The Boston Gazette and Country Journal

This colonial Boston broadside was published by printer/journalist Benjamin Edes, a member of the Sons of Liberty, along with publisher John Gill, just a couple months before the 2nd Continental Congress convened. It promoted the Patriot’s cause, while other publishers gave the Loyalist perspective and a few that tried to remain neutral. The text in this edition implies that war with England appeared inevitable.

The earlier Boston Gazette was established by postmaster William Brooker of Boston as a weekly newspaper. On December 21, 1719. In 1741 the paper incorporated the New England Weekly Journal, founded by Samuel Kneeland and became the Boston Gazette, or New England Weekly Journal. Contributors included Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, Josiah Quincy, James Otis, Paul Revere, and Phyllis Wheatley. The Sons of Liberty met in the print shop and used it to assemble before the Boston Tea Party. Paul Revere was commissioned by the Boston Gazette to produce his engraving of the Boston Massacre.

Benjamin Edes of Watertown, Massachusetts was born Oct 14 or 15, 1732 in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He became partners with John Gill owning the print shop of Edes and Gill. On April 7, 1755 they became the proprietors of the Boston Gazette and Country Journal, shepherding the Patriots of Boston as members of the “Loyal Nine” Sons of Liberty. They incited resistance for the Stamp Act, Tea Tax, Townshend Acts through the American Revolution. He died December 11, 1803

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