppression of the newspaper four days later, and there was never a second issue.
The officials wrote that the newspaper had been published “without authority,” meaning that Harris had not gotten permission from the governor to publish. Before licensing a publication, the governor had to approve or censor each item planned for publication—what was later called prior restraint. But it was more than a technicality that caused the paper’s suppression, for the council also announced their “high resentment and Disallowance of said Pamphlet, and order that the same be Suppressed and called in.” Harris, they ruled, had published “Reflections of a very high nature: As also sundry doubtful and uncertain Reports.”
Harris and associates, such as Puritan cleric Cotton Mather, apparently sought to dispel rumors about perceived unrest in the colony after the overthrow of the royal governor in 1688, and the paper promised to “assist businesses and Negotiations.” Some stories were not provocative—for example, an account of a Thanksgiving in Plymouth—but others clearly were. The three-page paper (an additional page was blank) recounted “epidemical fevers” in the area, charged Indian allies of the British with “barbarous” atrocities against French prisoners, and claimed that the king of France had “cuckolded” his son by seducing his own daughter-in-law.
Harris was an opinionated Anabaptist who had faced similar controversies before moving to Boston from London, where authorities ten years earlier had jailed him for seditious libel. Between 1686 and 1730 British rulers instructed colonial governors “to provide by all necessary orders that no person keep any printing press for printing, nor that any book, pamphlet or other matter whatsoever be printed without your especial leave and license first obtained.”